When Laughter Beats Loudness…
In a football universe not so far away, Liverpool head honcho Arne Slot once found himself giggling like a schoolboy at none other than the infamous Jose Mourinho. Imagine the scene: the volcanic former Chelsea manager storms into Slot’s dressing room like a hurricane stuffed in a tracksuit. All because Slot had the audacity, nay, the gall, to compare Mourinho’s tactical shenanigans unfavorably to Pep Guardiola’s football wizardry. Slot, cool as a cucumber at an ice skating rink, cheerfully declared he’d rather watch a Pep-ballet than a Mou-drama. Cue the fireworks of Mourinho’s wrath!
De Telegraaf’s Marcel van der Kraan spilt the beans on this comical locker room comedy. The Europa League quarter-final had just unfurled its drama, and despite a nail-biting match that slipped away faster than a greased piglet, Mourinho’s AS Roma scraped through, snatching victory from the jaws of drama. He then huffed and puffed into Slot’s den and filled it with a symphony of shouts and expletives worthy of a rock concert. “Go dance with Pep if you love him so much!” he roared, but Slot? He just laughed like a bloke who knows his team’s got the goods.
Slot’s happy-go-lucky vibes, one can argue, were justified. Donning his badge of victory, he’d later crown himself as king in both Feyenoord and the Premier League. Yet, as Mourinho stomped about like a bear with a prickly burr underfoot, Slot stood unfazed. Sometimes, when life’s a Mourinho storm, you just gotta be a Slot and laugh your way through it. And let’s not forget, the game ended with Roma eventually bowing to Sevilla, leaving Mourinho and his cohort to lick their wounds. Divide and conquer? More like smirk and conquer, if Slot had anything to say about it.
