Jose Mourinho explains who his one-finger celebration was aimed at

Jose Mourinho certainly didn’t hide his emotions after winning the Europa League with Manchester United.

After his side triumphed over Ajax 2-0, the Portuguese boss celebrated wildly.

Mourinho was seen embracing his son, whilst telling all of his players to hold up three fingers to signify their fairly underwhelming ‘treble’ of the Community Shield, EFL Cup and now the Europa League.

But there was one action that nobody could quite understand.

Immediately after the final whistle, Mourinho could be seen shaking his index finger rather passionately at the crowd.

But what did it mean?


Did he mean this was the first major trophy of his spell at United? Did it mean that he was still the Special One? Or was it a message to the victims of the Manchester attacks on Monday?

Well, none of the above, actually.

Mourinho has actually revealed exactly who his one-finger celebration was aimed at.



Mourinho explains his celebration

"It's for my family," Mourinho said.

"We have some code between us, they knew it. What I was saying was probably something they told me before the match. But it's between me and them."

Ah, so that explains it.

While Mourinho was seen telling his players to hold up three fingers, he was also seen to be holding up four fingers at one point.



Why?

Because Mourinho has now won all four of his European finals.

In fact, he’s never even been behind in a European final and was in no mood to share the secrets to his success.

Mourinho on his European record

"If I answer you maybe the next final I'm losing 3-0 at half-time," he said.

"And then I lose this humble way of playing finals.

"If I can say something about myself, I am very humble when I play finals, I respect the opponents, I study the opponent, I try to respect and make my players respect the strength of the opponent, to understand the weaknesses.

"So if I say something about my finals - not just European finals but other finals - where I won some and lost some, something that is always present on my teams is we are always very humble."