Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho just doesn’t apologize in public very often. He rarely admits he’s wrong, so on the occasions that he does so it’s really big news. Last weekend Mourinho expressed a lot of regret over the way that he treated Bastian Schweinsteiger this season.
Mourinho addressed the media last Friday ahead of the West Bromwich Albion clash (view the video at this link) and he let the public know his feelings about how Schweinsteiger’s tenure at the club went.
Mourinho said a whole lot, including: “I feel sorry for the first period with him, he knows that, I am happy that he knows, because I told him. I will miss a good guy, a good professional, a very good influence in training.”
You can read all of his comments over at this link.
Mourinho’s comments were the first time the public was made aware of how things ended between the two men; that the player and manager bid farewell on good terms. Saturday was the first time Schweinsteiger spoke of how he things ended at Old Trafford since Mourinho publicly conveyed his sense of regret over how it all turned out.
“He spoke to me, so it was nothing new for me, but it shows his character,” said Schweinsteiger after the Chicago Fire beat rival Columbus Crew 1-0 to move up to second place in MLS Eastern Conference table.
“Of course it was an unfortunate situation, for both of us, but I hope the best for United. I hope they can qualify for Champions League. I’m always, whenever they play, I’m watching and I hope that they’re gonna win.”
Another one of Schweinsteiger’s former clubs, Bayern Munich, came up in conversation today as Saturday also brought Der Klassiker. Munich routed Borussia Dortmund 4-1 as Arjen Robben’s goal made him a top ten trending term on Twitter.
“We saw on the TV, I think it was 4-1 again,” the Captain of the 2014 World Cup winning German team said when asked about his reaction to the BVB-Bayern result today.
“I am always following of course Bayern Munich. I am in contact with the players, some other people in the club, I’m happy when they win the match, I hope they can also win the Champions League, but to win against Borussia Dortmund means a lot, it’s a big match in Germany, so all the best to Munich.”
Among the 16,434 on hand in Bridgeview, Illinois on Saturday were supporters in Germany, Bayern and United kits. You could also see a German flag here and there.
Of course, that’s the past while the present and the short term future is here with the Chicago Fire. Head Coach of the Fire, Veljko Paunovic, articulated Schweinsteiger’s role within the team.
“Well we want to help Bastian first, he is still in his period of adaptation and help him to understand the league and understand the teammates still and how he can play,” said Paunovic.
“What’s our best way to play, our style but he’s very very important. Very smart and intelligent and he understands that very well and he’s adapting good, so that’s one side and the other side we are working as a team to facilitate him some situations where he can play the way he can play his best.”
“So that means closer to the goal in my opinion, closer to the goal and create his space in between the lines, where he can receive the ball, turn and then connect with forwards.”
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“It’s getting better,” Schweinsteiger said about his adjusting to life and work in a new country and a new league.
“I train hard, I want to improve, I want to help the team even more. These two games were quite intense. I hope, with the game philosophy that we have, to make it easier for everyone on the pitch to control the game better so that we can enjoy playing soccer a little bit more.”
“At the end of the day, it’s very important at this moment to win points. I’m happier today than last week when we played to a draw. I thought we should have won that match, so today I am happy that we won the match.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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