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Former German international Bastian Schweinsteiger has spoken out on his turbulent relationship with Jose Mourinho during the pair’s spell together at Manchester United.
The midfielder joined the club in the summer of 2015 originally under the stewardship of Louis van Gaal before the Dutchman was replaced by Mourinho at the end of the season.
Schweinsteiger was then banished from the first team squad for the early part of Mourinho’s tenure but as reported by Four Four Two, the former midfielder insists the pair never had an ugly confrontation.
Far from it in fact with the World Cup winner revealing they were quite cordial. “I must say, I always had a pretty good relationship with Jose Mourinho. When we spoke, it was very respectful. I really liked his character,” he said.
The former Bayern Munich man didn’t feature for United until December of that season and has already opened up to Gary Neville over the lack of an explanation and the treatment meted out to him.
Despite Mourinho being in charge, Schweinsteiger revealed that him being banished was “a decision by the board” while noting that his injury issues from the back end of the previous season also played a part.
“You need to understand: I injured my knee the season before, I said I was going to have my treatment in Manchester, then the same injury happened again and the Euros were coming up, so I asked the club and Louis van Gaal if I could have the treatment in Germany.
“For a player, the most important thing is to be healthy and to come back as soon as possible. That was my goal, so I decided it like that, but it was not a decision against Manchester United,” he explained.
Schweinsteiger revealed that Mourinho eventually apologised to him for the mistreatment and the German was happy to accept it with a handshake.
However, the midfielder says that he would have loved to have played more minutes that season, particularly with the talented players United had in the squad who should have gone on to win more at the club.
“I would’ve liked to have played more, definitely, and with Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, because with those two players I think we could have achieved much more,” he said.
Despite the tough times, Schweinsteiger admits he is proud to have represented United and will never forget playing in front of the Old Trafford faithful.
“But I’m grateful to the supporters for the way they welcomed me when I had the chance to play.
“My dream was to play at Old Trafford again and it happened after a while, after training on my own, or with the under-19s or under-17s. Playing at Old Trafford again really meant a lot to me,” he added.
The legendary German continues to show his support to United from afar and will be desperate for Erik ten Hag and his troops to end a disappointing season with a trophy as they face Manchester City in the FA Cup final at the end of the month.
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