Portuguese football manager Jose Mourinho named his favourites for the Euros 2024. With the tournament scheduled to start in a few weeks, Mourinho has voiced that the Portuguese side has a decent chance of competing for European glory. Speaking to GOAL, the newly appointed Fenerbahce manager spoke about how the 2016 winners boast some great talent for the upcoming edition.
“In terms of squad depth and quality, we are probably now the best we have ever been and Portugal can go on to win it. It’s about having confidence, and self-belief that they can beat anyone,” Mourinho said.
Mourinho jokingly explained his pick by saying that Portugal manager Roberto Martinez is suffering from having plenty of choices. He feels that the squad currently has several good players for multiple positions.
“The best problem for a coach is having to choose who to play because there are two great right-backs, two great left-backs, two great positional midfielders and I say two only because there is a 23-man squad,” the former Real Madrid and Chelsea boss added.
Talking about the form of all the major teams across Europe, Mourinho said that there was no side significantly better than Portugal. “I don’t want to say Portugal are the best team, but Spain, France, England, Germany are not better,” he said.
Mourinho added that any other side winning the Euro other than the teams he mentioned would likely surprise him. He said that France and Germany have always done well at the Euros whereas England and Portugal have now climbed to great form. He was also impressed by the way the Spanish side was playing their football but he was not too convinced about them being amongst the favourites. Even, Italy or Belgium winning the UEFA tournament would surprise him.
The Euros 2024 will kick off on June 15 with the tournament opener scheduled to be played between Germany and Scotland. Spain will begin their campaign on the same day against Croatia. England will not compete until June 17 whereas Portugal will feature in their opening fixture against the Czech Republic on June 19.
As for Mourinho, the legendary coach was announced as the new manager of Turkish football club Fenerbahce last week. After two-and-a-half seasons with Roma, he was sacked earlier this year in January.