Key quotes: What Jose told the media

Jose Mourinho addressed the media on Friday afternoon ahead of Saturday’s Manchester derby against City at the Etihad Stadium.

The United boss discussed a range of topics at the Aon Training Complex, including the sad passing of Ray Wilkins, what the Manchester derby means and where the Reds currently stand in the Premier League.

Read the main points from his interview with MUTV and his press conference below...

‘I FEEL SAD ABOUT RAY’
“Obviously [it was] sad news. I had some contact with Ray [Wilkins] through his connection with Chelsea and I met him a few times and I always had a positive relationship with him, so obviously I feel sad. During this difficult process with him passing away, I managed to have contact with his family through his son, so I know exactly how they feel about their father and obviously I feel sorry.”

‘HE WAS AN HONEST MAN’
“Probably because of my age and because of my generation, I met Ray the player and then obviously he was a coach and a football man. He was a brilliant player in a great generation of very good English players and then he was a Chelsea man for many years, connected with the coaching staff and then as an opponent, because I think the last time he was coaching was with Aston Villa, if I’m not wrong. I always had a positive relationship with him and finally as a pundit, I always felt he was an honest man. I could agree with him the majority of times – not always, obviously, but I always looked at him as an honest man and that’s the most important thing.”

‘DERBY IS JUST THREE POINTS’
“It’s always the same question and always the same answer. In the end, the points are the most important thing. In the end, it’s always a match of three points and not a match of seven, eight or nine points but there is also a little bit of the emotional difference in relation to other matches. But in my case, I always try to play every match with the same mentality and responsibility and not try to make a derby an El Clásico or whatever we used to call it in Portugal and Spain – a special match.”

‘A GOOD AND NORMAL WEEK’
“It’s been a good week. I would say a normal week – no midweek match or Champions League for us, so more time to train. But a good, normal week, I would call it.”

DIFFICULT TO PINPOINT KEY FACTORS
“I don’t know [what will be decisive]. The more I play big matches – the more I can relate to big matches, derbies, Clásicos, decisions – the more difficult it is for me to answer the question because sometimes you think this is the game you are expecting it to be and the game ends up being completely different, so honestly I don’t know.”

POINTS TALLY NORMALLY ENOUGH TO FIGHT FOR TITLE
“Obviously you see the number of points that we have and it's easy to go to the books and to understand that with the number of points we have, we would normally be in the fight for the title and we are not, because City has a very good number of points that makes very, very difficult for the second [placed team] to be fighting for the title, which we are not in this moment.”