Van Gaal praises 'modest' Mourinho

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Louis van Gaal has played down his role in the development of Jose Mourinho, insisting the Chelsea manager became the Special One all by himself.

Van Gaal faces the toughest test of his reign as Manchester United manager on Sunday when unbeaten league leaders Chelsea come to Old Trafford.

In the away dugout will be a man Van Gaal first crossed paths with 17 years ago when the Dutchman offered the then 34-year-old coach a position on his coaching staff at Barcelona.

Mourinho spent three years by Van Gaal's side and the relationship worked perfectly, with Barca winning two Primera Division titles and the Copa del Rey while the two men were stationed in the home dugout.

Mourinho has since forged a hugely successful career of his own which has yielded an astounding 20 trophies to date.

The Portuguese often credits a lot of his success to Van Gaal and his other mentor Sir Bobby Robson, but the Manchester United manager thinks the main reason behind Mourinho's success is the man himself.

"He talks about Louis van Gaal and also Bobby Robson, and I appreciate that, but you always do it by yourself," Van Gaal said.

"I was also an apprentice when I was the assistant coach of Leo Beenhakker (at Ajax) and it's good that my eyes were also open at that time.

"And it's good that Jose Mourinho's eyes were very open when he was my assistant, but you do it by yourself."

Mourinho has riled many leading figures in football, whether it be in Portugal, Italy, Spain or England.

Just three weeks ago he was tussling with Arsene Wenger, the man he called a "specialist in failure" in February.

The 51-year-old has been viewed as a somewhat arrogant figure ever since he proclaimed himself the 'Special One' when he arrived at Chelsea 10 years ago, so it was with some surprise that Van Gaal chose to describe Mourinho as "modest" at his pre-match press conference on Friday.

And, anyone who turned up to the media briefing hoping to hear about a breakdown in relationship between the two men due to the fact that they are now domestic rivals, was disappointed.