It was supposed to be the closing ceremony yet, the moment off-duty players joined the squad, an eerie appearance of players limping around must have crossed majority’s mind.

News conference reporters have had a lot of fun time triggering mockery-stamped excuses from Mourinho. They are a fun to watch they tell you. Granted, the Portuguese can sometimes make life hard for himself with that ever razor blade mouth of his that fights tooth and nail to divert his team’s performance away from the press.

If he is not talking about his favourite subject of referees, he is taking a dig at rival managers’ nerves in an endless bid to hit it as hard as possible, make them loose concentration of their respective teams.

Words still have seen the Portuguese cry foul over the number of matches they been made to play in a calendar season a move that never see him cease to take a nick at how Chelsea and Liverpool have it easy due to the duos lack of European engagements as if United where under a loaded barrel forcing them to keep winning matches and advancing deeper into the later stages of the European and domestic cups.

Another lane of excuse road frequently by the Portuguese is the “injury highway” complainingof how crucial players that could fit the puzzle he was trying to deliver to his employers keep getting injured.

And this is where people might do well to give him some breathing space and not label him a cry baby. An honest look at the situation shows the Mourinho might not be far from the truth and even if one chooses to have the hardest of hearts, Stockholm’s celebratory scenes where the number of clutches kept one wondering if United got transformed into a Paralympics team is enough to show the Portuguese’s claim do actually have some credence.