Sami Khedira opens up about curious texts from Jose Mourinho: ‘He just turned and winked’
Khedira Mourinho 2011
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Sami Khedira was once one of Jose Mourinho’s favorite players at Real Madrid. The time under The Special One shaped the world champion.
Former Germany international Sami Khedira has opened up on a podcast about the special relationship he had at Real Madrid with Jose Mourinho, one of his coaches at Los Blancos.
Mourinho brought Khedira to Madrid from VfB Stuttgart after the 2010 World Cup and made it clear to the midfielder in preparation for his debut season at the Bernabeu that he would bet on him. When Khedira and his team-mates were back on the bus on their way to the hotel after an extremely tiring session at the training camp, he texted me, even though he was only two rows in front of me: ‘You’re a fantastic player, look at my starting XI for that first game on.’ And I was in the top eleven,” Khedira recalled ESPN-Podcast THE GABS AND JULS SHOW.
Khedira: Mourinho ‘gave me so much confidence’
He then “looked at Mourinho and he just turned around and winked. He gave me so much confidence because I was new to the team, didn’t have any friends and could hardly speak English and Spanish.”
Khedira played under Mourinho at Real for three years before the Portuguese left Madrid for Chelsea in 2013. The 2014 World Champion stayed for two more years until 2015, then switched to Juventus Turin. Last summer, the 34-year-old ended his career after half a year at Hertha BSC.
