Jose Mourinho became the first man to complete a clean sweep of European trophies in its current configuration when his Roma side beat Feyenoord to lift the inaugural Europa Conference League in Tirana, Albania on Wednesday.
In previous years, when the European Cup Winners Cup was still in existence, Barcelona, Chelsea, and Juventus had all won that as well as the Champions League and versions of what is now the Europa League.
However, for Roma it was their first ever European major trophy.
He had won the UEFA Cup and the Champions League with Porto, and the Champions League again with Inter Milan. His spell in charge of Manchester United is generally considered ill-fated, but he did win the Europa League during his time at Old Trafford.
That, though, had been the last trophy he had won with any club. There was a widespread belief that the powers of the so-called “Special One” were failing. He will be glad to have answered his critics by delivering silverware yet again.
At one stage in the competition this seemed unlikely, especially after Roma were thrashed 6-1 by the Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt during the group phase. But, despite coming under intense criticism at the time, Mourinho rode out the storm and guided Roma to the final, where a single goal from captain Nicolo Zaniolo in the first half was enough to decide the tie.
As a result, Roma automatically qualified for next season’s Europa League, but that was academic anyway as they have automatically qualified after finishing sixth in Serie A this season.
Some gloss was taken off the occasion by the behaviour of some of the Serie A clubs fans before the match. Eighty-three Italian hooligans were deported from Albania after being involved in various acts of civil disorder.
Mourinho almost certainly does not care, after winning the 26th trophy of his managerial career. He has joined a select group of Giovanni Trapattoni and Sir Alex Ferguson to have won European trophies across three decades.