41-year-old Abel Rodriguez, who cleans the floors in Los Angeles’ underground stations, was spotted by Mourinho sitting in the snow outside their training ground.
Abel spent whatever he was left with to fly to Europe in a quest to watch perhaps the biggest football encounter between Barcelona and Real Madrid. But reaching there, he had no money left to either buy a ticket or arrange for his accommodation.
Hopeless, he somehow made it to Real’s Valdebebas training complex, consoling himself of at least seeing his heroes practice if not playing in a match.
He almost sat there for five hours shivering in the snow, when his fortunes made a remarkable turnaround. The Real boss spotted him.
Mourinho recalled, “It was a miracle that I saw him. I saw Abel seated on the road outside the training ground. I was leaving in my assistant Rui Faria’s car, and there were a lot of people outside. But I told Rui, “Stop! It’s the guy from Los Angeles.“
“Amigo! What are you doing here?” Mourinho asked from the car.
“I come to visit you guys,” Rodriguez replied. “It’s my first time in Europe, and my dream has been to come and see games. I was hoping to see El Clasico.”
“But there are no more tickets,” Mourinho said. “Where are you staying?”
“I haven’t done anything about that,” the Mexican answered. ‘My priority was to see you guys and then make my arrangements. If I didn’t see you guys, I’d go to the stadium and try to get a ticket. And if that didn’t work, I’d fly back home.”
He earlier worked as a ball boy during the Spanish giants’ pre-season visit to California the previous summer, and was turned away unpaid by security.
Mourinho not only arranged Rodriguez a room for the night at the same hotel the Real team were staying before the Barcelona match, but also gave him VIP tickets.
Mourinho further said, “I told him, No way (you’re returning home), you come to Manchester with us and work as a kit man. You help us and you live a bigger dream, a Champions League match from the inside.”
Rodriguez flew back home with plenty of his own souvenirs, including shirts worn by Javier Hernandez, Mesut Ozil, Kaka and Michael Essien, and one of the match balls.
They say humbleness is a quality that greats tend to possess. Jose Mourinho showed it. A heart-warming story indeed.
Source-Mail Online
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