Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho came out in support of Claudio Ranieri on Thursday night, hours after his counterpart was sacked by Leicester City.
The Foxes parted company with Ranieri just nine months after he guided a team tipped for relegation to the Premier League title in one of modern football’s greatest stories. Ranieri’s departure was confirmed in a statement on the club’s official website, which claimed that “a change of leadership, while admittedly painful, is necessary in the club’s greatest interest.”
Mourinho condemned the Leicester board’s decision, but also offered words of encouragement to his contemporary.
“CHAMPION OF ENGLAND and FIFA MANAGER of THE YEAR. Sacked,” he wrote on his Instagram account, alongside a picture of the pair together earlier this season.
“That’s the new football Claudio. Keep smiling AMICO. Nobody can delete the history you wrote,” he added.
