Jose Mourinho described Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Juventus as “a great joy”, though insisted that had nothing to do with the Old Lady being the “enemy” of his former side Inter.
Juve appeared to be sailing through as Group H winners after former United star Cristiano Ronaldo scored a stunning volley 25 minutes from time.
But Juan Mata equalised with a fine free-kick late on and then an Alex Sandro own goal gave the visitors all three points in Turin.
Mourinho incurred the wrath of Juve fans and players alike when he goaded the home support at full-time by cupping his ear towards them, a reaction to what he said was constant abuse through the match due to his links with Inter.
But the Portuguese coach says he put his Inter past to one side for the clash.
“When I work for a club like Manchester United I need to forget my past, as in those 90 minutes I represent Manchester United,” he said.
“But the others [Juventus fans] didn’t forget, and it is a great joy for me because we won against a super team, and not because they are the enemy of Inter.”
Nevertheless, Mourinho does not think defeat to United will be a fatal blow to Juve, who he believes are a team that have been put together with the sole intention of winning the Champions League.
“They can’t hide the fact they want to win the Champions League, they don’t even try to,” he added.
“They are honest and they also say they want to win the Champions League and they are designed to do that.
“We are growing and have lots of players that are inexperienced. They have seven titles and now with Ronaldo they want to win the Champions League.
“Actually, they know their potential, they are stronger than us, with great qualities and a golden bench, but they realised the match wasn’t easy.
“I told my players it would be a hard match, we played confidently and played face to face. They had the chances to close the match, and in my opinion we played a match which deserved an equaliser, but we went on to win.
“It is a hard group stage and even with a victory in a stadium where it isn’t easy to win, we might need more than three points [to advance].”
