曼聯主帥穆里尼奧在執教生涯中與德科、蘭帕德、斯內德、C羅等許多巨星合作過，但他卻將馬蒂奇看作自己最喜歡的球員。
在執教切爾西的最後日子裡，對陣南安普頓的比賽中，穆里尼奧曾經在換上馬蒂奇28分鐘之後就將他換下場，但是之後馬蒂奇的反應卻讓穆帥意外。
在接受《星期日泰晤士報》採訪時，穆帥說：「馬蒂奇，我不能說在我的執教生涯中遇到過比他更好的球員。他和我一起經歷過永遠難忘的事情，那場比賽他坐在替補席上，我在第45分鐘時換上他，然後又在第70或者第75分鐘換下了他。
「媒體想要編故事，媒體想要血腥味。想要我的血，或者他的血，或者都想要。
「他當時非常難過。我也很難過，因為這件事並不美妙，我職業生涯只發生過2次。
「但是第二天，他來找我，然後他說，『我不高興，但這是我的錯。我不滿意你對我做的事情，但這是我的錯，因為我的踢球風格，我理解那次換人。讓我們繼續前進吧。』」
JOSE MOURINHO believes he hasn』t coached players better than Manchester United star Nemanja Matic.
Mourinho spent £40million to reunite with Matic, who he previously worked with at Chelsea, to Old Trafford.
Matic has settled in very quickly under Mourinho.
His departure from Stamford Bridge raised eyebrows, as the Blues seemed to strengthen their rivals significantly.
Mourinho has worked with may a great player during his spells in charge of the likes of Chelsea and Real Madrid.
But few, he reckons, are at Matic's level.
「Matic, I cannot say that I had better guys than him in my career,」 Mourinho told The Times.
「And he has with me something which marks forever, which was a match where he was on the bench, I play him minute 45 and I took him off minute 70, 75.
「The press wants a story, the press wants blood.
「My blood, or his blood, or both. He was really sad. I was also sad because it’s not something nice and it’s something that I did only twice in my career.
「But the next day he comes to me and he says, 『I』m not happy, but it’s my fault. I』m not happy with what you did to me, but it’s my fault, because the way I was playing I can understand the change. So let’s keep going』.
「We didn』t keep going for a long time because a few weeks later I was sacked.
「But again he was one of 『my guys』, was one of the guys that we kept close during these years even not working together. So I know that the big man is there, even with more maturity.」