Jose Mourinho's 'football heritage' rant from 2018 resurfaces online after Man United fail to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages... with the former Red Devils boss criticising the club's form in Europe

Jose Mourinho's epic 'football heritage' rant has gone viral once again on social media after the Portuguese football manager had once spoken out against Manchester United's poor record in the Champions League. 

The 60-year-old took charge of the Red Devils between 2016 and 2018, during which time he oversaw 144 matches, helping guide United to Europa League glory in 2017. 

He subsequently guided United to the round of 16 in the Champions League the following season, but they were knocked out of the tournament by Sevilla. 

The video has come to light after Erik ten Hag's side crashed out at the group stages on Tuesday night, after they suffered a 1-0 defeat by Bayern Munich, with United winning just one of their pool stage matches this season. 

It means the Red Devils finished bottom of the group and will not qualify for the Europa League, with this now being the third time that the club has failed to reach the knockout stages of the tournament in the last 20 years, despite having won the tournament in 1999 and 2008. 

Pressure is mounting on Ten Hag amid a turbulent start to the season, but questions have been raised over the club's trajectory over the last ten years, with Mourinho speaking on United's decline in the famous 2018 interview.   

'I say to the fans that the fans are the fans and have the right to their opinions and reactions but there is something that I used to call 'football heritage',' he said to the media, after United lost 2-1 on aggregate to Sevilla in the round of 16 in 2018. 

'I don't know if, I try to translate from my Portuguese, which is almost perfect, to my English, which is far from perfect – "football heritage", what a manager inherits.

'It is something like the last time Manchester United won the Champions League, which didn't happen a lot of times, was in 2008. 

'Since 2011, 2012, out in the group phase, the group was almost the same group we had this season – Benfica, Basel and [Otelul] Galati from Romania. Out in the group phase.

'In 2013, out at Old Trafford in the last 16, I was on the other bench. In 2014, out in the quarter-final.

'In 2015, no European football. In 2016, comes back to European football, out in the group phase, goes to Europa League and on the second knockout out of the Europa League.

'In 2017, play Europa League, win Europa League with me and goes back to Champions League. In 2018, win the group phase with 15 points out of a possible 18 and loses at home in the last 16.

'So, in seven years with four different managers, once not qualify for Europe, twice out in the group phase and the best was the quarter-final. This is football heritage.'

Since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club in 2013, United have reached the quarter-finals twice, qualified for the round of 16 twice and have failed to make it out of their group twice. 

'If you want to go to the Premier League, the last victory was 2012-13 and in the four consecutive seasons United finish fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. So in the last four years, the best was fourth. This is football heritage.'

Mourinho added: 'In the last seven years the worst position of Manchester City was fourth. In the last seven years Manchester City was champions twice and if you want to say three times [meaning this season, too], and they were second twice. That's heritage.

'Do you know what is also heritage? Is that [Nicolas] Otamendi, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, [David] Silva, [Raheem] Sterling, [Sergio] Aguero, they are investments from the past, not from the last two years [since Pep Guardiola took over].

'The United players that left the club last season – see where they play, how they play, if they play.'