Soccer/Champions League Final: FC Porto 3 AS Monaco 0: If this was the final interview, then Jose Mourinho has not just got the job. He can surely write his own terms. Before the watching Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon he masterfully steered his astute Porto team towards a comprehensive victory in the European Cup final.
"It is almost for sure my last match," Mourinho confirmed afterwards and "I will almost for sure" be moving to England.
Clubs from Europe's principal football nations were lacking in this year's final but there was no shortfall in sophistication. Once ahead Mourinho switched styles to take off Carlos Alberto, who had hit the opener, and introduce Dmitri Alenitchev who would set up the second goal on the break and bag the third for himself. One specialist audience must have been engrossed.
This was a fixture to make Chelsea shudder with the thought that they might have been participating but most of their players will still have turned on to watch. Sheer self-interest would have made them curious about the habits of Jose Mourinho, who might be in charge of them shortly.
If that is a parochial concern, it is still one of significance to anyone who is part of the staff or crowd at Stamford Bridge. Even ordinary onlookers might have wondered how Mourinho would deal with opponents who had scored 27 times in reaching their final.
It was telling that Pedro Mendes should be in the line-up for the Portuguese club after failing to start any of the three previous Champions League matches. His inclusion must have been connected to the fact that he is taller and heftier than Alenitchev, whose place he took.
That kind of ploy struck even more fear into the hearts of spectators who had their terror relieved only when Carlos Alberto put Porto ahead in the 39th minute.
The lack of famous names on the field at Gelsenkirchen was supposed to be compensated for by the fact that the sides would be far more daring, since even a pragmatic Porto can be stylish when it is to their advantage. The opening exchanges were heartening.
Mourinho's side did not immediately adjust to the fact that Didier Deschamps had put his captain Ludovic Giuly at the head of the attack. When Lucas Bernardi released him in the third minute Vitor Baia had to rush out and make the fine challenge that ensured he got the ball instead of a red card.
Giuly, however, was soon to develop the muscle strain that meant Deschamps had to withdraw his captain and most stimulating performer. Monaco, a less hardened side, missed him against a Porto team that, as UEFA Cup holders, has acquired a certain know-how.
The breakthrough entailed unhappy defending but the scorer had already shown the confidence needed on major occasions with some uninhibited dribbling.
The 19-year-old Brazilian Carlos Alberto was bought by Mourinho from Fluminense in the winter break to perk up his squad but no one could have supposed the effect would be as enlivening as this.
Six minutes from the interval Andreas Zikos merely prodded a Ferreira cross towards him and Carlos Alberto controlled with his thigh before sweeping a volley high into the net.
The referee Kim Milton Nielsen then booked him for celebrations in which he whipped off his shirt, harsh punishment for a man who had enhanced the final.
He had pressed all the urgency and anxiety on to Monaco. When Alenitchev was introduced after an hour it was a subtle and lethal adjustment to counter-attacking means by Mourinho.
Monaco had shown they are mercurial enough to create almost unfeasible comebacks. The mission here, though, was much tougher than before. Porto were sharply disinclined to let Morientes have the scope in which he revelled against Chelsea. When the striker tried to drop deep here he found only another marker waiting to harass him.
Monaco had no option but to take up the invitation to attack in numbers but they must rightly have had a sickening sense that they were about to be exploited. After 71 minutes Morientes lost possession and had his appeals for a foul ignored as Porto broke.
The rest was accurate simplicity. Deco laid the ball left, took the return from Alenitchev and carefully drove low past Flavio Roma.
Five minutes later Alenitchev was to make Porto's victory even more handsome, finishing after a Derlei drive was blocked into his path by Bernardi.
Not even the horror of losing Mourinho can have diluted the ecstasy of the Porto fans on this triumphant night.
FC PORTO: Vitor Baia, Jorge Costa, Ricardo Carvalho, Nuno Valente, Paulo Ferreira, Costinha, Deco (Pedro Emanuel 85), Maniche, Carlos Alberto (Alenitchev 60), Pedro Mendes, Derlei (McCarthy 78). Subs Not Used: Nuno, Ricardo Costa, Jankauskas, Bosingwa. Booked: Nuno Valente, Carlos Alberto, Jorge Costa. Goals: Carlos Alberto 39, Deco 71, Alenitchev 75.
Monaco: Roma, Rodriguez, Givet (Squillaci 72), Ibarra, Bernardi, Evra, Giuly (Prso 23), Cisse (Nonda 64), Zikos, Rothen, Morientes. Subs Not Used: Sylva, Plasil, Adebayor, El Fakiri.
Referee: K Nielsen (Denmark).
