Villas-Boas: leaping out from under the shadow of Mourinho

As though he was determined to step on José Mourinho's toes, André Villas-Boas coached Porto to notable success and now he has taken charge of Chelsea, where his predecessor delivered a first English league championship in half a century to West London. The same trajectory as his countryman who is now at Real Madrid, but with some significant differences. The most striking one, despite Villas-Boas spending five years as an assistant to Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan, is that he subscribes to the style of Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.

In solemn tone after winning the Portuguese Cup on May 18, Villas-Boas declared: "I want to dedicate this triumph to three important people: Pep Guardiola, who is my inspiration; José Mourinho, because I owe him a lot, and Bobby Robson for putting up with me."

"I am son of Robson: I have a big nose like him, I like wine and I have British origins"

Villas-Boas is an example of insulting precociousness. He arrived at Stamford Bridge at 33 years of age; Mourinho was 41 when he took over at Chelsea, which paid 15 million euros to Porto to trigger Villas-Boas' release clause. The Special One cost the club 9 million euros less. In his first job as a first-team coach, Villas-Boas did not lose a single league game at the Dragão stadium, beating Mourinho's own record.

After Porto thrashed Villarreal 5-1 in the Europa League semifinals, Villas-Boas held forth in Portuguese, Spanish, English and Italian. He studied journalism at university after gaining his UEFA badges in Scotland, where Mourinho also cut his teeth. "I'm a son of Robson: I have a big nose like him, I like wine and I have British origins," he joked in homage to the late Robson, a former coach of Barcelona who was also a neighbor of the young Villas-Boas during a spell at the Portuguese club.

At Porto, there is a sense of treason another prodigious son has been poached by Chelsea. In May, Villas-Boas said he would not leave the club he is a lifelong fan of for all the money in the world. Porto's president, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, was more practical and has filled the club coffers and lined up a replacement, Vítor Pereira, another coach schooled in the Portuguese style. This is based on the tactical set-up of training sessions. Each day has an objective; recovery, stamina and speed. Villas-Boas is also known for overseeing enjoyable training sessions and for getting the best out of underachieving players, such as Fredy Guarín and Radamel Falcao, two of Porto's Colombian contingent. Fernando Torres, whose career has become derailed at Chelsea, is his next challenge.