Motivation Quote by Jose Mourinho

“Advantage” here isn’t luck, refereeing, or hype; it’s social capital earned the hard way. Mourinho frames respect as a competitive weapon, the kind that starts working before kickoff. Opponents don’t just fear a good team’s ability to score - they fear what that team represents: inevitability, momentum, the sense that one mistake will be punished. In elite sport, that psychological edge is real, and Mourinho knows it because he’s spent a career trying to manufacture it for his own sides and puncture it in others.

The line is also a calculated act of positioning. Mourinho, the self-styled disruptor, temporarily steps into the role of witness and validator. Praising Arsenal’s “fantastic football” while emphasizing “winning matches” and “winning trophies” is a subtle correction to a familiar narrative around Arsenal teams: aesthetically pleasing, occasionally fragile, historically accused of falling short when it matters. He’s saying: this isn’t pretty-but-soft; this is pretty-and-decisive.

Notice the repetition - “by winning... by winning...” - an insistent drumbeat that turns respect into something measurable, transactional. It’s not granted by pundits, nostalgia, or club size. It’s claimed through results, and once claimed, it changes the game’s ecology: opponents alter tactics, fans amplify pressure, and the respected team gets an extra half-second of space because rivals hesitate.

Contextually, Mourinho’s compliment is never just kindness. It’s also a warning: the league has adjusted its mental map. Arsenal are no longer a nice story; they’re a problem.