Mesut Ozil has a book coming out later this month. Sections have already been serialised by German tabloid Bild.
The latest part details a confrontation between Ozil and Jose Mourinho while both were at Real Madrid.
At half-time of a game, one where Mourinho felt the German international was underperforming, the manager told him:
You think two beautiful passes are enough. You think you’re so good that fifty percent is enough.
In a paragraph which reads like a Mills and Boon novel, Ozil describes the showdown which followed.
He pauses. Stares at me with his dark brown eyes. I stare back. Like two boxers at the stare-down before the first round. He shows no emotion. Just waits for a response from me. How much I hate him right now. And I love Mourinho actually.
Ozil discloses that he then threw his jersey at Mourinho, telling him to put it on. Mourinho responded by calling Ozil a 'coward'.
Oh, are you giving up now? You’re such a coward. What do you want? To creep under the beautiful, warm shower? Shampoo your hair? To be alone?
Or do you want to prove to your fellow players, the fans out there, and me, what you can do?
Ozil also reveals that he wanted to join Barcelona after the 2010 World Cup. However, though the club were interested, Pep Guardiola did not make an appearance at a meeting with the player. Nor did he contact Ozil in the days which followed. The cold shoulder from Guardiola led to Ozil choosing Real Madrid as his destination instead.
