Those who are interested in the idea of the 'butterfly effect' may also be interested in this one. Jose Mourinho, one of todays most well-known and successful football managers, perhaps owes his career to the butterfly effect - the notion that small things have an impact on bigger things to come. Long before he had the arrogance to call himself the 'special one', Jose Mourinho was just plain old Jose Mourinho when he managed Porto in 2004. But a Champions League clash with Manchester United would change all that. The score was 1-0 to United, 2-2 on aggregate, when Paul Scholes poked in what he thought was his side's second goal. However, the strike was incorrectly ruled out for offside and Costinha then won it for Porto by netting an equaliser on the night to make it 3-2 on aggregate. United crashed out of the Champions League and Mourinho would go on to win the competition, later becoming manager of Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. Yet all that may never have happened had it not been for one incorrect offside call.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
