On This Day: The Special One was born; Chelsea beat Liverpool to sign Salah

Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (January 26th) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, please post them in the comment area and share them with AFers!

On this day in 1963, 'The Special One' Mourinho was born

On 26 January 1963, celebrated manager and self-annointed "Special One" Jose Mourinho was born in Setubal, Portugal.

After a brief and undistinguished career as a footballer in his native Portugal, Mourinho turned to management, where he enjoyed quick success. He got his first break in 1992 as translator for Bobby Robson, then at Sporting in Lisbon. After spells as an assistant at Porto and Barcelona, and brief periods in charge at Benfica and Leiria, Mourinho moved to Porto in 2002 where he became an international name.

Under Mourinho, Porto won the 2004 Champions League, beating Monaco 3-0 in the Final. In June 2004, Mourinho moved to Chelsea where, in his first press conference, he announced that he thought he was "a special one." He backed up the statement by winning the Premier League title in his first season, Chelsea's first title in 50 years. They repeated as champions in Mourinho's second season.

After winning the FA Cup in May 2007, Mourinho suddenly resigned shortly after the start of the following season amid conflicts with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich over staffing decisions and player purchases. He took the year off from football, then joined Inter in June 2008, winning the Serie A title in his first season in Italy.

After winning the Treble for Inter, He left for Real Madrid in May 2010, but although he won the Copa del Rey in his first season and La Liga with a record points total in his second, making him the fifth coach to have won league titles in four countries, he left Madrid in 2013 after winning only the Supercopa de España in his final season there. He then returned to Chelsea, where he won another league title and League Cup, but was dismissed in 2015 after a poor run of results. 

He was appointed at Manchester United in 2016, where he won the UEFA Europa League and EFL Cup in his first season. Although he led the club to second place in the Premier League the following year, the club's highest league finish since 2013, he did not win any trophies, and was dismissed in December 2018, midway through his third season at the club.

On this day in 2014, Chelsea beat Liverpool to sign Mohamed Salah

In January of 2014, Chelsea announced that a deal had been agreed with Basel to bring Salah to London for a fee reported to be in the region of £11 million. On 26 January 2014, the transfer was completed, making him the first Egyptian to sign for the Stamford Bridge club.

In Switzerland, he starred as he won the league title in his debut season, winning the SAFP Golden Player Award in the process. However, he was used sparingly in his debut season and was allowed to leave on loan to Serie A clubs Fiorentina and Roma, with the latter eventually signing him permanently for €15 million.

In 2017, Salah relocated back to the Premier League to sign for Liverpool for a then club-record fee of £36.9 million. During his second spell in England, Salah adapted his game from a natural winger to a complete forward and quickly became the focal point of the team.

On this day in 2018, Alexis Sanchez made his Man Utd debut

After 4 days of his transfer to Man Utd, Sanchez made his debut for the club in a 4–0 victory against Yeovil Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup. He became the first Chilean to play a competitive match for United. 

Starting out wide, he gave the ball away repeatedly in the first half but was nevertheless lively and showed plenty of confident touches, cutting inside regularly. He was on the receiving end of a very heavy tackle from Yeovil left-back Nathan Smith, before his curling effort from the resulting free-kick was held by Glovers keeper Artur Krysiak. His simple pass found Rashford for United's opener, as the young England striker dribbled through the Yeovil box and lost the ball briefly before slotting home after the Glovers failed to clear their lines. After the break, Sanchez was involved again, sliding a ball to Herrera to slot home the second and mark his 150th appearance for the club in style.

Happy Birthday to them, too!

On this day in 1993, French winger Florian Thauvin was born

He made his professional debut for Grenoble in 2011, moving on to Bastia where he won the Ligue 2 title in his first season and being named Young Player of the Year a year later. He then moved to Olympique de Marseille for €15 million, going on to make over 200 appearances and 50 goals across two spells at the team, with a brief time at Newcastle United of the Premier League inbetween.

Thauvin earned 30 caps and scored 14 goals for France from under-18 to under-21 level, winning the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He made his senior debut in June 2017 and was part of their squad that won the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

On this day in 1991, Juventus left-back Alex Sandro was born

At club level, Alex Sandro began his career with Atletico Paranaense, and later also played for Santos on loan. In 2011, he joined Porto for €9.6 million, alongside teammate and countryman Danilo, who plays as a right back. He joined Juventus in 2015, winning the domestic double in his first three seasons.

At international level, Alex Sandro also plays for the Brazil national football team, for which he has gained 10 caps so far. At youth level, he also represented the Brazil national under-20 football team, winning both the South American Youth Championship and the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2011, as well as the Brazil national under-23 football team, with which he won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

On this day in 1987, Italian forward Sebastian Giovinco was born

Giovinco began his professional footballing career with Italian club Juventus in Serie B in 2006. After struggling to break into the starting line-up, however, he spent successful stints on loan with Empoli and Parma, before earning a move back to Juventus in 2012. Upon his return to the Turin club, he won two consecutive league titles, but once again struggled to maintain a spot in the team's starting eleven. This resulted in a high-profile move to MLS side Toronto FC in early 2015.

After joining the Canadian club, Giovinco soon established himself as one of the best players in the MLS, In 2018, Giovinco helped Toronto FC reach the final of the CONCACAF Champions League, and was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player, also capturing his third consecutive Canadian Championship with the club

He made his debut with the Italy senior side in 2011, and he later took part at UEFA Euro 2012; winning a runners-up medal, and at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup; winning a bronze medal, and also scoring his first international goal during the tournament.

On this day in 1919, Tottenham legend Bill Nicholson was born

On 26 January 1919, title-winning Tottenham player and manager Bill Nicholson was born. In 1938, he signed a professional contract with them and spent his entire career with the London club, making 214 league appearances before hanging up his boots in 1955. Along the way, he won the league title in 1951. He joined the Tottenham coaching staff in 1955 and was the first-team coach in 1958 when then-manager Jimmy Anderson was sacked. 

Nicholson went on to become one of Tottenham's most successful managers, winning two more FA Cups (1962, 1967), two League Cups (1971, 1973), the European Cup Winners' Cup (1963), and the UEFA Cup (1972). He took Spurs to the 1974 UEFA Cup Final, where they lost to Feyenoord, and resigned shortly afterwards.

On this day in 2000, China matched the biggest margin of victory

On 26 January 2000, China matched what was, at the time, the world's biggest margin of victory in international football, beating Guam 19-0. That record didn't last long, though.

China had held the record for several years after beating the Maldives 17-0 in 1992, but it finally fell when Tahiti got an 18-0 win over American Samoa in June 2000, then Iran pushed the record to 19-0 with a November 2000 win over Guam in a World Cup qualifier. So the Chinese were motivated to reclaim the title when they began their Asian Cup qualification campaign in January 2000.

Playing at the Thong Nhat Stadium in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, striker Hao Haidong (pictured) got the ball rolling with the opening goal in the second minute, the first of four he scored on the day. He was joined on the scoresheet by Qu Shengqing (5), Su Maozhen (3), Yao Xia (2), Li Weifeng, Shen Si, Qi Hong, and Li Tie before Ma Mingyu scored the final goal with ten minutes remaining.