One of the reasons Jose Mourinho has enjoyed such a successful managerial career is his ability to bring the very best out of his players on the big occasion.

Even in matches or finals when his side are considered the underdogs, 'The Special One' usually finds a way to ensure his team are competitive and more often than not, emerge victorious.

This season alone, we've seen various Mourinho's unothodox motivational methods in action at Man United. For example, he has frequently spoken out about individuals not pulling their weight and what do you know? Next time they have been in the starting XI they have performed.

Nevertheless, Samuel Eto'o has revealed that Mourinho can be even more unconventional behind closed doors.

Eto'o, who worked with the Portuguese boss at Inter Milan and Chelsea, says Mourinho even took the backseat in the last few minutes before the biggest game of the season - the Champions League final.

In 2010, Inter faced Bayern Munich at the Santiago Bernabeu to determine the best team in Europe.

For the Italians, a treble was on the line too and yet Mourinho told Eto'o to provide the pre-match team talk in the dressing room.

In an interview with Sky Italia’s ‘E Poi C’e Cattelan’ Eto'o said: “Yes, it’s true. And I thank him because he did something which few managers would have done," as per The Sun.

“He did his usual pre-match team talk and then he said: ‘Now Samuel will tell us how to win.’

“There were so many emotions, and I told the guys: ‘I’ve won many finals, I’ve played many, thank God, but this is the most special,’ — because we could feel we had to do something for a city, for a group of people who deserved it.

“So I told the guys: ‘Either we die on that pitch and come home with the trophy, or we die and don’t return to Milan.’

“But, thank God, it all went well and we returned home to Milan with the trophy.”

Two goals from Diego Milito vindicated Mourinho's decision to shift the responsibility onto his players and capped a stellar campaign for Inter.

Coincidently, Mourinho's predecessor at Man United, Louis van Gaal was in the opposite dugout that day.

And even though Bayern had twice as much possession and almost twice the number of attempts on goal compared to Mourinho's men, only one statistic really mattered.

Eto'o added: “In a final, it’s not important how you play but only that you take the trophy home.

“And each one of us believed we had worked really hard to reach this final.

“We had been to places such as Barcelona and London to play Chelsea — it was over 40 years since we’d last won it.

“And, our fans had only this dream."

Wonder if Mourinho will employ a similar tactic if Man United make it into the Europa League final this season?