Pochettino, Mourinho offer mutual praise after Capital One Cup final

Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea supporters don't like or respect each other very much in most circumstances, but the same can't be said for their managers. In the wake of Chelsea's 2-0 win over Spurs in the final of the Capital One Cup, both managers were effusive with praise toward each other, going out of their way to compliment their counterparts in comments given to the media.

Mauricio Pochettino, graceful in defeat despite his obvious disappointment with the result, praised Mourinho and his team, calling Chelsea "fantastic."

I admire Mourinho... for me, he is the best or one of the best managers in the world. It was an honour to play against him, a dream for me. When I was a player I played against him and now to go face to face in a final at Wembley is a dream.

I have full respect for him. I'm lucky that he thinks the same about me.

Mourinho, to his credit, returned the favor:

Mauricio is building a great team... [Tottenham] gave us a hard final and made us be humble and think strategically in this game because we wanted to win.

With the young guys they have, the natural tendency of this team is to win trophies. I don’t know when. Not this season, because they won’t win the Premier League, but they have to win trophies.

They are a fantastic team... it was a very difficult match and I feel sorry for them because he is doing fantastic work and having a great evolution in his career. He is a proud man and has done great work with the team he brought to this final.

Awwww. The loss stunk, but it's kind of nice to hear your manager praised by someone with as much managerial acumen as Jose Mourinho. Who knows, perhaps this illustrates that his heart ISN'T two sizes too small.