Jose Mourinho and his Manchester United players put their on-field struggles firmly behind them as they attended a gala dinner for UNICEF at Old Trafford on Monday night and raised £215,000 for the charity.
Mourinho raised £30,000 for the cause alone by auctioning a collection of his personal effects including a signed, worn adidas hoodie, training top and the scarf he held aloft when unveiled as United manager back in the summer.
And at the last minute, Mourinho threw in his £16,000 watch as well. The United manager is sponsored by watchmaker Hublot and donated the Big Bang Unico Bi-Retrograde Chrono Titanium Ceramic timepiece.
Mourinho went above and beyond to help raise thousands of pounds for charity on Monday night.
Mourinho was joined by his Manchester United team as the club hosted a gala dinner to help raise money for Unicef.
The Special One auctioned off ‘The Mourinho Collection’, which included a signed, worn Adidas hoodie, training top and the scarf he held up when unveiled as boss at Old Trafford this summer.
But as a last-minute gesture the 53-year-old also offered his very own watch, worth a cool £16,000, which he took off his wrist to donate.
The collection of items raised over £30,000 alone – and helped the event as a whole raise an incredible £215,000, report the Manchester Evening News.
The Red Devils’ failure to win in the Premier League during October leaves them eighth in the table, eight points off joint-leaders Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool and as close to the relegation zone as they are top spot.
But they presented a united front at the gala on Monday as the squad, including Bastian Schweinsteiger, who returned to first team training earlier in the day, took to the stage at the prestigious event alongside their manager.
Mourinho and the World Cup-winning German midfielder stood side-by-side at the charity event, with Schweinsteiger now back in training with the senior players having spent the previous three months working with the club’s reserves.
The German’s tennis-playing wife, Ana Ivanovic, was not present, though, after the pair were pictured enjoying a lunch date in Manchester on Monday.
The gala was the 17th the club have staged in support of UNICEF, with money raised going towards their work in Thailand.
Marcus Rashford arrived at the event, held on his 19th birthday, alongside Jesse Lingard and Timothy Fosu-Mensah, while Paul Pogba was flanked by Memphis Depay and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic appeared calm and relaxed despite his tough run in front of goal, as he gave a thumbs up to the cameras, while the likes of Anthony Martial, Juan Mata, Daley Blind and Ander Herrera all arrived alongside their glamorous partners.
Mourinho said: “Charity is one of the amazing things in society and I have always been very supportive of Unicef. You know that the money is going to the right place and is going to make a big difference.
“Tonight the money is going to help children in Thailand so we know that we are going to contribute to a better future – I think it is difficult to have a better feeling than that.”
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