While launching the inaugural The Best Fifa Awards, football's world governing body decided to pick Jose Mourinho's brains.

As a man who has won every trophy that matters in club football, the Manchester United manager certainly knows a thing or two about picking a strong XI.

Except, it appears, when that XI has to be his favourite one.

"It’s an answer that I’ve always refused to give and will continue to," Mourinho explained. "So many players gave their blood and soul when they played for me, how can I name some and forget others?"

Fifa asked Mourinho to pick the best eleven players he had coached throughout his career and instead he managed to choose 16.

"Vitor Baia, Petr Cech, Julio Cesar... how can I choose just one?," Mourinho implored. "Jorge Costa, Ricardo Carvalho, Marco Materazzi, Lucio, Walter Samuel, John Terry… how can I choose one?"

He continued to reel them off: "Michael Essien, Wesley Sneijder, Nemanja Matic, Costinha, Maniche, Xabi Alonso, Frank Lampard..."

But doing absolutely nothing to shake off his reputation as a pragmatic, defensive coach, Mourinho then stopped without naming a single striker despite having the likes of Didier Drogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gonzalo Higuain to choose from.