VIDEO: Mourinho suffers embarrassing slip at Russian hockey game

Jose Mourinho’s 2018 could have gone much better than it did. And his 2019 is not off to a great start.

The manager ended the previous year in ugly fashion after seeing his two-and-a-half year Manchester United tenure come to an end following a 3-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield in December.

United have not lost since Mourinho’s dismissal, with caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer overseeing nine wins and draw once over that 10-game span.

The run has been partly due to resurgence of Paul Pogba, who Mourinho benched during his final days in charge, as the France midfielder has scored six goals and added five assists in those 10 games.

In the days since his sacking, Mourinho has been keeping busy, working as a guest analyst on beIN Sports, before now making his way to Russia where he seen was doing work for Kontinental Hockey League club Avangard Omsk.

Part of that work involved taking part in a ceremonial puck drop between in a KHL game Avangard and SKA Saint Petersburg – something that did not go as planned for Mourinho.

The former Chelsea boss had the red carpet rolled out for him for the event, as he came out to centre ice for the puck drop between the two team captains, Avangard’s Evgeny Medvedev and SKA’s Pavel Datsyuk, the former Detroit Red Wings star.

The drop itself went as planned and Moruinho began to walk off the ice. However, upon seeing Datsyuk reaching out for a handshake, Mourinho reached back to oblige, only for the carpet to roll up and the manager to take a rough spill to the ice.

Datsyuk skated over to offer his assistance, after which Mourinho, who seemed to be a good sport about it all, gave the Stanley Cup winner that delayed handshake and a hug.

While the experience may turn Mourinho off to a career as a hockey head coach, the former United boss may not be short of suitors in the near future.

Mourinho ruled out any opportunity of joining Benfica, while his biographer has said the manager is waiting until the summer to field potential job opportunities.

In the interim, Mourinho has been linked with a possible returns to Real Madrid and Inter, as well as being floated as a potential candidate at a number of other top jobs.