Andre Schurrle has labelled Jose Mourinho as "brutal" following their time together at Chelsea.
Making a name for himself at Bayer Leverkusen, the German attacker sealed a move to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2013 when the head coach returned to west London following a spell in charge of Real Madrid.
Impressing in his first season in the capital as he chipped in with nine goals in 43 games prior to winning the 2014 World Cup with his country, he struggled in his second campaign at the club and duly returned home as he linked up with Wolfsburg.
Now retired after calling time on his career at the age of 29 back in July, the player has opened up on life working under Mourinho and has stated that he struggled psychologically under the Portuguese boss.
"He’s (Mourinho) a brutal guy," he told German presenter Joko Ein Gespräch in a YouTube interview.
"I always thought to myself: What does he do anyway? Why does he treat me like this? Why does he do this to people?
“In retrospect, I realise what he wanted and what resources he was working with. At the time, I couldn't really deal with the things he wanted from me because of all the harshness and the psychological pressure.
"Back then, it was extremely difficult. I would often drive home after conversations with him and just thought I couldn't do it anymore. What could I do? He was building up such extreme pressure."
Schurrle struggled to win a regular place in Mourinho's team during the first part of the 2014/15 season and has admitted that it had a big impact on him mentally.
"It was often the case that I played from the start and then he'd replace me at half-time. Then, in the next game, I wasn't in the squad and I was in the stands," he added.
"I couldn't understand that at the time and I lost my self-esteem. My ego was hurt.
“Then I started thinking about what must be going through his mind. Sometimes during training, I had the feeling that he was only looking at me, even if that probably wasn't the case.”
