AITOR KARANKA has described how Jose Mourinho brought Middlesbrough a little bit of “luck” to climb clear at the top of the Championship after bringing Brighton’s unbeaten run to an end.

The Seagulls had started the campaign without a defeat from 21 games but Boro stopped Chris Hughton’s side in their tracks to move three points clear of them courtesy of a 3-0 win.

It was a victory which was witnessed by sacked Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, who had informed his former Real Madrid assistant Aitor Karanka that he would be visiting the Amex Stadium.

Mourinho, who also watched Middlesbrough triumph at Brentford in May’s play-off first leg, then visited the Middlesbrough dressing room after the game.

Karanka said: “He told me on Thursday that he was coming. He was last season when we played against Brentford. He’s come today. He brought us luck.

“We were three years together (at Real). For me it was an amazing experience. After that experience I can say that it was an amazing experience, the main thing for me is that he is my friend, and not just him, all his staff.

“No-one knew before he was coming. Just me. I think when Jose in one place, always there is a lot interest over him. He likes to be always in the second position.”

But the bigger picture from a Middlesbrough perspective is that they will head into Christmas Day top of the Championship as clear leaders.

The Teessiders have gone unbeaten since losing at promotion rivals Hull in early November; winning five of their six games and keeping a clean sheet in all of those league games.

Karanka was delighted with the outcome on the south coast and felt his decision to make changes in midweek against Burnley – who they defeated 1-0 – was crucial to his team’s success at Brighton.

Kike’s first goal since August got Middlesbrough moving in the fourth minute and Albert Adomah helped Daniel Ayala’s header over the line shortly before half-time. Cristhian Stuani added the third just after the hour when he headed in Kike’s cross-shot.

Karanka said: “It was really good. I felt from the beginning of the game that we were fitter than them, more rested than them and this is the Championship when you have the games that we had this week and they’ve had this week, for example we played against Birmingham and Burnley.

“They played against QPR and Derby. I could change a few players on Tuesday, so they played three games with the same team as they did here. So when the pitch was heavy last weekend and we had three really demanding games I felt at the beginning we were fitter than them.

“When we scored the first goal always is difficult to score against us when we score first.

“With 46 points we can say we’ll be in the Championship next season. It’s not our aim. Our aim is to get promotion. But we have to know how difficult it has been to take that position.

“We can’t now forget that. So we have to keep going in the same way because we have Brighton, we have Hull, we have Derby, we have a lot of teams behind us which want the same position as us.”

Karanka also confirmed former Sevilla technical director Victor Orta has been added to Middlesbrough’s recruitment team.