Mourinho: “I want to contribute to Real Madrid's present and future”

José Mourinho gave an interview to Realmadrid TV after his presentation as the head coach of Real Madrid. The Portuguese coach reflected on what his return to the club means for him and how he approaches the season: “For me, Real Madrid, from a professional standpoint, is the pinnacle of a coaching career and certainly for any player as well. That’s the professional side. Then, on the emotional and affective side, it’s like coming home. Emotionally, it’s more beautiful than the first time I came, because the first time it was about reaching the top of a coaching career, and now it’s more about this emotional and affective side. It’s more beautiful now.”

“I see it as a mission because it has this emotional and affective aspect. The first time, in 2010, I came thinking about myself, thinking about reaching the biggest club in the world and, of course, wanting to do well for myself. Now it’s different. Now I want to do it for Real Madrid and not for myself. Obviously, the two situations are connected, but the emotional side weighs more. I think about Real Madrid, not about myself.”

His mission
“I want to contribute to both the present and the future. I obviously want to win. I want Real Madrid to win again, as that is its natural condition. But, just as I did the first time, I don’t want to change the feeling that a coach’s job isn’t just about the present; it’s also about preparing for the future.”

“People think I come with a disciplinarian attitude. No. I come with common sense. What I ask of the players from day one is common sense. The arrival time, the departure time, the work we do in the gym, the work we do on the field, the individual work we do with tactical analysis... Everything I ask of them in terms of professionalism, respect for the profession, and especially respect for the club, for me, it’s common sense. And I think they are also accepting this with common sense. I don’t know how to say it in Spanish, but in Portuguese, there’s a maxim, a very important phrase for me, which is: we should not work at Real Madrid; we should work for Real Madrid. For me, it’s a maxim that we all need to absorb, interpret, and carry with us every day. That’s what I want to bring: working for Real Madrid.”

Real Madrid, the best in history
“Football is fantastic because it usually allows room for many different interpretations. If you ask what the best goal in history is, there will be a thousand different answers. The best coach, the same. The best player, the same. But when you come to the best club in the history of football and, consequently, to the best president in the history of football, there’s no doubt. You might name another club out of passion, because it’s the club you love. But, in a pragmatic, objective way, it’s Real Madrid. Who made Real Madrid’s history? We have two presidents who are important in the club’s history. This one, in our contemporary history, is the best president.”

The Real Madrid squad
“It’s a squad with good players, very good players, and extremely good players. We have no weak points in the squad. It’s a very balanced squad that was built with a lot of analysis, a lot of communication, without emotion, without outside pressure that could, as often happens, influence decisions. We weren’t political. On one side, there was me and my staff, with technical analysis; on the other side, there was the president, José Ángel Sánchez, and Juni Calafat, with a different but complementary vision. We’ve done, in my opinion, a job that ends with a very complete squad, with very balanced numbers, where the player on the bench today knows they could be playing tomorrow. It’s not an exaggerated squad; it’s a balanced one, with two players for each position within a model of play we think is ideal. And I like it a lot. I also really like how they are working, because sometimes you’re very happy with the potential quality, but then you don’t have a great feeling about the daily work. At this moment, after six weeks of work, I only have a very positive feeling with the players.”

The love of the madridistas
“For me, the most important thing has been from 2013 until now. From 2010 to 2013 was an incredible period for Spanish football, a very difficult period to manage. And during that time, when you’re immersed in the work, you feel less of the connection. From 2013 until now, it’s been incredible because, obviously, you find madridistas all over the world. Wherever you go, there are madridistas, and that contact, that respect, that friendship, I’ve felt it from 2013 until now. And when the Wembley final happened, I was doing commentary for an English network, I don’t remember which, and I had to go down to the edge of the field. What I felt there was incredible. As I told you, I wasn’t Real Madrid’s coach. I wasn’t a Real Madrid coach who had won a Champions and could connect them to that day of the final. And the way they reacted to me stuck with me, it marked me.”

League debut against Espanyol
“They have three more points than us. They’ve started very well, played well, won comfortably. And I always say that we, Madrid, always have to think about what it means for you to play against Real Madrid. And if we don’t think about it, if we don’t take it into account, we have a problem from the first minute. We have to go there with this awareness, we have to go there knowing that every point counts. But I’m not afraid. And I’m not afraid because the players are giving me signs that they want to do things well, that they want to do things seriously, with ambition. They’re waiting for us, but we’re also going to show up and take our points.”

Message for the madridistas
“It’s very simple. I’m one of you. I’ve always been, ever since I left, and now that I’m back with this responsibility, you can imagine what it means for me to work for Real Madrid. And this is a maxim that I want everyone at Valdebebas to follow and feel: working for Real Madrid, which means working for you.”

Disclaimer: Translation generated by artificial intelligence. It may contain inaccuracies.