Mourinho: "To beat Betis, you have to be at your best"
“Sergio Martínez is a boy with potential, and the plan is for him to be on the bench tomorrow,” explained the coach.
José Mourinho appeared in the press room at Ciudad Real Madrid ahead of the game against Betis, corresponding to Matchday 4 of LaLiga (Friday, 9:00 pm CEST; Orange TV and Movistar LaLiga): “Real Madrid needs to be great; otherwise, it won't win. Betis is a very good team. Real Madrid's recent results there are very telling. It's difficult to win there, and to do so, you have to be at your best; there’s no other way.”
Comments on Messi's announcement about leaving the national team
“Talking about Messi is complicated. There’s not much more to say; there are no words to describe his quality as a player. Even now, at this upcoming World Cup at 38 or 39 years old, he’s shown us what he’s capable of. Sometimes there are players you’re going to miss. We’ll have to watch some MLS matches, which is something I don’t particularly enjoy, but we’ll have to watch some to make the most of these last years or seasons, I don’t know, to see him because he’s one of those players you always miss. In our generation, over the last two decades, we all know what he means.”
On the academy players and their role
“Many work with me regularly, every day; others come occasionally, and for those who don’t come, we keep a close eye on them. They’ve done a great job in recent years, and the result of this work is that Thiago has definitively moved up to the first team, and it has also resulted in the many millions that Real Madrid has earned from the transfers of these young players. In the end, they aren’t really transfers because Real Madrid brings back the players whenever it wants and thinks they should be part of the main squad. Over the course of the season, with suspensions and injuries, opportunities will obviously arise for them, and I’m getting to know them better every day. We maintain daily contact with Manu and La Fábrica, and they can be excited knowing their time with the first team will come.”
About Sergio Martínez
“The plan is for him to be on the bench tomorrow, so from there you can more or less see the plan. He has trained with the first team for two days, nothing more. Before the club signed him, it was clear he wouldn’t be directly part of the first team. We have also analyzed and given our opinion that he could potentially make it here one day. He is a boy with potential, who has some experience in the Second Division and at the start of the league with Racing. He has potential, he needs to work, and only he can determine his path. The quality and intensity here are different, but he is here. Tomorrow, he will be there, along with Rivas, who has been with us since the first match, and also Cestero. We'll see if he plays or not, but being here with us is already a step forward.”
“No one knows him better than Simeone, no one knows the club better than Simeone, and I don’t see that I have anything to say about this situation. What I usually say is that when a player is not satisfied, by September 1, you must either be satisfied or not play until January 1. That’s why my feeling is that from yesterday, from yesterday, and at least until December 31, he will be an important player for his club.” Asencio
“I spoke with him when I arrived. We talked about things from the past. Since I arrived, I haven’t spoken about situations outside Valdebebas because in Valdebebas, he is an exemplary professional. When he was well, no one trained more or better than him. Now that he has been injured for weeks, he is the first to arrive, the last to leave, showing extreme dedication to his recovery. But a Real Madrid player is a Real Madrid player 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 12 months a year. Everything you do outside your professional area continues to reflect on Real Madrid, continues to affect the prestige of a club that is untouchable. I am not happy. Everyone makes mistakes, but accumulated mistakes are something different.” Will you count on him once he recovers?
“The club has opened a case, and as a coach, while the case is open, I see him as a Real Madrid player. He is injured and will continue to be injured for at least a couple more weeks. This helps me stay out of the issue you mentioned. It’s not up for discussion. I think what best defines my reaction to all this is that he is a Real Madrid player, a Real Madrid player 24 hours a day.” Tchouameni
“I don’t know if he will even be ready for the match against Inter because next Tuesday, in midfield, we will certainly have a problem with the suspensions of Güler, Bernardo Silva, and Camavinga. Practically, Valverde will be the only first-team player available. We'll talk about this tomorrow after the match, but until the Betis match, let me stay optimistic and happy because, as you know, we are going to have a significant problem to solve. Let’s focus on Betis and forget about the rest for now.” The situation with Ceballos
“We spoke for three minutes on the phone. I told him I wasn’t counting on him, and often when the coach doesn’t count on players, they cling to their contracts and want to stay. This often becomes a prolonged issue, but in this case, things were very simple because the player told me, ‘If you’re not counting on me, then I’d rather be free to decide my future.’ And within a couple of days, the player and the club reached the conclusion of terminating the contract, and he was free to decide his future.” Do you think this will be a high-point league and highly competitive until the end?
“I think Atlético de Madrid will also be there, also a contender. Even if they don’t openly say so, they surely think and feel they can. The way they have signed players, the way they have invested in this stability, which seems eternal—always the same coach, always the same mentality, always the same way of thinking and organizing—it is a significant strength in today’s football, where things constantly change. For me, they are also contenders. Then there are these teams at the top, and in this case also in the Champions League, in European competitions like Betis. All those teams are strong, and we’ll see tomorrow how strong Betis and the Basque teams are; they’re all very tough. For me, this is not an easy league at all. You can have some results that might give you the idea it’s easy, like us scoring four against Málaga or Barcelona scoring five against Elche, but there’s pressure here that doesn’t exist in other leagues—the pressure to always win. In some leagues, champions don’t have to win every time. Champions in France or Germany, for example, have the comfort of knowing they will be champions. Here, it’s tough. Here, there’s this pressure week after week, where any result other than a win is not good. And this pressure weighs heavily on teams playing in a league with these characteristics.” Relationship with Pellegrini
“I never reproach anything because we cannot go back in time. This is my philosophy, but obviously, in the past, and such a long past in football, there are moments, words, things one says or does, and then in the end, you feel bad, you feel you were wrong. That’s why I don’t reproach, but obviously, I’ve had some words, some very stupid comments with him that I’m not proud of. Later, and now surely if he hears me, he will laugh, I paid him back well. The championship he won in the Premier League with Manchester City, I gave it to him. Because two games before the end, if Liverpool had drawn with Chelsea, they would have been champions, but we won, and he became champion. I paid him back well. And then we met a few times, and he showed me something—he showed me what a great gentleman he is. In a friendly match, a Betis-Roma friendly in Rome, due to a referee who deeply loved Betis, we ended up with seven players on the field, and he told his players, ‘Let’s not crush them,’ and we let the match finish as it was, 3-1. He was a true gentleman because they could have scored eight, but they didn’t. For me, he is a great coach, an example as a coach and as a person. I like him a lot. Tomorrow, I will give him a hug before and after the match.”
About Sergio Martínez
“The plan is for him to be on the bench tomorrow, so from there you can more or less see the plan. He has trained with the first team for two days, nothing more. Before the club signed him, it was clear he wouldn’t be directly part of the first team. We have also analyzed and given our opinion that he could potentially make it here one day. He is a boy with potential, who has some experience in the Second Division and at the start of the league with Racing. He has potential, he needs to work, and only he can determine his path. The quality and intensity here are different, but he is here. Tomorrow, he will be there, along with Rivas, who has been with us since the first match, and also Cestero. We'll see if he plays or not, but being here with us is already a step forward.”
“No one knows him better than Simeone, no one knows the club better than Simeone, and I don’t see that I have anything to say about this situation. What I usually say is that when a player is not satisfied, by September 1, you must either be satisfied or not play until January 1. That’s why my feeling is that from yesterday, from yesterday, and at least until December 31, he will be an important player for his club.” Asencio
“I spoke with him when I arrived. We talked about things from the past. Since I arrived, I haven’t spoken about situations outside Valdebebas because in Valdebebas, he is an exemplary professional. When he was well, no one trained more or better than him. Now that he has been injured for weeks, he is the first to arrive, the last to leave, showing extreme dedication to his recovery. But a Real Madrid player is a Real Madrid player 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 12 months a year. Everything you do outside your professional area continues to reflect on Real Madrid, continues to affect the prestige of a club that is untouchable. I am not happy. Everyone makes mistakes, but accumulated mistakes are something different.” Will you count on him once he recovers?
“The club has opened a case, and as a coach, while the case is open, I see him as a Real Madrid player. He is injured and will continue to be injured for at least a couple more weeks. This helps me stay out of the issue you mentioned. It’s not up for discussion. I think what best defines my reaction to all this is that he is a Real Madrid player, a Real Madrid player 24 hours a day.” Tchouameni
“I don’t know if he will even be ready for the match against Inter because next Tuesday, in midfield, we will certainly have a problem with the suspensions of Güler, Bernardo Silva, and Camavinga. Practically, Valverde will be the only first-team player available. We'll talk about this tomorrow after the match, but until the Betis match, let me stay optimistic and happy because, as you know, we are going to have a significant problem to solve. Let’s focus on Betis and forget about the rest for now.” The situation with Ceballos
“We spoke for three minutes on the phone. I told him I wasn’t counting on him, and often when the coach doesn’t count on players, they cling to their contracts and want to stay. This often becomes a prolonged issue, but in this case, things were very simple because the player told me, ‘If you’re not counting on me, then I’d rather be free to decide my future.’ And within a couple of days, the player and the club reached the conclusion of terminating the contract, and he was free to decide his future.” Do you think this will be a high-point league and highly competitive until the end?
“I think Atlético de Madrid will also be there, also a contender. Even if they don’t openly say so, they surely think and feel they can. The way they have signed players, the way they have invested in this stability, which seems eternal—always the same coach, always the same mentality, always the same way of thinking and organizing—it is a significant strength in today’s football, where things constantly change. For me, they are also contenders. Then there are these teams at the top, and in this case also in the Champions League, in European competitions like Betis. All those teams are strong, and we’ll see tomorrow how strong Betis and the Basque teams are; they’re all very tough. For me, this is not an easy league at all. You can have some results that might give you the idea it’s easy, like us scoring four against Málaga or Barcelona scoring five against Elche, but there’s pressure here that doesn’t exist in other leagues—the pressure to always win. In some leagues, champions don’t have to win every time. Champions in France or Germany, for example, have the comfort of knowing they will be champions. Here, it’s tough. Here, there’s this pressure week after week, where any result other than a win is not good. And this pressure weighs heavily on teams playing in a league with these characteristics.” Relationship with Pellegrini
“I never reproach anything because we cannot go back in time. This is my philosophy, but obviously, in the past, and such a long past in football, there are moments, words, things one says or does, and then in the end, you feel bad, you feel you were wrong. That’s why I don’t reproach, but obviously, I’ve had some words, some very stupid comments with him that I’m not proud of. Later, and now surely if he hears me, he will laugh, I paid him back well. The championship he won in the Premier League with Manchester City, I gave it to him. Because two games before the end, if Liverpool had drawn with Chelsea, they would have been champions, but we won, and he became champion. I paid him back well. And then we met a few times, and he showed me something—he showed me what a great gentleman he is. In a friendly match, a Betis-Roma friendly in Rome, due to a referee who deeply loved Betis, we ended up with seven players on the field, and he told his players, ‘Let’s not crush them,’ and we let the match finish as it was, 3-1. He was a true gentleman because they could have scored eight, but they didn’t. For me, he is a great coach, an example as a coach and as a person. I like him a lot. Tomorrow, I will give him a hug before and after the match.” Have you been able to speak with Xabi Alonso and Arbeloa?
“I haven’t spoken with Xabi Alonso, the last time we talked was when Roma played against Leverkusen. I speak with Álvaro very often, but it hasn’t been through Álvaro that I’ve had information, not entirely. It’s an ethical matter because it’s not easy for a former coach to talk about their previous situation, and I never would—because I care about him so much—I would never put him in that situation.” Modric’s words about him
“We wanted him so much, but that Tottenham under Daniel Levy was, if not impossible, almost impossible to negotiate with, and I have memories that make me laugh. He was in preseason in the United States with Tottenham, and José Ángel Sánchez would tell me: ‘He’s arriving at the airport to board the plane.’ Five minutes later, he’d say: ‘No, we no longer have an agreement; he’s returning to Tottenham’s training camp hotel.’ The next day, Mister, today yes, he’s arriving at the airport. Ten minutes later, Mister, we don’t have an agreement because Daniel Levy has changed the deal, and Real Madrid was almost saying, ‘It’s impossible.’ But he was a player I wanted, he was a player I wanted. We had Xabi, Khedira, and Özil as our base, and Luka was a player I thought could help us take a step forward because he could play as a 10, as an 8, or as a 6. We stayed with these four high-level players in midfield, and I thought he was the right player. You all killed me for a few months. You chose Luka as the worst signing in Real Madrid’s history, but then Luka shut everyone up. And there’s the story.”
Disclaimer: Translation generated by artificial intelligence. It may contain inaccuracies.