Jose Mourinho revisits Real Madrid return and renews focus on Negreira case

Jose Mourinho revisits Real Madrid return and renews focus on Negreira case After going the last two seasons without winning any major piece of silverware, Real Madrid decided to bet on a tried and tested manager to lead their next project, i.e., Jose Mourinho, who returned to the Merengue club 13 years after ending his first stint with the Spanish club. The Portuguese manager has had quite a mixed start to his second chapter with Los Blancos, but there is still a lot of reason for optimism going forward. For his part, Mourinho has his work cut out for him after seeing his team suffer demoralizing defeats against Real Betis and Atletico Madrid . As Diario AS has reported, the Portuguese tactician appeared in an interview with Corriere dello Sport, and, among other things, talked about his signing for Real Madrid. He revealed how the club’s approach for him surprised him: “Normally, there is contact first, and then the noise starts once something is actually happening. Here, it was exactly the opposite: the noise started when there had been no contact at all. I was at Benfica, happy. It is a special club for me, ten minutes from home, something I hadn’t experienced for twenty years. It was a club that needed a radical change. I thought I would stay there and see out my three-year contract. Then all the commotion started. It surprised me. I didn’t pay much attention to it. I thought, ‘It’s just a rumour.’ Real Madrid had changed their manager midway through the season, and then Arbeloa arrived. The results were uncertain, and the commotion began. But nobody had told me anything. When the rumours started, I thought, ‘This can’t be true.’ I was at Benfica, focused on Benfica and on the club’s future. I never thought it was true.” The Real Madrid coach reiterated his concerns with refereeing and highlighted the Negreira case: “I don’t think I’m the problem. The problem is the bad luck I have when I arrive at a particular club. I experienced the significant Negreira period here at Real Madrid. Nobody knew about it, but we lived through it. It happened. It happened. I left afterwards, and now everyone knows about it. But I was thinking about something: in Turkey, after a major Turkish scandal, this kind of situation used to happen to me quite often.” Mourinho also talked highly of one of his most decorated predecessors on the Los Blancos bench, Carlo Ancelotti: “Carlo is great. Carlo wanted to talk to his players, didn’t he? He wanted to speak to Vinicius, to find out how Rodrygo was doing and how his development was progressing, and how Militão was developing. Endrick was also injured at the time, and Carlo asked my permission to come here. But you’re crazy, Carlo! But that’s Carlo, too. Carlo, I’m sick of you, because every day I walk down the corridor and see pictures of Carlo here, pictures of Carlo there. I’m sick of you already!” Hopefully, Jose Mourinho will also be able to take Real Madrid to the same heights as Carlo Ancelotti, but for that to happen, the Portuguese coach will have to do a lot of work.