José Mourinho: “Leipzig? We don’t expect to see the Leipzig team that lost 6-1 to Bayern, but rather the team that beat PSV.”
“We’ve won 3 matches in a few days, and I thought we played very well in our last victory. It was a very good collective performance.”
“Are we favorites to win the Champions League? One step at a time. First, we need to finish in the top 8 to avoid the playoffs.”
“You (the journalists) often criticize us for filming players when they arrive at or leave training, but we do it to see who arrives the earliest and who stays the longest. Diomandé, for example, comes in twice a day. Are you surprised by how hard some of them work? It’s true. Jude, for example, pays attention to every little detail.
Diomandé also likes to come in the evening with a physiotherapist. There’s a good culture here; everyone helps each other. The medical team is always present. There’s also always an assistant coach here. I like the way everything works at this club.”
“Is Vinícius untouchable? The only untouchable thing is the Real Madrid badge. I don’t like having an untouchable player. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the captain or how much you cost; you have to earn your place through your performances on the pitch.”
“Am I satisfied with the current squad? There’s still an enormous amount of work to do. We’ve only been here for three months. One step at a time, but I understand the demands of a club like Real Madrid. I coached here for three years in the past, so I know how things work. But we still have a long way to go.”
“What is Valverde’s best position? On the pitch.”
“The midfield? Every match is different. Sometimes we play with more positionally disciplined midfielders, as we did during the final 20 minutes against Roma. But if we had started with them from the first minute, we might have lost by five goals.”
“Can Carlos Espí and Mbappé play together, or do we have to choose between them? It’s difficult. If you mean starting them together, it’s complicated, especially with the wingers we have.”
“The president of the CTA claims that Spanish referees are the best? My players are the best in the world. He believes his referees are the best in the world. It’s normal for him to defend his referees, just as I defend my players.”
🚨 “Vinícius will play tomorrow. That’s the only thing I can confirm.”
“What will Yan Diomandé’s role be tomorrow? He doesn’t even know himself whether he’ll play or not. The only thing I can say about tomorrow is that Vini will start on the left wing.”
“Arda and Bernardo? They are two different players, but they both have the ability to adapt to different positions. Every match and every team are different. The other day, we played with a different midfield.
I try to field the best possible team. There’s a time and a context for everything, and I try to make the right decisions. Sometimes I’ll be right, and other times I’ll be wrong.”