Jose Mourinho

[madristar]

"Mourinho is a fantastic coach"

Casillas: "We have just gotten started and there is a long road ahead"

Realmadrid.com

Iker Casillas drew all the attention at a promotional event on Thursday afternoon, during which he commented on the long season that lies ahead.

"We are a young team and must therefore take it step by step. We currently sit atop the table, the team is putting up good numbers and we are able to put forth our best football."

"I didn't see the Barça match. I was only able to see Athletic play, but Barça will always be up there. We have just gotten started and there is a long road ahead."

"Real Madrid have a lot of games to play in the Champions League, La Liga and the King's Cup, but we are used to playing so many matches."

"Mourinho is open to anything. He knows what he wants and he is a fantastic coach. Our goal is to have a good season. We have a good relationship. He has coached some great teams and great players and has been very successful in doing so."

"Cristiano Ronaldo is a fantastic person and a great teammate. We share the goal of playing hard and winning matches. He isn't selfish at all. All he wants is to score a lot of goals."

[madristar]

"Mourinho's shadow lingers at Inter"

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes that Jose Mourinho's boots are too big to fill at Inter Milan.

The wily Scot belives that it is impossible for Rafa Benitez, who replaced the Portuguese at Inter Milan during the summer, to match up to the shadow of Mourinho at the Serie A club.

"It's tough to take the place of someone who has won as much as Mourinho," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"One day whoever succeeds me at United will have the same handicap.

"In all cases, every coach who has respect for himself must give their own identity to the team.

"And you can be certain that beating Inter will always be difficult.

"The European champions have all of my respect. I bet on Inter against Barcelona in the semi-final. Jose prepared for it like a champion. And what a phenomenon Cambiasso was on Messi."

Ferguson also gave his tips for who would be at the top end of the Premiership by the end of the current season.

"Chelsea finished last season filling in the weaker teams with goals," he said.

"Anyway they keep winning like champions and who wants to win this Premier League must definitely square up with Chelsea.

"Manchester United have started discreetly, like Arsenal. Us and the Gunners will be in competition with Chelsea until the end.

"It's too soon to make predictions, but we cannot forget Tottenham's progress.

"[Gerard] Houllier will need time at Aston Villa. The disappointment is Everton. I had them among the favourites: they only have two points.

"Manchester City haven't started very well, but with the squad [Roberto] Mancini has they definitely have to be in the running. I have seen them beat Liverpool 3-0, showing power and quality.

"Mancini has bought half a new team. It's difficult to find the right chemistry quickly. When they find continuity they will be a threat."

Ferguson also admitted being a fan of Manchester City's Mario Balotelli.

"Mario Balotelli has extraordinary potential for a 20-year-old. It's a shame about his injury," added the Scotsman.

"We hope to see him in action soon. Federico Macheda is only 19 and he is doing magnificently.

"What a future for the Italian national team when they are both ready together. I am very satisfied with 'Chicco'. He is simply fantastic."

[madristar]

Fergie: Mourinho in a circus at Real

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has underlined how tough a job Jose Mourinho has at Real Madrid.

Mourinho joined the Spanish giants from Inter Milan this summer and is expected to start delivering results immediately.

The Santiago Bernabeu is seething after two failed campaigns, a fact made more painful by the fact that bitter Catalan rivals have won all the trophies and the plaudits.

Ferguson believes Real have made the right choice by going for the Portuguese coach with the Midas touch.

In comments reported by the Daily Mirror, he said: "Real Madrid are better off without question.

"You can expect Real to improve with Jose this year. The Real Madrid job is the hardest challenge in his career.

"I've spoken to Jose a couple of times. He's not managing a normal football club, sometimes he's managing a circus, sometimes a fantastic outfit in terms of the quality of the football they can produce and the kind of players they always want.

"It's a very difficult club to manage."

Mourinho's Real currently sits top of the La Liga standings, with Valencia in second on goal difference.

[Aga]

[Aga]

[madristar]

Mourinho worried by goal drought

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho admitted the side's failure to score goals is becoming a worry for him.

Real were held to a goalless draw at newly-promoted Levante, and gave up top spot to Valencia in the process.

The capital giants bossed the majority of the game but like in so many previous encounters, failed to find the net despite their domination.

After the Levante game, los Blancos have scored only six goals in five games - an extremely low tally given the attacking prowess they possess. In his post-match press conference, Mourinho admitted as much.

"We created a lot of chances tonight, some of them being really good, so I am obviously concerned because we need to score. We are a solid team on defense. We have only allowed one goal in six official games; five in La Liga and one in the Champions League.

"Our tactics aren't the problem, but we aren't scoring. It's not because of our players because we all know just how capable they are of scoring, but we aren't right now. That is my only worry."

Commeting on the Levante game, the coach said: "Only one team played to win tonight. It's not a critique. Every team plays with the weapons it has. But we didn't score, and whoever doesn't score doesn't win.

"Every point earned is one more in the books, but we want to win every match we play. So these are two less points that we have. We are not happy about earning only one point. We must win every match.

"Had we drawn against Real Sociedad I would have said it was a fair result, but the two games that we have drawn were precisely the two that we dominated offensively and had complete control of. Creating chances isn't enough. We need to score.

"We knew exactly how Levante would play. If we want to play our game and are prevented from doing so by the opponent, it's obviously going to be frustrating. I am happy that no Levante player ended up going to the hospital because it looked like one or two might."

However, the Special One was confident his forwards would put on their shooting boots on soon.

"If we change the team around we might not create as many chances, but perhaps we create two and score two goals. We have the balance and we have the ability to create chances, but we you have talented players who can't finish you have trouble. I don't have that problem.

"We have very skilled forwards. It's a matter of streaks. It isn't normal that our players need too many chances to score; or not like [what] happened tonight.

"My team played with a positive attitude and fought until the very last second. I am not a coach that will get upset with a player for missing a goal. I prefer to provide confidence and calmness"

Real are now one point behind Barcelona who beat Athletic Bilbao and two behind Valencia who eased past Sporting Gijon.

[madristar]

Guti: I wasn't forced out by Mourinho

Former Real Madrid midfielder Guti insisted that he was not forced out of the club by new manager Jose Mourinho.

Guti had left Madrid in the summer for a move to Turkish side Besiktas, amid rumours that he had been edged out by incoming coach Jose Mourinho after an argument.

The 33-year-old refuted the allegations, saying: "I've never spoken to ‘Mou', so there was no misunderstanding between us."

Fellow Real Madrid stalwart Raul had also left La Liga in the summer, and Guti felt sad that the only send-off they received was a press conference.

"It was a slightly sad farewell for all the years we were there - perhaps deserved more than a press conference," he admitted.

Guti also said that he would enjoy a return to the club in a coaching capacity.

He said: "I would love to return to the club, like Raul. We know the club and we can help."

[madristar]

Guti: I wasn't forced out by Mourinho

Former Real Madrid midfielder Guti insisted that he was not forced out of the club by new manager Jose Mourinho.

Guti had left Madrid in the summer for a move to Turkish side Besiktas, amid rumours that he had been edged out by incoming coach Jose Mourinho after an argument.

The 33-year-old refuted the allegations, saying: "I've never spoken to ‘Mou', so there was no misunderstanding between us."

Fellow Real Madrid stalwart Raul had also left La Liga in the summer, and Guti felt sad that the only send-off they received was a press conference.

"It was a slightly sad farewell for all the years we were there - perhaps deserved more than a press conference," he admitted.

Guti also said that he would enjoy a return to the club in a coaching capacity.

He said: "I would love to return to the club, like Raul. We know the club and we can help."

[madristar]

Mourinho annoyed by Barca gifts

Jose Mourinho has accused other La Liga teams of making life easy for Real Madrid's big rivals Barcelona by fielding weak sides.

Mourinho was referring to the team put out by Sporting Gijon coach Manuel Preciado, who left out several of his first-team regulars for Wednesday night's clash at the Nou Camp, which Barca won 1-0.

"If there are teams that gift games to Barca, it's going to be a lot harder for us to win the league," Mourinho said at a press conference.

"We are going to need a lot of points to win the league and if, on top of that, there are some teams that are going to put out their second team when they think they are not going to win, we will need even more."

Mourinho also defended Cristiano Ronaldo, who was dubbed "egotistical" earlier this week by television presenter Sara Carbonero, who is also the girlfriend of Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

"A forward has to be selfish," he said.

"It's a positive egotism and it's a big characteristic in strikers that score lots of goals.

"Against Espanyol, even when we were winning 3-0, Cristiano was coming back to defend the corners, which shows he is a team player and not selfish."

Mourinho is not fully satisfied with his side, however, despite winning three matches in a row, and hopes they can improve their concentration at the Bernabeu.

"I'm not asking for anything out of this world. The only thing I don't like is the lack of concentration when we're playing at home," he said.

The Portuguese coach is pleased, however, with striker Karim Benzema and plans to give more opportunities to the France forward in the coming weeks.

"I'm much happier with how he's working and how he's playing. He hasn't played much and he deserves to play more. I have more confidence in him than a month ago and I have to give him more opportunities," he said.

[Aga]

Sara makes only a trouble.

[Aga]

[madristar]

Mourinho happy with pragmatic display

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho was delighted to come through a tough away test at Auxerre with maximum points.

Real, somewhat suprisingly, began with Lassana Diarra deployed in midfield to protect a three-pronged attack of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain, but created few chances throughout the match.

Mourinho had to wait until the 81st minute before substitute Angel Di Maria volleyed in Mesut Ozil's cross to give the Spanish side a narrow 1-0 victory.

"It was a good match all-in-all," he said at a post-match interview.

"It was tough playing a well-organized adversary fell back to defend and that created a lot of danger on the counterattack. It wasn't easy because we wanted to control the match as well as defend against the counter.

"Winning this match and earning our sixth point are all that count."

Mourinho's men are now in pole position to win Group G - dubbed the Group of Death - which includes AC Milan, Ajax and of course Auxerre.

"The team came through in a very difficult game," Mourinho said.

"We created many more chances against Mallorca and Levante and we left empty-handed when everyone thought we would win. We created fewer opportunities tonight, but scored one goal and leave with three points in hand. It's all a matter of being pragmatic."

Milan kept up the pressure on Real for first place in the group by not losing to Ajax in Tuesday's 1-1 draw, and the two European giants meet next on October 19th at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.

Loading comments...

Problems loading Disqus?

[madristar]

oh my gosh!! so many fotos! thanks Aga!!

[madristar]

Benzema: Mourinho is improving me

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has said that Karim Benzema will start against Auxerre in their Champions League clash.

The French striker is relishing the opportunity given to him by his manager, saying to his club's official website: "The coach decides... I feel fit and am very excited about playing this game, which is very important to us."

"Auxerre will be looking to play a good game tomorrow and are in this championship because they are a good team.

"This is only the start to the season, so it's natural for us to lack some things. But we are working very hard and we hope to give a great performance against Auxerre."

The striker, rumoured to have been left out in the cold by Mourinho, dispelled the speculation by saying how much he had learnt from the Portuguese manager so far.

"Mourinho is helping me to make progress.

"He is especially helping me in regards to my mentality.

"I'm sure I will improve considerably with him."

Benzema has scored 10 goals in 32 appearances for the Los Blancos after a high-profile €35 million move from Ligue 1 side Lyon.

[madristar]

Carvalho: Jose thinks like a player

Ricardo Carvalho has followed manager Jose Mourinho from Porto to Chelsea, and most recently, to Real Madrid.

The centreback has a unique bond with his fellow Portuguese, and gave credit to Mourinho for being able to think from a player's perspective.

"His Porto was fantastic," Carvalho told AS. "We were all very well attuned and the way we played was perfect.

"He is a coach who thinks like the players or myself: it's worth more playing badly to win than playing well to lose.

The ideal scenario is to play well and get the win, and I know you know that if we win and play badly Mourinho is not entirely happy."

Real Madrid has been criticised for a lack of goals so far this season, and Carvalho admitted that he was eager to help add to their goal tally despite his defensive duties.

"It's an impulse to try to go and help," he said. "The important thing is to read the situation and play. And the only thing complicated is knowing when is the best time to go back."

[madristar]

Guardiola won't take Mourinho bait

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola is refusing to get into a war of words with Real Madrid counterpart Jose Mourinho.

Ahead oif this weekend's weekend fixtures in La Liga, Real's Portuguese 'Special One' has claimed some teams were making life easy for the Catalan club by fielding under strength sides.

Mourinho hit out at Sporting Gijon earlier today for resting key players at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night, when they went down 1-0 to the Spanish champions, and claimed many teams will put out weakened sides against Barca this season.

Guardiola, however, was his usual diplomatic self when asked about Mourinho's controversial opinions in his press conference before Saturday's league match at Athletic Bilbao.

He twice refused to be drawn on Mourinho's provocative quotes, merely saying: "All teams deserve our respect."

[Aga]

oh my gosh!! so many fotos! thanks Aga!!

welcome

Did you hea what he said about Pedro Leon? He will not play because his coatch doesn't want him. Why do you talk about Pedro like he was Zidane or Maradona? How could he say something like that?

[madristar]

he said that because the press was making a hype of why he didnt let Leon play. MOu just said that if i leave a player u ppl(press)makes an issue of it without knowing

[Aga]

anyway press said it the way they want

[Aga]