After wrestling his way out the door at Tottenham in 2021, there were a few seasons at Roma until 2024, before The Special One left the top five leagues for the first time in twenty years. There was a guest appearance at Fenerbahce (and a loss to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – again), then Benfica. In the summer, when “everyone” thought the coaching legend was out of the question for the biggest clubs, the invitation came from the biggest.
Real Madrid have also brought in some of the best players on the market this summer. When the club already has several of the world’s best in their positions, the table is set for Jose Mourinho. In his second La Liga game, this time against Barcelona club Espanyol, the combination of the world’s best and The Special One was not enough. Mourinho of course made his mark in familiar style.
Espanyol – Real Madrid 1-0. When even Kyiian Mbappé misses a penalty to lose the one point, then it really didn’t want to happen for Real.
José Mourinho was unsurprisingly once again at the centre of events. The Real Madrid coach received a yellow card during the match, but after the final whistle he had trouble explaining what the referee had done.
“I don’t know why I got a yellow card, but I accept it,” Jose Mourinho began after the game, according to MARCA.
Mourinho also explained what made him rise from his place on the sidelines.
“I got up because a Betis player looked like he had died in front of our bench,” Mourinho says ironically.
It was Mourinho’s first defeat since his return to Real Madrid. The Portuguese is known for blaming the referees for losses, but for a change, the referee was not named as a scapegoat this time.
“I’ve seen a lot of people frustrated with the decisions, but I haven’t seen them properly myself and therefore can’t comment. He let the game go on and that’s something I like. After losing, and saying it was a yellow card, I’m not going to do that. I can change my mind tomorrow, but today, with the emotions from the bench, I don’t know why we lost.”
