Real Madrid manager José Mourinho has declared that his team will win titles under his leadership, insisting the squad needs more time to adapt to his methods ahead of Sunday’s El Clásico against Barcelona.
“No. Madrid with Mourinho wins titles,” he said when asked whether the clash would serve as a test of his ability to win major trophies, the club’s official website reported on Saturday.
Speaking to journalists at the Ciudad Real Madrid training complex, Mourinho described his team as a work in progress ahead of the La Liga Matchday 10 fixture at Camp Nou.
The Portuguese manager said it was unfair to compare his side’s current development with teams that had worked together for two or three years.
“We’ve been working for three months. If you take away the preseason, where players were arriving every week, and the nearly three weeks they spent with their national teams, we’ve been working for a month and a half or two months,” he said.
“Far from being a finished product, we are a product in progress. We’re in a phase where the coach is getting to know, analysing, and defining paths. The players are also getting to know their coach, his way of acting and leading.”
Mourinho added that criticism was inevitable when the team performed below expectations or suffered negative results.
He also played down the significance of recent results ahead of the Barcelona encounter, despite Real Madrid’s run of victories and Barcelona’s defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
“We are in a good dynamic. We win matches, play well, score goals… But in Clásicos, it has no influence; they are different matches. In my experience with Clásicos and derbies, what happens before doesn’t have much significance,” he said.
The manager said Barcelona’s defeat would not necessarily affect their confidence going into Sunday’s match.
“I don’t think Barcelona, because they lost one match, will change their mindset and confidence going into this match,” he said.
Mourinho also dismissed suggestions that the praise Barcelona had received or the criticism directed at Real Madrid would influence his approach.
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He said Barcelona deserved recognition when they performed well but maintained that Real Madrid should not be judged as a finished team.
“In our case, the only thing I think is that if you see us as a finished product, finished products in football are very rare because they are never truly finished,” he said.
Mourinho described El Clásico as one of football’s most significant fixtures, saying its global appeal transcended the identities of the managers in charge.
He said the rivalry attracted football fans worldwide and expressed hope that Sunday’s encounter would be a good match for spectators.
Asked whether he felt he received insufficient credit for his work, Mourinho said he preferred to praise his players when they performed well and accept responsibility when the team struggled.
“Players win matches, and coaches lose them; that’s a bit of our life,” he said.
On Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal, Mourinho praised the youngster’s ability but said Real Madrid would not abandon their tactical identity to contain an individual opponent.
“He’s a great player, and great players are respected,” he said, adding that respecting an opponent did not mean changing the team’s structure or abandoning its principles.
The manager declined to disclose his tactical plans, team selection or intended approach for the match, saying he would not discuss those details before the encounter.
He also addressed questions about the referee and reports concerning former refereeing official José María Enríquez Negreira, saying his concern was whether the rules were being followed.
On Barcelona manager Hansi Flick, Mourinho described him as a great coach who was doing an excellent job.
Real Madrid are scheduled to face Barcelona at Camp Nou on Sunday in the 10th round of La Liga, with Mourinho seeking a victory in one of world football’s most closely watched fixtures.
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