Jose Mourinho revealed the team Cristiano Ronaldo and co were afraid of facing when he arrived at Real Madrid.
Jose Mourinho spent three years at Real Madrid, between 2010 and 2013.
During his time at the Santiago Bernabeu, the Portuguese manager led the side to a La Liga title in 2012.
However, Mourinho failed to inspire Real Madrid to Champions League glory – a competition where the Los Blancos had not been largely successful in the few years prior to Mourinho’s arrival.
And now, the former Manchester United manager revealed the Real Madrid players were most afraid of facing when he arrived at the club.
Mourinho on Real Madrid’s Champions League failures:
Real Madrid didn’t enjoy a good time in the Champions League for a good few years before Mourinho’s appointment.
The Portuguese manager was appointed despite his work with Barcelona before, but failed to guide them to European success. However, the manager took them to the semifinals of the Champions League in all the three seasons.
The one team which Real Madrid lost to on two occasions in as many years before Mourinho’s arrival was Lyon. And the Portuguese manager has now revealed that Ronaldo and co was scared of facing the Ligue 1 outfit.
“I think that for seven or eight years they hadn’t reached the quarter-finals. They didn’t play in semi-finals or quarter-finals,” he told beIN Sports.
“In my first season we had Lyon and the club was afraid.
“I couldn’t understand how a club could be afraid of Lyon, who were a good team, but it was Lyon.”
In 2011, Real Madrid lost to arch-rivals Barcelona in the semifinals of the tournament. In the following two seasons, they suffered defeats to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the same stage.
However, Real Madrid enjoyed huge success after Mourinho’s departure from the club. Since 2013, the club lifted four Champions League titles – Zinedine Zidane won three of them.
The Frenchman made a dramatic return to the side as the manager earlier this month after leaving the side at the end of the previous season.
How Twitter reacted..
Jose Mourinho on managing Real Madrid: “In my first season we had Lyon and the club was afraid. I couldn’t understand how a club could be afraid of Lyon, who were a good team, but it was Lyon.” pic.twitter.com/X3EZ5H8IzO
— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) March 20, 2019
Pep is number 5, while Mourinho is number 13 in world greatest coaches. I look at there records and I see a man who is hated and not appreciated enough in football world.
Mourinho keep creating history, we know the best in our heart. pic.twitter.com/cVrYnyOn64
— Mourinho mindset (@onecrussh) March 19, 2019
“He is more than just a Manager, he is a man. A real man. It is true that alot do not appreciate him because he says alot of truth.”
-Samuel Eto’o on Jose Mourinho. https://t.co/JDTAqcUBcc— J.Mou (@FutbollHeritage) March 18, 2019
As I have said on previous Tweets….Mourinho was way ahead of his time!! Here is a couple of more extracts from a report on Man United and FC Porto and a breakdown on the Offensive/Defensive phases of analysis that he uses….Enjoy part 2 of the Mourinho Scouting Approach. pic.twitter.com/iI1KCkrRiN
— Performance Analysis in Action (@PerformanceAna2) March 17, 2019
What next?
Jose Mourinho is currently working as a pundit for beIN Sports, but has stated that he may return to management at the beginning of the next season.
