Madrid returns three weeks later to Lisbon, to Benfica now, a part of its past – that of the Portuguese coach – too extreme and too hot, no matter how many years pass. “I am one of the few coaches who left Madrid without being fired. I have nothing to reproach myself for,” said the Portuguese in the preview of the first leg of the playoff of the Champions League, to which the white team fell after losing less than a month ago against their former coach (2010-13).
No matter how much time progresses and Madrid has won several Champions Leagues, there is an invisible thread that continues to connect Mou and the meringues. A past that the Setúbal coach discussed this Monday. “I came out with a clean soul. They were three hard, intense, almost violent years. We separated at the right moment,” said the coach, who assured, of course, that it is a stage already closed. Can you say no to Florentino Pérez? They asked him about a hypothetical return to Castellana. “Yes,” he responded laconically.
“I don’t want to feed stories that don’t exist. The only thing that exists is that I have one more year on my contract with Benfica. I would very much like to eliminate Real Madrid. But I would also like for him to win the League and stay. He is a boy with a lot of personality,” he said. “I have given everything to Real Madrid. I did good things and bad things, but that’s it,” he added without specifying what would have changed. “I don’t think about what I would do differently because it is no longer worth anything. From my time there I am left with the fact that I gave everything. In these years [desde la salida del Bernabéu]”I have always had the feeling that people know this,” he said.
“Madrid has grown”
Unlike his appearance three weeks ago at the close of the group stage, Mou was more relaxed this time in his speech about his time at Madrid, although the big event will occur in seven days, when he steps foot again at the Bernabéu. He has not done so, as he assured, since he left in 2013. He will return to Chamartín and the whites will once again return to the stadium of the tenth Champions League, won the year after his departure from the club. “The credit went to those who were there,” he added when asked if his three seasons planted the seeds of that success.
In the midst of so much travel to the past, the present of the tie timidly made its way into Mourinho’s press conference, who did want to send the message that he does not expect the same match as in the 4-2 victory. Also because, as he highlighted, he saw Madrid changed. “I started the analysis of this match by watching the one from three weeks ago again, but I threw it in the trash and started with the matches against him and the . Madrid has a structure and a different way of being on the field. Their tactical mentality is different. They have grown,” he stressed before issuing a warning. “I don’t want my team to play the way Madrid wants.”
