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Thirteen years later, Jose Mourinho appears to be closing in on a return to the Real Madrid managerial position. If he makes a comeback, he will shoulder two key missions: first, to help Real Madrid reclaim championships, and second, to repair the fractured dressing room relationships.
Real Madrid is currently going through a difficult period. Club president Florentino Perez is considering recalling Mourinho to replace Alvaro Arbeloa as the head coach. The team is on the verge of finishing without a title for the second consecutive season, and since the managerial change in January this year, when Arbeloa took over from Xabi Alonso, the dressing room has been divided.
The question is whether the 63-year-old Mourinho can re-integrate this dressing room with his strong management skills, experience in handling relationships with star players, and familiarity with Real Madrid. Over the past 20 years, Mourinho has been a polarizing figure: when successful, he is regarded as an outstanding team leader; when failing, he is often criticized for being overly self-centered and prone to creating conflicts.
From Porto and Benfica to Inter Milan, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Roma, Mourinho has coached numerous world-class stars, including six Ballon d'Or winners: Luis Figo, Andriy Shevchenko, Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, and Karim Benzema. Therefore, sarcastic remarks made by Kylian Mbappe or Vinicius Junior in front of the media will not shake him.
Establishing authority has never been a problem for Mourinho. He has a thick skin, delivers sharp counterattacks, and is not afraid of conflicts. However, whether he can maintain harmony in the Real Madrid dressing room under shared values, like Zinedine Zidane did, remains to be seen. Because during his first tenure at Real Madrid from 2010 to 2013, Mourinho never truly won the unanimous support of the dressing room; instead, he repeatedly caused tensions.
The most typical conflict occurred in 2012, during the later stages of his Real Madrid management. As time went on, Mourinho's usual "carrot and stick" management approach gradually exhausted some players. In early 2012, he began criticizing Sergio Ramos, Iker Casillas, and the Spanish internationals in the team, believing that they were "more concerned with maintaining superficial relationships with Barcelona players than defending the Real Madrid jersey". He also accused some players of "using the Christmas break for eating, drinking, and traveling" and threatened to reveal the names of the relevant players to the media.
On the players' side, they felt they were being monitored; and in terms of football, some players were also dissatisfied with Mourinho's overly defensive tactics that emphasized physical confrontation, believing that this did not conform to Real Madrid's style. After one El Clasico, Mourinho criticized Ramos for problems marking Gerard Pique, and Ramos retorted: "You have never worn football shorts on the pitch, so you can't possibly understand what marking feels like".
In his previous coaching roles, Mourinho often faced teams that supported him. But at Real Madrid, he encountered opposition, player power, and the club's unique "player republic". After a disastrous 2012, Mourinho benched Iker Casillas, and when Ramos and Casillas confronted Florentino, stating "either he goes or we go," the Real Madrid president ultimately sided with Ramos and Casillas.
His relationship with Kaka was also tense at one point. Allegedly, during a conversation attended by Kaka and his father, Mourinho once told Kaka: “Don't you understand that I don't count on you anymore? Don't you want to do something to restart your career?”
However, Mourinho did not have poor relationships with everyone. His relationship with compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo was originally expected to be good, and it indeed was. Ronaldo scored 168 goals in Mourinho's three seasons at Real Madrid. A few months before Mourinho left Real Madrid, Ronaldo commented on him: "He is the best, he is the strongest, and he has proven it everywhere".
His relationship with Karim Benzema experienced a turning point. In early 2011, frustrated by being a long-term substitute, Benzema took the initiative to approach Mourinho and said: "Coach, please tell me little by little what you want me to do on the pitch. I will follow your direction completely, and I don't want to miss the opportunity at Real Madrid". Mourinho appreciated this attitude from Benzema, helped him afterward, and was satisfied with Benzema's willingness to follow instructions.
During his three years at Real Madrid, Mourinho won one La Liga title and one Copa del Rey, and he also insisted on signing Luka Modric from Tottenham, which became one of his important successful decisions during his tenure at Real Madrid.
In the early stages of his coaching from 2010 to 2011, Mourinho repeatedly expressed his management philosophy through the media and achieved strong public opinion effects. He once said: "With 11 stars, I can't win anything. Not being in the starting lineup can also make you an important player". He also said: "I don't care how good a defender is at attacking if his defending is terrible".
Mourinho's most representative quote at that time was: "With me, 11 players attack together, 11 players defend together. Before at Real Madrid, it was 4 players attacking and 6 players defending. That era is over".
He also stated: "My job is to teach them to play as a unit, form a team like a family, and make them feel that there is a leader behind them who will protect them".
This has always been Mourinho's story, and it is precisely because of this that he is once again being linked with Real Madrid.
