After joking with those present about the endless number of press conferences he has to hold throughout the week, praising Arda Güler, and announcing a new award for best player, José Mourinho stood up and dropped his controversial line: "No questions about penalties? That's strange, isn't it?"
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Mourinho's question during a press conference held yesterday was aimed primarily at the media, which sometimes faces accusations within Valdebebas of turning a blind eye to controversial refereeing incidents, and then at Barcelona and Atlético Madrid, who were involved in the most questioned refereeing decisions over the weekend.
Barcelona faced criticism over the penalty awarded after Lamine Yamal went down, while controversy was raised over Atlético Madrid due to a handball inside the box that led to their 1-0 opening goal at the Anoeta stadium.
Through Mourinho's question, it seemed clear that the WhatsApp messages exchanged between club officials and members of the coaching staff had been burning with anger over those decisions.
Before his controversial remark, Mourinho spoke at length about today's match against Elche, in one of his press conferences most focused on football matters in recent times.
The first question was about Vinícius Júnior, whom Mourinho believes has grown close to recovering his best form, though he still expects more goals from him.
The Portuguese coach said: "The best version of him is the one that scores goals. Creating chances is important, working for the team is extremely important, daily work is important and he's doing that very well. But there's another Vinícius."
He added: "The Vinícius who arrived at Benfica last year, got one chance, scored a goal, and then went home. What's missing is that performance at the highest level."
For Mourinho, the best version of Vinícius is the one that scores goals, an aspect he believes is still missing from the player's current form.
On another note, Arda Güler is currently delivering better performances than Vinícius. And while Mourinho held back on some words of praise for the player on Saturday, redirecting the question at the time toward Diomandé, this time he did not hesitate to praise the Turkish international.
He said: "There are a lot of people more qualified than me to talk about his development. Physically, he's changed completely, but for me, the quality of his play is amazing, his vision of the pitch and his creation of play."
He added: "For me, he's a player with wonderful potential, and he has very interesting numbers. He's a player with a huge influence on the match."
He continued: "I don't want to go so far as to say about him: top, top, top, three times, but I can certainly say: top, top."
Mourinho also touched on several issues related to rotation among players, the team's physical condition, and the injuries Real Madrid suffered over the past year.
But if there's one thing that's clear, it's that the BMV trio, Vinícius Júnior, Jude Bellingham, and Kylian Mbappé, will keep playing as long as they're able to. This trio is untouchable as far as Mourinho is concerned.
The coach said: "I have great trust in the players' awareness of their bodies. Today is an important day, because we only have two days between the two matches. We have to listen to the doctors, and to the sports science department, and data analysis. But if I can, and if there's nothing abnormal, I'll field them tomorrow."
There seems to be no doubt that the trio will start again in the derby match, and Mourinho confirmed: "If I can, and if nothing unusual happens, I'll play Vini, Bellingham, and Mbappé tomorrow."
Real Madrid is closely monitoring the injury situation to avoid repeating last season's numbers, and without going into too much detail, Mourinho revealed some key points of the new plan.
Among the changes is that players are now arriving at Valdebebas earlier. Mourinho said: "I know the numbers from the past, but I don't know the details of the process that was followed. We're working on a comprehensive plan that includes the players, the coaching staff, and people specialized in injury prevention, alongside a medical department heavily involved in this integrated approach."
He explained: "And they know a lot about what happens behind the scenes. Players arrive at Valdebebas early, not just because they want to, but for training purposes."
He noted: "We do work in the gym before training. When you see the players walking onto the pitch, they've already completed 35 minutes of gym work. We use common sense and get good results. For example, when Valverde came off between halves in the last match, that was because he was suffering from a physical problem."
He continued: "He might have kept playing if the score had been 0-0, that's true, because sometimes we push ourselves to the limit. But we also need luck, because there are injuries resulting from collisions, and you can be unlucky with knee problems, and these are things that can't be controlled."
Mourinho spoke in detail about the identity he wants Real Madrid to show, explaining that he doesn't believe it's possible to press high for the entire match.
He said: "I don't think it's possible to press high for 90 minutes, and that's not our style. There are only a few teams capable of that kind of pressing."
He continued: "But what you need to know is how to act whether you're pressing in advanced or deeper areas. If you ask me, do I like a low defensive block? I'll tell you no. What I don't want is a contradiction between what I prefer and the characteristics of my team's players. I like pressing high and killing the game within three or four seconds during transitions."
He stressed: "But when we're in a low defensive block because of the quality of the opposing team, I don't want us to be passive. I don't like us suffering through four or five corner kicks, and having the goalkeeper forced to make three amazing saves."
In a friendly atmosphere, Mourinho asked for some mercy regarding the number of press conferences he's forced to attend, also linking that to the congested match schedule, especially the mental pressure resulting from it.
He said jokingly: "Six press conferences a week! In other countries they would have excused me from one of them, but not here. I get tired of you, and you get tired of me, and you no longer know what to ask me. Well, the situation is somewhat similar for the players."
He continued: "Now Atlético has an extra day of rest compared to us, but after that they'll have one less day before the derby. That's just how things are."
Mourinho closed his remarks with a touch of sarcasm, saying: "If you excused me from one of the press conferences... but in the end, this is our job."
Resource: Al-Ghad.
