Mourinho’s Ballon d’Or Views and Squad Insights
Jose Mourinho didn’t need a touchline to light the place up. The media room was enough.
On the eve of Real Madrid’s clash with Málaga, the Portuguese coach sat down and, once the inevitable Ballon d’Or question arrived, he went straight for the heart of the debate.
Mourinho’s Ballon d’Or manifesto
For Mourinho, the award has lost its way.
“It’s very beautiful individually,” he began, before shifting the focus. The Ballon d’Or, he argued, should belong to the players we never stop missing once they walk away from the game. He reeled off the names: Maradona, Nazario, Messi, Zidane, Matthäus. Players who define eras, not just seasons.
“You can’t give the Ballon d’Or just because they won the Champions League or the World Cup,” he warned. If the idea is to reward trophies, he said, then give it to Luis Enrique for the Champions League, and to De La Fuente for Spain. That, in his view, would be the real tribute to those competitions.
The “best in the world,” as he put it, doesn’t have to be from PSG or Spain. There are “two, three, or four” players at that level, and in his mind, “we know who they are” and “we know where they are — here.” He pointed to this summer’s individual history as proof.
Then came the sting: “The Ballon d’Or has politics, and if politics gets involved, I don’t like it so much.” His concept of the prize is clear, he said, and he has no intention of reinventing it for Spain or PSG. For him, Luis Enrique or De La Fuente can own the coaching honours. The best player? “Someone else.”
Squad choices and internal competition
Once the storm over the Ballon d’Or calmed, Mourinho switched to the here and now. Málaga on Sunday. Fitness. Form. Choices.
He stressed the uneven pre-season some of his players have endured, but underlined the strength of his squad and the solutions it gives him. One example: “Tomorrow, Cucurella starts, and Álvaro, who played well against Espanyol and Real Sociedad, will be on the bench.” If Cucurella fades, Álvaro is ready. It’s the type of depth he clearly relishes.
Concentration: hotel beds vs. headspace
Talk turned to “concentration” and whether players should be locked away in hotels. Mourinho cut that idea down quickly.
“There are two kinds of concentration,” he said. The one that matters to him is “here” — he tapped his head. It has nothing to do with sleeping in a hotel. What saddens him is the perception that all people see are warm-ups and rondos. In his other job, he insisted, there is a lot of concentration. That’s what interests him.
For this match, they’re not staying in a hotel. The players are together at the training ground: tactical meeting, shared meal, time together. “Espi, Cucurella, and I are sleeping here. The rest are going home.” For Mourinho, unity isn’t measured in room keys.
Diomande’s slow burn
On Yan Diomande, Mourinho shut down any temptation to single out individuals too much, but he did sketch the context.
Diomande arrived late and endured a difficult summer because of “the decision” that kept him from training with Leipzig. He landed in Madrid without a proper physical base. Now he’s building it. He has already seen some minutes and will either start or come off the bench against Málaga. Step by step, Mourinho said, “he’s getting more and more ready.”
Bellingham, and the luxury of stars
When Jude Bellingham’s name came up, Mourinho’s answer was emphatic.
“He’s unique. Super important for the team.” He listed the Englishman’s attributes in quick succession: physical, mental, tactical, ball recovery, goals, aerial presence. “He’s impressive.”
Mourinho admitted he enjoys talking about Kylian, Vini, Jude. He understands the fascination. But he circled back to his central idea: this is a squad full of “great players and truly great players,” and they have to function as a team. Real Madrid fans come to the Bernabéu to see stars, yes, but also to watch a side that “plays as a team, suffers as a team, faces difficulties as a team, and dominates as a team.” That, he reminded everyone, is the team he coaches — and he likes what he has.
Castilla, Thiago Pitarch, and the next step
Mourinho also paused to praise the work being done below the first team. Arbeloa, he said, has done “a fantastic job in defense” with Castilla, even if the attacking side has been more complicated.
“There isn’t a single Castilla player I don’t like,” he insisted. Thiago Pitarch, in particular, has shown he is “no longer fit for the Castilla division.” Mourinho likes him a lot; Thiago is already part of the 21-man group. With limited options, they have Ciria, Cestero, and two goalkeepers on the bench.
Once Thiago is fully fit, Mourinho expects him to be part of the group and to get minutes. With a hint of tough love, he joked that Thiago’s leg muscles are like his own and that the youngster needs to add a couple of kilos “through hard work.”
Freedom for the forwards
Asked about how much freedom his attackers enjoy, Mourinho smiled at the reality of coaching elite talent.
“When you have players of incredible quality, they make the coach look like a phenomenon,” he said. They do things that go beyond the training-ground routine.
The day’s entire 45-minute session was devoted to offensive organisation: tactical structures, movements, patterns. When matches get tight, those players decide them. The job, in his words, is to give them space for creativity and decision-making while keeping the team organised. “We’re improving in that area.”
Endrick, Tchouameni, and the injury tightrope
On the injury front, Endrick is “the closest to returning.” Mourinho doesn’t want to gamble with him against Betis. The Brazilian could be ready either for that league match or for the first Champions League fixture.
Tchouameni’s case is trickier. Mourinho wants to control emotions and avoid a stop-start scenario. He does not want to begin the season in August with the midfielder constantly “in and out.” He would rather wait a bit longer and have him fully fit.
International break anxiety
The looming international break clearly bothers him.
“International matches worry me,” he admitted. The length of time away is the problem. He’s less anxious about players who actually play for their national teams than about those who travel and then sit on the bench. Those are the ones that concern him most.
His relationship with Carlo means there will be open communication and shared information. “With Carlo, it won’t be a problem.” With others, where that trust does not exist, having players away for three weeks is “very complicated.”
He called for faith in the professionalism of national-team coaches and their respect for players and clubs. He doesn’t want to dramatize it, but he knows the pattern: injuries on international duty, players returning, losing the balance of the work done at the club, and then the injury that follows. “It is what it is, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Problems to come, and Ancelotti’s example
Asked whether managing the group or working tactically is harder, Mourinho shrugged off the premise.
“I don’t feel that anything is difficult. I see it as natural.” Problems, he said, are part of life. Real Madrid haven’t had their “first problem” yet this season, but he knows it’s coming — whether tactical or related to team management. The key is to see it as natural and handle it that way.
On Carlo Ancelotti himself, Mourinho was brief and unequivocal: “Ancelotti is a great man in every way. He doesn’t have a weak point. He’s a great man at every level.”
Lineup leaks and tactical surprises
Finally, the subject of leaked starting XIs came up. Mourinho would prefer Málaga not know his lineup until 90 minutes before kick-off, but he refused to dramatize it.
If the plan involved major structural changes — three centre-backs, or Espi and Kylian together in a way Málaga’s coach wouldn’t anticipate — then a leak would worry him. But the difference between Carreras and Cucurella, he said, “isn’t a big deal.”
What reassures him is the silence inside his own walls. The positive sign, he noted, is that “nobody has spoken about it. Not the players, not the kit men, not the doctors…” If the lineup does get out early, he won’t lose sleep over it.
The real battle, as always with Mourinho, will be decided on the pitch — and in the heads of the players he insists are ready to suffer and dominate together.
