MADRID.- The coach of real Madrid, Jose Mourinhoconsiders that its stars Vinicius, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham “they are not incompatible”, but he recognizes that he has to find the right “tactical conjugation” for them.
“The best want to play with the best. Then the tactical conjugation can be a little more difficult,” explained the merengue coach in the press conference prior to his debut in LaLiga on Saturday against Spanish.
The association of the three Madrid stars is one of the great challenges for Mourinho, who may find himself facing the same dilemma as his predecessors. Carlo Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloawho were unable to make the three play without unbalancing the team.
“Ancelotti has found a Brazil perfect for Vini, (Didier) Deschamps found a France perfect for Kylian, (Thomas) Tuchel has found (an English team) perfect for Jude. More difficult for Mourinho to find a perfect one for the three,” said the Real Madrid coach.
“I want the three of them to feel comfortable when they play,” Mourinho explained, confident that everything will go well when they play together.
“They are high-quality players and I don’t feel that they are incompatible positions either. I am very confident that we are going to have a great season with them,” added the Portuguese coach.
The former coach of Chelsea, Inter Milan and Manchester United, among others, he recalled, however, that the commitment “is non-negotiable” and warned that everyone will have to get involved in defensive work.
“You have to defend with eleven,” said Mourinho, for whom this concept differs depending on each match and each opponent.
“It depends on the situation, but you have to work. One thing is to work by pressing, another thing is to work by closing spaces,” he explained.
“Press and close spaces”
“There are people who are going to have to really press, there are people who have to close spaces, but the concept of people who defend and people who wait for the recovered ball does not work,” warned the merengue coach.
“I also tell you that every time we have worked on defensive concepts, there has been a very good response from everyone, zero problems,” he said.
Mourinho also claimed to have seen Vinicius “happy”, after the tug of war that ended with the renewal of the Brazilian star until 2032.
“He is one of the best players in the world and the best have to be here,” insisted the Portuguese coach.
“I think he is happy, that he is comfortable with the way we are preparing the games and he wants to win, from the first day, every small conversation we had always ended in ‘we are going to win again’, ‘we are going to be happy again’.”
The coach, who hopes to put an end to two blank seasons for Real Madrid, also referred to the incident between Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde last season, which ended with the Uruguayan spending briefly in the hospital.
“I have decided to start from scratch,” said Mourinho, who felt the need to speak with the two players.
“What I have seen is about normality, friendship, cooperation and nothing. It is as if nothing had happened,” he said.
Real Madrid visits Espanyol in its league debut, but Mourinho says he does not feel pressure about it.
“I wouldn’t say pressure, I would say… adrenaline that comes, adrenaline that is positive, that I want,” he said.
