Jose Mourinho talks Cucurella, Bellingham, Mbappe, Arbeloa ahead of Real Madrid vs Malaga | OneFootball

Following their wins against Espanyol and Real Sociedad in the first two games of the new season, Real Madrid are set to face the newly-promoted side Malaga in their third game, which is also set to be played at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Ahead of this game, Jose Mourinho held his customary press conference, and as Diario AS has reported, talked about several aspects of his team and the upcoming match.

The Portuguese tactician started by talking about the lack of rest for his team between matches, as the Merengues will be playing their third game in eight days, and confirmed that Marc Cucurella would be starting his first game as a Real Madrid player:

“There are players who, I never tire of repeating, have had different pre-seasons. We have a strong squad with solutions to compensate for these issues. I can give you an example. Tomorrow, Cucurella will start and Álvaro, who played and played well against Espanyol and Real Sociedad, will be on the bench. If Cucu runs out of energy, we have Álvaro to come on. That is the kind of solution a squad like this gives a coach.”

On the other hand, Mourinho did not give such a clear answer when asked about whether Yan Diomande would start:

“I’m not going to say anything more about individual players. Diomande was one of the last to arrive after a difficult summer because of the decision. He didn’t train with Leipzig, and when he arrived, he didn’t have a training base with his team, so he is progressing little by little. He has already had some minutes, which is what he needs to develop. Tomorrow, he will either start or come on. He is getting more and more prepared.”

When asked about the chemistry between Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior, the Real Madrid head coach emphasized the important of chemistry between the whole of the team, and not between only two players:

“It’s about everyone. The key point is quality. It’s an incredible amount of quality. A second point, which is secondary although still important, is the empathy between two people. A lot of empathy, friendship and cooperation. When you combine personal empathy with incredible quality, we have everything we need to keep improving. The dynamic isn’t 2+9, it’s eleven. That dynamic will make them and everyone else better and better. I couldn’t be happier with a couple of weeks of working together.”

The Portuguese coach made some interesting comments about his ideas on training:

“There are two types of concentration. The one you’re talking about—being together, sleeping in a hotel, at Valdebebas… The one I’m interested in is the one here.” (points to his head) “It has nothing to do with sleeping in a hotel, here. Sometimes I think, and it makes me sad, that all you see is the warm-up and rondos. In the other work, there is a lot of concentration. That’s what interests me.

Sleeping or not sleeping depends. We’re not doing it today. The players are together. We have a tactical meeting now, we’ll eat together. We’ll be together for a while longer and then we’ll see each other in the morning. Espí, Cucurella and I are sleeping here. The rest are going home.”

When talking highly of Jude Bellingham, Mourinho also ensured that every one of his players is special:

“He’s unique. Super important for the team. He has different talents: physical, mental, tactical, his ability to recover the ball, his goalscoring ability, his aerial game. It’s impressive. I really like talking about Kylian, Vini and Jude. I understand the questions. But I’m very happy with everyone.

As I’ve already said, here we only have great players and very, very, very great players. The team has to function as a team. Madrid fans go to the Bernabéu to see these exceptional players, but they go to see a team play as a team, suffer as a team, face difficulties as a team and destroy opponents as a team. I’m the coach of that team and I really like the players I have.”

The Real Madrid coach also made some interesting comments about the Ballon d’Or:

“It’s a very beautiful individual award. You enter the individual history of a particular player. There are a dozen players at a very, very high level, and we have three or four of them. It’s normal for this to exist as an ambition. For me, the Ballon d’Or has to go to those players who, when they retire, we will miss forever. I miss Maradona, Nazario, Messi, Zizou, Matthäus…

You can’t give the Ballon d’Or because someone won the Champions League or the World Cup. If you want to reward the Champions League, give the Ballon d’Or to Luis Enrique. For Spain, surely De la Fuente deserves it. That is the great tribute. The best player in the world is something else; he doesn’t have to be from PSG or Spain.

There are two, three or four, and we know who they are. We know where they are—here. We know who has made history individually this summer. The Ballon d’Or has politics involved, and when politics enters into it, I don’t like it as much. You already know my concept of the Ballon d’Or. We’re not going to invent it in Spain or at PSG. There, Luis Enrique or De la Fuente. The best player is someone else.”

The Real Madrid coach also talked highly of his predecessor, Alvaro Arbeloa, especially highlighting the work he has done at the youth level:

“Arbeloa has done a fantastic job with the lower team. At the top level, the music is different, and he has faced a situation that hasn’t been easy. He has done fantastic work with the players. There isn’t a Castilla player I don’t like.

Thiago has shown that he can no longer play at Castilla level. I like him a lot. He joins this group of 21 players. We have Arribas, Ciria, Cestero, two goalkeepers on the bench… because we don’t have many players. When he is fit, he’ll be part of the group and will get minutes. I tell him that the muscles in his legs are the same as mine and that he needs to put on a couple of kilos through his work.”

Mourinho also opened up on how much freedom and organization a star-studded attacking line like Real Madrid’s should have:

“When you have players of incredible quality, they make the coach look like a phenomenon. They do things that come from the work we do every day. We work on defending and attacking. Today, the 45 minutes of work were focused on attacking organization. We worked on tactical structures and movements. When it comes to difficult moments, they win the matches. You have to give them space for their creativity and give them room to make decisions. You need organization. We are growing in that.”

The Portuguese coach opened up on the physical conditions of Endrick and Aurelien Tchouameni:

“He is the one who is closest to returning. I don’t want to take a risk with Betis. I’m telling you that. He could make it for Betis or for the first Champions League match. The other recovery processes are more complicated. With Tchouameni, we have to control the emotions. I don’t want him to come on, go off, come on, go off. I don’t want to start the season in August with a situation like this. I hope to have Tchouameni fit, and I prefer to wait a little.”

The Real Madrid trainer aired his reservations with the new international break format:

“The international matches concern me. It’s a long time. The players who go with their national teams to play concern me less than those who are called up but don’t play. Those concern me a lot. My relationship with Carlo means I’m kept up to date with the situation, and we’ll exchange information. With Carlo, it won’t be a problem. With others with whom there isn’t this trust, having players away for three weeks is very complicated.

We’re going to trust in the professionalism of those coaches. In the respect they have for the players and the clubs. I don’t want to dramatize it. Many times there are injuries with the national team and then, when they return to the club, they lose the balance of the work they had been doing and, weeks later, the injury comes. That’s how it is and there’s nothing we can do.”

While praising Carlo Ancelotti, Mourinho also predicted problems to arise between him and the Brazil national team coach:

“Ancelotti is great at everything. He doesn’t have a weak point. He’s outstanding at every level. I don’t feel that anything is difficult. I see it as natural. Problems are a natural part of the job. We haven’t had our first problem yet, but it will come. Whether it’s tactical or related to managing the group, it’s normal that it can happen. You have to see it naturally and manage it naturally.”

The Portuguese manager also shared his ideas about revealing his starting eleven to the media ahead of games:

“If tomorrow we go to the match and the opponent doesn’t know our team until an hour and a half before the game, I prefer that. But if our team is revealed today, it’s not dramatic. What concerns me is when you make a lot of structural changes. We play with three centre-backs, with Espí and Kylian together.

If we do something that is outside what the Málaga coach might expect, then yes. But the difference between Carreras and Cucurella is not dramatic. The positive feeling about keeping it undisclosed is that nobody has talked about it. Neither the players, nor the kit men, nor the doctors… But if it comes out, it’s not dramatic.”

There were several talking points from this press conference, the most notable being the confirmation that Cucurella would start at the left-back position and Jose Mourinho sharing his ideas on the Ballon d’Or. For now, his next test will be on the pitch as Real Madrid will be hosting Malaga on Saturday, and hopefully, the Portuguese coach will be able to lead his team to another win.