Pablo Dybala recalls Jose Mourinho memory – “He is a genius” | OneFootball

Within Real Madrid, there is a lot of excitement for Jose Mourinho’s second spell in charge of the first team. The Portuguese was headhunted by president Florentino Perez in the wake of two poor seasons in a row, during which Los Blancos failed to win a single major trophy – in the 2025-26 campaign, they won nothing at all.

Mourinho is seen by many as being the perfect man to drag Real Madrid out of the mire, and a number of the players he will be managing are very much looking forward to working with him. Not many of the current squad have worked with him before, but they have now been given a small window into how he works by Roma forward Paulo Dybala, who spoke glowingly on the Daavo Xeneize podcast (via Diario AS).

“Mou is a genius and he is a great person. He has always spoken to us with respect, he has taken care of us, he has loved us and at Roma people have fallen in love with him for what he has given. Thanks to him I arrived at Roma.”

Can Mourinho get Real Madrid firing again?

After the failure of last season, it was clear that Real Madrid needed a manager that could manage egos in the dressing room. Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa both failed in this regard, but the Portuguese is one of the best in the business at getting on top of things with his players, which would have been one of the reasons why Perez was so desperate to bring him back to the Bernabeu.

Mourinho will be in the door next week for the start of pre-season, and it will be interesting to see how he goes about things during his second spell in charge. He will be under pressure to perform, but the feeling is that he will handle it with ease.