Jose Mourinho has shared candid insights into the initial challenges he faced during his first tenure as head coach of Real Madrid. While the Portuguese manager acknowledged that the club possessed a “fantastic” squad, he noted that the team's mental attitude was severely lacking. According to Mourinho, it did not take long for him to determine that his players were “spoilt.”
The manager's assessment was largely formed during his first conversations with then-captain Iker Casillas. Mourinho recounted that the goalkeeper’s initial requests were focused on personal and team comforts rather than performance. “The first time I spoke with Casillas, the first thing he told me was: ‘I want to ask for more holidays for the national team players’,” Mourinho said. He further explained that Casillas later requested that training sessions be pushed back by an hour to avoid Madrid traffic and suggested that the players skip staying at the hotel to meet directly at the stadium on match days.
These tensions eventually boiled over during the 2012-13 season. Mourinho found himself at odds with several senior players, including Casillas, whose playing time was reduced to 19 league matches that campaign. The manager expressed strong disapproval of Casillas maintaining close ties with Barcelona players, who were the club’s archrivals. “There are things that I don't accept and I will never accept and when somebody doesn't respect me, it's a problem,” Mourinho stated. “I say, this is Barcelona, Real Madrid. When you go to the national team, then you can kiss the guy, but not now. This is war.”
Casillas, the club's second most-capped player, acknowledged the friction in the Netflix docuseries, describing his relationship with the manager as “very cold.” He noted that the dynamic reached a breaking point during those years. Former midfielder Sami Khedira, who served on Mourinho's coaching staff, added that the ongoing rift between the coach and his captain had a detrimental impact on the team. Mourinho eventually left the club at the end of a trophyless 2012-13 season, though he returned to the Bernabeu this summer following the departure of Alvaro Arbeloa.
The 63-year-old was seemingly not a fan of Casillas’ close relationship with fellow Spain internationals at Barcelona, Los Blancos’ archrivals.
