Mourinho Rejects Any Debt to Real Madrid Before Inter Clash

José Mourinho says he owes Real Madrid no European redemption as he prepares to face his former club Inter in the Champions League.

Mourinho led Inter to the 2010 title before moving to Real Madrid on a three-year contract. The plan was for him to bring the European success he had built in Italy to the Spanish capital. Instead, he left in 2013 without winning the Champions League, the only major title he did not claim with Real Madrid.

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No, they are two different periods. When I left Real Madrid in 2013, we won what we won. And we lost what we lost. We gave everything we had. And that was it.

But Mourinho rejects the idea that his second period at the club carries an added obligation. “No, they are two different periods. When I left Real Madrid in 2013, we won what we won. And we lost what we lost. We gave everything we had. And that was it,” he said, according to Reuters. “What I have to do now has nothing to do with the past.”

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What I have to do now has nothing to do with the past.

Real Madrid won the Champions League the season after Mourinho’s departure and has since lifted the trophy six times. Mourinho acknowledged the club’s transformation, noting that in 2010 it had not even reached the quarter-finals and had gone a long time without appearing in a semi-final. “Now we have won six Champions League titles in a little over a decade,” he said.

He said the club’s expectations remain absolute, but that success requires consistency. “We want to win every match and every tournament. But we have to work to achieve stability and structure.” Real Madrid, he added, “has to have the stability that is so important to achieving something great.”

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We want to win every match and every tournament. But we have to work to achieve stability and structure.