The last time Mourinho managed a match inside the Santiago Bernabéu, it was a different building. 1 June 2013, Real Madrid 4-2 Osasuna, José Callejón scoring the final goal of a first reign whose ending had already been confirmed. As Managing Madrid retold this week, he took a commemorative plaque from Ultras Sur in front of the 10,000 who had stayed — then left without giving a press conference at all.
Four thousand, eight hundred and thirty-five days later, he walked back out into it. Real Madrid won 4-1. This time he did speak — and the first thing he wanted to correct was the sound of his own name.
Mourinho On The Bernabéu Chanting His Name
Asked how he felt as the game finished, his answer was deliberately flat. “Calm,” he said in a press conference carried by Bernabéu Digital. “I don’t like it when they chant my name. The team is the most important thing, feeling that support is the most important thing. Before I came I think about myself — a coach lives off his results — but I’m here more for them than for me.”
There was a context to that. The same crowd had jeered the same team before half-time, when Madrid looked sluggish and Real Sociedad were the sharper side. What pleased him was the recovery, not the reception. “I’m pleased with the feeling the players had at the end, with winning well at home, with the smiles,” he said, “and tomorrow we train, because Málaga come on Sunday.”
The Substitutions Mourinho Wanted To Explain
Two changes shaped the second half, and he talked through both. Marc Cucurella replaced Álvaro Carreras at the interval, and it was not a performance call: “I decided to put Cucurella on for Carreras because of the yellow card — it was dangerous with Kubo’s one-v-one.” He also let slip a piece of his own method, grumbling about the half-time warm-up: “at half-time I want everyone inside the dressing room, which is why I sent them out earlier.”
The other was Vinícius Júnior, withdrawn late and after scoring. “I would never have taken Vini off without the goal, without the positive feeling,” he said. “I changed him because he needs a bit of a rest, there’s a game in three days. It was good to bring him off so he could feel the crowd’s affection.” On the relationship itself, and the Portuguese-Brazilian shorthand behind it: “We speak the same language, joking is easier.”
His verdict on the uncomfortable spell around Luka Sucic’s equaliser was the most Mourinho line of the night. “I liked the team in the bad moment, when we were in difficulty. La Real caused us a lot of problems in midfield. When you have doubts there’s no panic; we’ll win the game in the end.”
Forty Goals With Trophies, Or Sixty Without
Then came the headline. Kylian Mbappé had just taken his first LaLiga hat-trick since May 2025, according to Managing Madrid’s post-match numbers — a 10th career goal against Real Sociedad, from only 24 shots against them in total. Asked what the Frenchman might be capable of, Mourinho called him “an incredible player, absolutely incredible”, before framing the season the only way he ever frames one: he would rather Mbappé scored 40 goals and the club won trophies than 60 and won nothing.
It is a theme Mbappé himself reached for when this era began, promising titles rather than personal numbers. After a 2025-26 that ended without a single trophy, it is also the only currency that will settle anything at this club.
Eleven Games, Two Spells, One Bernabéu
The statistic that frames the night is almost absurd. Wednesday made it 11 games unbeaten in the Bernabéu dugout for Mourinho across two spells and 13 years, and a 10th straight home win; the last time he failed to win there, per Managing Madrid, was a 1-1 draw with Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in February 2013.
From Callejón’s goodbye goal to Mbappé’s hat-trick, 4,835 days apart, with no press conference at one end and a long one at the other. He does not want the chanting. He will take the three points.
