Nine points from nine, and a line in the record books. The Mourinho Real Madrid record start is now the best of his time at the club — three La Liga matchdays, three wins, and a manager who has needed four seasons in the Santiago Bernabéu dugout to finally manage it.
As Mundo Deportivo point out, across his first spell and this one Jose Mourinho had never before won the opening three league games of a season in charge of Los Blancos. Not in the 2011/12 title year, not in either of the seasons around it. It has taken until 2026/27, at the fourth attempt.
The Mourinho Real Madrid record start in numbers
The run reads 2-1 against Espanyol, then the 4-1 dismantling of Real Sociedad, then a third straight win over Málaga at the Bernabéu. Madrid closed August top of the table with a full house of victories.
There is still a personal benchmark out in front of him, though. Mourinho’s best-ever start to a season anywhere remains the nine consecutive wins he racked up with Chelsea in 2005/06, per the same Mundo Deportivo report. Three is a record at Madrid. Nine is the one he would actually enjoy beating.
Mbappe and Bellingham are doing the damage
The attacking numbers behind the perfect month belong to two players. Kylian Mbappe has four goals in three matches; Jude Bellingham has two goals and two assists and is, by Mundo Deportivo’s reckoning, in spectacular form. Both are meeting expectations that were set very high in August.
What makes it more striking is the state of the treatment room. Rodrygo is a long-term absentee — though he is back out on the grass at Valdebebas — while Ferland Mendy is also sidelined long term, Eder Militao is working back from hamstring surgery and Raul Asencio is still short of full fitness. Vinicius Junior, meanwhile, has not quite caught fire yet. Nine points from nine with that list is not a bad platform.
Not everyone is buying it yet
The mood around the coach has shifted noticeably. Marca radio presenter Raul Varela handed Mourinho the "Special One" status among the summer’s arrivals, arguing that the star of the entire transfer window was the manager rather than any of the signings. Former academy player and coach Alvaro Benito, analysing the start for Mundo Deportivo, sees a dressing room convinced by the Portuguese’s ideas: "The positive thing is that the hard hand has not had to come out."
Even from outside, the read is similar. Robert Lewandowski, who left Barcelona this summer for Major League Soccer, told AS that Madrid look stronger with Mourinho in charge, while being careful to add where his own loyalty still sits.
The counterweight came from Marca’s David Sanchez, who asked for restraint: "They inflate the balloon so much that it ends up bursting." His point of reference is recent history — the speed with which the mood turned on Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa, Mourinho’s two predecessors, after promising early runs. Three games is three games.
Real Betis is the next examination
The first genuine away test comes on Friday, when Madrid travel to face Real Betis at the Estadio La Cartuja. It is not obvious territory: Mundo Deportivo note that the historical record between the two clubs in Seville is almost perfectly balanced, which is a rarity for Madrid anywhere in Spain.
Beyond that, the calendar builds quickly — a Champions League campaign to open and then El Clasico at the end of October. Federico Valverde’s side have banked the maximum from a month in which Mourinho was still learning his squad. The interesting part starts now.
