Mourinho on Ballon d’Or and Real Madrid's Squad Depth
Jose Mourinho walked into the Valdebebas media room with a league game against Málaga on the horizon and a familiar topic waiting for him. The Ballon d’Or. He didn’t dodge it. He never does.
Mourinho redraws the Ballon d’Or debate
Asked about the award, the Real Madrid coach went straight to the heart of what he believes it should represent.
“For me, the Ballon d’Or has to go to those players who, when they retire, we miss forever,” he said, before listing the names that, for him, define an era: Maradona, Nazario, Messi, Zidane, Matthäus. Players whose absence leaves a permanent hole in the game.
He dismissed the idea that the prize should simply follow trophies.
“You can't give the Ballon d’Or just because they won the Champions League or the World Cup. If you want to reward the Champions League, give the Ballon d’Or to Luis Enrique. For Spain, De La Fuente certainly deserves it. This is the great tribute.”
For Mourinho, the best player in the world is not automatically the one at PSG or with Spain, and not necessarily the one with the biggest medal haul this season. He insisted there are “two, three, or four” players who truly stand apart and made “history individually this summer” — and he made it clear where he thinks they are.
“We know where they are — here,” he said, pointing firmly towards Real Madrid. But he doesn’t like what he sees as the political layer around the award.
“The Ballon d’Or has politics, and if politics gets involved, I don't like it so much. We already know my concept of the Ballon d’Or. We're not going to invent it in Spain or at PSG. There, it's Luis Enrique or De La Fuente. The best player is someone else.”
Squad choices and the Cucurella–Álvaro decision
Talk quickly moved back to Málaga and the state of his squad. Mourinho underlined how uneven the summer had been for several players, but stressed the depth at his disposal.
“There are players who have had different preseason experiences. We have a strong squad with solutions to compensate for these issues.”
He offered a concrete example. Against Málaga, Cucurella starts. Álvaro, who impressed against Espanyol and Real Sociedad, drops to the bench.
“If Cucurella runs out of steam, we have Álvaro to come on. It's the kind of solution a squad like this provides a coach.”
That, in Mourinho’s eyes, is the luxury: not just a strong XI, but strong alternatives.
‘Concentration’ where it matters
The conversation turned to the team’s focus. Mourinho drew a clear line between the image of a united group in a hotel and the mental edge he demands.
“There are two kinds of concentration,” he said. “The one you're talking about, being together, sleeping in a hotel… The one I'm interested in is the one here,” he added, pointing to his head.
He admitted it bothers him that outsiders mostly see warm-ups and rondos and miss the real work.
“In my other job, there's a lot of concentration. This is what interests me. Sleeping or not sleeping, it depends. We're not sleeping today. The players are together. We have a tactical meeting now, we're eating together. We'll be together a little longer and then we'll see each other in the morning. Espi, Cucurella, and I are sleeping here. The rest are going home.”
The message was simple: the mind matters more than the mattress.
Diomande’s slow burn
On Yan Diomande, Mourinho shut down any temptation to single out individuals for criticism or hype, but he did explain the context.
“Diomande arrived late and had a difficult summer because of the decision. He didn't train with Leipzig; when he arrived, he didn't have a foundation to work with, and he's progressing gradually.”
The plan is patience, minutes, and rhythm.
“He's already had playing time, which is what he needs to develop. Tomorrow he'll either start or come on as a substitute. He's getting more and more ready.”
Bellingham, and the weight of a ‘unique’ star
When Jude Bellingham’s name came up, Mourinho didn’t hold back.
“He's unique. Super important for the team,” he said, before breaking down the midfielder’s arsenal: physical strength, mentality, tactical understanding, ball recovery, goals, and aerial power. “He's impressive.”
He admitted he enjoys talking about the headliners — “Kylian, Vini, Jude” — and understands why the questions keep circling back to them. But he used the moment to reinforce a core principle.
“Here we only have great players and truly great players. The team has to function as a team. Real Madrid fans go to the Bernabéu to see these exceptional players, but they also go to see a team play as a team, suffer as a team, face difficulties as a team, and dominate as a team. I'm the coach of that team, and I really like the players I have.”
The stars shine, but the collective comes first.
Castilla, Thiago Pitarch, and the next step
Mourinho also took time to credit the work done at Castilla level, especially by Arbeloa.
“Arbeloa has done a fantastic job in defense. Up front, the situation is different, and it hasn't been easy. He's done a fantastic job with the players. There isn't a single Castilla player I don't like.”
Thiago Pitarch, in particular, has caught his eye.
“Thiago has shown he's no longer fit for the Castilla division. I like him a lot. He's part of this group of 21 players.”
Right now, options are tight. “We have Ciria, Cestero, and two goalkeepers on the bench because we don't have many options,” Mourinho explained. Once Thiago is fully ready, minutes will come.
“When he's fit, he'll be part of the group and will get playing time. I tell him his leg muscles are the same as mine, and he needs to put on a couple of kilos through hard work.”
The joke carried a clear challenge: bulk up, and step up.
Letting attackers breathe
Asked about the freedom given to his forwards, Mourinho drew a line between structure and inspiration.
“When you have players of incredible quality, they make the coach look like a phenomenon. They do things that go beyond the everyday routine.”
He revealed that the entire 45-minute session that day had been devoted to offensive organization — tactical shapes, movements, patterns. But he knows matches are often decided when plans fray at the edges.
“When things get tough, they win matches. We have to give them space for creativity and for their ability to make decisions. We have to be organized. We're improving in that area.”
The framework is his. The magic belongs to them.
Endrick, Tchouameni and the injury tightrope
On the injury front, there was cautious optimism around Endrick.
“[Endrick] is the closest to returning. I don't want to take any risks with Betis. Like I said, he could be ready for Betis or for the first Champions League match.”
Tchouameni’s case is trickier, and Mourinho wants to avoid a stop-start saga.
“With Tchouameni, we have to keep our emotions in check. I don't want him to be in and out, in and out again. I don't want to start the season in August with a situation like this. I hope to have Tchouameni fit again, and I prefer to wait a little longer.”
Short-term temptation is being sacrificed for long-term stability.
International break anxiety
The looming international window clearly bothers him. Not because players go away — but because of what happens when they barely play.
“International matches worry me. It's a long time. I'm less concerned about players who go with their national teams to play than those who are selected but don't play. Those are the ones I worry about the most.”
His relationship with Carlo Ancelotti offers reassurance: they speak, they share information. “With Carlo, it won't be a problem.” With others, he admitted, that trust isn’t always there.
“Having players away for three weeks is very complicated. We're going to have faith in the professionalism of those coaches, in the respect they have for the players and the clubs. I don't want to dramatize it.”
But he knows the pattern: an injury on international duty, a break in the club’s workload, and then trouble when they come back.
“Often, there are injuries while on international duty, and then when they return to their clubs, they lose the balance of the work they'd been doing for weeks, and then the injury happens. It is what it is, and there's nothing we can do about it.”
Managing problems before they arrive
Asked whether managing the group or the tactical side is harder, Mourinho shrugged off the idea of difficulty altogether.
“I don't feel that anything is difficult. I see it as natural. Problems are a natural part of life. We haven't had our first problem yet, but it's going to come. Whether it's tactical or related to team management, it's normal for it to happen. You have to see it as a natural occurrence and manage it as a natural one.”
For him, conflict isn’t a crisis. It’s part of the job description.
Respect for Ancelotti, and the lineup ‘leaks’
On Ancelotti himself, Mourinho was brief but emphatic.
“Ancelotti is a great man in every way. He doesn't have a weak point. He's a great man at every level.”
Finally, the issue of lineups leaking surfaced. Does it bother him if Málaga know his XI early?
“If we go into tomorrow's match and the opposition doesn't know our lineup until an hour and a half before kickoff, I prefer that. But if our lineup starts today, it's not a big deal.”
The real concern, he said, would be if he were planning something truly unexpected.
“The worrying thing is when you make a lot of structural changes. If we played with three centre-backs, with Espi and Kylian together. If we do something that's outside of what the Málaga manager might expect, then yes, it's a concern. But the difference between Carreras and Cucurella isn't a big deal.”
He even drew a small positive from the situation: the silence inside the dressing room.
“The positive feeling about him not starting is that nobody has spoken about it. Not the players, not the kit men, not the doctors… But if he does start, it's not a big deal.”
Málaga await. The Ballon d’Or debate rages on. Mourinho, as ever, stands firmly in the middle of both, convinced he already has the players who define this era sitting in his own dressing room.
