Mourinho inks deal with Real Madrid
Jose Mourinho is officially the head coach of Real Madrid after signing a deal through June 2014 on Monday.
After meeting with Florentino Perez, Jorge Valdano, Miguel Pardeza and several members of the Board, Jose Mourinho signed a four-year deal with Real Madrid.
Mourinho subsequently held a short conversation with President of Honor Alfredo di Stefano and was later presented with the pen used to ink his contract, a replica of the Santiago Bernabeu, a gold watch and a shirt with his name and the number 1 on the back.
"What drives me is winning with Real Madrid"
Surrounded by press from around the world, Jose Mourinho was introduced as the new head coach of Real Madrid on Monday.
Valdano introduction:
"It is an honor to have one of the most prestigious coaches in the world join us. We are very happy to have him sign for Real Madrid. My job is to look for what is best for the club and at this moment the best is Jose Mourinho, which is why he is here. Welcome and good luck."
Mourinho:
"I don’t know if I was born to coach Real Madrid, but I was definitely born to coach football. I am a coach and I like the most difficult of challenges."
"I am attracted to Real Madrid’s history, their frustrations of recent years and the expectation to win. This is a one-of-a-kind club. I am very proud to coach Real Madrid. I would like to think that my players think the same as I do. The nicest thing of all this isn’t playing or coaching Real Madrid, but winning with Real Madrid. This is what motivates me."
"I think four years are enough to win, build a team with an identity and in football terms prepare for the present and future of Real Madrid. I am very excited and confident. I have a lot of faith in my new players and I hope they do in their new coach."
"I want to thank the President, the Board and Jorge Valdano for thinking about Jose Mourinho as the head coach for their project."
"My goal is to build the present in order to build the future. The second year will be key. It is when the balance between the growth of the team and the job the coach has done is reached. We do not need much time to build a team with its own identity and future."
"I can promise that I am Jose Mourinho and that Jose Mourinho works hard and well, perhaps too much. What drives me the most is always the next challenge and that is now Real Madrid. My level of motivation or dedication never changes. I always do my best, and I will give everything I have to Real Madrid. I have worked hard to deserve to be here today."
"I’ve arrived here after winning all the titles a coach can win at club level, but I never relax. I always want more. It’s important to be humble enough to learn something new every day. I want what Real Madrid wants. From this day, Real Madrid and I are the same and want the same things."
"Playing in an organised fashion is different from playing a defensive game. When a lie is repeated constantly intelligent people will always regard it as a lie; non intelligent people, however, will transform it into truth. Luckily, there are more intelligent than non-intelligent people in football and that’s why I coach teams like Porto, Inter, Chelsea and Real Madrid."
"Balance comes from playing well with and without the ball, from defending and attacking, and from being psychologically strong to win decisive games. It is impossible to win important games or titles without psychological strength. Football is played by a group of men. They are all different, but they work together and form a family that can sometimes become even more important to them than their own families. The club is a second family to players. You can only achieve this through great levels of empathy. This is the only way to earn unexpected results. Once that moment comes, footballers remain my players forever."
"Cristiano Ronaldo is an incredible and important player, but team-work is more important to me than individual efforts. Raul has made history at Real Madrid and I can’t treat him like any other player. Overall, the team does not need drastic changes. It may need two or three new players to increase the squad’s chances to adapt to a specific style."
"I don’t want my squad to be afraid of any opponent. Fear is not a word you can find in my dictionary of football and I don’t want it to be in that of my players. You need to play twelve games before reaching the Champions League final. All the good and bad things from previous years no longer counts. We will start from scratch. We will work on each game at a time without obsessing about the tournament. We will dream about reaching the Wembley final, but we won’t be obsessed by the idea. Pressure is a motivational factor for me; it isn’t something that affects my job negatively."
