Jose Mourinho is determined to return to Real Madrid for a second time.
Benfica manager Mourinho, who broke Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona dominance when he led Madrid to the LaLiga title on his debut in 2012, will return to a club divided after a cup-less season.
Indeed, Madrid will finish in second place away from champions Barcelona, who have 11 points with a game left.
Closing that gap at a club that appears to be in complete agreement, with Barca confirming Hansi Flick’s contract extension on Monday, will not be an easy task for the coach whose last league title came in 2015 with Chelsea.
And there are a few issues he has to resolve for Mourinho and Madrid to even come close to wresting the LaLiga title from Barcelona.
Combine the dressing room
The Madrid dressing room is broken. The build-up to the Clasico match that ensured Barcelona the title was full of fights as the players arrived.
Alvaro Carreras was involved in an altercation with Antonio Rudiger, before captain Federico Valverde went to hospital for treatment following a fight with midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, incidents that serve as clear evidence of Alvaro Arbeloa’s lack of authority.
Mourinho is a coach who has never had a problem with authority, and his most important immediate task when the team reunites at the start of next season will be to ensure that the dressing room is united behind him.
Address Vinicius’ concern
Mourinho could appear to be the choice Madrid want given the criticism the Portuguese have received for his comments after Los Blancos star Vinicius Junior claimed he was racially abused by Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni.
Vinicius, who gave Madrid a 1-0 lead, left the field on February 17 at the Estadio da Luz after allegedly making racist comments to the referee, which led to the game being suspended.
Mourinho responded by suggesting Vinicius’ celebration of his goal caused the incident. Prestianni was last month banned for six matches by UEFA for homophobic comments, a ban extended by FIFA worldwide.
It has been reported that Vinicius does not see Mourinho’s arrival as a problem. But, with club president Florentino Perez recently admitting that talks to extend the Brazilian’s contract, which expires at the end of next season, have stalled, it is important for Mourinho to ensure his relationship with Vinicius is harmonious and put the 25-year-old in a position where he is ready to agree a deal.
Mbappe saved the situation
Kylian Mbappe has scored 84 goals for Madrid since leaving Paris Saint-Germain, yet the transfer risks turning into a nightmare for him and the club.
The asking price for Mbappe is over 70 million, and his behavior before the Clasico has caused discontent at the club. Mbappe recovered from the injury the day before the game but is said to have pulled out of training due to discomfort after being included in the planned substitute squad.
In addition, the vacation that Mbappe took to Italy with his girlfriend after he was injured against Real Betis is said to have not gone down well with the club.
Mbappe raised eyebrows with his comments after playing the role against Oviedo on Thursday.
“I’m doing well, 100 percent,” Mbappe said when asked if he was ready to start.
“I didn’t play because the coach told me that for him I am the fourth striker in the team after Mastantuono, Vini and Gonzalo. I accept that. I can’t be angry with him.”
Arbeloa denied he told Mbappe he was fourth and started him against Sevilla. However, it is clear that all is not well between Madrid and Mbappe.
However, if Madrid are to challenge Barca in LaLiga and fight to regain the Champions League title, they will need Mbappe’s incredible goalscoring skills. As such, rescuing the situation and getting Mbappe on his side is likely to be high on Mourinho’s to-do list.
Find an offensive setup that works
Making sure both Vinicius and Mbappe are happy is Mourinho’s biggest problem on the pitch.
Madrid have insisted on pairing Vinicius with Mbappe up front, with Carlo Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso and Arbeloa all trying to make that combination work.
Although they have scored 63 goals in all competitions this season, the jury is still out on whether it is a combination they should continue with.
Of course, questions about Madrid’s slippage with the top two remain, and the fact that they have scored 21 fewer goals than Barcelona in LaLiga this season speaks to an attack that is not firing on all cylinders despite the big stars available at Madrid.
Not afraid to worry about hurting the egos of his players, it is up to Mourinho to decide whether to continue with the Vinicius-Mbappe combination, or switch to a system that may give them a better shot at keeping up with Barcelona.
Make Madrid hard to beat
Although Mourinho’s time with Benfica would end without a trophy, he managed to guide them to an unbeaten season in the Primeira Liga.
That’s an easier task in Portugal than in Spain, but Benfica’s remarkable success shows what has been one of his strengths, making his teams difficult to beat.
According to their ratings, Madrid have not been difficult to beat at all this season.
Apart from the Clasico loss to Barcelona and the 5-2 derby loss to Atletico Madrid, Los Blancos were also beaten by Celta Vigo, Osasuna, Getafe and Mallorca in the league, and were beaten by Albacete in the second leg in the Copa del Rey.
In the league, Madrid dropped points in 11 games this season, compared to Barcelona’s six, with that difference deciding the title race and condemning the most successful club in European football to a season without silverware.
A Champions League campaign that ended with a dramatic and thrilling quarter-final exit to Bayern Munich saw Madrid forced into the play-offs with a shock 4-2 defeat to Mourinho’s Benfica on the final night of the league stage.
Europe’s top teams have little reason to fear Madrid, while the smaller teams in LaLiga can clearly see the danger from a side already defined by tension. A team as talented as Madrid must have things to fear, and Mourinho must restore them if he is to succeed in his second term.
