Top News

Mourinho opens up on one of the most controversial periods of his career, revisiting the conflict with Iker Casillas, the battle with Barcelona and the dressing-room leak during his first spell at Real Madrid.

José Mourinho has brought back into focus one of the most debated chapters of his managerial journey. A new documentary on the Portuguese coach, released on Tuesday on Netflix, looks again at several moments from his first stint at Real Madrid, placing particular attention on his relationship with the club captain at the time, Iker Casillas.

In the documentary, Mourinho speaks about his first meetings with Casillas, conversations that quickly made him feel that the Real Madrid dressing room operated with habits he had no intention of accepting.

"I realised within a short time that they were spoilt"

Mourinho explained that his first three discussions with Casillas gave him a very clear picture. In the first, the Real Madrid skipper asked for extra rest time for the Spain national team players. In the second, he asked for training to begin an hour later because of traffic in Madrid. The third concerned the team not going to the hotel before matches and instead gathering directly at the stadium.

Mourinho said: "I realised in a short time that they were spoiled."

That sentence captures the view the Portuguese coach formed of the Real Madrid dressing room. It also helps explain part of the approach he brought with him when he arrived in 2010. He took over a squad full of stars, and he felt his role was not to teach them how to play football, but to establish a shared method along with discipline.

Real Madrid and Barcelona: this is war!

The documentary also returns to the well-known dispute between Mourinho and Casillas. It began after the Real Madrid goalkeeper called Barcelona captain Xavi Hernandez in an attempt to calm tensions between the two sides, as the hostility from El Clasico had spilled over into the Spain national team environment.

Casillas was placed in a difficult position. He was captain of both Real Madrid and Spain at the same time, and that split in loyalties made him highly uneasy. "You were facing your teammates who were your enemies on the football pitch, and then they become your teammates with the national team. I didn't like to see that and I told the coach so," he said.

Mourinho viewed the situation in a completely different way. For him, maintaining the intensity of the rivalry was essential as long as both clubs were competing for the same trophies.

"I told them: this is the Barcelona and Real Madrid clash. When you go to the national team you can kiss each other, but not now. This is war. There are things I don't accept and will never accept. And when someone doesn't respect me, it turns into a problem," he said.

Mourinho loses his temper: the story of the dressing-room spy

The documentary also revisits one of the most explosive episodes of that period: team information being leaked from inside the dressing room to the media.

Mourinho wanted complete control over everything connected to the squad. Then one of his starting line-ups was leaked, and the Portuguese coach reacted with fury.

Casillas described what happened inside the dressing room, saying: "He lost his temper. He came in and started hurling all kinds of insults at us, and told us everything. He said we were the ones responsible for what was happening."

According to the former Real Madrid captain, Mourinho went even further by striking a bottle and then banging his office door shut.

These episodes matter for more than just memories of a controversial period. Mourinho's comments take on renewed significance now that he has returned to manage Real Madrid. Once again, he is dealing with a squad filled with major names, and once again he has to handle the stars, the leadership order and the conflicting personalities inside the dressing room. The challenge appears remarkably similar to the one he faced in his first spell.

His earlier experience made one thing clear: he still believes in imposing order and discipline, and in never relaxing his hold over the team.