Jose Mourinho is officially back in charge of Real Madrid, with the Spanish giants announcing he has returned for a second stint in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Mourinho has left Benfica after less than a year in charge to take charge of Real Madrid once again, as he’s signed a three-year contract in the Spanish capital.
The legendary Portuguese coach probably thought this kind of opportunity was long gone after disappointing spells in charge of Tottenham Hotspur and Fenerbahce in recent years. But he steadied the ship impressively at Benfica and Real need his leadership, defensive organization and ability to handle big-name players. As well as his penchant for winning trophies.
Real Madrid released the following statement confirming the arrival of Mourinho.
“The Board of Directors of Real Madrid C.F., meeting today, Thursday, June 11, and presided over by Florentino Perez, has agreed to appoint Jose Mourinho as the first team’s head coach for the next three seasons, until June 30, 2029. Jose Mourinho will join Real Madrid on July 13, the day preseason begins.”
What will Real Madrid ask of Jose Mourinho?
To win. Quite simply that is it.
It doesn’t matter how he does it, Mourinho just has to deliver trophies.
Real Madrid finished without any silverware during the 2025-26 season as Xabi Alonso was fired midway through the campaign and Real limped to the finish line under caretaker boss Alvaro Arbeloa.
They finished a distant second to bitter rivals Barcelona in La Liga and were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarterfinal stage by Bayern Munich.
All of that led to immense pressure piling on long-time club president Florentino Perez, so he has gone back to an experienced coach who can take the pressure off him.
How can Mourinho turn things around at Real?
Mourinho will go to the Carlo Ancelotti school of man-management to try and get the best out of a hugely talented squad.
Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham are quite the superstar trio and Mourinho needs to find a way to get them all clicking together consistently.
On the pitch his first action will be to sort out the defensive unit, which he is great at doing, and then he will go from there.
With Barcelona threatening to become a dynasty under Hansi Flick as they’ve won back-to-back La Liga titles, Mourinho will put all of his focus on closing that gap to Barca.
He got close to doing that in his first spell in charge but Pep Guardiola’s legendary Barcelona side often pipped Mourinho’s Real to most of the major trophies.
But Mourinho did win one La Liga, a Spanish Cup and a Spanish Super Cup in his three years in charge at Real and his hope will be to replicate that feat, at the very least, during his three years in charge.
And we all know how much Mourinho would love to add another Champions League trophy to his personal cabinet, and Real’s obsession with extending their European Cups to 16.
- Joe Prince-Wright
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