“We are not a finished product”
Jose Mourinho does not want to hear the comparison. On the eve of the Clasico, the Real Madrid coach told reporters it is unfair to line his side up against a Barcelona team that has had the same manager for two years. Madrid, he said, are still in the early phase, with the coach learning and analysing and the players getting to know him.
He pointed to a simple fact of the calendar. Since arriving in July, he says he has worked with the full squad for only a month and a half or two months. That is the context he wants applied when Real travel to the Camp Nou on Sunday at 9pm local time.
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No plan change for Yamal
Mourinho accepts the momentum is good. Real beat Sevilla and Leipzig, both by 4-1, and are trying to close the gap to Barcelona to three points. Barcelona lead the table, though they come off a defeat in Paris. Mourinho dismissed the idea that either result changes anything. Anyone who thought a week ago that Barca would humiliate Madrid, he said, still thinks so.
Lamine Yamal is in good form, and the Portuguese was asked whether he would adapt to him. He would not. Great players are respected, he said, but respect does not mean altering the structure of your own team or forgetting your identity. Real will not do that for Yamal or for anyone else.
Barcelona have their own problem. L’Equipe reports that defender Jules Koundé will miss the game.
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