A return 13 years on
Jose Mourinho left Real Madrid in 2013. He is back on the Bernabeu touchline with a job that is simple to say and far harder to pull off: wrest control back from Hansi Flick’s Barca and make the club feel like a Champions League force again.
His first spell was less productive than his reputation suggests. Three seasons, three trophies: a Copa del Rey, a Liga title, a Super Cup. But the 2011-12 crown still stands as a giant of the era. 100 points, 32 wins, including 16 away from home, a record that still stands in La Liga. That side also scored 121 goals in 38 rounds, the highest total in a Liga season since 1929.
The Portuguese coach arrives, though, with a mixed recent record. At Benfica, he finished the 2025-26 season unbeaten in the league, yet ended up only third behind Porto and Sporting. Eleven draws did the damage.
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Three forwards, one balance to strike
Real do not kick off the season straight away. Their opener against Espanyol has been pushed back a week, as have those of Barca, Athletic and Real Sociedad, because of their players’ runs at the World Cup.
Vinicius Jr stayed after weeks of flirting with Arsenal. Kylian Mbappe comes in off a World Cup with 10 goals. Yan Diomande has arrived from Leipzig for a record fee reported to be 140 million euros.
So the talent is not the issue. Last season, Vinicius scored 22 goals and Mbappe netted 42 in all competitions, yet the pair never quite clicked. Xabi Alonso tried to shake up the pecking order, even dropping Vinicius in a Clasico in October. Real won the match. All anyone remembered was the Brazilian’s fury on the bench. Diomande is supposed to change that equation: only Lamine Yamal (133) completed more dribbles than him (118) across Europe’s big five leagues last season.
Bellingham, the real unknown
Jude Bellingham finished third at the World Cup with England, scoring seven goals. At Real, he managed only eight in 40 matches last season, down from 23 in his first year in Spain.
The explanation may be tactical. Under Thomas Tuchel, he operated as a No 10 behind Harry Kane for 71% of his minutes. At Real, that figure fell to 28% in La Liga.
Mourinho will have to make a call, and he will have to do it with four experienced arrivals built for him: Marc Cucurella, Denzel Dumfries, Bernardo Silva and Ibrahima Konate. Rodri, long linked, now looks to be heading for Barcelona.
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