The current Benfica manager is the first choice of the club and its president Florentino Pérez, who went on the attack against his critics on Tuesday evening and demanded a fresh mandate from the club’s members. Mourinho, 63, has one more game in charge of Benfica this season − still unbeaten in the Portuguese top flight but currently placed to finish third.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas is against Jose Mourinho’s return (Joe Giddens/PA)
Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas is against Jose Mourinho’s return (Joe Giddens/PA)
Mourinho is likely to deal directly with Pérez over the terms of his appointment. There will have to be an agreement reached with Benfica who have Mourinho − who started his management career at the club in 2000 − under contract until the summer of 2027. No problems are expected on that front.
Real have three more league games this season, the first of which is on Thursday at home to Real Oviedo where fans are expected to express their dissatisfaction with the season. After an away trip to relegation-threatened Sevilla on Sunday, Real’s last game is at home to Athletic Club of Bilbao in 10 days’ time.
We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity.
Please review your details and accept them to load the content
The return of Mourinho 13 years after the last of his three seasons at the club is a significant moment in the history of Real with some of the club legends from his previous era railing against the decision. Chief among them is goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who has posted on X that he believes his former team-mate Xabi Alonso, sacked in January, should still be in charge.
Pérez, 79, who has been president for 23 of the last 26 years, said on Tuesday night that he was fit and healthy and ready to continue − despite the rumours swirling around his succession.
After two years without a major trophy, the support for Pérez among fans and the Spanish media has started to ebb − a change in the weather given his grip on power and the seven Champions League titles on his watch.
In his press conference on Tuesday, Pérez played down the severity of the fight between Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni which resulted in the former having to go to hospital.
He railed against a critical article in the Spanish newspaper ABC, written, in his words, “by a woman who I don’t even know if she knows anything about football.”
He said that friends had called having heard rumours that he was suffering from cancer − but that was not the case and he was busy running the club as well as his construction conglomerate ACS.