My Main Objective is to Win -JM

Mourinho: "This is a challenge I could not let escape"
Realmadrid.com

Jose Mourinho offered his first official interview to RealmadridTV and Realmadrid.com on Monday, during which he admitted that coaching Real Madrid is a huge motivational factor based on it's history, tradition and the current project in place.

What are your first thoughts as the new head coach of Real Madrid?

I am quite relaxed and motivated, which is all one can be when proud to join Real Madrid. This is as good as it gets for a football professional. I need some vacation time, but I would love to be able to start training my new players tomorrow if I could.

You once said that a coach will always feel an absence if they never make it to coach Real Madrid. Is that what drove you to reach this point?

I knew that sooner or later I would coach Real Madrid. I was successful coaching past teams. Real Madrid’s history, tradition and this project are tremendous motivational factors after winning the Champions League with Inter Milan. When one cycle ends another begins, and Real Madrid is a challenge that no coach can let escape.

You have been successful in Portugal, England and Italy. You have won practically everything. Is coaching in La Liga another incentive?

I am familiar with Spain because I worked here for four years but under different circumstances. The possibility of winning La Liga is tremendous incentive for me because no coach has won the Champions League ot league in three different countries. I am a club and group man. I have empathy for the employees, the players and the fans. I want to be the same Mourinho that has worked for other teams. The magnitude of this club doesn’t frighten me. It won’t be an easy challenge, but I am anxious to take it on. I am very excited to begin working here.

Pepe’s return will also be important.

If the doctors of Real Madrid and the Portuguese national team say he is fit, then he must be. It’s great that he can play for Portugal because he will come back with the confidence of having played important World Cup matches. It’s important that our injured players begin preseason training with the desire to work hard. It is incredible that in the middle of the preseason in August some of our players will have to leave to play a match with the national team. It happened to me a lot at Chelsea and Inter Milan. I would only have four or five players to coach, but if you have the best players out there then…

Which of Casillas’ skills stand out for you?

It’s easy to defend well when you have many defensive players. It’s difficult to do when you have many attackers. With many defenders you are bound to defend well, but you don’t attack. If you play with many attackers and you are well organised as a team you can make a difference. My teams all have team players. They do a good job in defence, but they also play the game, score goals and win matches and titles. They are balanced and ambitious teams. Casillas is a fantastic goalkeeper. My goalkeeper coach is also great. He made Victor Bahia the best goalkeeper in Europe. He did the same for Cech. I hope he’s done the same for Julio Cesar this season and that he does so for Casillas next year. I don’t know Casillas personally, but I like him very much.

What’s more important for you to work on first, physicality or psychology?

It’s a global process in which the psychological aspect of training is important. It isn’t easy for a coach to work when his players arrive little by little throughout the preseason. My goal is to reach the first match of the championship in decent form.

What does Mourinho need from the Club?

I need confidence, although the greatest confidence I have is this four-year contract. It’s hard for a coach nowadays to get such a contract. I don’t have a traditional coaching staff consisting of a fitness trainer, a goalkeeper coach, assistants and others. My staff consists of people who work with us on all levels: equipment managers, janitors… They are all important. I work well if my staff works well. I don’t if they don’t. I need everyone to compromise with this project so that we all share the same ambition I currently have. We want to build a strong family. I believe a club is a family with which you work on a daily basis.

You just need a few reinforcements to complete this family…

With all due respect to the current squad, I would like to bring two or three players who can adapt to my work philosophy. I don’t want people to feel any pressure. I want them to be calm. I don’t want people to go crazy and spend too much money.

Your are ambitious and a winner. Do you sometimes feel misunderstood?

Maybe. This is how I am and I don’t want to change. It would be easy for me to say goodbye and enjoy spending time with my family now that I’ve won all these titles, but I am ambitious and winning is important to me. Being a winning coach is the best profession in the world. I don’t like the idea of being a coach who doesn’t win. My goal is not to be Real Madrid’s coach, but to be a coach who wins at Real Madrid. That’s my professional motivation.

Do you prefer to be successful over the short term or the long term?

I won the Champions League during my second years at Porto and Inter. I reached the semifinals twice with Chelsea. I believe it is the top championship, the hardest of all. We know our challenge here is difficult, but we must be calm as we work. I don’t like to shield myself in the idea that we need a long time in order to work well. I like to take on a challenge without fear and aggressively. This is why my main objective is to win.