Thirteen years after his tumultuous exit, the legendary Portuguese tactician returns to a broken dressing room in Madrid. The idea that one day Mourinho could return to the Bernabeu, if not as a serious possibility. Now the impossibility is possible. Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid, a love-hate relationship, are reuniting after a 13-year break. After repeatedly threatening to bring Jose Mourinho back to the Bernabeu, Florentino Perez just went and did it. On Monday, widespread reports confirmed that Real Madrid had agreed a deal with Mourinho to return for a second spell as coach, 13 years after his first ended in misery.It was revealed last month that Mourinho was top of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez’s wish list to replace Alvaro Arbeloa, who took over from Xabi Alonso, who was hastily sacked in January. The timing is still shocking, though. Perez has reportedly requested a €6 million release clause to bring the 63-year-old manager back to the Spanish capital from Portuguese giants Benfica. Madrid is a club in complete crisis, with an under-pressure president on the warpath, players hospitalized by team-mates and millions of supporters signing a sell-out petition for superstar strikers. Adding Mourinho to the mix feels like adding gasoline to a dumpster fire. For a club that defines itself by silverware, the current reality is nothing short of a disaster. Los Blancos are eyeing a second consecutive season without a major trophy, trailing arch-rivals and La Liga champions Barcelona by 11 points with one match to play. A recent, humiliating 2-0 El Clasico defeat was the final nail in the coffin, forcing Perez to turn to the ultimate crisis manager. Bernabeu Past: The 2010-2013 SagaWhen Mourinho returned to Madrid in 2010, he was regarded by many neutrals as the world’s No.1 coach, having only won the treble with Inter, after enjoying similar historic successes at Chelsea and Porto. As he prepares for his return, though, Mourinho has not won a league title since 2015, while the Conference League is the only cup he has won in the last nine years. In his only La Liga winning season, he collected 100 points, a then La Liga record, in the 2011–12 season. In his only successful season, he won the Copa del Rey and La Liga.He excelled in his first spell as coach to break Barcelona’s grip on the Spanish title, but his volatile tumultuous tenure still ended prematurely as he lost the support of several key members of the dressing room, including two club icons Sergio Ramos and Iker Casilla. The latter also argued against his possible return – but the former goalkeeper’s pleas surprisingly fell on deaf ears.Thirteen years on, the Madrid hierarchy, ironically, rely on that same fiery discipline to restore order to a fractured dressing room. Perez is fully convinced that Mourinho is still the same man and has effectively staked his presidency on the matter. But this isn’t one of those gambles that is likely to pay off spectacularly and it will be interesting to see how the arrivals pan out. Reports of internal friction highlighted by the recent training ground bust-up between Federico Valverde and Orleans Chowmani have exposed a serious lack of emotional control at Madrid. Desperate times call for desperate measures, something different; The bigger the problem, the greater the need for a bigger figure, someone who has the authority to overcome the egos and internal and external enemies that Perez is dealing with and Mourinho could be perfectly suited to manage stars such as Kylian Mbappe and Venecius JR.
