Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said Saturday it was unfair to compare his side to La Liga leaders Barcelona ahead of Sunday’s Clasico at Camp Nou, arguing his team is only months into a rebuild.
Barca, under Hansi Flick, have won back-to-back league titles and sit atop an unbeaten La Liga campaign, while Mourinho arrived this summer after Madrid went two seasons without a major trophy. Madrid are third, six points behind Barca.
The form lines have shifted slightly: Barca lost for the first time this season at Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, while Madrid have won their last four.
“I think the people that thought a week ago Barca would thrash us will keep thinking the same thing,” Mourinho told reporters. “I don’t think just for the Paris game, or Madrid’s (4-1 win against) Leipzig, they will change their way of thinking.”
Mourinho stressed he had been in charge only a few months, compared with Flick, who joined Barca in 2024.
“People look at us like a finished product, but finished products in football are difficult because they are never finished … but they look at us like we’re in an advanced phase of the process,” he said. “We’ve been working for three months, out of that you can take pre-season when the players were arriving (back from the World Cup), and the recent international break, then we’ve been together a month-and-a-half, two months … defining paths, the players are learning about the coach … comparing a team in this state (to more established sides), I think is unfair.”
He added that form counts for little in the fixture.
“We’ve been in a good dynamic, winning games, playing well, scoring goals, but in the Clasico it doesn’t matter what you did before, it has no influence,” Mourinho said. “The Clasico is unique, normally the football world stops to watch it. Hopefully it’s a great game. And we win.”
Mourinho said he would not alter his approach to contain Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal, the 19-year-old Spain international who is in sublime form and hopes to win the Ballon d’Or on Monday.
“He’s a great player and great players you respect,” Mourinho said. “One thing is respecting, another thing is to change plans, structures, forgetting your own essence. That we will not do, neither for him or any other player of great quality we face.”
Flick praised his counterpart and said he expected a confident Madrid.
“I have the highest respect. When you’re managing teams on this level for so many years and you always have success, it’s about quality, he showed this at every club,” Flick said. “Every player from the (Germany) national team who worked under him speaks with a great respect … He’s a colleague, a very, very successful colleague and a great colleague.”
Flick said the 4-2 loss at PSG exposed areas to fix.
“We analysed this game. We did many things really good but we saw some situations where we have to improve,” he said. “We have to grow as a team. Tomorrow we play against one of the best teams in the world so it’s a good opportunity to grow. To challenge ourselves, to improve ourselves and to grow as a team.”
Flick confirmed Jules Kounde remained out injured, along with Dani Olmo, Eric Garcia and Andreas Christensen.
