José Mourinho: Villarreal's referee? One minute tells you all you need

José Mourinho speaks at a press conference ahead of the match against Roma, having not spoken after the game against Villarreal.

The coach’s comments…

Roma

“We have to play very well. We’ve drawn the two strongest teams in Italy in our first two matches. In the first, we managed to take all three points without three players who were suspended from last season, and now we face Roma, a strong team motivated by playing a Champions League match at the Olimpico again, with a crowd that plays its part, not a crowd that just comes to watch. To get the points, we’ll have to play very well. We have a major opponent ahead of us. It’s not yet the stage where you feel the pressure of the Champions League, or the knockout rounds, but we put that pressure on ourselves”.

The referee against Villarreal

“The Villarreal match? You only need to watch one minute. If you want, we can discuss it on Saturday, for those who know”.

Does he trust referees?

“I trust all referees. The only thing that makes me suspicious is that normally you find out the referee’s name 24 hours before the match, but in this case it was known three weeks in advance. That’s the only thing that makes me uncomfortable. Otherwise, I have confidence in referees. I don’t have any negative feelings”.

Fear of making tackles in LaLiga

“Are players more afraid to put a foot in when playing in LaLiga? If you’re asking me those questions, it’s because you don’t want to say it yourself. I find the media in Spain not very direct. There are few direct, clear opinions about situations where there’s no doubt. The Italian press is surely more concerned about the match; it’s better to talk on Saturday”.

His return to Roma

“Inter and Roma are the two strongest teams in the league. Since I’ve drawn both of them, I’ve started watching the league very regularly. I’ve always watched all of Inter’s and Roma’s matches. My return? I’ve prepared myself, I’m fine, I’m composed, and during the match I’ll definitely give everything, but before and after, it will touch my heart”.

Fede Valverde at full-back

“During the match against Villarreal, the Real Madrid coach did very well. We found what we were looking for. During the match, with the score at 0-0, I wanted to push further forward, and we had plenty of attacking options on the bench to change things. I didn’t want to use up a substitution swapping Trent for Dumfries, and I thought Fede could make the difference. As a coach, sometimes things go wrong for me and sometimes they go right. If we had four ‘Fedes’, we’d have one at full-back, another in midfield and another on the wing”.

His time at Roma

“I win people over by being myself. I don’t try to do anything different. The interests of the club and the players always come before my own. People often appreciate that and relate to it, and if you do something to make them happy, even better. Here we won a European competition and played in two European finals in two years. Everything came together. I make no secret of the fact that these are special people; they treated me very well here”.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.