CORNERFLICK
José Mourinho has gone more than a decade without winning a major title. His last league title came with Chelsea in 2014. Now, he has an opportunity to end that drought this season by returning to Real Madrid. His first spell at the club, 13 years ago, ended bitterly following conflicts with several of the team’s biggest stars.
Mourinho’s managerial career can be divided into two periods: before and after his three-year spell in Madrid, between 2010 and 2013.
Before joining Real Madrid, he earned the nickname “The Special One” after winning two Champions League titles with Porto (2004) and Inter Milan (2010), as well as six major trophies with Porto, Chelsea and Inter in seven seasons. However, after winning only one La Liga title and the Copa del Rey during his three years in Madrid, Mourinho’s career began to decline sharply.
Over the following decade, he won only one major trophy: the Premier League title with Chelsea in the 2014–15 season.
His decline continued to the point that he was even dismissed by Fenerbahçe during the 2024–25 season. However, after rebuilding his reputation during the following season at Benfica, he once again attracted the attention of Real Madrid’s president.
Mourinho’s career has increasingly been overshadowed by managers such as Pep Guardiola, Zinedine Zidane, Carlo Ancelotti, Jürgen Klopp and Luis Enrique. These highly successful coaches proved that it is possible to win consistently while relying on a distinctive and modern style of football.
But there is an interesting point to consider. We are now in 2026, and Mourinho remains a prominent figure at club level, while Zidane, Ancelotti and Klopp have stepped away from club football, and their coaching styles are no longer being actively pursued by clubs in the same way.
There is, however, one major challenge.
Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior, Yan Diomande and Jude Bellingham are capable of doing almost anything in the attacking phase of the game. Mourinho, on the other hand, has traditionally built his teams around defensive organization. It remains to be seen whether his ideas can be fully compatible with the abilities of these players in La Liga and, particularly, in the Champions League.
Thirteen years after leaving the Santiago Bernabéu following disputes with Sergio Ramos, Iker Casillas and Cristiano Ronaldo, Mourinho is older and wiser. He must now prove that he can manage some of the biggest stars in world football.
Real Madrid is a demanding and highly self-confident club. In recent years, only Zidane and Ancelotti have been able to successfully manage the dressing room, partly because of their status as legends of major football clubs. That legendary status gave them the authority to enter the dressing room and, with their calm personalities, command the respect of the world’s biggest stars.
Unlike Zidane and Ancelotti, Mourinho has rarely been a calm presence. His time at the clubs he has managed has almost always ended in controversy, particularly when conflicts arose with star players.
Perhaps, if Mourinho does not want to miss the unexpected opportunity Real Madrid has given him this season to restore his former reputation, he should take a step back and bring his behavior closer to that of Ancelotti and Zidane.
Perhaps this season represents Mourinho’s final opportunity to win La Liga and the Europa League with Real Madrid and prove that he truly remains “The Special One.”