Mourinho: The clash with Inter is not of huge importance, and this player may feature for five minutes
What was the question that made the Portuguese coach laugh?
José Mourinho, the Real Madrid manager, has revealed his assessment of the match against Inter Milan tomorrow, Tuesday, in the Champions League.
Mourinho said, in the match's press conference: "Tomorrow we will play a match in the Champions League, and as I have said before, it is not hugely important because it does not decide anything, it is not a knockout match, and it is not a group stage as was the case in the past when the group contained four teams."
He added: "We have seven other matches and I believe that we and Inter Milan will qualify. I see it as very possible that a clash between Real Madrid and Inter Milan will be repeated in the future when things become more serious, but it will just be a match that will be played tomorrow, and every point in it is important, and certainly a big team like Inter Milan will come to look for points too. And that is what we will try to do."
The Portuguese coach turned to the midfield absentees: "I will be frank, I could spend five minutes going round and round the answer, but I will be honest with you. It is clear that those three will not play. They are absent due to suspension. I don't know, the algorithm behind the fixture schedule, I don't know whether it is Italian or not, but it chose that we play this match in this situation."
He continued: "Your question about Arnold's situation in midfield is obvious, and it is the question I was clearly waiting for. But here we are. We have three, four, or five options, and we could stay here to talk about them all, but in the end, I won't tell you anything."
Asked how he would describe the Real Madrid he found after 13 years, he went on: "I found a club that is always Real Madrid. And I believe that is enough. Real Madrid is Real Madrid. The team lived through a very complicated season in the past, and when that happens, there are many things you have to improve. One of them is the foundation of stability, and another is the problems. And that is the crux of the matter."
Stability was his theme as he added: "We always want to win. Tomorrow, and in every match, and in every competition. But I repeat that fixing the foundation that suffers from problems is one thing, and there is another thing which is stability. For example, looking at Inter, which despite changing its coaches, there is stability. Conte, Inzaghi, Chivu, but the style of play is the same (5-3-2) with the dynamics, the consistency, and the transfer market structure. That is stability. Real must reach this level, but regardless of that, Real is Real. A club founded for victories."
Someone asked Mourinho, "Is Endrick ready?" He answered, laughing: "Tomorrow he may be ready to play for a maximum of 5 or 10 minutes. And that's all. He trained yesterday for the first time with the team. And he hasn't played since we were in Budapest or Austria in a friendly match we played. He is not fit to play for more than 5 or 10 minutes. But given that we have many vacant places on the bench, where twelve players are supposed to be present and we don't have them, he is there."
He concluded: "Perhaps Endrick will be forced to feature for five or ten minutes. He is an attacking player and will play in attack. Don't worry, he won't play as a left-back or as a centre-back. He will play there up front. On the right, on the left, as a number nine, or a number ten, but he plays there in the front line."
