{"id":64449,"date":"2026-08-01T18:19:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T18:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/64449\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T18:19:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T18:19:19","slug":"mourinho-draws-up-a-special-plan-to-protect-the-real-madrid-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/64449\/","title":{"rendered":"Mourinho draws up a special plan to protect the Real Madrid star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Real Madrid have opened August with one clear aim: to reach the start of La Liga in peak physical condition. That focus explains why Jos\u00e9 Mourinho and his staff are scrutinising every detail, as the friendly against Fiorentina and the matchday squad both made clear.<\/p>\n<p>The Portuguese named his squad without a single first-team centre-back. Dean Huijsen is nursing some pain, while Antonio R\u00fcdiger stayed in Madrid as a precaution.<\/p>\n<p>R\u00fcdiger did not travel to Austria despite returning to training on the same day as Endrick, who did make the trip. That decision sparked plenty of chatter among Real Madrid fans.<\/p>\n<p>According to &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/defensacentral.com\/actualidad\/mourinho-rudiger-pactan-plan-especial-madrid-quiere-cuidar-futbolista-quitandole-minutos-no-forzar-sus-rodillas-llegar-maximo-final-temporada_341553_102.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Defensa Central<\/a>&#8220;, a network close to Real Madrid, Los Blancos want to protect R\u00fcdiger by easing the load on his knees, which have given him trouble in the past, so he can deliver his best in the matches Mourinho considers essential.<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, defender and coach agreed on a calm preparation period free of risks, limiting him to only the minutes he needs. He will not play 60 matches this season, especially after the signing of Ibrahima Konat\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p>All of this explains the pressure Mourinho is putting on Real Madrid&#8217;s management to sign a new centre-back. The matter will hinge on Ra\u00fal Asencio, who was injured a few days ago and will not return to the pitch before September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Real Madrid have opened August with one clear aim: to reach the start of La Liga in peak&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4212,1414,85,82,83],"class_list":["post-64449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-a-ruediger","tag-j-mourinho","tag-laliga","tag-madrid","tag-real-madrid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}