\u201cI\u2019m fine,\u201d Mourinho told reporters in a 40-minute press conference on Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s the first official game of the season, but I\u2019ve been doing this for more than 20 years. I\u2019m calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s another season, another game. Some players have had 36 training sessions and six games, others five training sessions and part of a game. There are exceptional players and an exceptional staff, and I\u2019ve been able to prepare differentiated work. I\u2019m very happy with the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
How Jose Mourinho returned to Real Madrid<\/p>\n
Tifo Football and Mario Cortegana<\/p>\n
Madrid is the 13th stop in a more than 25-year managerial career for the Portuguese, who left Benfica to make his return to the Spanish capital.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he misses his former clubs, he said: \u201cTo tell you the truth, I\u2019m not someone who misses things or regrets things. (I don\u2019t think) \u2018Oh, wrong decision,\u2019 \u2018Oh, I miss it.\u2019 Someone who left Portugal more than 20 years ago and only returned last year didn\u2019t grow up that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Madrid have enjoyed a busy summer with Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate, Marc Cucurella, Bernardo Silva, Yan Diomande and Carlos Espi all arriving.<\/p>\n
It has left Mourinho with plenty of selection decisions, but he insists he does not have a preferred XI.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first XI? Let\u2019s see which of you has the best contacts \u2014 let\u2019s see who has the best contact,\u201d the 63-year-old said. \u201cThe players already know who\u2019s playing. I\u2019m not someone who hides things.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe in a couple of hours your information will arrive, but I\u2019m not going to tell you. But to answer your question about whether I have an ideal XI: I don\u2019t have one, or I don\u2019t want to have one.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Mourinho won three trophies in his first spell in Madrid. (Manuel Queimadelos Alonso\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Despite more than \u20ac200million ($234m; \u00a3171m) of spending, Rodri was not one of the new arrivals, with Spain\u2019s World Cup-winning captain opting to move to rivals Barcelona despite strong interest from Madrid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we have a deficit,\u201d Mourinho said when asked about missing out on the former Manchester City midfielder. \u201cThen you can ask the question \u2018If you don\u2019t have a deficit, why did you want to sign Rodri?\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would have been the cherry on top, he\u2019s a great player, he\u2019s a player with great experience, with great status, if we could have had him, we would have had him and we would have improved. But when you have (Aurelien) Tchouameni, (Eduardo) Camavinga, (Federico) Valverde, Bernardo, Arda (Guler) \u2026 it\u2019s not that we have a problem or that we need to go for another player.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, what would the Mourinho of 2013 advise the Mourinho of 2026?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good question, a philosophical one,\u201d he said. \u201cLook, the Mourinho of today is the one in a position to advise the Mourinho of 2013. Are you the one who advises your father, or does your father advise you?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to always be very calm. For me, it\u2019s much easier to be calm now than it was five or 10 years ago. Then I get two or three red cards a season and you tell me: \u2018Jose, where\u2019s the calmness?\u2019 There are few hours in football, but in the rest of the hours you have to maintain your calm. And I\u2019m in a better position to do that than when I left.\u201d<\/p>\n
The calm one?<\/p>\n
In his first spell at the club, there were journalists in Spain who used to say that Mourinho\u2019s press conferences should have been pay-per-view, such was their box-office nature.<\/p>\n