Mourinho hits out at referee after Betis match and reveals Endrick's situation

José Mourinho, Real Madrid's head coach, appeared at the press conference ahead of tomorrow's match against Inter in the first round of the Champions League group stage at the Santiago Bernabéu.

The coach spoke about whether he had talked with Inter's Cristian Chivu: "He was a player of mine, and we worked together, we went through a lot of things together, the good and the bad. But why are you asking me who I talk to on the phone? Who did you talk to? Who? Your mother, your girlfriend?".

Regarding Endrick's readiness, Mourinho explained: "Tomorrow he could be ready to play for 5 minutes, or 10 minutes at most, and that's it. He trained yesterday for the first time with the team. He hasn't played since Budapest or Austria, in a friendly. He doesn't have the physical readiness to play more than 5 or 10 minutes, but we have many vacant spots on the bench, so he will be there, and he might need to play 5 minutes. He is an attacking player and will play in attack. Rest assured, he won't play as a full-back or centre-back; he will be a forward."

When asked about his previous remarks regarding the term "naive" against Real Madrid players following the defeat to Betis, and whether he could give a hint before the match against Inter, Mourinho replied: "I don't want to talk about refereeing standards, forgive me, because I will evade your question and answer in another way. Since this question hasn't reached me, I want to say something: We lost to Betis because we didn't convert our attacking production into goals, period. But the penalty... why wasn't it reviewed? Either because the video technology doesn't know the rules, or because it didn't want to."

He added: "This is a matter I would like those responsible to answer. Why? If the video referee did not ask to review the penalty because he was unaware of the regulations, then he should go home and leave the job. And if he did not ask to review it because he did not want to, that is worse. Then there is something worse than that: if he does not know the regulations, why did he not call the referee to review the incident on the screen? It is a bit strange. I want to walk in the direction of honesty, and I prefer to believe that he did not know that one of the players entered the penalty area before the kick was taken, but if that is the case, the referee cannot do that himself; the video referee must handle the task. Because in weeks or months, if a similar situation occurs, it will be repeated."

José Mourinho stated: "I want to clarify that we did not lose because of this incident, because even if the penalty had been retaken, we could have failed to score it. But as the coach of Real Madrid and as someone who works in football, I would like to know why the penalty was not retaken. I want the officials to answer that. There is another matter unrelated to this match, which is why the captain of Real Madrid received a yellow card? When Vinícius approached the referee, he received the card before he even reached him. I would like to know the reason; why do we always say that the team captain has the right to approach the referee in a respectful manner to ask for an explanation? Forgive me for using your question, but I wanted to comment on this decision."

Speaking about the differences he found at Real Madrid compared to his previous time at the club, Mourinho said: "I found a club... It’s Real Madrid, and that says it all. Real Madrid is Real Madrid; the club has gone through a very difficult season in the past, and when that happens, you have to work to improve. We want to win always here, tomorrow and in all competitions. But you have to work on stability and solving problems. Real Madrid must reach a stable level."

Regarding the match against Inter and whether it holds a special meaning for him, he said: "At this moment, it is not an ordinary match for me, as I mentioned before. After that, it will be. But during the match, no, I don't think there will be any thoughts about who is sitting on the bench for Real Madrid. During the match, I won't think about things from the past. Kevo will always remain one of my players. I am very happy for him and what he is achieving. I will greet him before and after the match, but during the match... we will focus on the game."