Mourinho: I want to win the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid, and what I said you will understand tomorrow

José Mourinho, the manager of Real Madrid, appeared at the press conference ahead of the match against Inter tomorrow, Tuesday, in the first round of the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

The coach spoke about the debt Real Madrid has in winning the UEFA Champions League, to which Mourinho replied: "No. I was at Real Madrid during two different periods. I finished my work in 2013, and we won what we won and lost what we lost. We gave everything, and that was it."

He continued: "This has nothing to do with the past. We are facing two different moments in the history of Real Madrid. In 2010, the team was not reaching the quarter-finals and had been waiting to reach the semi-finals for many years. Now, six UEFA Champions League titles have been won. These are different moments."

He explained: "If you ask me if I have a desire to win the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid? Definitely yes, but completely separate from the context of the previous period."

Regarding the emotional aspect of facing Inter, he said: "After the match, yes. But during the match, no. During the match, it will just be another opponent."

Regarding the possibility of deploying Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield, Mourinho refused to disclose his plans, stating: "I won't tell you. I can sit here for a long time and talk about this matter, but I prefer to be honest with you; I know we have three absences, and the schedule has chosen this match for us to play under these circumstances. And although your question is clear, we have three, four, or five options. We can sit here and talk about all of them, but in the end, I won't tell you."

Regarding his previous description of the team as good but a bit 'naive', Mourinho said: "It's also a cultural issue. Perhaps my word about naivety was understood negatively, but I didn't say it as a form of criticism, rather as a fact. Tomorrow you will understand well what I said. You will understand it easily."

Reflecting on his most memorable moments from his previous time with Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League, he said: "Of course, at Santiago Bernabéu I won the UEFA Champions League, but I also lost a semi-final on penalties. I experienced the best and worst moments in that stadium, but I don't think about that, neither positively nor negatively. All I think about is that I am the coach of Real Madrid, and tomorrow's match is not a decisive match, as it doesn't determine anything, and it is not a knockout match or a group stage match in the old format; every point is important. Inter also comes looking for their goals."

Speaking about the team's condition after the first loss against Betis, Mourinho said: "I saw the players the way I like to see them. They were devastated in the dressing room after the match, but they regained their form significantly in Sunday’s training, and today everything is completely normal. After analyzing the match we played, we are increasingly convinced that we played a good game. We played against a team, and what we failed to do was something unnatural. We are in a good state."

He explained: "We have some problems in midfield before tomorrow's match, but we will play and we will compete, I want to win. I can say that I want us to play well, but I don't want to play well like we did against Betis and then lose. I want to win."

He concluded: "We are in a stage of eight matches, and the goal is to qualify, and I believe we will do that. But I want to treat this match as a single match, separate from this context, without thinking that there are seven other matches; I want to win."