Mourinho recalls the incidents that deepened Real Madrid’s dressing-room divide

Jose Mourinho’s return to Real Madrid has revived memories of the turbulent final season of his first spell, including the conflict with club captain Iker Casillas that eventually contributed to a breakdown in the dressing room.

The Portuguese coach was confirmed as Real Madrid manager in June this year and is now heading back to Santiago Bernabeu after several years away. His initial tenure ended in a highly charged atmosphere, with disagreements involving several senior players, most notably the club’s long-serving goalkeeper and captain.

Mourinho’s second arrival has brought renewed attention to the disputes that unsettled the squad during his first period in charge, particularly his strained relationship with Casillas. The goalkeeper eventually lost his place in the starting XI during the 2012-13 campaign, despite his importance to Real Madrid and his status among the club’s supporters.

Casillas made 725 appearances for Real Madrid over 25 years, winning three Champions League titles and five La Liga trophies. Yet his role diminished during Mourinho’s third season, creating increasing tension between the two men.

“The relationship between Jose and me was very cold,” Casillas said. “In those years, I genuinely believe things eventually reached the point where the cord was cut.”

The dispute extended beyond the manager and goalkeeper and affected the wider mood within the squad. Sami Khedira, who played for Real Madrid during Mourinho’s tenure, said the disagreement had become a wider dressing-room problem.

“Iker is a Real Madrid legend and is loved by every supporter of the club. Mourinho put him on the bench, he did not speak to him and he also spoke badly about him in the media; so, honestly, the dressing room became a nightmare,” Khedira said.

“After that, Jose’s relationship with many players deteriorated, such as Cristiano and the Spanish players, Casillas and Sergio Ramos. Those players were extremely important to the atmosphere in the dressing room.”

Khedira’s account portrayed a squad divided by individual disputes that had developed into a broader crisis between Mourinho and several of Real Madrid’s key figures. The strained atmosphere was among the factors that overshadowed Mourinho’s third season, when the team failed to maintain the success achieved in the previous campaigns.

Mourinho, however, has offered a very different explanation for the breakdown in his relationships with Casillas and the Spanish players. In a new documentary series on Netflix covering his managerial career, the 63-year-old described what he viewed as early evidence of an attitude he would not accept inside the dressing room.

“In the first three times I spoke to Casillas as captain, the first thing he said to me was: ‘I want to ask for more holidays for the national-team players’,” Mourinho said, in comments reported by BBC Sport.

“The second time he spoke to me, he said: ‘I would like to ask you to move the training sessions one hour later, because traffic in Madrid is very heavy at the time you have scheduled training’.”

Mourinho continued: “The third time, he said: ‘We do not want to go to the hotel; we prefer to meet on match day and go directly to the stadium to play the game’.”

Those conversations led Mourinho to conclude that some of the players believed their status entitled them to special treatment.

“Very quickly, I realised they were spoilt players,” he said.

The tension was also shaped by the historic rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona. During Mourinho’s time in charge, the competition between the clubs reached an especially intense level, with the Portuguese repeatedly pitted against Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola as their teams contested fiercely fought clasicos.

The hostility between the clubs also affected Spain’s national team, where players from both sides were required to work together. Casillas later revealed another source of disagreement with Mourinho involving the manager’s attitude towards his Barcelona-based international team-mates.

Mourinho said he would not soften his approach to the rivalry simply because the players represented Spain together.

“There are things I do not accept and will never accept, and when someone does not respect me, that is a problem,” he said.

“I say: this is the war between Barcelona and Real Madrid. When you join the national team, then you can kiss each other, but not now; here, it is war.”

The episode remains one of the most controversial stories of modern Real Madrid, combining disagreements over selection and management with a bitter rivalry that extended beyond club football.

With Mourinho now back at Real Madrid, those memories have returned to the forefront. His second spell begins with an understanding of the challenges ahead and of a troubled chapter that remains vivid for many supporters.