Iker Casillas softens stance on former Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho

Iker Casillas has struck a markedly more positive tone about Jose Mourinho, despite previously being one of the Portuguese manager’s fiercest critics during their time at Real Madrid.

Casillas was a key member of Mourinho’s Real Madrid side between 2010 and 2013, helping the club win the Copa del Rey and La Liga. However, their relationship deteriorated and the goalkeeper was dropped from the team during the 2012-13 season, as tensions between Mourinho and the club’s hierarchy also increased.

Mourinho suggested in his Netflix series that Casillas had become “spoilt”. He also criticised the close relationships between players at Real Madrid and Barcelona during a period when the two clubs were competing for major honours.

Casillas previously described their relationship in an interview with French newspaper L’Equipe, saying: “With Jose Mourinho, it was a marriage that ended badly.”

Before Mourinho’s appointment for a second spell at Real Madrid, Casillas wrote on X that he did not question the manager’s professionalism, “but I don’t want him at Real Madrid”.

The former Spain goalkeeper, who won the 2010 World Cup, was also considered for a leadership role connected to former presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme, who opposed Mourinho’s return to the club.

However, Casillas now appears to have changed his view.

Speaking to former Atletico Madrid assistant manager German Burgos on Burgos’ YouTube channel, Casillas said he believed Mourinho was a different person from the manager who had previously led Real Madrid.

“Jose is different,” Casillas said. “He looks like the same successful manager, with his talent and everything, but he arrived with a different idea.”

Casillas did not go into detail about the events that caused their relationship to break down. Instead, he referred briefly to memories from that period.

“I still laugh about it, I remember many things,” he said.

Casillas remained at Real Madrid for two years after Mourinho left the club. The following season, he won the third Champions League title of his career.