Mourinho keeps Valverde’s El Clasico role secret after admitting selection dilemma

Jose Mourinho has refused to reveal whether Federico Valverde will continue at right-back when Real Madrid face Barcelona at Camp Nou on Sunday.

The match is part of the 10th round of La Liga, with Valverde having started in the position in Real Madrid’s past two games despite Trent Alexander-Arnold and Denzel Dumfries being available on the substitutes’ bench.

Mourinho was asked about the possibility of using Valverde at right-back again during his news conference after Real Madrid’s 4-1 Champions League victory over Leipzig.

“I will not talk about what will happen on Sunday, and I will not answer whether he will play in this position again on Saturday,” Mourinho said.

“But I will say that Fede performed well.”

The Portuguese manager, whose comments were reported by Marca, also explained why Valverde’s deployment in defence created a difficult selection decision.

“Fede playing at right-back is something that hurts me, because it means leaving out two players who normally play in that position,” he said.

Valverde’s recent role has therefore come with the omission of two specialist right-backs, Alexander-Arnold and Dumfries, even though both were among the substitutes for the previous two matches.

Mourinho on Courtois and his former goalkeepers

Mourinho was also asked whether Thibaut Courtois was the best goalkeeper he had managed during his career.

The former Chelsea manager declined to rank his previous players, saying: “I have never done that. I have never spoken about my players. I am asked this question very often: choose the best 11 goalkeepers from all the players I have coached over 20 years.”

However, he recalled Courtois’ early period at Chelsea, when the Belgian was about 20 years old and eventually became the club’s first-choice goalkeeper.

“When Courtois joined us at Chelsea, and he was around 20 years old, he ended up playing regularly, even though Petr Cech was the best goalkeeper in the history of the Premier League at that time,” Mourinho said.

“​We won the league with Courtois in goal, while Cech, who was the best of them all, played only in the cup competitions.”

Mourinho added that praising Courtois above all his former goalkeepers would risk upsetting Julio Cesar, who played under him at Inter Milan.

“If I said something like that, Julio Cesar would call me within two minutes and say: ‘Oh, is Courtois the best then? But you won the Champions League with me!’

“He would certainly call me immediately. I have always maintained that kind of respect for my former players.”