Mourinho says Real Madrid’s Fiorentina draw showed squad’s contrasting levels

Jose Mourinho says Real Madrid displayed three distinct sides during their 2-2 friendly draw with Fiorentina, as the manager assessed his players’ fitness and readiness ahead of the new season.

Speaking to Real Madrid’s television channel in comments reported by AS, Mourinho said his team looked “fresh”, “tired” and “extremely tired” at different stages of the match.

“The fresh team played wonderfully, and the 2-1 scoreline at half-time was much less than the performance deserved,” he said. “We produced a high-quality first half and could easily have been three or four goals ahead.”

Real Madrid were made to work harder after the interval as Fiorentina increased the physical intensity of the contest.

“After that, the match became more physical and the opponent put us under a lot of pressure. That was when the second face of the team appeared,” Mourinho said.

He highlighted the challenge faced by young defenders Joan and Mario, who were required to defend inside their own penalty area against Fiorentina striker Moise Kean.

“When you have to defend inside the box with two young players like Joan and Mario, they had a great game, but physically they are not yet at the level required to face a strong striker like Moise Kean,” he added.

Mourinho said the third version of his side was the one that pleased him most: a team struggling with fatigue but able to remain organised and regain control of the match.

“The third face was the one I liked very much. It was a team that was extremely tired, but it knew how to stay together and recovered control of the game,” he said.

Denzel Dumfries and Endrick had completed only three training sessions before the friendly, yet both played for more than 70 minutes.

“Dumfries and Endrick had only three training sessions, and yet each of them played more than 70 minutes,” Mourinho said. “It is a wonderful effort and has great value for me. I thanked them for what they gave us. Honestly, I liked everything.”

The Portuguese manager said the match reflected the resources currently available to him and insisted that Real Madrid’s standards remained unchanged, even in pre-season.

“This is Real Madrid with the resources and players we currently have available,” Mourinho said. “I told the players before the match that Real Madrid remains Real Madrid, even in friendly matches.”

Mourinho added that he had been forced to use the players who were fit and available after the squad had completed only one training session together.

“Today I had to use the men, so to speak, who were available to me,” he said. “We had only trained yesterday, and we used that session for some organisational aspects.”

He also referred to Carlos Espi, who had trained with the team for only an hour before being involved against Fiorentina.

“We played the poor Carlos Espi, who still seems as if he is waking up from a dream,” Mourinho said. “He trained with us for only one hour yesterday, and today he helped us while getting to understand what it means to play for Real Madrid.”

Mourinho said he was pleased with the work carried out by his players since the first day, although he remains concerned by the absence of the rest of the squad.

“I am very happy with the work the players have done since the first day,” he said. “What worries me is the absence of the other players. I would have liked to have had three weeks of work with them too, but that is not possible.”

Vinicius, Brahim Diaz and Bernardo Silva are due to arrive on Monday. Dumfries, Carlos Espi and Endrick will also have more training sessions behind them as Real Madrid continue to build towards full squad involvement.

“For now, I have not felt anything special, because the real matches have not begun yet,” Mourinho said.