The old master is back at Madrid as he begins with celebrations, frustrations and finally relief at Espanyol
J
osé Mourinho says he is calmer now so when the rest of the bench emptied, sprinting down the touchline to celebrate the 90th-minute goal that finally delivered victory on his first game in charge of Real Madrid in 4,380 days, he didn’t set off with them. Instead, he clenched his fists, got to his feet and walked down the touchline behind the subs, watching them head, shouting, towards Carlos Espí. As they piled on down in the corner, he pulled over his captain Fede Valverde for a word. Which might just have been: phew.
For all those stars; for all that Mourinho’s main task might just have been been to find a way to fit Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham together; for all that he had introduced Yan Diomande, the most expensive player in the club’s history, it was a 21-year-old, unknown six months ago and unexpectedly signed from Levante, who got the goal that secured victory upon the coach’s second coming.
Espí, whose goals had rescued Levante from relegation last season and who is still living at Madrid’s Valdebebas training ground like his coach, the two of them sharing breakfast every morning, was signed for pretty much this: to be a different type of striker, an old-school No 9, with a presence in the area. And when a scrappy, broken-up move ended with Mbappé seeing the ball run away from him in the area, there he was to force it over the line. Perhaps even to pose a question: is his a profile they could do with and not just in reserve? This time, at least, it had worked.
