Jose Mourinho Unleashes Vintage Rant That Overlooks Real Madrid’s Glaring Problems

After Real Madrid’s first defeat of the season, José Mourinho called out Real Betis players for embellishing fouls to get favorable calls while his own “naive” men didn’t do the same.

Los Blancos saw their perfect start under the Portuguese boss snapped in Seville when they suffered a frustrating 1–0 loss to Real Betis. A controversial offside ruling, a missed penalty from Kylian Mbappé and a wealth of poor finishing all contributed to the team dropping points on Friday evening.

But instead of focusing on the real problems plaguing his team, Mourinho instead took aim at his players for not playing the foul game like Real Betis. “The Betis players are smarter than those of Real Madrid, who are pure, naive,” he said in his postgame press conference.

“In the first play of the match, there was a clear yellow card for a player who fouled [Fede] Valverde, and then another yellow for a player who committed a major foul on Vinícius Júnior. Madrid players get up immediately, while Betis players are smarter and have the support of a fantastic crowd that pushes, pressures and achieves these kinds of things.

“Naive in the sense that, for minor things, Betis players try to influence the referee’s decisions, while Real Madrid players, in situations clearly deserving of a yellow card ... they stay on their feet.

“On the other side, there was that boy who looked like he was dead right in front of my bench—I thought the ambulance was coming, but in the end, there was no ambulance. That’s what I mean. And when you play matches against teams with this kind of culture, this kind of mentality, it becomes a factor against you.”

Misplaced Blame Only Goes So Far

Kylian Mbappé did not play to his standards on Friday. | Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Mourinho’s critique of the Real Betis players and the referees are expected after such a tense match, but insinuating a few yellow cards for the visitors would have changed the result is a bit rich, considering his players’ biggest enemy on Friday was themselves.

Mbappé had another poor night, a theme Real Madrid fans have become very familiar with over the last three seasons. The Frenchman missed glaring chance after glaring chance, none more shocking that when he shanked a shot in front of an open goal after Vinícius Jr had rounded the goalkeeper.

Then, with the chance to salvage at least a point that could mean so much down the line in the title race with Barcelona, Mbappé saw his penalty saved. It was shades of his debut season, when he failed to convert from the spot against Liverpool and Athletic Club.

Mbappé took seven shots on the night, the most by any player in the game, and couldn’t bury a single one against a defense that conceded five to Levante last time out.

Vinícius Jr did not have a strong finishing performance either, but in the biggest moments, he showed up. The Brazilian created a sensational chance for Mbappé in transition, set up Carlos Espí’s goal that was eventually wiped away and then won the penalty that Mbappé botched.

It was same old story for Real Madrid. When the team needs Mbappé the most, he whithers away under the bright lights. The referee could’ve booked every Real Betis player on the pitch and it wouldn’t have changed one glaring fact: Los Blancos are not going to win tight games when their entire attack is funneled through one person who too often fails to deliver.

Mourinho’s Decsions Did Real Madrid No Favors

José Mourinho once again made some questionable team decisions. | Maciej Rogowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Mbappé shouldn’t shoulder all the blame from Friday’s defeat when Mourinho made a few frustrating team decisions. The manager once again started Denzel Dumfries, keeping Trent Alexander-Arnold and his magical right foot on the bench.

The Dutchman is as solid as they come, but he simply does not bring any sort of danger to the right flank. Real Madrid then fall into old habits of overloading the left flank, giving the team zero width.

Mourinho eventually came to his senses and yanked Dumfries off just past the hour-mark for Alexander-Arnold, but the England international should have been on the pitch from the start—as should have Yan Diomande.

Real Madrid broke their club record to sign the 19-year-old from RB Leipzig and he hasn’t started a single game this season. Instead of Mourinho giving Diomande and Alexander-Arnold proper time to develop chemistry down the right flank to bolster his one-dimensional attack, he throws them into unstable conditions only for a handful of minutes.

Yan Diomande is struggling for opportunities. | Joaquin Corchero/Europa Press/Getty Images

Speaking of substitutions, Mourinho once again made Arda Güler his first change despite the Turkish youngster creating a staggering seven chances in just 64 minutes on the pitch—that’s more than the chances created by Jude Bellingham, Vinícius Jr and Mbappé combined across 90 minutes.

It’s almost like Mourinho believes that star-studded trio will be enough to win games without any additional creative support, when they have won zero major trophies together.

The 63-year-old is very quickly falling into the same patterns of his predecessors Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa. The good news is Mourinho has plenty of time to adapt, but he must realize blaming referees and calling his own players naive isn’t going to magically make a bunch of individuals into a cohesive team worthy of silverware.

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