This is an updated version of an article first published in February 2026.
Jose Mourinho's return to the Bernabeu was dramatic and controversial.
For the first time since his turbulent three-season spell as Real Madrid coach ended in 2013, he was back at his old club on February 25 this year, leading Benfica in the second leg of their Champions League knockout phase play-off.
During the first leg in Lisbon the previous week, he was sent off for protesting a refereeing decision from the sidelines. After that 1-0 defeat for Benfica, Mourinho made headlines around the world with comments about the alleged racist abuse of Madrid forward Vinicius Junior by Gianluca Prestianni, an accusation the Benfica winger denied.
Mourinho first told Vinicius Jr on the pitch that nobody at Benfica could do anything racist, since Eusebio, a club legend, was Black. Afterwards, he appeared to accuse the 26-year-old of provoking a reaction when celebrating the game's only goal. Following an investigation, UEFA issued Prestianni with a six-game ban in April for homophobic rather than racist conduct.
Jose Mourinho comments on Vinicius Junior incident
“I told him (Vinicius Jr) that when you score a goal like that, you just celebrate and walk back,†Mourinho said on Amazon Prime at the time of that incident on February 17.
“When he was arguing about racism, I told him that the biggest person in the history of this club is Black. This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. There is something wrong because every stadium where Vinicius plays, something happens. Always.â€
Little was said around Real Madrid about Mourinho's comments. That did not change after he was officially announced as their new coach on June 11.
But on Tuesday night, Mourinho was asked about what happened in an interview on Spanish TV station Cuatro.
“The answer is very simple,†the 63-year-old said.
“Prestianni was my player. That's it, there's no discussion. If Prestianni is my player… 20 players can come, I'm with Prestianni, there's nothing more to it. Vini knows that now, he knows which side I'm on and he knows that he can look at me and count on me to stand by him.â€
Sources close to Vinicius Jr — speaking anonymously to protect relationships, like others cited here — told The Athletic he and Mourinho had different views on the matter, but insisted their relationship was good following talks since the manager's reappointment.
Mourinho was already a highly controversial figure at Real Madrid. In a press conference before that play-off tie in February, the Portuguese described his spell there between 2010-2013 as “tough, intense, almost violentâ€.
Deep and lasting cracks opened during that time. Relationships with legendary players, including Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo, were badly damaged. President Florentino Perez never publicly disavowed Mourinho's divisive actions — and his ghost never really left the Bernabeu.
You only need to look back at what happened to understand why.
Mourinho arrived at Madrid in the summer of 2010 as arguably the highest-profile manager in world football. His Inter side had just won the European treble, with that year's Champions League title coming after a dramatic victory against Pep Guardiola's Barcelona in the semi-finals.
“I don't know if I was born to coach Real Madrid, but I was born to be a football manager,†Mourinho said at his Bernabeu presentation. “And I like big challenges. I'll soon build a team with its own identity and future.â€
Madrid took 32 points from their first 12 La Liga games, but Mourinho was already getting involved in regular spats. At press conferences, he rowed with local reporters over opportunities for homegrown youngsters — “Pedro Leon (the Spanish winger signed from Getafe in 2010) is not (Zinedine) Zidane or (Diego) Maradona†— and insulted Sevilla's manager: “Who is Gregorio Manzano? I don't know him.â€
Responding to criticism of such behaviour, Madrid director and legendary former player Emilio Butragueno said: “We didn't sign Mourinho to make friends, but to win trophies.â€
Madrid went into the season's first Clasico a point ahead of Barcelona at the top of La Liga. A whopping 5-0 defeat at the Camp Nou in November 2010 seemed a big setback, but the politically savvy Mourinho used the humiliation to gain more power — sidelining sporting director Jorge Valdano, a former Madrid player and coach who symbolised the club's old-time values.
Mourinho also pressed publicly for greater backing in the transfer market. “If you go hunting with a dog, you catch more than if you go hunting with a cat,†he said, in an attempt to publicly pressure Perez to sign an upgrade on Karim Benzema, then aged 22 and in his second season at the club.
That spring brought four Clasicos in 17 days, with the whole football world watching. A 1-1 home draw on April 16 all but guaranteed the league title for Barcelona. Cristiano Ronaldo's extra-time header decided a tight and physical Copa del Rey final in Madrid's favour four days later.
Before the teams' Champions League semi-final first leg on April 27, Mourinho sarcastically called out Guardiola for criticising referees who got decisions correct. Guardiola responded in the Bernabeu press room later that day.
“He's the f****** boss in this room, the cleverest man in the world,†he said. “We were together for four years at Barcelona (when Mourinho worked as an assistant at the Catalan club). He knows me and I know him.â€
Pep Guardiola and Mourinho shake hands at the Bernabeu in April 2011 (Lluis Gene/AFP via Getty Images)
The game at the Bernabeu was goalless when Madrid defender Pepe was sent off. Lionel Messi then scored twice, including a superb solo effort, to give his side a 2-0 advantage. Afterwards, Mourinho angrily claimed there was a conspiracy against him, one involving six different referees, UEFA, the Spanish FA and even then-Barca shirt sponsor UNICEF.
“Guardiola is a fantastic manager, but he won a Champions League with a scandal at Stamford Bridge, and if he wins again, this will be the Bernabeu scandal. I'd be ashamed to win like this,†Mourinho said at an extraordinary press conference.
UEFA fined Mourinho €50,000 ($58,000; £42,800 at current exchange rates) and banned him for five games, which was reduced to three on appeal. Barcelona went on to win the Champions League after a 1-1 draw in the second leg and a 3-1 victory against Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in the final.
But many Madrid supporters — and Perez — accepted Mourinho's ultra-confrontational approach. He would continue to dial up the tension and conflict.
In the following August's Supercopa de Espana second leg at the Camp Nou, Messi's late strike put Barca 5-4 ahead on aggregate. In stoppage time, a Marcelo foul on Cesc Fabregas sparked a touchline melee, during which Mourinho poked then-Barca assistant coach Tito Vilanova in the eye.
After the game, Mourinho referred to Vilanova as Pito — slang in Spanish for penis.
Despite widespread furore over his actions, Mourinho refused to apologise, but text messages from his spokesperson Eladio Parames to reporters suggested he could resign over a lack of support from the Madrid hierarchy. Parames later said the messages were not sent by him — that an old phone number of his was being used without his knowledge.
Mourinho released a statement via Madrid's website saying there was “no way†he was leaving. It added: “I also wish to apologise to Madridistas, and only to them, for my attitude in our last game.â€
Hardcore fans at the Bernabeu backed Mourinho, and a banner that read “Mou — your finger points us the way†stayed at the stadium through the autumn.
But some at the club, including captain and goalkeeper Casillas, felt their coach had gone too far, and reached out to Spain colleagues at Barcelona. “I called Xavi because it was my duty and responsibility, because we were making mistakes and screwing things up,†Casillas later told newspaper El Pais.
Mourinho was furious at what he viewed as a betrayal. Casillas was temporarily dropped from the team, with the coach explaining it was because the 2010 World Cup winner had felt “untouchable†and allowed his standards to drop.
When Barcelona won 3-1 at the Bernabeu on December 10, Mourinho was whistled by many fans at the stadium who appeared to back their 'keeper against their coach.
Jose Mourinho in the Real Madrid dugout in December 2011 (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
“I understand Madridismo (the Madrid fanbase), but I don't listen to it,†Mourinho said that night. “Zidane has been whistled here, the Brazilian Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo. Why not me, too?â€
The following month, after Madrid were knocked out of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals by Barcelona, Mourinho waited in the Camp Nou car park to harangue referee Fernando Teixeira Vitienes, who booked seven Madrid players and sent off Ramos late in the game.
But the tense atmosphere appeared to galvanise Madrid, at least in La Liga. Ronaldo's emphatic winner in a 2-1 Camp Nou Clasico victory on April 21 effectively sealed the league title. Madrid ended up setting a new record for most points in a season, with 100 — a marker Barca matched the following campaign. That Madrid team's tally of 121 goals remains unmatched.
There was more pain in the Champions League, however, with Bayern Munich winning a semi-final penalty shootout at the Bernabeu. Mourinho leveraged that defeat to demand further concessions from Perez, including greater control of transfers. It also saw Zidane moved from his role as sporting director to a new job at the academy.
During Mourinho's third season, tensions would finally reach breaking point.
Madrid started the 2012-13 campaign by winning just one of their first four La Liga games. Mourinho publicly blamed his players.
“At this moment I have no team,†he said in a press conference after losing to Sevilla in September. By this stage, Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa were among the very few still backing their boss, with even fellow Portuguese stars Ronaldo and Pepe now upset with their coach.
His relationship with the media also became caustic, with Mourinho boycotting press conferences and sending assistant Aitor Karanka instead. In January 2013, Marca reported that Casillas and Ramos told Perez, “It's him or us,†at a training-ground meeting. Mourinho reacted by again threatening to leave, but relented after receiving further public backing from the president.
Jose Mourinho's final season at Real Madrid ended without a trophy (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
Casillas was dropped completely from the team, with Diego Lopez signed as a first-choice goalkeeper. But Barca kept control of the title race, at a time when Vilanova was receiving cancer treatment. Madrid's spirit fractured completely after a 4-1 Champions League semi-final first-leg defeat at Borussia Dortmund on April 24.
A few days after a third consecutive last-four Champions League exit was confirmed, Ronaldo celebrated a La Liga goal against Real Valladolid on May 4 by running to the bench and telling Mourinho in Portuguese: “Go f*** yourself.â€
The season's final humiliation was losing a Copa del Rey final to neighbours Atletico Madrid at the Bernabeu, with both Mourinho and Ronaldo red-carded. Even though Mourinho still had another three years left on the contract extension he signed the previous summer, his time at the club was clearly over.
“Each coach has their own personality, their level of demands, of competitiveness,†Perez said while announcing what was described as a joint decision for Mourinho to leave.
“Has he made some mistakes? Of course, he has admitted that himself. But there's a lot of pressure at Real Madrid, and Mourinho brought a higher level of intensity and competitiveness. We're proud of where we are now.â€
Arbeloa, who led Madrid from January until the end of last season after Alonso was sacked, is among those to have publicly argued that Mourinho instilled a winning attitude that underpinned the subsequent multiple Champions League trophies under the stewardship of Carlo Ancelotti and Zidane.
Mourinho appeared to agree with the idea that his time at Madrid had been a difficult but necessary period when speaking before Benfica and Madrid's Champions League tie in February.
Jose Mourinho grabbed Vinicius Junior to speak with him after the Brazilian alleged racist abuse (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
“I'm one of the few coaches to leave Real Madrid without being fired,†he said in a press conference.
“When I decided to leave, the president told me that it would be easier now, the hard part is done, the good times are coming. Everything Real Madrid did afterwards only brought me joy. But the praise goes to those who were there and who won.â€
Other players Mourinho publicly called out during his time at the Bernabeu, including Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil, have also claimed that conflict and tension helped the team understand what was required to become champions. Khedira, 39, is now part of Mourinho's coaching staff.
In February, Mourinho commented on the suggestion he could soon return as Madrid coach, with Arbeloa under pressure.
“I don't want to fuel stories that don't exist,†Mourinho said at a press conference. He added that he hoped Arbeloa would stay, while simultaneously making public a “break clause†in his Benfica contract that he could use if he wished, before talking of a “connection that lasts forever†with Madrid.
The idea of him managing again at the Bernabeu seemed highly unlikely after those Vinicius Jr comments earlier this year. But now, with Madrid starting their new La Liga campaign on Saturday away to Espanyol, he is back — with all that history in tow.
