Read 4 minutesJune 26, 2026 06:04 AM IST
Incoming Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has expressed his desire for all his club’s players to make an early exit from the ongoing FIFA World Cup.
Speaking on the Beast Mode podcast with Adebayo Akinfenwa, when Mourinho was asked what he was most looking forward to in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, the Portuguese coach laughed and said: “You want the truth? I want the Real Madrid players to lose and go on holiday. Because I want the boys back in pre-season.”
Mourinho will take charge of the team after the World Cup in July. Currently, 11 Real Madrid players are in the World Cup with their national teams: Kylian Mbappe (France), Vinicius Junior (Brazil), Jude Bellingham (England), Antonio Rudiger (Germany), Aurelien Tchouameny (France), Thibaut Valluverudium (France), Thibaut Valleguiad (France), Andrique (Brazil), David Alaba. (Austria) and Arda Guler (Turkey).
He said he is skipping most of the current World Cup games and will focus on watching from the knockout stage.
Asked if any team has impressed him so far, Mourinho said: “Some matches, after 10 minutes, I turn off (the TV). I don’t like that feeling. For me, the World Cup is the top. I know socially it means a lot for every country. It means the world is breathing football. One thing. And S-7 is another social side. And 5-1 is not possible (in the World Cup.) I think I Brazil-Morocco was a good game, I didn’t stay awake at 3am.
Mourinho said that apart from Portugal, he wanted England to be in the finals of the World Cup. But England have never before pointed to a penalty shootout. He then pointed to the media pressure on the team.
“I always think England can go (all the way),” Mourinho said. “I believe they have more pressure than anyone else in relation to the media. And ultimately the media has a lot of influence on people, the English fans. They ultimately can’t cope with the expectations and the responsibility.
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Watch: The Jose Mourinho Podcast with Beast Mode on Podcast
Mourinho also put to rest chatter that he would make radical changes to Real Madrid’s squad from last season by releasing players.
“I read some things where people were saying: ‘Jose Mourinho is coming here and he’s going to cut some top players who had some problems during the season’. No! I want these players! I want the best players. Now I have to find a way to build a team and not have these problems, in the end, I don’t know, I don’t know, if they had a lot of problems in the previous season, they would be playing well. It’s a big problem. Big players are big players.