The Second Coming of the galacticos began much as the first ended: with Real Madrid watching someone else win. In 2006, Florentino Perez departed the presidency empty-handed for a third successive season; he returned three years later, spending €258m, but the result was the same. At the start of 2009-10 season, Cristiano Ronaldo was presented in front of 80,000 fans and the club's nine European Cups at the Bernabeu; at the end of it, the European Cup was again on display at the packed stadium. But it wasn't actually Madrid's.

So Perez placed himself in the hands of the man who had won the trophy Madrid like to think belongs to them. No sooner had the final whistle gone on Inter Milan's historic moment than Jose Mourinho was revealing what had already become an open secret: he was on his way to Madrid.

Desperation brought them to his door. Nothing else mattered: Madrid had to win. It was time to seek out guarantees and few offer guarantees like Mourinho. And if ever there was a time to prove that at Madrid, it is now. For the first time, Madrid's galactico would be in the dugout. And, if anyone doubted that the appointment represented a seismic shift, the evidence was there on the very first day.

Madrid wanted a galactic presentation, normally reserved for the stars, not the coaches. They wanted a packed stadium, a beaming coach, and honorary president Alfredo di Stefano doing the honours ­alongside Perez. Mourinho said no. Instead, he appeared before the media in the club's pine-panelled press room. And there, he proceeded to smash the tenets of the ­galactico model out the park, one by one.

But can Mourinho handle Madrid like he handled his other clubs? His champions are in no doubt: the challenges posed by Real Madrid are special ones but Mourinho is the Special One. He has perfected his methodology over his career, always ­correcting, always learning, noting every little detail, and believing he knows how to handle anything thrown at him. Given Madrid's situation, his position is one of virtually unassailable strength. That fact alone makes him more likely to succeed than his predecessors.

Madrid have not won a Champions League knockout tie in six years; in that time, the Portuguese has won the ­competition twice. And, although he insists on flexibility and teams' unique identities, there are constants, a method. "Every club is different," he says. "But the spirit and the approach is always the same. Jose Mourinho will always be Jose Mourinho."

Apart from a huge salary, he made only one demand of Madrid before taking the job: if he was going to do it, he was going to do it his way. No other coach has been extended the privilege. All of which means altering the project itself, allowing Mourinho to remedy Madrid's traditional ills - starting with the obsession with ­signing a galactico every year...

Continued on next page...

The problem
A galactic model means a galactico every summer - even if the coach doesn't want one...

Asked about the players he wanted to sign during his presentation, Mourinho replied: "I am not interested in big names; I think we need three or four defensive players." His predecessors would have been tempted to mutter, "Yeah, right - like you've got anything to do with it." Rafa Benitez famously complained that Valencia had bought him a sofa when he asked for a lamp. Madrid have a habit of buying 15 sofas and no lamps. Or carpets. Or light fittings. Or, in fact, a home to put them in.

"A Ferrari," Carlos Queiroz said when he was at Madrid, "can't run without tyres." Another former manager sighed, "If they buy another striker, I'm going to have to write to FIFA to ask them to let us use only half the pitch." And Manuel Pellegrini complained: "No one asked me anything about how to build the team. Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder were vital players but they left - and they ended up in the Champions League final."

As for buying players to fit your system, forget it. Real Madrid fit their system around their players, crowbarring in as many of them as they can. Arrigo Sacchi, Madrid's one-time sporting director, recalled: "One day I said to Perez,
'What would your ideal starting XI be?' He put Beckham at right-back and Zidane at centre-back, because he had so many attackers."

The solution
Get your own way. And if not, make sure everyone knows about it...

Control over signings was a condition of Mourinho's arrival. When Perez announced that "this year's galactico is Mourinho", he said it all. Roman Abramovich once showed Mourinho a list of Russians he was interested in signing. The coach simply went through the list and crossed every one out. For him, hunger and personality are more important than talent.

He has insisted before that you can only win the league with "strong centre-backs, a striker who scores in his few chances and someone who is dangerous from dead balls." As Didier Drogba puts it: "Mourinho doesn't have players; he has people who are ready to adapt to his philosophy - and they are not necessarily the best players in the world."

If the promise is broken, Mourinho will not bite his tongue. Pellegrini spoke up when he left, by which time it was too late. Mourinho has always felt bold enough to speak out while he was still at his clubs - even if it did eventually cost him his job at Chelsea. When the London club ignored his demands to get a centre-back, he publicly announced: "We needed a bit of help in December and that was denied to us."


The problem
It's not just that Madrid sign galacticos - it's that you have to play them...

Galacticos are "investments", necessary for the financial success of the whole project. They have to be on display. The model demands style as well as success; glamour as well as guts. Mariano Garcia Remon was once asked who he thought he was to leave the Brazilian Ronaldo out of the side, to which he replied: "The coach." He was soon the ex-coach. Meanwhile, Vicente del Bosque admitted to Steve McManaman that his hands were tied: he was, in his own words, "just an employee" and certain players had to play.

The solution
Call their bluff, let them rot...

Not with Mourinho they won't. And if Perez insists, ask him what he has won. He'll find it's less than you have. You can always threaten to walk too: Perez knows that Mourinho is a last throw of the dice. After going through seven coaches in four years, he can't afford another sacking. If Mourinho, like every other coach Perez has signed, wins nothing, some might reach the conclusion that the coach is not the problem. Which helps to explain why Perez is prepared to put some demands on hold.


The problem
Real Madrid think it's all about stars. Tactics are just those green and orange things...

So ingrained was the assumption that the world's best players were so good that everything else was obsolete, meaning any serious preparation went out the window - as if somehow training and tactics were beneath them. "I hardly ever saw Del Bosque," recalled McManaman, who spent four seasons at the Bernabeu under the Spanish coach.

The solution
The devil's in the detail...

Bobby Robson recalled that even as an assistant, Mourinho's reports on other sides were "absolutely first class - the best I have seen". Drogba adds: "There was an almost surgical precision about what he said would happen. It was frightening how often he was exactly right - as if he could see into the future."

Not that players are force-fed endless information. Instead, Mourinho adopts a process of "guided discovery". He regularly stops training sessions to ask his squad what they think. His training sessions are inventive, varied and also short, to prevent boredom - "Never," he insists, "more than an hour and a half long."

"If I ever had to take a session and didn't know what to do, I asked Jose," recalls Louis van Gaal. "He always had an idea." And it always included a ball. After all, says Mourinho's right-hand man Rui Faria, "When did you ever see a pianist run around a piano without touching the keys?"


The problem
Players think they're bigger than you...

During one training session, Jose Antonio Camacho was trying to get his players to perform a drill when Zinedine Zidane turned round and snapped: "Who are you to tell me what to do?" What could he say?

The solution
They're not. And anyway, you can win them over

Mourinho can say plenty. He's won two Champions League trophies. But it's not just about success. Robson recalled how Mourinho was able to develop a relationship with Barcelona's players, even when some in Spain were deriding him as a mere translator. Mourinho was very conscious of the dangers: "At Barcelona, with those
players, the old routine of 'the coach is important' does not apply." He had to find a way of winning them over. He did. He always does.

That he invariably succeeds was illustrated by the sobbing, heart-wrenching embrace between Mourinho and Marco Materazzi after the Champions League final and the ultimately aborted players' revolt that followed his
sacking at Stamford Bridge. When he won his first Champions League the scenes were similar. "When the third goal went in, I went and hugged Mourinho, not a team-mate," recalls Porto's Jorge Costa. "It felt right."

When Frank Lampard did likewise after winning the Premier League, Mourinho declared: "What you saw was more than a hug - it was trust."

But how do you win them over? Now there's a question: the crux of the issue; Mourinho's secret. Robson always insisted that while he was extremely self-confident, Mourinho was "not arrogant". Victor Baia describes him as a "funny" man able to make players "feel important". He's a listener, too. A former Barcelona player describes him as "a sponge, soaking everything up", while at Chelsea he sent a player home to look after his sick son, allowing him to miss a match. He then publicly made an excuse for him; it remained between them.

Communication is key: at Inter, Mourinho studied Italian for five hours a day to ensure he could effectively reach his squad. At Barcelona, Oscar Garcia recalls that even as an assistant coach, "Mourinho was charismatic and
always knew exactly what to say - he was supremely eloquent and a very good judge of character. By acting as Bobby's link to the squad he was able to play both sides and be everyone's confidant." He was also able to
take new things on board and adapt to circumstance. One Barcelona player says that, under Van Gaal, he simply couldn't believe how wholeheartedly Mourinho had adopted the Dutch model. "You were looking at him and thinking: has this Portuguese bloke spent his whole life at the Ajax school?"

There are no forced, awkward attempts at bonding. Mourinho famously responded to his Chelsea predecessor Claudio Ranieri's decision to show his players Gladiator as a motivational tool before one match: "If I did that they'd just laugh at me and think I was sick." And he's happy to let his players relax - as the Porto player dancing on a pool table with a pair of recently acquired knickers on his head as Mourinho walked into the bar can testify. After one defeat in Portugal, Mourinho called over a player and told him to go and inform the rest of the squad that there was good news: "It's over. Go and enjoy yourselves - forget it." They won the second leg.

Not that he always plays Mr Nice Guy. Deco recalls how Mourinho manipulated the Portuguese midfielder, Maniche [see page 39]: "Mourinho knew that Maniche was important for the side and also a very emotional guy, but not always motivated. So a week or two before each game, he would drop him for a less important match. When he came back into the team, he would be furious and try to make a point. It worked every time. Maniche never realised how he was being played."

Others who found themselves dropped appreciated the strict fairness with which Mourinho treated them. The first thing he did upon buying Paulo Ferreira for Chelsea was phone Glen Johnson. "He was always very direct; very honest," adds Costa.

He was also crafty - a sharp political animal. At Barcelona he would look at players like Guardiola, realise just how important they were in the dressing room and, in Robson's words, think, "I have got to get in with this guy." It was no coincidence that Mourinho courted Materazzi or that he has begun his Real Madrid career serenading Raul. Likewise, he always seeks an assistant he can trust who knows the club - both as a way of showing his respect for the institution and to ensure that he has a guide to the internal idiosyncrasies at the club. He did it with Steve Clarke at Stamford Bridge. At the Bernabeu he will be aided by the club's former defender Aitor Karanka.

Continued on next page...

The problem
All the players want to be the star...

A former Real Madrid coach sits in a restaurant in northern Madrid and waves at the staff buzzing around. "Imagine this restaurant is Real Madrid," he says. "Everyone wants to be the maitre d'. No one wants to wash the plates, or
cook the food, or wait on the table."

One youth-teamer given his opportunity with the first team couldn't believe his eyes: "The players just did whatever they felt like doing."

Worse, the club institutionalised the star complex. A black 4x4 draws up outside the Bernabeu. At the wheel, a Madrid first-team player. On the side of the stadium hangs a gigantic banner depicting the club's galacticos. The driver sighs: "You'd think they were the only bloody players at the club."

On another occasion, one day at Madrid's training ground, the players were halfway through a session when they saw Perez striding across the pitch with someone in tow. The person in question was the ambassador to somewhere or other and quite fancied meeting David Beckham.

So Perez did the honours, while the rest of the squad looked on.

The solution
Remind them that you're the star. Show them that by doing it your way they'll get better - individually and collectively...

The first day Mourinho took over at Porto, he handed out his rulebook. The first commandment was simple: no one is bigger than the club. He also made them a promise: do things my way and we will win. There was
a blunt advisory message for Cristiano Ronaldo during Mourinho's presentation: if, said Mourinho, he gives everything for the club, he can be the best player in the world. If.

At Chelsea the message was the same: "If the bigger stars with the biggest egos understand the team comes first, we have a fantastic side."

It's not just words, either: Mourinho really means it, working tactically and technically with the players to improve them, convincing them of their value when they doubt it - constantly telling them how good they are. Samuel Eto'o played on the right for Inter and never said a word; Samuel Eto'o played on the right for Cameroon at the World Cup and did his nut.

Drogba sums it up perfectly: "Before Mourinho came to Chelsea few people had really heard of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Arjen Robben or myself - we were not world famous. That came through the group." The message is reinforced by Mourinho's penchant for picking the least glamorous players when it comes to holding them up as an example. When young upstart Mario Balotelli repeatedly let the side down last year, he retorted: "If you train with Cambiasso and Zanetti every day and don't improve, you only have one neurone."
His choice of players was no coincidence.


The problem
All that's well and good but your football is a bit, well, dull...

For anyone to describe your football as "s*** on a stick" stings. When that person rants about how you've made short passes, feints, nutmegs, back-heels and one-twos extinct, who reckons you want to stamp out any creative licence, it really stings. And when that person accuses you of wanting to control your players because you were never good enough to be one yourself, it stings like hell. Still, it could be worse: that person could be your boss. Oh.

In May 2007, Jorge Valdano accused Mourinho of taking football into a dark future, where fans had "better be ready to wave goodbye to any expression of the cleverness and talent we have enjoyed for a century". That's Jorge Valdano, the Madrid director general. Jorge Valdano, Jose Mourinho's new boss. Imagine what everyone else is saying. Imagine what that says about Madrid, the club that sacked a European Cup winner and the last two coaches to win the league - because they were too boring. Madrid's pursuit, Perez insisted, is "excellence"; they must "win
and fascinate".

At Chelsea, Mourinho complained Spurs "brought the bus and left it in front of the goal," introducing a whole new concept to the English game: parking the bus. "I would have been frustrated if I had been a supporter who paid £50 ($90) to watch Spurs defend." He might as well have introduced Mr Pot to Mrs Kettle. As Van Gaal put it: "My philosophy is to entertain; Mourinho's is just to win."

Mourinho is prickly about accusations of being defensive. But it did not stop him admitting that while he learnt much from Robson at Barcelona, what he added was "defensive organisation". That means strong centre-backs who only defend - "you've got enough to worry about defending without going up the pitch," he says - as well as a powerful midfield and strikers who take chances.

"I'm not interested in a player who scored three from 15 opportunities; I want one who scored from his only opportunity." UEFA's technical director Andy Roxburgh, who led a Scottish coaching course Mourinho attended to get his license, recalls that his biggest obsessions were "transitions" - from defence to attack and vice versa. Counter-attacks, in other words.

When Italian TV found his notes after one game, they were struck by his insistence that Maxwell was two metres too far forward. Every aspect of the opposition is pored over. This doesn't really fit the Madrid way; they're not supposed to worry about the opposition - they're supposed to blow them away with style and substance.

Against Barcelona in the Champions League, Mourinho insisted he did not park the bus. He had, in fact, "parked a plane - with its wings out". Yes, three strikers played, but Pandev became a runner and Samuel Eto'o an auxiliary right-back. Most people at Inter didn't care. Nor did they care when Porto won the European Cup, even as up in La Coruna, where their team lost to Porto in the semi-final, they complained: "He looks like a gents' hairstylist but he sends his teams out with hatchets." At Madrid, they care.

The solution
Tell them they're wrong. Remind them that you won. And remind them just how desperate they are to do the same...

Mourinho keeps a notebook with every little detail from his entire career in it. And the evidence, though skewed, is exhaustively gathered and impeccably presented. Mourinho was quick to defend himself at his presentation. "I have been in three European finals," he said, "and scored eight goals."

In Italy, the battle to prove his attacking credentials appeared never-ending - and increasingly bitter. Inter, Mourinho reminded reporters, had scored more goals than any of the last 10 winners of Serie A. And they beat Barcelona 3-1 - making them the only team to have defeated Pep Guardiola's side by more than a solitary goal.

As for the tactics, pragmatism is the key. Against Barcelona, his was a genuine tactical innovation: give them the ball, and let them play. "Do you really want me to compete for possession with them?" Mourinho asked.
"And lose? If you have a Ferrari and I have some small car, I have to puncture your tires. Or put sugar in your petrol tank."

At Madrid he will have a Ferrari. But right now, for all the barbed remarks in the press, Madrid don't care as much about winning pretty as they would like to think. And Mourinho won the European Cup. Madrid want the European Cup - so much so that they've publicly swallowed their own identity. "Madrid is all about winning," insisted Perez, hastily glossing over everything he'd said before. Valdano fell on his sword in front of the entire press corps, Mourinho's presentation beginning with him saying a very public, very pathetic sorry.

When he departed, Pellegrini moaned that a record-breaking season was not enough to keep him in a job. "The next manager will have to rack up 100 points and over 100 goals," he said. Or, Pellegrini's critics were quick to
retort, actually win something.


The problem
Erm, aren't you actually a bit, well, Barcelona underneath it all?

The video is still on YouTube and it hasn't gone unnoticed. Mourinho on a balcony in Barcelona, chanting: "Today, tomorrow and always with Barça in my heart." Mourinho was once a rabid Barcelona acolyte, prepared to wind up Madrid and spout anti-Catalan conspiracies with the best of them.

The solution
Make an enemy of them...

Asked if he would ever go back to Barcelona as coach earlier this year, Mourinho replied simply: "It's impossible now." That's thanks to attacks on Catalan "theatre", accusations against referees and slurs against Lionel Messi, with his constant winding up during the last few years - plus of course the comically uptight reaction of Barcelona fans in taking the moral high ground. Mourinho revelled in telling Luis Figo: "You should thank me - you're no longer the most hated man in Catalonia."

Problem solved. But what about Madrid's claim to be a gentleman's club? Pah! Mourinho's Barcelona past just twisted the knife in Catalan backs. And when he beat Barcelona this season, happily decrying the Catalans' "obsession" with Madrid, they loved it even more. Who cares if it was boring, defensive or cynical - it screwed over Barça!

By the time he'd won the competition, he had become the perfect candidate. Mourinho won the European Cup and he beat Barcelona. Now's he's got to do it all again.  

This article appeared in the August issue of FourFourTwo magazine. To buy back copies of this issue call 03-8317-8121 with a credit card to hand.