It may be as rare an event as him being humble, but Jose Mourinho has admitted he’s a worried man.
The Real Madrid manager revealed this shock occurrence having watching his side stumble to a 1-0 defeat away to Sevilla, a result that leaves them already eight points behind bitter rivals Barcelona.
Real conceded after only two minutes at the Sanchez Pizjuan when Piotr Trochowski volleyed in unmarked at a corner, and they were outfought in a bruising encounter that left them with only four points from their first four games.
And for a manager who never takes defeat lightly the stuttering start to the season has come as something of a shock, although he claims he’s not too bothered by the early-season gap to Barca.
“I am only worried about my team,” Mourinho said. “I am worried that since the season started officially we have only really played well in the Spanish Super Cup.
“Nowhere else. More than the points I am worried that in this moment I don’t have a team,” he added. Usually a loss for his side would provoke a diatribe against the referee, the weather or anything or anyone else he could blame the result on.
However, Mourinho admitted that Real didn’t deserve to get anything out the match.
“Congratulations to Sevilla, they deserved to win without any doubt,” the Portuguese admitted. “We got the prize we deserved considering how badly we played.”
Madrid opened their campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to Valencia, were shock 2-1 losers at Getafe and after beating Barca to lift the Spanish Super Cup, strolled to a 3-0 win at home to Granada.
Apart form the poor run of form, Los Merengues’ season has been dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo’s cryptic outburst two weeks ago.
Real’s star player and most expensive ever signing said he was “sad” for “professional reasons” and that the club knew why. But for Mourinho that doesn’t explain Real’s poor run of form.
“It’s got nothing to do with the rumour of the last two weeks,” Mourinho insisted.
PROBLEMS FOR BARCA AND PUYOL
The edge was taken off Barcelona’s eight-point advantage over Real Madrid thanks to news their skipper Carles Puyol faces up to six weeks out due to a knee injury. The Catalan giants easily beat Getafe 4-1 on Saturday night thanks to a brace from Lionel Messi and strikes from Cesc Fabregas and David Villa. However, the win that gives them a two-point cushion at the top of the La Liga table was overshadowed by news that Puyol, who was taken off after 57 minutes, had twisted knee ligaments.
Puyol is now likely to miss Barcelona’s opening Champions League game at home to Spartak Moscow on Wednesday and the visit of rivals Real on October 7. And Barca boss Tito Vilanova said: “We always seem to have problems with injuries to the central defenders.”
