Sports
Real pressure beat Mourinho, says Calderon
Jose Mourinho could not handle the pressure as manager of Real Madrid, says ex-club president Ramon Calderon.
The Chelsea boss managed Real from 2010-13, winning La Liga in 2012 and the Copa del Rey in 2011, before leaving for Stamford Bridge.
“To be a manager of Real Madrid is really, really difficult,” Calderon told BBC World Service. “See what happened to Mourinho.
“He is someone who is used to coping with pressure and he couldn’t.”
Mourinho finished second in La Liga in his first season in Madrid – four points behind Barcelona – but won the title a year later, amassing a record 100 points in the process.
Real, also lost in the semi-finals of the Champions League in each of their three seasons, under the former Porto and Inter Milan boss, who has won Europe’s top club competition twice, and lifted top-flight titles, in four countries.
“When Mourinho left, things were in a really bad situation,” said Calderon, who was president from 2006-2009. “He had to leave the club after three years of a lot of problems, a lot of confrontations.”
Mourinho’s, successor, Carlo Ancelotti, guided Real to their 10th European Cup last season but Calderon says there are no guarantees the manager of the La Liga leaders will be at the club beyond the summer.
“To be here more than two, three years is really a big task,” he said. “I think he has done a very good job, not only because he won the Champions League, but because things are calm, relaxed and everything is smooth.
“I have read Joachim Low is one manager we would like, but it is always rumour and we will have the rumours until the next five months, when it is decided whether definitely Ancelotti will be here.”
-Ripples
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.