"Mou, your finger shows us the way": we remember the tough years of Mourinho's first tenure at Real

Jose Mourinho's return to the Santiago Bernabeu was dramatic and controversial. He returned to his former club on February 25 this year for the first time since a tumultuous three-year spell as Real Madrid head coach, which ended in 2013. Mourinho was then in charge of Benfica, who played against Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League play-offs. In the first match in Lisbon a week earlier, the Portuguese was removed for protesting against the referee's decision. After Benfica's 0-1 defeat, Mourinho found himself in the global media spotlight for his comments about the alleged racist abuse of Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior by Gianluca Prestianni. The Benfica winger denied the allegations. First, Mourinho told Vinicius Junior right on the pitch that no one at Benfica could be racist because the club legend is Eusebiu, a black footballer. Later, the coach appeared to accuse the 26-year-old striker of provoking a reaction from opponents during the celebration of the only goal of the match. After an investigation, UEFA suspended Prestianni for six matches in April - albeit for homophobic, not racist, behavior. "I told him (Vinicius Junior) that after a goal like that you just have to celebrate it and go back," Mourinho said on Amazon Prime after the February 17 incident. "When he talked about racism, I told him that the greatest person in the history of this club is black. The last thing you can say about this club is that it is racist. Something is wrong here, because in every stadium where Vinicius plays, something happens. Always." Real Madrid did not particularly comment on Mourinho's words. The situation did not change even after he was officially announced as the new head coach of Madrid on June 11. But on Tuesday night, Mourinho was asked about that incident in an interview with Spanish channel Cuatro. "The answer is very simple," said the 63-year-old coach. "Prestianni was my player. And that's it, there's nothing to talk about. If Prestianni is my player... 20 people can come and I'll be on Prestianni's side. There's nothing more to add. Vinny knows that now, he knows whose side I'm on and he knows he can look at me and count on my support." Sources close to Vinicius Jr. - who, like the other interlocutors, spoke anonymously so as not to damage their relationship - told insider sources that he and Mourinho had different views on the situation. At the same time, they assured that after the conversations that took place already after the appointment of the Portuguese, their relationship remains good. However, Mourinho was an extremely controversial figure at Real even before that. At a press conference before that play-off match in February, the Portuguese described his time at the Madrid club from 2010 to 2013 as "difficult, intense, almost brutal". During this time, deep and long-term problems arose in the club. Relations with legendary players, including Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo, have seriously deteriorated. President Florentino Perez has never publicly condemned the divisiveness Mourinho's actions have caused, and his shadow has never really left the Bernabeu. It is enough to recall the events of that period to understand why. Mourinho took charge of Real Madrid in the summer of 2010 as arguably the most famous coach in world football. His Inter had just won the treble and won the Champions League the same year after a dramatic semi-final win over Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. "I don't know if I was born to coach Real Madrid, but I was definitely born to be a football coach," Mourinho said during the presentation at the Bernabeu. "And I love big challenges. Soon I will create a team with its own identity and future." In the first 12 matches of La Liga, Madrid scored 32 points, but Mourinho has already managed to get involved in a number of public conflicts. At press conferences, he argued with local journalists about the chances of the club's pupils - "Pedro Leon (the Spanish winger who Real signed from Getafe in 2010) is not Zinedine Zidane and not Diego Maradona" - and insulted the head coach of Sevilla: "Who is Gregorio Manzano? I don't know him." In response to criticism of this behavior, Real Madrid director and legendary former club player Emilio Butragueño said: "We signed Mourinho not to make friends, but to win trophies." Madrid approached the first El Clasico of the season, one point ahead of Barcelona in the La Liga standings. A crushing 5-0 defeat at the Camp Nou in November 2010 seemed like a major blow, but the politically astute Mourinho used the humiliation