Jose Mourinho may be possibly the most successful manager of his generation, and one of the best in the world, but he couldn’t handle the pressure at Real Madrid.
That’s according to Ramon Calderon, the former Madrid club president. Mourinho spent three years at the Bernabeu, winning a league title and a Copa Del Rey, but was unable to win the prize he was hired for.
Mourinho’s side lost three consecutive Champions League semi-finals, and rumours of bust-ups and tensions with key players were omnipresent throughout his reign.
“To be a manager of Real Madrid is really, really difficult”, Calderon told the BBC. “See what happened to Mourinho. He is someone who is used to coping with pressure and he couldn’t”.
Mourinho left in 2013, returning to Chelsea, and Madrid won the Champions League the following season in his absence. Despite being one of the most successful managers in football history, Calderon believes Madrid were better off without the ‘Special One’, but also conceded it’s difficult for any manager to last long at the Bernabeu.
“When Mourinho left, things were in a really bad situation. He had to leave the club after three years of a lot of problems, a lot of confrontations.”
Calderon, who was club president from 2006 to 2009 also praised Mourinho’s successor Carlo Ancelotti
“To be here more than two, three years is really a big task. 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”.
