Mourinho: I hope I'm still alive when the final verdict on Manchester City arrives

Real Madrid manager José Mourinho gave an extensive interview to Corriere dello Sport, reflecting on his time at several clubs throughout his managerial career. Having returned to the Bernabéu dugout in the summer, the Portuguese tactician is set to head back to Rome next week to face his former side Roma in the Champions League. Here is what Mourinho had to say on a range of topics:

Returning to Real Madrid
Usually, first comes the contact, and then the noise starts once something is already happening. Here, it was the complete opposite: the noise began when there was no contact whatsoever. I was at Benfica, perfectly happy. It's a special club for me, ten minutes from my house — something I hadn't experienced in 20 years. It was a club that needed a radical revamp. I thought I would see out my three-year contract there. Then all the speculation began. I was surprised. I paid no attention to it. I thought, 'It's just a rumour.' Real Madrid had changed managers mid-season, and then Arbeloa came in. The results weren't great and talk started mounting. But nobody had spoken to me. When the rumours surfaced, I thought, 'This can't be true.' I was at Benfica, focused on Benfica, thinking about Benfica's future. I never thought it was real.

The Evolution of Football
There is no evolution; it's a cycle. What goes around comes around, as they say. You always come back to the same place. Perhaps there's been a physical transformation in players compared to years ago. The resources we have at our disposal now are incredible. Nowadays, I think every team travels with two buses: one for the players and one for the staff. Sometimes, when I look at the room allocation list after arriving at the hotel, I see two pages: one for the players' rooms — 101 Mbappé, 102 Vinícius, 103 Jude Bellingham. And then there's a second page with another 40 rooms for ten analysts, ten social media staff, and ten kitmen. But are they all really necessary? Are they all necessary? The president just pays for them. He pays a lot, and nowadays they cost far more.

The Potential Punishment for Manchester City
I prefer to laugh a little, because I believe this will eventually come to an end. It will conclude. But the two of us [the journalist and I], both around 60 years old, will have to be lucky enough to still be alive when the final verdict is delivered. Because there will be a ruling now, and then an appeal in a year's time.

The Future
As long as I have my health, I will keep working.

Relationship with Referees
I don't think the issue is with me. The problem is the bad luck I seem to have whenever I arrive at a certain club. Here at Real Madrid, I lived through the crucial Negreira era. Nobody knew at the time, but we lived through it. It happened, it really happened. Then I left, and now everybody knows about it. But I was thinking: in Turkey, after the huge scandal in Turkish football, a similar situation often happened to me as well.

Carlo Ancelotti
Carlo is fantastic. He wanted to speak to his players, right? [during a recent visit to Real Madrid's training ground]. He wanted to talk to Vinícius, see how Rodrygo was doing, check on his progress, and see how Militão's recovery was going. Endrick was also injured at the time, and Carlo asked for my permission to come over. 'Carlo, you're not well!' But that's Carlo for you. Carlo, I'm sick of you, because every single day I walk down the corridor and it's Carlo's photos here, Carlo's photos there. I've had enough of you already!

Roma
Leaving the club hurt. I have never uttered and will never utter a bad word against Roma or their owners: when I leave, I leave with clean hands and the feeling that this will forever be my home. The day I arrived, thousands of people turned up to welcome me, and I hadn't even achieved anything yet. I didn't deserve that, but that's Roma. I fought for the fans, I gave everything, and we won a trophy like the Conference League, which means an enormous amount for a club that doesn't win often.

Returning to Rome Next Wednesday
I need to prepare myself, because for the first time I'll be there without the backing of the Giallorossi faithful. I'm not expecting chants or banners, just great mutual respect.

The Prestianni–Vinícius Controversy
It was a very delicate and difficult situation for us, because ultimately Prestianni was suspended, but not for racism. I became a victim of public opinion, particularly of many people who took advantage of the situation over something entirely out of control. You have a player saying, 'That's not true.' Nobody has any proof that it is true. You can't take a side. Whatever you say, public opinion will still get it wrong. What I truly liked about the end of this saga is that on one side you had a great lad, and on the other, a fantastic lad. There was an issue, but in the end, I got to know both of them. It was tough; from a management standpoint, it was extremely difficult.