Gerard Pique reflected upon Jose Mourinho’s time at Real Madrid, suggesting that he caused significant fractures between Spanish players.
The Portuguese coach joined Los Blancos in 2010, hot off the heels of his treble winning campaign with Inter. He went on to spend three years in Spain, where he won a league title and a Copa del Rey. Mourinho’s time in Madrid wasn’t without controversy and many fans were happy to see him depart in 2013.
Speaking to Skybet, Pique looked back at Mourinho’s time in Spain and discussed the issues he caused.
“I remember the first time he came to Camp Nou with Real Madrid, after winning the treble with Inter, it was a hard blow for him because he came to terms with reality and lost 5-0.
“In the press conference he pressed every day and that was too much for Guardiola. It had nothing to do with football. At that time he also destroyed relationships between players.
“If he went to a player and said ‘someone hates you’, the player believed him. I was in the national team and I was going to say goodbye to Casillas, but he didn’t want to talk to me.
“We had to have sessions between Barcelona and Madrid players to re-establish relations, get back to being a united dressing room and win.”
Mourinho has had a good debut season with Roma this year, guiding the team to the Europa Conference League final and putting them in contention for a possible 5th place finish. Fan support has been high and he seems to be enjoying himself a lot following a few difficult years in England with Manchester United and Tottenham.
Roma’s final two matches of the Serie A season are against Venezia tomorrow and Torino on May 22.