Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas has described his relationship with José Mourinho as “very cold” in the new docuseries about the manager that sheds light on the acrimonious end to his first reign at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Mourinho, who was re-appointed to lead Madrid this summer, first took charge of the club between 2010–2013.
The two-time Champions League winner was seen as arguably the world’s best manager when he arrived in the Spanish capital, fresh from European success with Inter Milan.
While he delivered a Copa del Rey and La Liga title, the latter with a record-breaking points tally, Mourinho failed to end Madrid’s barren run in Europe and he left after three years, following a disappointing trophyless final season. His last months were marked by off-field drama as an increasingly cantankerous Mourinho fought with the media, rivals and even his own players.
Infamous Casillas Rift Re-Visited
Club captain Casillas was one man who got on the wrong side of Mourinho as things went south. The goalkeeper—one of the club’s sacred cows—found himself benched and frozen out by the manager during the 2012–13 campaign, a move which shocked many.
“The relationship José and I had was very cold,” Casillas recounts on thew new Netflix docuseries Mourinho. “In those years, I really think it was taken to a limit where in the end, the rope broke.”
Elsewhere in the series, former midfielder Sami Khedira—who re-joined Real Madrid this summer as part of Mourinho’s coaching staff—admitted that the rift between Casillas and the manager had a negative impact on the team.
He said: “Iker is a Real Madrid legend, loved by every Real Madrid supporter. He benched him, doesn’t speak to him, spoke bad about him in the media, so then this locker room was a nightmare, honestly.
“After that, the relationship between Jose and many, many players was broken—like Cristiano [Ronaldo] and the Spanish guys, Casillas, Sergio Ramos. And those players were super, super important for the atmosphere in the locker room.”
Mourinho Claims Madrid Players Were ‘Spoilt’
Delving into the reasons for the breakdown in relations with Casillas, Mourinho said: “The first three times that I spoke to Casillas, the captain, the first thing he told me was, ‘I want to ask for more holidays for the national team players.’
“The second time he spoke to me was, ‘I would like to ask you to put the training sessions one hour later because at the time you want the training sessions, there is a lot of traffic in Madrid.’ The third time he comes to speak with me was, ‘We don’t want to go to [the] hotel. We prefer just to meet on matchday and go direct to the stadium to play'.
“And in a short period of time, I realized they’re spoilt.”
Mourinho also touched on his how his frequently antagonistic behaviour towards rivals Barcelona didn’t sit well with some of his own players, who had to see their rivals on international duty.
The 63-year-old added unapologetically: “I say, this is Barcelona [and] Real Madrid. When you go to the national team, then you can kiss the guy, but not now. This is war.”
Mourinho’s Attitude Ominous for New Season
Interestingly, the new Netflix series rehashing the old drama at Real Madrid lands just as reports come in that the current roster is adapting to Mourinho’s “strict new rules” at the club’s Valdebebas training base.
So far at least, it is reported that the players are on board with Mourinho’s new system of fines promoting punctuality, as well as changes to nutrition and injury recovery.
It was, after all, precisely with the intention of re-establishing a sense of control over the players that Florentino Pérez turned to Mourinho at the start of this summer, following a season of chaos.
How long the honeymoon period lasts remains to be seen.
Thirteen years on from the Casillas affair, Mourinho remains one of soccer’s more volatile coaches, with his list of high-profile career rifts stretching far beyond his former goalkeeper.
Memories of that particular clash—and Mourinho’s apparent lack of regret or introspection—will leave many wary of a similar situation in the near future.
In 2026, Mourinho returns to a world where player power holds ever more weight—see last season’s issues surrounding Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Jr, for starters. As a result, Madrid’s ego-stuffed locker room and an old-school manager keen to establish himself as top dog appear primed for confrontation sooner or later.
