Jose Mourinho claims Cristiano Ronaldo and his Real Madrid team-mates spend too much time looking in the mirror

Former Real manager does accept that he must adapt to a new generation if he is to coach younger players

Jose Mourinho feels that the Real Madrid players spent too much time looking in the mirror (Getty Images)

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has slammed the players at his former club Real Madrid after claiming they spent too much time looking at themselves in front of the mirror before games.

Mourinho spent three years at the Santiago Bernabeu where he coached players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, and in an interview with magazine Esquire he revealed that the players would be looking at themselves in the mirror in the tunnel before kick-off as they waited for the match officials to lead them out.

“Lots of times at Real Madrid, the players would be queuing in front of the mirror before the game while the referee waited for them in the tunnel,” said Mourinho.

However, the Blues manager admitted that he must adapt to it along with such things like social media that has become a frequent communication link between players and fans – something that previously wasn’t available in such depth.

He added: “But that’s how society is now. Young people care a lot about this: they are twenty-something and I am 51 and if I want to work with kids I have to understand their world.

“How can I stop my players on the bus doing, er, what do you call? Twitters and these things? How can I stop them if my daughter and my son do the same? So, I have to adapt to the moment.’

He continued to explain what he felt has been a shift in the way players earn a living, claiming that it had gone from players attempting to get rich before they ended their careers to a case of outsiders trying to make them rich before their careers have even taken off.

“What I feel is that before, players were trying to make money during their career, be rich at the end of their career,” he continued.

“But in this moment, the people who surround them try to make them rich before they start their career.

“They try to make them rich when they sign their first contract, when they didn’t play one single match in the Premier League, when they don’t know what it is to play in the Champions League.”