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Mourinho looks to calm expectations

Pa
Wednesday 01 September 2010 12:46 BST
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Mourinho has said he wants to manage Portugal one day
Mourinho has said he wants to manage Portugal one day (GETTY IMAGES)

Jose Mourinho has warned Real Madrid fans not to expect miracles from him, telling them: "I'm not Harry Potter."

The Portuguese oversaw a goalless draw at Real Mallorca in his opening Primera Division match in charge, a result which was something of a disappointment following the fanfare of his arrival at the Bernabeu.

But Mourinho believes his team, including new men such as Ricardo Carvalho, Angel Di Maria and Mesut Ozil, need time to gel.

"Look, I'm a coach, I'm not Harry Potter," he told AS. "He is magical, but in reality there is no magic. Magic is fiction and football is real.

"I have been in Madrid a couple of months and we've had 40 training sessions. Do you know how many training sessions we have had together, including the new signings? Not 10. I repeat: not 10."

The players are still adapting to a new style of play, according to Mourinho.

"The easiest thing for me would have been not to change anything," he said, "to play like we played last year and keep the structure that already existed.

"That would have been easier to start the season, but it would have been misleading. That's not the direction that I want to go."

Mourinho insists he is not overly concerned by the opening draw.

"Early matches are always very strange," he said. "Bayern lost this weekend, Inter drew, Juventus lost, Manchester United drew with Fulham.

"I'll say one thing for the superstitious. My seasons at Porto and Inter always started with a draw.

"In Porto we then won four titles and at Inter we got two in the first season and three titles in the second.

"I do not see a draw as a drama on the first day.

"Winning this game was not a pre-requisite for a great season. But I'm not going to lie, obviously I wanted to win my first game."

Mourinho left new signings Ozil and fellow German Sami Khedira on the bench at Mallorca.

And he explained he wanted to give the pair time to settle into a new culture.

"It's not easy for the Germans," he said. "They do not speak a word of Spanish. They can just say 'buenos dias' and 'hola'.

"The work we do is intense and luckily I have an assistant who speaks some German and has given them my instructions.

"But it's not easy for my message to get across as I wish. In addition, the social life of the group is still zero for them.

"Patience. Give them time."

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