• Real Mallorca 0-0 Real Madrid
The result means Barcelona have already opened up a two-point lead over Mourinho’s Madrid thanks to their 3-0 thrashing of Racing Santader. Mourinho said he needs more time to work with his players but the Portuguese mastercoach knows he can’t afford to slip too far behind Barcelona, who lost just once last season.
Mourinho was satisfied with his side’s defending and build-up play but costly misses from Gonzalo Higuain in particular made for an unhappy La Liga debut for the former Chelsea and Inter boss.
“One positive is that from a defensive point of view we didn’t have any problems,” Mourinho said. “Another positive is the enormous number of chances we created in the second half. The negative is obviously the result. It is important to defend well and score when you are not at your best and we are far from our best. We didn’t play well but we did enough to win. We had five or six chances but didn’t take any of them and I am disappointed about that. We were solid defensively and if we had scored we would have taken the three points.”
In a further worry for Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo picked up an injury in the match. The club’s record signing is expected to undergo tests on Monday ahead of the international break. Mourinho admitted the timing of the break, which means his international players will be absent for most of the next two weeks before his home debut against Osasuna, was not ideal given his need to work with the squad.
“We need time to work on things but we don’t have much time at the moment. There is nothing we can do about it,” he said. On the immediate concession of the title race lead to Barcelona, he added: “There is a big difference between the finished product and a team in construction, like we are.”
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