José Mourinho has introduced strict new rules at Real Madrid, including mandatory team meals, fixed nutritional plans, and sporting punishments for lateness, following a month of evaluating the squad at the Valdebebas training ground after a trophyless season.
Rebuilding the Dressing Room Culture After a Trophyless Season
Real has not performed according to expectations for the last two seasons. Twice they finished behind Barcelona in the Spanish league, and it was no glory in the Champions League or the domestic cup either. To sum up, the royal club has been waiting for a significant trophy for an unusually long time. Add to that the problems in the dressing room, recall the fight between Valverde and Tchouaméni at the end of last season. Real spent two years without a trophy, and the last season without winning a single one led to President Florentino Pérez calling for elections for new club leadership. The situation looked really bad, so club president Florentino Pérez decided on a very unexpected solution. After thirteen years, he pointed to Mourinho again. Many scratched their heads, as the sixty-three-year-old Portuguese man’s career was rather on the decline.
But do not count out the two-time Champions League winner. He came to Real to win, to collect trophies. But also to bring the dressing room together and establish a new culture and standards. The players of the Madrid giant had every comfort imaginable at the training center called Valdebebas. Mourinho decided to make the players’ lives “less comfortable,” while simultaneously wanting to have a perfect overview of everything. The Portuguese does not focus on one specific thing; he takes everything as one complex package. A month after arriving at Valdebebas, José Mourinho concluded that Real Madrid players had far too much freedom. According to the newspaper AS, he therefore introduced three rules that interfere with their day much more deeply than any training plan.
One of the fundamental new rules that Mourinho insists upon is communal dining. All players eat together with the coaching staff at the training center. The Portuguese strategist used the same tactic at Benfica, where he subsequently praised it. “He wants to support team cohesion and its unity, which is quite exciting,” stated a person close to the club according to the newspaper AS. “The atmosphere is really very, very, very good,” added another. According to club sources, the players accepted the changes without resistance and describe the atmosphere as very good. Mourinho is building the entire project on team spirit, and the club emphasized this with a photograph showing the entire squad having lunch together with the coaching staff. Something like this was not part of the regular program until now. A dressing room full of personalities, who for years organized their day as they pleased, has not yet rebelled.
Nutrition Plans Replace Personal Preferences
Another very fundamental change is nutrition. Under Mourinho, nutrition specialists and dietary advisors have a far greater say. Now, the menu prepared for the players focuses purely on performance. In the past, personal preferences played a large role; that has vanished. The club’s nutrition specialist no longer has an advisory role but directly determines the fixed menu for breakfast and snacks. Personal tastes have disappeared from the equation. The most sensitive intervention came in the dining hall. Previously, footballers received recommendations and decided for themselves; today, the menu for breakfast and snacks is set, and the only criterion is sporting performance.
Another significant change is the punishment for arriving late. Standardly, fines are given. But at Real, under Mourinho, it now works differently. Players must be at the training center no later than an hour before training. The one-hour reserve before training applies to everyone regardless of the name on the jersey. When someone arrives late, they spend time in the gym alone, apart from the others. Whoever arrives late does not reach into their wallet, but instead performs individual strengthening outside the group. The Portuguese coach apparently proceeds from the assumption that for players with such salaries, isolation from the group is a more effective punishment than financial sanctions.
Centralized Rehabilitation and Strict Medical Oversight
The third point is the least visible, yet the most fundamental. The process of rehabilitation after an injury has also changed. It now takes place entirely at the training center under the scrutiny of club employees. Previously, it was completely normal for a player returning from injury to work at home with their personal physiotherapist; that will no longer be possible. Returning from injury has ceased to be a private matter for each individual and has moved under club control. Personal fitness trainers remain permitted, however, all their work must be coordinated with the coaching staff, and treatment outside the premises is not permissible.
Preparing for the Upcoming La Liga Campaign
One of Mourinho’s main goals is to unite the squad again and return its team spirit. Whether he actually succeeds, however, we will find out in the coming months. A season in which there is no turning back. Meanwhile, Mourinho returns to the Santiago Bernabéu to an environment he knows well. During his first tenure there, he set several league records, including the highest point total in the history of the Spanish top flight. The first competitive match awaits the White Ballet on August 22, where they will face Espanyol in the first round of La Liga.
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