On Wednesday, Real Madrid played their penultimate friendly against Deportivo La Coruna in the Teresa Herrera Trophy. A goal from Brahim Diaz, who will not be leaving this summer, on the stroke of half time was the difference between the sides at Riazor, as Los Blancos made it three wins and a draw in their pre-season programme thus far.
After the match, head coach Jose Mourinho spoke to Real Madrid TV (via MD) to reflect on the victory in A Coruna. He was pleased with the victory, as he expects his side to come up against similar challenges during the 2026-27 season.
“It was a serious match against a team that returns to La Liga. This trophy has a lot of tradition for them and they have given everything. They have forced us to play seriously. It was a complicated, difficult match. I have to make my changes, I have to give everyone a chance, I don’t want to give too many minutes to the same players. Today, 45 only to Fede and Arda. This match is here to win, OK, it’s here to win but more than to win it’s to work, give minutes, do tests and one thing I like is that in a match of this difficulty, with changes of players, also of structures, of functions.
“The team has played for a result and we will have many games like this in La Liga. Mainly away from home, where you are not able to kill the game and when you kill it, you win the same. You win 1-0 like we won. There was a lot of positive things, the team is growing, there are five who are working at Valdebebas who have not been here, you already know who these five are. We are going little by little and next week, yes.”
Mourinho: Players are progressing well
Mourinho believes that his players are on the right track with their preparations for the new season, which gets underway next weekend with a trip to Espanyol.
“The team is progressing in everything, but the difficulty of the matches is in crescendo, we have prepared him like this. Very good, to come here, with this atmosphere, against this team… We know what summer tournaments are like, they are worth what they are worth to the home team, the tradition, the culture,… They wanted their cup and competing in this way is a very good training for us.”