Mourinho: “Atlético have a fantastic group of supporters”
“We had confidence in our style of play”
José Mourinho, manager Real Madrid, was satisfied with the match result and the subsequent qualification for the Copa del Rey semi-finals. The Portuguese manager stated that he felt calm and very pleased. “We were well-situated on the pitch, closed in back, supportive in attack and very compact. We knew that we were going to have chances if we played our style of football. We had to score a goal to psychologically kill off the match.”
Going into the game with a 3-1 lead, Mourinho took advantage of the circumstance to change up the team’s strategy and put on a very defensive line-up. “I wanted to change the strategy and make substitutions. I took off Di María and Özil in the final minutes to give others some playing time. The injury to Khedira kept me from making other changes.”
Lastly, he played down the conflict with the Atlético fans and showed his respect towards them. “They’re a fantastic group of supporters; they stayed until the end despite this cold and with the qualifying round decided since the end of the first half.”
Going into the game with a 3-1 lead, Mourinho took advantage of the circumstance to change up the team’s strategy and put on a very defensive line-up. “I wanted to change the strategy and make substitutions. I took off Di María and Özil in the final minutes to give others some playing time. The injury to Khedira kept me from making other changes.”
Lastly, he played down the conflict with the Atlético fans and showed his respect towards them. “They’re a fantastic group of supporters; they stayed until the end despite this cold and with the qualifying round decided since the end of the first half.”