Real Madrid have confirmed Jose Mourinho will leave his post as manager at the end of the season.
Club president Florentino Perez told a packed conference the decision was a mutual one, and thanked Mourinho for his work over the last three years.
Here are the main points from that press conference:
20:08 – Florentino arrives at the press conference room at Santiago Bernabeu.
20:10 – The president “We have reached a mutual agreement to end the relationship between the club and the manager, we both think it is the right moment. I would like to thank him for his work. We are stronger and more competitive now.”
20:11 – Florentino calls for elections and says he will run for them and present his project in a few days.
20:13 – “Nobody has dismissed anyone, we both thought it was the right moment to end our partnership, “Perez insists.
20:16 – “We don’t have any agreement with other manager,” Perez claims.
20:17 – “Today Real Madrid is where it belongs, among the four best clubs in Europe. Before Mourinho arrived, we were losing in the last 32 round of the Champions League, so I think Mourinho’s three years here have been possitive.”
20:20 – “Last year we were all happy because we had beaten all the records in La Liga, but this year, a result that would be normal for any club, seems too short for Real Madrid. This is a very demanding club but I think the outcome is positive.”
20:22 – “As Mourinho said in a previous press conference, he will not receive any compensation for dismissal. This is not a dismissal. We have just agreed to follow different paths.”
20:24 – “Of the current La Liga managers, Mourinho is the manager that has spent more years in a row at his club, and that is not easy, specially at a club that has this level of pressure.”
20:28 – “Unsing the word ‘failure’ is unfair. We have recovered the level we used to have ages ago”.
20:30 – Perez when asked about Mourinho’s controversial moments: “Has he made any mistakes? Of course, he has recognised it himself, but you have to understand that the level of pressure here is not normal.”
20:32 – “In England the match lasts from two hours before the game to two hours later. Here it lasts seven days. It is difficult to get used to that pressure, I’ve had to get used to it, but that is what makes this club big. Of course when you cross the line and insult your media, that is not normal, because you have to understand that we all have families, children…”
20:34 – “We haven’t been lucky in those three semifinals. We were close to getting to the final in all of them. Had we beaten Borussia Dortmund, maybe the story would have been different.”
20:37 – Florentino leaves the press conference after refusing to talk about his project for the future Real Madrid and the fact that Carlo Ancelotti asked Paris Saint Germain to leave the club.
