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MADRID: Real Madrid director Emilio Butragueno, on Monday defended Jose Mourinho’s tough talking style, saying the Portuguese coach was not recruited to “make friends”.
Last week Mourinho angered his counterpart at Sporting Gijon, Manuel Preciado, by suggesting that his side did not make a serious attempt to beat champions Barcelona earlier in the season.
“It could just be a bad joke or it could be a provocation for the Barcelona coach. But if he is saying what he really thinks, I think he is despicable and a bad professional colleague,” said Preciado, whose side lost 1-0 at the Camp Nou in September.
Asked about the row between the two coaches, Butragueno said “Mourinho has his own way of being.”
“When you ask him something, he replies with what he thinks. He is a coach who aims to win, he has been at major clubs that aspire to win everything and he handles these types of situations very well, without a doubt,” he added.
“We did not sign Mourinho to make friends, but to make the club champions and during these months he has shown that he is a great coach.”
Real are top of the league with 29 points, one point ahead of arch-rivals Barcelona, after beating Sporting Gijon on Sunday 1-0.
Mourinho, 47, was unveiled as Real’s new coach at the end of May after leading Inter Milan to an historic treble of successes in Italy’s Serie A championship, the Italian Cup and Champions League.
