German icon draws striking comparison between Mourinho’s Real Madrid and Simeone’s Atletico Madrid: ‘Textbook counterattacks’
Real Madrid’s impressive form in recent weeks has continued to attract attention across Europe.
Under Jose Mourinho, the team has now started playing an identifiable style of football that is also producing results.
As with all Mourinho teams, Los Blancos are proving to be defensively compact, disciplined and devastating on the counter-attack.
Speaking to Diario AS, German football legend Lothar Matthaus has compared Mourinho’s Real Madrid with Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid.
Matthaus impressed with Mourinho’s tactical approach
Matthaus highlighted the similarities in defensive organisation, aggression and ability to exploit defences in transition.
Discussing Bayern Munich’s upcoming Champions League encounter against Atletico, Matthaus explained how the Spanish side’s playing style reminded him of Madrid under Mourinho.
“Simeone’s Atletico have a different system of play. They are more compact and aggressive. A bit like Mourinho’s Real Madrid,” he explained.
Jose Mourinho has been doing a great job at Real Madrid. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
The former Ballon d’Or winner then pointed to El Clasico as an example of Mourinho’s philosophy.
“Did you see them against Barcelona a week ago? They didn’t want possession. A combative team, strong defensively, determined, with great speed and verticality from their players.”
Matthaus was particularly impressed by Madrid’s attacking transitions, adding: “Textbook counterattacks with Yan Diomande, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe.”
It is interesting that Matthaus chose to leave Vinicius Jr. out of this list, following on his scathing comments about the Brazilian some time ago.
Jose Mourinho has never been big on possession
The comparison between the two Madrid clubs is interesting because both managers insist on their teams being defensively resolute.
However, Los Blancos are much more attacking and tend to score a lot of goals. They use their defensive foundation to push forward.
Jose Mourinho is not too big on keeping possession of the ball. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
Jose Mourinho has never been a manager who is particularly insistent on keeping the ball or out-possessing opponents.
His famous quote from his Tottenham days still makes the rounds. “They can take the ball home with them. I take the 3 points,” he quipped.
Against Barcelona, his side accepted periods without the ball and relied on their defensive organisation to stop the Catalans.
However, it isn’t as if Mourinho doesn’t want control. One of the reasons he brought Bernardo Silva into the starting XI was to give Madrid better control with the ball.
The Portuguese manager is doing an excellent job of building a project at Real Madrid, and it remains to be seen how they fare in the coming weeks.
