Mourinho takes charge of first Real Madrid training session as second spell begins

José Mourinho formally began his second spell as Real Madrid manager on Monday, 13 July 2026, taking his first training session at Valdebebas after an opening morning of medical examinations at the Clínica Sanitas facility. Mundo Deportivo reported the session got under way at 17:00 local time.

The group Mourinho had at his disposal was deliberately thin. Players who reached the later stages of the World Cup — Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Jr and Thibaut Courtois among them — were absent and will return on a staggered basis. Those who did report included Eduardo Camavinga, Franco Mastantuono, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen, making them the first members of the senior squad to work directly under the new manager. To make up numbers in the meantime, Mourinho drew on players from the Castilla academy setup.

The unconventional opening reflects a pre-season already complicated by the World Cup calendar. Mourinho’s full picture of his squad will take several weeks to assemble as the international contingent filters back.

Mundo Deportivo note that Mourinho’s appointment follows an unsettled period at the club. Xabi Alonso’s project lasted roughly a year, and Álvaro Arbeloa — who stepped up from youth-team duties — provided barely six months of stability before being moved on. The brief for Mourinho is straightforward in outline: deliver consistency and silverware from a squad that has the individual quality but has not converted it into trophies with any regularity.

Mourinho had been working on the project since his appointment was confirmed following Florentino Pérez’s re-election as club president. Monday marked the point where planning became practice, with reports ahead of pre-season pointing to early recruitment activity and coaching staff moves.

A formal press presentation for Mourinho had not been scheduled at the time of writing, according to Mundo Deportivo. Transfer activity remains an open question, with both the entry and exit doors described as ajar, though the squad’s core structure is understood to be broadly settled. The more meaningful assessments of this new era will come once the full international contingent is back on the grass.