World Soccer.—El Clásico’s favorite villain is back. According to a report by LaLiga, the first Clásico of the season will feature the highly anticipated return of José Mourinho, who will coach his first match against FC Barcelona since 2013.
After beginning his first stint with Real Madrid in 2010, the Portuguese coach was on the sidelines for no fewer than 17 matches against the Catalan team across all competitions. His tactical battles with Pep Guardiola were legendary and turned El Clásico, during his first stint at the helm of Los Blancos, into the most thrilling rivalry in world soccer.
Fast forward to the summer of 2026, when Real Madrid decided to bring Mourinho back with the goal of ending FC Barcelona’s dominance and returning to the top of Spanish soccer. The reigning LaLiga champions have started the season at full speed, but history has shown on several occasions that a victory in a major derby can change everything. However, Barça has historically been a difficult opponent for Mourinho to overcome.
Throughout his coaching career, Mourinho has faced the Azulgranas 27 times, with a record of eight wins, nine draws, and ten losses. Ten of those matches came while he was coaching Chelsea and Inter, while he led Real Madrid in 17 derbies, with five wins—two of them in league play.
His first Clásico ended in a crushing 5-0 defeat in November 2010 at the Spotify Camp Nou, but Mourinho got his revenge a few months later when Real Madrid beat Barcelona 1-0 in the Copa del Rey final. Meanwhile, two of their most epic clashes came in the Champions League that same season: the Catalan side won 2-0 on the road before securing their spot in the final with a 1-1 draw at home.
The last Clásico in which he participated took place in March 2013, when Los Blancos defeated their archrivals 2-1 in LaLiga, just a few weeks before his first stint as Real Madrid’s head coach came to an end. It would also be the last time he would manage a match against Barcelona, as he never faced the Catalan team again with any of his subsequent clubs.
It’s worth noting that when Mourinho arrived in the Spanish capital, he had already developed an intense personal rivalry with Barcelona, the club where he had worked early in his career. During his time at Chelsea, he faced the Azulgranas for three consecutive seasons in the Champions League: the Blues eliminated Barça in the round of 16 in 2004–05, before the Catalan side got their revenge a year later. However, his most epic clash with Barcelona came the year before he took the helm at Real Madrid: as Inter’s coach, he led his team to the Champions League final after eliminating Barça 3-2 on aggregate in the semifinals, before going on to win the title.
Now the goal is to halt Hansi Flick’s dominance. The German coach has won practically everything since taking over at Barcelona in the summer of 2024, with five titles in two years, including two consecutive La Liga championships. A full 13 years after his last Clásico, Mourinho returns to this showdown determined to put an end to that dominance.
Surprisingly, the two coaches have faced off only once: in December 2019, Flick’s Bayern Munich hosted Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League group stage, with the Bavarian side winning 3-1. This Sunday, at Camp Nou, the Portuguese coach will seek to take the first step toward stopping Flick in a highly anticipated return to El Clásico that promises to capture everyone’s attention.
