Mourinho told his own press conference that he had crossed the pitch to console his “friend Aguirre” and reminded him that his Real Madrid squad was simply a stronger group of players. Aguirre, speaking a few minutes later, quietly corrected the record.
“He did not say they were much better, he told me to stay calm because his players are better,” the Valencia head coach told Goal.
The Mexican, still in the early weeks of his tenure at Mestalla, added that he listened to the message, congratulated his old friend and walked back to the dressing room without any drama. His players, he said, took the remark as a professional assessment rather than an insult.
Mourinho’s version of the exchange
Mourinho had framed it more sharply from the Real Madrid side.
Read also: Nine goals to Kane’s four: How West Ham’s Niclas Füllkrug became the Bundesliga’s top scorer
“I went out straight away to speak with my friend Aguirre. I told him not to feel sad, because my team’s players are much better than his players,” the Portuguese manager told Goal, before adding that the Valencia coach was “not the problem” and that managers with his roster have a bigger margin to win.
Mourinho returned to the Real Madrid bench in the summer on a three-year contract, 13 years after the end of his first spell.
A 3-0 built on Valverde, Guler and Mbappe
The sporting argument behind Mourinho’s words was hard to dispute. Fede Valverde opened the scoring in the first half, Arda Guler added a composed second before the break, and Kylian Mbappe wrapped up a 3-0 win in the second half that left Valencia chasing shadows for most of the night.
Valencia finished with ten men after club captain Jose Gaya was sent off with about ten minutes remaining for a late tackle on Mbappe. Aguirre disagreed with the broader refereeing picture and raised an incident involving the France forward that went unpunished, arguing it was not a foul and that, if it had been, Mbappe should have been shown a red card because the ball was not under his control.
Read also: Haaland or Suarez? Former Man City plyaer makes his choice
He stopped short of using it as an alibi.
“I will never justify the defeat. Real Madrid were better than us and won. Neither luck nor the referee makes a team better.”
Barcelona hit back the next day
The win briefly pulled Real Madrid level on points with Barcelona at the top of La Liga after matchday 12. That symmetry lasted a single afternoon. Barcelona travelled to the Metropolitano the next day and came from behind to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1, a Fermin Lopez brace restoring their three-point cushion at the summit before the international break.
Read also: Raphinha pushed up his ear surgery to keep Brazil’s November call-up
