Mourinho has walked into the first Clasico of his Real Madrid return with a line straight from his old script.

Asked on Saturday whether Sunday night’s trip to Camp Nou was the match that would show whether his squad is ready to win silverware this season, he gave Forbes and other reporters a one-sentence answer.

“No. Real Madrid win trophies with Mourinho,” he told the Saturday news conference, according to Forbes.

The Portuguese spent most of the rest of the briefing deflecting questions about his starting eleven. When one journalist tried to reword the lineup question, he snapped back: “You’re clever, but I’m not stupid.”

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Courtois ruled out with flu

Hansi Flick’s Barcelona arrive at Camp Nou with a perfect nine wins from nine and 27 points, six clear of a Real Madrid side sitting third on 21. A home win tonight would stretch the gap to nine points.

The context is not helping Mourinho. Vinicius Júnior is serving the second match of a four-game ban handed down after a red card for pulling an opponent’s hair at Villarreal, a suspension that according to Al Jazeera also rules him out against Racing Santander on 1 November and Valencia on 7 November.

Thibaut Courtois was pulled out hours before kick-off with flu, ESPN reports. Real Madrid announced the Belgian goalkeeper’s withdrawal on Sunday morning and promoted Illia Voloshyn into the squad behind Andriy Lunin, who is set to start.

Mourinho leans on an old script

Mourinho has made similar declarations before, most memorably during his first spell at Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013. The reflex is familiar; the circumstances are not. Barcelona have the better side on paper, the home ground, an extra day of rest and the better form.

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Mourinho himself raised the rest-day complaint earlier in the week, telling Al Jazeera’s preview that his players had 24 fewer hours than Flick’s to recover from Champions League duty. The same preview records this as his 18th Clasico in charge of Real Madrid.

Kick-off at Camp Nou is at 9pm local time. Al Jazeera’s preview puts Barcelona on 54.4% to win in Opta’s model, Real Madrid on 26.1% and a draw at 19.5%.

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