Mourinho: "You have to take pride in playing your best every game"

José Mourinho saw what happened to Madrid in Granada coming. Which is why, in the pre-match team talk in the Los Cármenes dressing room, he stressed to his players that the better they play in La Liga, the better shape they will be in for the Champions league fixtures against Manchester United and the Copa del Rey match against Barça.

"You have to take professional pride in playing your best every game. You have to work hard and not relax, whatever the competition". That was Mourinho's simple, straightforward message to his players before the Granada match.

"Being second is better than being third, and being five or six points behind Barça is better than being fifteen or sixteen", was another of the Portuguese coach's comments to his team.

Thus, the Portuguese manager's disappointment following the Granada game was more about the game the team played than the result. "The result bothers me, but the team's first half really bothers me; it was awful. We were in control in the second half and we had a few opportunities to score and equalise, but it wasn't enough to make me happy".