Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid: Jose Mourinho's Post-Match Press Conference

Real Madrid has just achieved one of the most important victories in this first half of the season. It beat Barcelona, which had been unstoppable in LaLiga, at the Camp Nou thanks to a match full of intensity in which all the merengue players did a great job of wearing down the opponent. Given this, Jose Mourinho had nothing but words of appreciation for his players in the post-match press conference.

"It was a great match. High level. Two teams that play to win, and in our case, the boys played a great match. Organized, with courage, against an opponent that presses a lot. We had chances to score the second. That situation of Jude with Kylian on a two-on-one.

Barça had a strong reaction in the second half, but we have that calm, and we have not lost it. Great victory for the boys. The referee had a great match. VAR was asleep in the 60th minute, with an influential decision on the clear red card for Joao for the foul on Diomande," he began.

He also spoke about the turning point this match means for Real Madrid. "It is a match in which we come out at three (points' difference), at six, or at nine. If you come out at nine, it is heavy. If we come out at six, it is balanced. Coming out at three, it is different. You can win by luck, defending a lot... but we won with calm and with all the merit."

And he did not hesitate to speak about Andriy Lunin, who had the complicated task of replacing Thibaut Courtois at the last minute, as Courtois could not play the match due to an illness. As well as about Federico Valverde, who suffered an injury in the 23rd minute when he stretched his leg too far to steal a ball from Pedri, but decided to keep playing. "In the two questions you have asked me, neither has been about Lunin. Surely if Lunin makes mistakes, the second question is about Lunin.

We have the best goalkeeper in the world, but no one has cried before the match because he was not going to play. The players are united. It is five consecutive victories, with another match on Sunday and a unique series because we play three matches away from home. Valverde played injured for more than forty minutes. He wanted to continue at his limits," Mourinho mentioned.

He also had words for Eduardo Camavinga and Marc Cucurella, with the Frenchman coming on as a substitute in the second half and providing the assist for Mbappe in the winning goal, while 'Cucu' had the arduous task of stopping Lamine Yamal for 90 minutes, and he managed it in a great way, giving him very few spaces to operate and cutting out many dangerous passes.

"Eduardo, like everyone, is a starter. They train for that, and then the coach is the one who decides. There are coaches who look at the bench and have no solutions. In addition, we have two high-level left backs, which allows me to ration things a little. Carreras played the last match and has allowed Cucu to be fresh for this match. He has done a great job.

I always say that I only understand how good players are when I see them in front of me. On television, I am missing something. Ten meters from me, I understand the quality of the players. He is very good (Lamine), very difficult, and, besides being good, he is smart. He has tried everything. It is the most difficult match Cucu has had against a very good kid."

Mission accomplished, led by Mbappe, who was the one in charge of finishing the plays his teammates created; Real Madrid beat Barcelona at home, in front of a hostile crowd. All the players had a formidable performance; it was what was needed to achieve this victory. Now, to turn the page and think about Racing de Santander next Sunday.