Jose Mourinho said he wants players ‘who will play for Real Madrid all their lives’ following the 4-1 Copa del Rey defeat of Alcoyano.
The Portuguese predictably sent out a much weakened team to face the minnows in the first leg of the competition, and was later asked about his comments earlier in the week regarding the club’s youth players.
“I look to balance things between the first team and the academy. Nacho is an option at left-back, but he will never play centre-back. He has a bright future as a left-back and I want players who can play for this club for the rest of their lives,” Mourinho told assembled reporters.
“We are not in this competition to mess about. We like the Copa and we don’t want to treat it negatively as has happened in the past at Real Madrid.
“We did our job here and Alcoyano did theirs. They were as I expected, with plenty of enthusiasm and motivation. They look a good side with some interesting players and must have a good Coach as they played as well as I thought they would.”
