The Real Madrid boss was satisfied with the result at Yankee Stadium, noting that he is focusing on giving prospective starters more minutes as the season nears.
NEW YORK -- Jose Mourinho believes that Real Madrid's run in the 2011-12 season will go down in history as one of the best individual campaigns ever."First of all I don't think that the champion will reach 100 points again," Mourinho said in the post-game press conference after beating AC Milan 5-1 in a preseason friendly. "I don't think the champion will score 120 goals. I think these are numbers that will stay in history for a long time."
Referring to a new battle between Real Madrid and Barcelona for the La Liga crown in the upcoming season, the Portuguese manager was well aware that his old rival will ramp up its pursuit of the championship.
"Everybody knows it will be a close fight between, in my opinion, the two best teams in the world," the former Chelsea boss said. "Because in the previous season we had so many points and Barcelona had [almost as many], people probably think the league is not so strong."
But Mourinho added that people should look beyond the Merengues and Culés in the Spanish league, noting that the Europa League final was contested by two Iberian teams.
"I remember that the Europa League final was between Atletico Madrid and Atheltic Bilbao. The league is very, very strong," he said.
After a policy that had seen every player get a half of play each, Mourinho allowed for some of his players to see more time on the field this time around.
"Today, I wanted some players to play more than the usual 45 minutes because we don't have much more time to prepare for the season," the Portuguese coach said. Mourinho also noted that the fan experience weighed on his mind in his decision to allow certain players to have more minutes.
"I think Cristiano was part of the show. He’s part of what the people want to see but, more importantly than that, it was a very good training session for us and I’m happy with that. And no injuries," he said.
John Rojas provided reporting for this story from New York.
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