He is back: Mourinho takes off the mask and declares war on refereeing

But with the first frustrating situations emerging, Mourinho was not slow to bare his teeth, through actions that brought back the image of the stern coach who took charge of the Real Madrid side 13 years ago.

The derby against Atletico Madrid was the turning point. Mourinho walked into the post-match press conference clutching two printed images of the controversial incidents. The picture went around the world and confirmed the return of the Mourinho everyone knows.

Launching a sharp attack, the Portuguese coach said: "We could have spared ourselves the trouble of holding the press conference, because the story of the match is right here," pointing to two images printed on paper of challenges by Cuti Romero and Kang-in Lee.

He added: "There are two clear red cards. And it is natural that the beneficiary of that is the Atletico supporters, but the committee responsible for appointing referees should be happy too, because everything that happened was extremely strange."

Then came the real jab. "A referee who is 41 years old and has not been given the international badge, and the reason for that cannot be that he is a wonderful referee. The poor man came here and could not handle the pressure. He is a poor referee who has only officiated small matches, while the gentleman responsible for the video assistant referee technology has quite a record. Congratulations to the referees' technical committee," Mourinho concluded, ending a fierce attack that caused a widespread stir.

His closing words were a warning shot. "I thought I would find a different league from the one I left. But they told me it had not changed, and they explained to me the reasons why it is no different. Fine, let's go into the fight and battle." A prelude to everything that followed.

Since then, the Portuguese coach has kept up his confrontational approach towards the refereeing system. He boycotted the press conference after the Villarreal match in protest at Vinicius' sending off, then exploded with anger when he learned of the punishment handed to the Brazilian. In front of the media, he said exactly what he wanted to say.

"Do you think it is normal for a player at a Spanish club, preparing to play a match that is also important for Spanish football, to find out just two hours before kick-off that he has been handed a four-match ban?" Mourinho said of the incident. "Could they not have announced it now? Or tomorrow morning?"

He continued: "We have to get on the bus, and we had almost reached the stadium when we learned of the decision. There is a common expression in Portuguese that says the cat is hiding but its tail is showing. I think the cat is no longer hiding, because there are things being done now without any shame. Do you want to destroy a player two hours before a match?"

Then came the warning shot. "Real Madrid's fans are not stupid, and I will do everything I can to open people's eyes," he said.

With that, Mourinho declared war on the referees' technical committee. Every eye swung towards the row, and away from the technical problems afflicting the Madrid side.

Whether that is a carefully considered strategy or not, one thing looks clear. The old Mourinho is back.