José Mourinho is back in Spanish football. He leads Real Madrid into his first official appearance of the season against Espanyol on Saturday evening at the RCDE Stadium, a match in which the Portuguese coach wants to mark his return with a win that puts the team back in contention.
According to Spanish newspaper "AS", Mourinho plays his first La Liga match after an absence of 4,830 days since his last appearance in the competition with Real Madrid, when he led the team to a 4-2 win over Osasuna on 1 June 2013.
A long list of absentees greets Real Madrid ahead of the clash with Espanyol. Injuries rule out Militão, Rodrygo, Thiago Pitarch, Mendy, Asensio and Endrick, while Tchouaméni has returned to group training but isn't yet ready to feature.
Those gaps haven't left Mourinho short. He has plenty of options across every line, and he's decided to lean on several of the new signings in his starting eleven, trusting the group available to him for his first official test of the season.
Real Madrid start with Courtois in goal. In front of him come Dumfries, Konaté, Huijsen and Carreras, with Valverde, Bernardo Silva and Arda Güler in midfield. Bellingham, Vinícius and Mbappé lead the attack.
