José Mourinho has launched a fresh attack on La Liga over fixture congestion and the relentless run of matches in a short space of time, the Real Madrid manager insisting his players had endured a "marathon" of games amid draining travel and narrow recovery windows. Yet the Whites' own schedule, and the commitments tied to the Santiago Bernabéu, raise questions about the nature of his complaint and whether it accounts for the circumstances of his rivals.
Spanish newspaper "Sport" reported that Mourinho's protest after the win over Valencia at the Mestalla did not cover every aspect of Real Madrid's calendar, chiefly the Bernabéu's commitments to hosting non-football events, nor the circumstances facing rival teams over the same period.
Asked what message he wanted to send to league officials, the Portuguese replied: "I have to be humble because they hold the power. I hope they do not play games with us again. Our players are not here now to play for their national teams, this was a marathon," pointing to the congestion his team had been subjected to.
His complaint landed on the very day the Bernabéu hosted an American football match between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Atlanta Falcons, the second official NFL fixture staged on Spanish soil. That reopened the debate over how the stadium's non-football events affect the scheduling of Real Madrid's games.
Javier Tebas, the La Liga president, had already hit back at Real Madrid's requests to reschedule matches so the club could host other events at its stadium. He demanded Madrid disclose how many changes they had asked for, how many the league had approved, and how far it had bent to their needs, stressing that the accepted amendments must count too.
Real Madrid played four straight matches away from home, starting with the Clásico against Barcelona on 25 October, then Racing Santander on 1 November and Olympiacos in Athens on 4 November, before facing Valencia on the 7th of the same month.
The gap between kick-off in Santander and Athens was 74 and a half hours, and 74 and a quarter hours between Athens and Valencia. Those windows include travel and preparation time, and do not necessarily reflect the players' actual recovery.
Mourinho argued the short turnaround piled strain on his side. He noted that the Madrid delegation got back from Greece at three in the morning, forcing the players to spend the night at the Valdebebas training centre to grab the rest they needed.
The comparison with Racing Santander's schedule tells another side of the story. The Cantabrian side played a Copa del Rey tie against Ribadesella on Thursday 29 October, then hosted Real Madrid on Sunday 1 November, leaving just 67 hours and 15 minutes between the two kick-offs.
Mourinho had criticised staging the Santander match on Sunday, claiming the league handed his team a "gift" by playing it then and demanding the rescheduling of the Valencia fixture, held on Saturday.
Shifting the Santander game to Saturday, while keeping the same timing, would have left the Cantabrians just 43 hours and 15 minutes before their cup match. That would have put them under even greater pressure.
Racing, preparing for Real Madrid, called up 10 players from their reserve side for the cup tie, such was the squeeze between the two commitments.
Real Madrid were not the only side facing a run of matches and back-to-back journeys. Barcelona played three away fixtures inside a single week, against Galatasaray on 13 October, Real Betis on 17 October and Paris Saint-Germain on 20 October, shuttling between Istanbul, Seville and Paris.
Barcelona's gap between the Betis and PSG matches was also 74 and a half hours, while the stretch between the start of the first and third games in their run was around 19 hours and 15 minutes longer than Real Madrid's run from Santander to Athens to Valencia, despite the differing travel and competition demands.
Europa League sides faced similar strain. Celta Vigo played Scotland's Celtic on Thursday 22 October, then hosted Real Betis on Sunday 25 October, a gap of 68 hours and 15 minutes, and that after returning from a European away trip.
Real Madrid, by contrast, face a run of home games at the Bernabéu after the international break, against Celta Vigo, PSV Eindhoven and Deportivo Alavés on 21, 24 and 28 November. That hands Madrid a crowded spell with no travel between stadiums at all.
These comparisons lay bare the tangle of the Spanish schedule, with domestic and continental commitments overlapping alongside the events staged at the grounds. Mourinho wants more recovery time and matches moved, but the pressure is not Real Madrid's alone. It stretches to their rivals too, even if the circumstances and the time each side has differ.