José Mourinho left the "La Cartuja" stadium frustrated after his first defeat since returning to the Real Madrid helm, the Whites going down 1-0 to Real Betis in a match the Portuguese coach felt his side had dominated, only to pay the price for squandering their chances.
Speaking afterwards, Mourinho admitted the loss was hard to explain. Real Madrid had controlled most of the play and created enough to win, he insisted, but failed to turn that superiority into goals.
"Sometimes you lose without knowing why, and that is something that cannot be explained," the Portuguese coach added. "We were in complete control of the match, and we created many attacks and chances. Had it ended in a draw we would have felt frustrated, so imagine how we feel with a defeat."
Espai steals the spotlight despite the loss
I did not want to take Güler off
Turning to the substitution of Arda Güler, Real Madrid's coach stressed the decision had nothing to do with the player dropping off. Quite the opposite: he was excellent.
"It was difficult to substitute Arda because he was delivering a great performance," he said, pointing out that some changes came because players had picked up yellow cards, not out of any dissatisfaction with their displays.
Mourinho holds back on the officiating
On referee Hernández Hernández, Mourinho said he could not understand his own yellow card. He refused, though, to hide behind the officiating to explain the defeat. He also declined to comment on the penalty and the disallowed goal, stressing he had not seen either incident clearly enough to judge them.
"I may change my mind tomorrow, but not today," he said. "The truth is I do not know why we lost because the team played very well."
He signed off by refusing to point the finger at his players. "I have nothing to blame the players for. We deserved to win, but deserving does not guarantee you a point."