<< The club's assistant during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu, Aitor Karanka, has slammed suggestions that the Portuguese was loathed within the dressing room

Former Real Madrid assistant Aitor Karanka has insisted that Jose Mourinho did not divide the team towards the end of his spell in Spain.

The Portuguese spent three years with the Blancos before leaving for Chelsea last summer and, though parts of his time in charge were victorious, rumours were rife towards the end of his time in La Liga that the dressing room was split.

Karanka, who was Mourinho's deputy at the Santiago Bernabeu, played down suggestions that Mourinho dividing his dressing room and insisted the decision to ditch Casillas was thought long and hard about.

"No, I don't think Mourinho divided Madrid," he told Marca. "What he did was try to do the best thing at any given time.

"Everyone talks, for example, about the thing with Iker Casillas. Dropping him wasn't a decision that was taken overnight. We took our time and decided that it was the best thing for the team at that moment."

"I felt mistreated by the press during my time at Madrid. I'd been a footballer for 15 years and I'd been criticised, I'd been praised... However, a lot of the time with Madrid they weren't criticisms, but a lack of respect."

When asked if he felt betrayed by some members of the Madrid squad for the way they turned on Mourinho and him, Karanka stressed that the backlash from players was much smaller than many people have assumed.

"I've been a player and you often realise that you have a longer contract than the manager, that you're going to stay, and you can change your mind," he continued. "But there were also a lot less players than people might think who kicked off.

"You can see it whenever Mourinho plays against a player who we had at Real Madrid. Some people talked about Ozil being against him but, when Ozil played against him, he gave him his shirt.

"The majority of players speak well of Jose in interviews. Some claimed it was almost as if we couldn't go into the dressing room. Another of the many lies."

Karanka left the Spanish capital club at the same time as Mourinho and currently manages English second division club Middlesbrough. >>

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Just want to add that after so many arguments and media and football fans bashing on Mourinho . I feel so satisfied that I stuck to the truth and know It is confirmed that Mourinho was right. Mourinho deserves all equal if not more credit for Real's La Decima.

Like or not , Mourinho hardly wrong because he is going down into history as greatest ever . I admire strong people like him and I hope he will leave even greater legacy with Chelsea !

Nice article, i may agree, by the way you should hear Mou point of view about World cup...

^Is his point of view one worth reading or is it one of his BS ones?

"Mourinho deserves all equal if not more credit for Real's La Decima. "

• I don't agree with that. Ancelotti changed the squad completely. Mourinho deserves credit for what he accomplished in his 3 years, but not for what Ancelotti won.

You have to watch and understand Real Madrid from the inside-out to know how much difference there is between Mourinho and Ancelotti. Watching a few Real Madrid games, and then stating that Mourinho should get "all equal if not more credit" for La Decima is bullsh*t. You're better than this Marcus, please think this through a bit more.

^I slightly agree with you, Dyn, but you've got to admit Mourinho did leave his own improvement on the team Ancelotti picked up. It was mainly Mourinho's built team, Ancelotti just did what Mourinho couldn't (La Decima), and that is the credit Mourinho doesn't deserve.

^ I posted his point of view, go and make your own view :)

But what did Mourinho really build? The players? Out of Ancelotti's Champions League lineup, only 2 players were purchased by Mourinho (di Maria, Modric). Consequently, Modric wasn't used by Mourinho properly at all. He was thrown in all over the pitch, and wasn't able to perform. Ancelotti gave both him and di Maria a position they can be comfortable in, and that helped us have an impressive midfield trio last season.

What about the mental attitude? Mourinho left the team in tatters. The players had cocky attitudes and damaged egos, but Ancelotti fixed that as well. If you think Mourinho deserves credit for "building" this Real Madrid Decima team, then tell me, in which way did he build it?

He was the one who made Ronaldo the star of Madrid that he is now. There is no questioning that Ronaldo became a better athlete under Mourinho. He made Madrid's defense a more disciplined one and also introduced Varane into the team. His tactics created the counter-attacking that is Madrid today and all the players have developed into better players under Mourinho. Ancelotti is a brilliant tactician and his use of Modric and development of Madrid this season was great. An instant success. But he was handed a well-disciplined, experienced team on a silver platter.

Yes, the dressing room was a mess, but that was just Mourinho trying to make sure everyone knew their place. He shouldn't have done that until he's become a well-established manager there, but it still doesn't mean he should succumb to the egos of Ronaldo, Ramos and Casillas. Ferguson has the same exact method. No one is bigger than the club. Sadly, Casillas did not agree with that.

Sadly, it was not Casillas who did that. Again, I urge you to give me proof that Casillas ever said or did anything that showed that he was bigger than the club. You know who thought he was bigger than the club? Sergio Ramos. Because he went up to Perez and said "either Jose leaves, or I leave". Iker was not like that. I can imagine Ronaldo thinking that he's bigger than the club, but not Casillas.

You're right on the fact that he helped Madrid be a counter-attacking team, but would you really say that he made Real Madrid's defense more "disciplined" when he kept only a miserable 16 clean sheets in his final season at Real? During that time, his team collected 34 red cards. That's more than 11 red cards per season. In comparison, Ancelotti has kept 29 clean sheets, and managed to only pick up 4 red cards. Think about that for a minute. Ancelotti's defense is much better than Mourinho's.

I was just sharing article. I think I had this argument , so many times that I do not want to debate . Facts are out there . Real was crap before Mourinho , I mean literally crap if you have one of the best players in the world and still can't get past 16th .

One man lays the groundwork and turns bunch of stars into fierce team then gets betrayed by leaders of the squad , and called a failure ( that is what Madrid fans call him ) even during the year when lead divided team challenging on each title . Some managers would not last a month with divided squad not even having a hope to challenge for titles.

You know Dynastian full well , had Ancelotti came in 2010 , he would have been fired after a year or following year ( If Perez has patience ) , because I am 100% sure Real would have been eating Barcelona's dust during those years . And Barcelona would have still been romping in La Liga . Perez needed radical change to stop Barca and brought Mourinho , who builds machine and stops other machines ( like Barca ) from dominance .

Today's real is absolutely not the same as it was under Morinhno i really don't think you have watch those last 4 seasons very well. Watching El Classico and thinking you have experience to form an opinion upon is pretty dumb.
I have nothing but love for Mou, he put a stop to Barca and i give him all the credit for that. But he have nothing to do with our 10th CL if he was so good why didn't he achieve that in his years? he had everything Ancelotti had.

Ancelotti tested so many formations at first and changed positions for many players, gave younger players a chance.
And also Varane was brought by ZIDAN not Mourinho.

That's true. It was Zidane who bought Varane, not Mourinho. Jose had nothing to do with the transfer.

And yes @Marcus, Mou did help Madrid a lot in overthrowing Barcelona (full credit to him for that), but Carlo is an even better manager in Europe than Jose is. What makes you think that he wouldn't get Madrid past the Ro16 with their squad in 2010/11?

Mourinho deserves a lot of credit for what he did during his stay at madrid, but chelsea fans on here become like fanatics when it's about him. And they like to shove their admiration down other people's throats. Mourinho is not god, sometimes he's wrong, and sometimes there are managers that do a better job than him, like Ancelotti. Sometimes it's good to question your faith. Maybe the love will even grow stronger ?

This season was all Ancelotti, he had 2 great cup runs, and got 2 trophies. He did plenty of things differently, that the madrid fans already talked about above. Saying that the credit should go to mourinho is complete nonsense and delusional.

Agreed with @KingHenry and @Dyn: Mou deserved respect and for what he had done at Real, short term or long term, it's his contribution. Especially he ended Barca's domination against Real and the rest too.

What Acelotti did was all on his own way, of course there are always influenced from the past coaches, that's normal, but Real success last year came down to him by himself.

And it's true that Chelsea's fans go a bit over the top when it comes to Mou, but that's what special about him too.

No it is understandable why you think he had nothing to do with 10th CL. It is human nature never to notice what it took to make that bunch a real team , plus media never gives him credit as well . Turn the team around and in short period of time rebuild it and apply new philosophy and do it during the prime years of Barcelona ( one of the great football squads ever assembled ) .

I can't speak for every Chelsea fan , but I can speak for myself. I don't shove it down to anyone's throat , I only feel that he does not get deserved credits .

History always recorded how so many great poets , politicians , scientists and etc who were not appreciated at the time but later after many years those men would go down as greats in history . I feel the same thing is happening to Mourinho and will happen eventually after years will pass .

For example , No one gave two squirts about Sir Alex legacy in EPL and football in general , until he started to mention retirement and after he retired all the praises even from the rivals and big haters of him went in his name.

Even this incident with Casillas . Everyone gave him crap for dropping him , but now everyone agrees . That is how society works . No problem .

However, I just do not think it is fair and that is why I talk often in support of him . You can bash at Mourinho as much as you want , but months will pass or years will pass and like always football pundits will look back and say this man has done so much that has not been acknowledged during his managing years.

@dynas.

1. Zidane was not manager . Do you really think Mourinho just gave him greenlight without doing his own analysis ? How do you know it was not Mourinho who send Zidane to scout on that player ? Mourinho likes a full control and he had in Real at least for first 2 years .

2. One thing is to bring players and to other to make them play up to their potential . Ronaldo just like every player has excelled during Mourinho years . And to give Varane confidence and give him his debut against Barcelona took some balls and exceptional managing skills from Mourinho . Ancelotti never been known for such qualities .

Anyways , like I said I shared it . You can like or dislike it . However , he was spot on about Casillas . Time always tells the truth . This one did not take long .

@Marcus

Marcus, I have a lot of respect for a lot of things you say, but I can't let you run on here. You're speaking of something you aren't familiar with. Watching one or two Clasicos or Champions League matches of Real Madrid doesn't give people the intimacy to know about our dressing room, tactics, or transfer.

First of all, Zidane was our Director of Football. When rumor came out about Varane, it was Zidane who individually went to France, picked out Raphael, and convinced him to come to the club. Mourinho had no say in the matter, and was never interested in Varane.

Mourinho playing Varane "took some balls and exceptional managing skills from Mourinho"? That just proved you didn't watch Real Madrid last season. It was a forced act, not a decision. Ramos was suspended, Marcelo had a broken leg, Coentrao was injured, Pepe was injured, and we only had the following choices in defense - Arbeloa, Essien, Albiol, Carvalho, and Varane. Mourinho's only choice was to play Varane alongside one of the other two. It was very well known that Varane would play that game. He impressed earlier along in the season, and the last Clasico Albiol played in, he got a red card for choking David Villa. It wasn't a stroke of genius at all.

And again, you claim that dropping Iker for Adan was the "right decision". Please Marcus, stick to talking about Chelsea. You know Chelsea inside-out, but you are not familiar with Real Madrid at all.

Im not here to restart the debate, I just want to stop one of the more common delusions. Zidane spotted Varane first, but it was Mourinho who got him there. Stop saying Mourinho had nothing to do with Varane.

"You signed for Real Madrid when you were 18, after just one season with Lens. Did you have any hesitation about making such a big move? Were you tempted to stay on and develop your game at a smaller club?

Yes, of course. A lot of thought went into that decision. My initial feeling was that it wasn't worth it and that I wouldn't get a game. Then when I heard what the coach's plans were I changed my mind. I didn't go into it with my eyes closed. It was JOSE MOURINHO who CONVINCED me. He said that I'd progress, that I'd reach the very highest level and that the move would be nothing but positive for me."

Source: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2013/m=10/news=varane-thuram-role-model-2195661.html

More on Mourinho from Varane:

"You made your first start for Madrid on 21 September 2011, not long after your arrival at the club. Did you expect to be thrown in at the deep end so early?

I was expecting it, because it came up in the chat I had with Jose Mourinho. He told me that I’d have my chance to play and that I was going to find out about myself and get to know myself better. I’d never been under a lot of pressure before, either on the pitch or off it, and he said that I’d soon be given the opportunity to find out how I’d react to it. Mourinho kept his word. In the two years I played for him he always kept his word, and he also knew when to throw me in at the right time."

"What is it that makes Mourinho such a special coach for you?

I’m only young and haven’t had many coaches, which means it’s difficult for me to make comparisons, but I’d say it’s his personality and charisma, which were felt by the whole team. He’s a winner, a competitor, and he transmits that to his players. Wherever he’s gone he’s always created combative teams with lots of character."

I'm not here to start an argument again, but come on, Mourinho deserves 95% for bringing Varane and developing him. 5% can go to "Director of Football" Zidane who spotted him and helped him adapt in Spain.

@Vendetta

5% credit to the man who spotted him? Mourinho used Zidane to bring Varane to the club. Zidane spotted him out, went to France, spoke to him, and got him under negotiations with Jose. It was easy as cake for Jose, because Zinedine had already convinced Varane. All he needed was the reassurance from the manager that he would get playing time at the club. Again, Varane's discussions with Mourinho were already after Zidane had convinced him to come, and gotten Perez to strike a deal with Lens. Mourinho participated in the contract talks.

"Zinedine Zidane was the man who played an instrumental role in bringing Varane to Real Madrid. He knew immediately how good he could become, of course Mourinho also recognises a good centre half when he sees it after working with a number of league title and Champions League winning centre backs in his career. Madrid sought off competition from a list of European household names, most notably Man United who were reportedly close to his signature."

"Zidane has already advised the Real president in the past – as was the case with the signing of Raphaël Varane, who was recommended by the club legend – and it seems his advice was spot on.

Zidane has also been acting as a club scout this season and is closely monitoring Gareth Bale, one of Real's summer transfer targets. The former France international went to see the Welshman in the Europa League tie between Lyon and Tottenham. It seems Zidane is impressed by Bale and believes he would make a useful addition to the Madrid squad."