Mourinho: Real always play to win

Posted Thursday, December 08, 2011 by ESPN

Jose Mourinho believes Real Madrid displayed professionalism on Wednesday as they cruised to a 3-0 win over Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena.

Having already guaranteed their status as Group D winners ahead of Wednesday's match, Real left many first-team players back in Madrid to rest ahead of Saturday's highly-anticipated El Clasico clash with Barcelona.

This led some to suggest that Los Blancos could risk compromising the integrity of the competition, especially with Ajax still engaged with Lyon in a battle for second place.

Nonetheless, Mourinho's men dispelled these notions by coasting to a comfortable win thanks to a brace for Jose Callejon and a Gonzalo Higuain strike, and the coach believes Real displayed their professional attitude on Wednesday.

"This game shows that we fully respect what Real Madrid stands for in the world of footbal and that we respect our profession and always play seriously," Mourinho said on UEFA.com.

"We weren't interested in knowing if Ajax or Lyon were looking to qualify behind us. We played our own game and in my opinion we played an excellent first half.

Mourinho admitted his team started to take their foot off the pedal in the second 45, but was pleased with their overall performance on the night.

"In the second half, we weren't at the same standard but there were many players out there who aren't use to playing a lot and so keeping the rhythm up after the break wasn't easy.

"We defended well and winning is always important. Nobody was injured and practically all of the players who don't regularly play did so. We are a very united group."

The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas were all not involved in Wednesday's game, while Mesut Ozil, Xabi Alonso and Angel Di Maria took their place on the bench.

This allowed players like Kaka, Nuri Sahin and Raphael Varane to stake their claim for more regular first-team action, and
Mourinho believes team ethic at the Santiago Bernabeu is currently at an all-time high.

"I was immensely happy to see that when I turned on my phone after the game, there were SMS messages from the players back home congratulating us," Mourinho revealed.

"This shows how united we are."

And having maintained their 100% record in Group D, the Portuguese tactician is finally able to invest all his attention into Saturday's El Clasico.

"[The match against Barcelona on] Saturday is one game more. We have little time between then and now.

"We will get back to Madrid and start to prepare; that's how life normally is for us.

"We are playing well, winning games and we are confident but every game has its own story."
Real are currently three points ahead Barca at the top of La Liga, and have a game in hand.