“I’m exhausted, I’m tired, and I have a fever,” José Mourinho admitted during his postgame press conference after his team beat Valencia 0-3 at Mestalla.

“Would I go to the NFL Game? If my temperature drops from 104°F to 102.2°F tomorrow, I’ll go...” he joked, referring to his illness. Speaking in a subdued voice and looking noticeably pale, the Portuguese manager appeared to be feeling the effects of his fever.

Despite his condition, Mourinho remained firmly behind his players, praising the team’s progress and growing sense of unity.

“There has been tremendous improvement. They’re much more committed to one another, they’re united... This team is looking good,” he said.

Mourinho’s postgame press conference in full:

After this run of wins in such a tough stretch... What would you say to your players? And what message would you send to [Javier] Tebas and LaLiga?

Message to LaLiga... I have to be humble, because they hold the power. And I ask that they not do the same to us. I don’t want to say it’s superhuman, because it’s possible to do, but it’s very difficult. And if they want to make this joke, let them do it to others — leave us alone after this marathon of travel and matches, from Sunday to Saturday, which has been too much. Shall I tell you what worries me now? I’m worried because if they side with me and my staff, we would be able to give special attention to making sure our players recover, but they side with the national team and there, I can imagine their coaches want to work, and these players need to rest now to be able to play later. Right now they need a lot of care in their recovery process.

With coaches who have more than 100 matches in the league, you have won 97 of your 126 LaLiga matches. With a 77% win rate, you are the coach with the best win percentage in the competition’s history. What do you say to that?

It tells me we have to win the next one. Because in this life, pretty numbers — the ones that seem meaningful — people forget. We don’t feed on past numbers, but on the present. And we have to win the next match. I had no idea about the stat. And of course it’s something that makes me feel proud, because LaLiga has had so many top coaches... being there is an honor. But as I said, the next game is the most important.

How are you getting the team to be more committed defensively?

It’s them - it’s all about them. The credit goes to them, the players. I can’t identify anything in my work that is the key to making them do it. I do my normal job and they are responding individually and as a team in a spectacular way. There has been a great evolution, but the fact that today we had so much possession and little defensive work helps. But you also have to say that at the moment we lose the ball, we’ve always had a great reaction. There’s an image in the second half in front of my bench where we lose the ball, Arda is out of position and Kylian sprints to close the block on the right flank. It’s a good example, but it’s only an example. They are very supportive, united. And as I told Real Madrid TV, from my experience, this team feels right to me.

It was a very tense match, how was it for you?

Mestalla is passion. Valencia, throughout history, has always been a difficult stadium. Demanding of its teams and players. Playing against a Real Madrid that is vastly superior individually and collectively increases frustration. And... it pushes the players toward a style of play that allows them to contest the result. The good thing for us is that we were very calm and didn’t react. The red-card situation, from a distance, seems very clear to me. And the yellow to Kylian... I don’t know. I know it’s potentially a goal, an action leading to a goal. I don’t know whether the referee could or should have let the play continue, but, to tell the truth, it seemed to me the referee did a tremendous job. Tremendous job. In a stadium where people protest. One thing is the Bernabéu, where people go to the match calmly, and another is Santander, Valencia... Those are stadiums where people want the match to be played and, from frustration about the result, people protest more, they get fired up. But all within normal boundaries.

Do you plan to send any message to any national team coach or advice to a player?

No, no. I’m not going to speak, because I don’t know if one day I’ll be a national team coach. But I have decided that if one day I do, I will be very demanding of clubs. I’ll think of myself, of my team. That’s the feeling. And that’s why I don’t feel like calling anyone, even my friend Carlo... But in Carlo’s case, look, Vinicius and Endrick will be with Brazil... Vinicius will play but Endrick needs to play; if he plays him, I will appreciate it. I’m not worried about Carlo’s side of things. But they don’t take pleasure in a player getting injured from the accumulation of games. They also owe professionalism to players when it comes to recovering them. Let’s hope we’re lucky.

How much does it bother you that there is another break now?

As I said, my only concern is the accumulation of games. They are in extreme fatigue, extreme fatigue. They have to be with their national teams on Monday... and on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday they’re still clearing this muscular fatigue they have from today. I’m not talking about mental fatigue, because they’re winners - they don’t have that. But physical fatigue, yes. People are... But as I said, respect for the national team coaches.

What pleases you most about this run of eight wins in eight matches? Because after losing to Atleti, everything seemed chaotic...

What pleases me is exactly what—using your word—’chaos’ because we lost that match... We never had chaos. We’ve always been calm. We’ve understood why we lost that match. Where we could improve. We’ve always maintained great calm. I will always fight so that in good moments people stay balanced. And I always tell them that winning matches at a club like Real Madrid... You can’t fall into the trap of letting joy take over; it should be normal. I see a dressing room that’s happy, with horrible, loud music, horrible... But calm people, because the message is normality. When we lose we enter your chaos, which can then spread to the wider Madridismo, to the fans. But in here, we are calm.

Did you sense any tension at halftime? And will you go to the NFL?

Tomorrow I’ll go to the NFL if I drop from 104°F to 102°F, because I feel awful, terrible. I’m tired, I have a fever. I’m dead. But if I recover, I’ll go. And about the break... No, no. I left immediately, my friend [Javier] Aguirre with me, and it’s a pleasure to share what I told Aguirre after the match: “Don’t be sad because my players are much better than yours.” And it’s the truth. The problem isn’t Aguirre, a great coach with lots of experience. But Real Madrid players are very good. And coaches who have players like mine are closer to winning.

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