José Mourinho is a happy guy. Yesterday, his Real Madrid side beat Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou, with Kylian Mbappé scoring twice and leaving his winner until the 87th minute. Madrid closed the gap on their rivals to three points, and the Portuguese coach celebrated by sliding across the grass on his knees. Good work for a 63-year-old. Though someone might want to check on his very fancy Italian sneakers.

For the occasion, Mourinho wore Zegna's Triple Stitch Secondskin in the ‘Black’ colourway. It's a slim, low-cut trainer with a white rubber sole and three criss-crossing elastics across the front. Nothing particularly in-your-face about it, but, as you'd probably expect from a company that makes some of the nicest coats out there, there's a lot more to it than that.

The OG Triple Stitch first dropped in 2014, giving guys who usually wore proper shoes something a little more relaxed to get into. Somewhere between a sneaker and a loafer, it ditched “normal” laces for an elasticated fastening that you could slip straight into. Those three crosses weren't just there to look nice, either: they reference the hand stitches on a tailored jacket's lapel. Very Zegna.

Then, in early 2024, the Italian house introduced Secondskin. The idea started with leather gloves, specifically how soft they are and how closely they fit. Zegna applied that thinking to calfskin uppers measuring just 0.8mm thick. According to the brand, the leather has a “memory” that helps it mould to your feet with wear, while resisting creases. Basically, they're meant to get more comfy without looking like you've been wearing them non-stop.

Zegna

Triple Stitch Secondskin 'Black'

They're made in Parma, where a team of 13 (!) craftspeople works on each pair, with 68 components going into each shoe. That's a lot of effort for something you can put on without bending down.

Mourinho's been mixing things up lately, too. A few days ago, he was at training in the Adidas Adizero Evo SL ‘Silver Metallic’: £130 running shoes with massive red stripes and his initials Sharpie'd onto the sides. Now, he's celebrating an El Clásico win in mega-soft Italian leather. A pretty good week for Mourinho, then. We'd leave the marker pen in his desk for this pair, though.