Jose Mourinho backs Real Madrid stars to 'click' together in LaLiga

Mourinho begins his second spell in charge of Madrid with Saturday's La Liga opener against Espanyol, with the Portuguese coach facing the challenge of finding the right balance between the club's biggest attacking names.

Carlo Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa all struggled at times to get the best from Mbappe, Vinicius and Bellingham in the same team.

Mourinho, however, believes the trio have enough quality to make the system work.

"They are incredible players and incredible players want to play with incredible players," Mourinho said.

"Tactically, it could be tricky. Ancelotti has found a set-up with Brazil perfect for Vini, Deschamps has found one with France perfect for Kylian, Tuchel one perfect for Jude; it's harder for Mourinho to do it for the three of them.

"We're on it. I want the three, when all three play, to feel comfortable on the pitch. They are three players of great quality.

"They don't play in incompatible positions. We will have a great season with them."

Mourinho has also made it clear that Madrid's attacking players will have to work defensively. He wants the entire team to contribute without the ball.

"We have to defend with 11 players," he said. "If a team is pushing us back and giving us problems in our final third, we all have to defend."

The 63-year-old also expects selection decisions to create frustration within his squad, but believes that competition for places can help Madrid maintain high standards.

"There will be moments of frustration, because of results - or personal frustration," Mourinho said.

"I told the players tomorrow there will come a moment of frustration for many of them because it will be the first time that I have to pick one as a starter and the other goes to the bench and feels frustrated.

"They have to digest that individually and as a group."

Mourinho added that he wants competition for places to make his decisions difficult.

"I hope each game is difficult for me, because they keep working in the way they are working," he said. "The day that one lowers his level because of frustration, decisions will be easy for me. I want hard decisions."

Mourinho has also played down reports of lingering tension between Aurelien Tchouameni and Fede Valverde following their dressing-room dispute last season.

Rather than revisit the incident, the coach said he had chosen to start again and was impressed by the relationship between the two players.

"I've decided to start from zero," Mourinho said. "Seeing how they're getting on, you can't even imagine what happened last season."

"They practically told me there was no need to speak about it, that I didn't have to try and have an influence to bring peace.

"From what I've seen, it's not even about peace, it's normality, friendship, and it's like nothing happened."

Mourinho will now get his first competitive look at his new Madrid team when they face Espanyol, and he insists he is feeling excitement rather than pressure.

"I wouldn't call it pressure, I'd call it adrenaline. It's a positive feeling," he said. "The day I don't feel it, something's not right."

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