Jose Mourinho: Loved in Chelsea and loathed at Real Madrid?

With Mourinho looking to be nearing the finale of his Madrid affair, inevitable end-of-relationship questions arise.

Was I better off with the ex? Am I more or less in love than I was before? Is it better to stay put?Like a lover in a stale relationship, Jose Mourinho has fluttered his eyelashes in the direction of the Premier League, with former squeeze Chelsea the apparent object of his desire, writes BBC Sport’s Stephan Shemilt.

“I know in England I am loved,” he said after current club Real Madrid’s Champions League exit to Borussia Dortmund. “I know I am loved by some clubs, especially one.”

With Mourinho looking to be nearing the finale of his Madrid affair, inevitable end-of-relationship questions arise.

Was I better off with the ex? Am I more or less in love than I was before? Is it better to stay put?

The Portuguese has seemingly already made up his mind. None can match the love he felt from fans and media when he was at Chelsea. Indeed, the affection from Real supporters and the Spanish press has drained away.

“I am loved by the fans and the media [in England] who treat me in a fair way,” said Mourinho. “I know in Spain it is different because many people hate me.”

Hate is a strong word, but Mourinho is right to say his bond with the Spanish media is beyond repair.

“Mourinho effectively has no relationship with the Madrid-based media,” Spanish football journalist Andy West told BBC Sport. “He doesn’t trust them and has made that distrust plain, which of course has made them distrust him. It’s become a vicious circle.

“He hardly ever attends press conferences unless he has to. The rest of the time he sends his assistant Aitor Karanka and avoids any media contact apart from the odd TV interview back in Portugal.”

Perhaps the 50-year-old would be in a better place to accept a lack of love from the media if he was adored by the Bernabeu faithful, but that relationship is also in tatters.

Defending champions Real are trailing Barcelona by 11 points in La Liga, and Mourinho has often been greeted with hostility rather than the warm embrace of home - even when his side have been winning.
High-profile rows with fan favourites Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas have not helped, the latter conflict also bleeding into Mourinho’s stand-off with the media.

“They’ve never got on,” continued West. “Casillas’s girlfriend, Sara Carbonero, is a well-known television presenter so is obviously well connected throughout the Spanish media.

“Mourinho clearly suspects - possibly quite rightly - that any leaks from the camp come via Casillas.

“There was an obvious example of this a few weeks ago when Carbonero herself appeared on Mexican television and said Mourinho had a bad relationship with the players because he never communicated with them. It’s pretty obvious who her source was.”

All in all, the Real-Mourinho courtship looks to have only a handful of awkward dates - one of which is the Copa Del Rey final against city rivals Atletico - left to run.

And, after Real’s third Champions League semi-final defeat in as many seasons, Mourinho, who has previously stated that his next job will be in England, has turned his eyes on the Premier League. According to some reports, a return to Chelsea is as good as sealed.