Jose Mourinho has explained why "you don't coach" Cristiano Ronaldo, who often drew him into touchline arguments at Real Madrid.

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• Worked together at Real between 2010 and 2013
• Ronaldo hated being substituted
• Mourinho never tried to 'teach' CR7

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  Mourinho served as Real Madrid head coach between 2010 and 2013, picking up La Liga and Copa del Rey winners' medals along the way, and helped Ronaldo complete the transition from explosive winger to goalscoring-obsessed centre-forward. They didn't always see eye-to-eye, though, especially on the occasions Mourinho attempted to rest his star player's legs.

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• WHAT MOURINHO SAID

  Football.com global ambassador Mourinho said on the FIVE Youtube channel: "You have guys like Cristiano, where you are playing against Levante and you are winning five-nil and you tell the guy to relax and take a rest. 'No, no, no, I can score one more goal!' When you have guys like this, you know the boat is in the water and you just let the boat go and in the end you enjoy the fight."

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Mourinho added on what it was like to coach Ronaldo on a day-to-day basis: "I think you don't coach [him]. You don't teach much, it's about being happy and it's about creating an environment from the tactical point of view, from the ideas of football, where the player can show. Madrid for him was a little bit of a transition because for you he was a winger – left winger, right winger, dribbling, attacking people, beating people. In Madrid, he became more the goalscorer that he was for the rest of his career. In fact, probably the first time he played a big match as a striker was Real Madrid vs Barcelona in a cup final where he scored an amazing goal with an amazing header in extra time. Probably that was the first time people got the feeling that animal could be a goalscorer and not just a pure winger. Motivation, you don't need to give him. Ambition, you don't need to give him. Technique, you don't need to give him. You give some tactical adjustments and let the guy be happy."

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  DID YOU KNOW?

  Mourinho also opened up on being right in the thick of the intense rivalry between Real and Barca at a time when he was trying to dethrone Pep Guardiola's Lionel Messi-led outfit. Los Blancos beat Barca 1-0 in the Copa del Rey final in his first year at the helm as Ronaldo scored the crucial winner, and lifted the La Liga title in 2011-12 after racking up a record breaking haul of 100 points, with Mourinho always aware his side had to be almost perfect to outdo their arch-rivals.

  He said: "For us to win the league, we did 100 points. You knew that if you didn't do 98, 99, 100, you don't win it. You are then in trouble because Barcelona wins and the next season, the previous season, when Barcelona wins. I think we lost with 92 points or 91 points, something like that. So you know that if you made a mistake, you are in trouble."

Tags: Futebol
Category: News