Jose Mourinho rendered homage to German football

Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho recognized German football is on the rise ahead of Champions League semi-final second leg against Borussia Dortmund.

La Liga giants are entering the second leg trailing by three goals, after losing 4-1 at the Westfalenstadion. The Portuguese said he is not surprised by the brilliant performance delivered by Borussia in the first leg: “It’s not a surprise for me that Dortmund are where they are, I thought they were one of the favourites at the start of the tournament. There is a great structure there, a great tranquility around the team and the coach.”

“Both German teams (Dortmund and fellow semi-finalists Bayern Munich, who beat Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg) are very good, without a doubt, as are the national team. There is a generation of players in Germany of great quality and they will be candidates to win the next World Cup,” he added.

Mourinho expressed his dissatisfaction as regards his side’s performance in Dortmund, saying they were too complacent and soft in the treatment of Lewandowski, who netted four goals. He said: “We are so pure and so naive that Lewandowski scored four goals and we didn’t foul him even once. They [Dortmund] fouled Cristiano (Ronaldo) five times as soon as the game began. How can you play 90 minutes and not commit a foul on a player who scored four goals?”

“I’m sure we won’t freeze. We played Bayern Munich in the German Cup final last year when we were champions. They really wanted to beat us in the game, as they had all season, and my team was pretty cool in this moment (Dortmund won 5-2). The only way to reach your dream is to be brave,” he added.