Jose Mourinho’s Return to Real Madrid: Early Success and Upcoming Tests

Jose Mourinho’s second coming at Real Madrid could hardly have started better. Three games, three wins, goals flowing, and a squad of stars suddenly playing as if they’ve known each other for years.

The mood around Valdebebas has been buoyant. Training sessions crackle, the Bernabeu hums with expectation, and for now, Mourinho’s return feels like a reunion that everyone got right.

Now comes the first reality check.

Two games in five days – away to Real Betis in La Liga and then Inter Milan in the Champions League – will show whether this early surge is the start of something serious or just the glow of a brief honeymoon.

Betis away: the first real warning sign

Madrid’s early-season rhythm has been built on relentless attacking intent and a defence that, at least on the surface, looks sharper and more organised than in recent years. They press higher, they recover quicker, and when they go forward, they do it with conviction.

Betis are the first side truly equipped to disrupt that.

A trip away to a technically gifted, confident Betis team is exactly the kind of fixture that has tripped Madrid up in recent seasons. Not the title decider in May, but the awkward night in September that quietly separates champions from runners-up.

The environment will be hostile, the tempo high, the spaces tighter. This is where the question gets serious: can Mourinho’s Madrid keep that same aggressive, front-foot identity when the game stops being comfortable?

He has hammered home one message since walking back through the door – the team must function as a collective. Press together. Defend together. Suffer together. Matches like this, away to a side capable of keeping the ball and punishing lapses, are where that idea is either reinforced or exposed.

If Madrid bend under pressure, it will not just be a bad night. It will be a reminder of old flaws they thought they had left behind.

Inter at the Bernabeu: the level jumps

If Betis are a warning, Inter are a full examination.

Inter arrive as Madrid’s first Champions League opponents of the season, and with them comes an early measuring stick for Mourinho’s rebuilt project. This is not a gentle introduction to Europe. It is a straight plunge into the deep end.

Mourinho knows what nights like this demand. The Bernabeu under the lights, an elite rival, a fanbase that expects dominance on this stage. The twist is that he will have to navigate it with a midfield that is already stretched.

Aurelien Tchouameni is out injured. Arda Guler, Eduardo Camavinga and Bernardo Silva are all suspended. That leaves a gaping hole in the very area of the pitch Mourinho usually builds his strongest foundations.

The situation could open the door for Sergio Martinez to make his Real Madrid debut against Inter. Thrown into a Champions League opener at the Bernabeu, in a game where the margin for error is minimal, the youngster may find himself not just filling a gap, but carrying responsibility.

On the opposite bench will be Cristian Chivu, a man Mourinho once coached and now has to outthink. It adds a subtle edge to the occasion: mentor against former player, both trying to prove their ideas belong at the top level.

For Madrid, the stakes go beyond three points. A convincing performance would reinforce the belief that this version of Mourinho’s side can compete immediately with Europe’s elite, even with key absences. A laboured display would hint that the project is still fragile when stretched.

The end of the honeymoon?

Around the club, the joy is unmistakable. The fans are engaged again, the players look liberated, and Mourinho’s strong pre-season has flowed directly into competitive form.

Now the calendar bites back.

Betis away, Inter at home. Two different tests, both demanding. One probes Madrid’s ability to grind and suffer domestically, the other their capacity to impose themselves on a major European night with a patched-up midfield.

This is where cracks, if they exist, begin to show. Mourinho will need to adjust on the fly, to shuffle his options, to trust youth where he might prefer experience, and to protect a perfect record that suddenly feels fragile.

By the end of next week, the question will be unavoidable: is this just a bright start, or the early outline of a Madrid team ready to dominate again under Mourinho?