Mourinho Takes Aim at Ballon d'Or Politics, Confirms Cucurella to Start Against Malaga

Some press conferences start with a question about the upcoming opponent and end up covering the entire soccer landscape. Friday's session, with Jose Mourinho behind the microphone, was one of those. Before turning to Malaga, the coach weighed in on the Ballon d'Or, gave updates on his injured players and, along the way, revealed who will start Sunday at the Bernabeu.

Let's start with the headline stuff. Asked about soccer's most coveted individual award, Mourinho didn't hold back. His view is simple: the Ballon d'Or doesn't have to go to a Paris Saint-Germain player or a member of the Spanish national team, even if both have had big years collectively. For the coach, winning the Champions League or a World Cup shouldn't, on its own, be the deciding factor.

To me, the Ballon d'Or has to go to those players that when they retire, we miss forever. I miss Maradona, Ronaldo Nazario, Lionel Messi, Zidane, Matthaus. You can't hand out the Ballon d'Or just because someone won the Champions League or the World Cup. If you want to reward the Champions League, give the Ballon d'Or to Luis Enrique. For Spain, I'm sure De la Fuente deserves it.Jose Mourinho

The Portuguese coach went further, explaining why the award doesn't fully convince him: he believes it carries too much politics, and that takes away from its value. "The Ballon d'Or has politics in it, and when politics gets involved, I don't like it as much," he said, making clear that in his view, today's best player in the world plays neither for PSG nor for Spain.

Cucurella to start against Malaga

When it came to Sunday's lineup, Mourinho actually dropped some hints, something he doesn't always do. Marc Cucurella will start against Malaga at the Bernabeu, while Alvaro Carreras, who had performed well in the matches against Espanyol and Real Sociedad, will begin on the bench. The coach framed it as proof of his squad's depth: if Cucurella runs low on fuel, Carreras is there to step in and keep the level up.

He also had praise for Jude Bellingham, who turned in a strong performance against Real Sociedad. Mourinho highlighted his physical presence, mental sharpness and scoring instincts, though he stressed that the focus shouldn't rest solely on individual names. "The team has to function as a team," he said, noting that Real Madrid fans come to the Bernabeu to see standout players, but also a collective that grinds and competes together.

Endrick closer to return, caution with Tchouameni

On the injury front, the coach was cautious. Endrick is the closest to returning, though Mourinho would rather not rush him with the Real Betis match in mind, and is considering the possibility that his comeback might not come until the first Champions League fixture. With Aurelien Tchouameni, the process is different: the coach asked for patience and ruled out speeding up the timeline just to get him in and out of a matchday squad without real continuity.

The wide-ranging session also included a nod to Alvaro Arbeloa for his work with the youth academy, and a mention of Thiago Pitarch, who Mourinho believes is already performing above Castilla's level, though he still needs to add muscle. To close things out, there was no shortage of praise for Carlo Ancelotti, whom he described as having no weaknesses and as a benchmark for handling any kind of issue inside a big locker room.