Jose Mourinho faces an immediate test at Real Madrid, with the club scheduled to play four competitive matches in just 14 days at the start of the 2026-27 season.
The Portuguese manager returned to the club this summer and is expected to lead Real Madrid back to the trophy-winning stage after the team finished without silverware in two consecutive campaigns.
However, Spanish newspaper AS says Mourinho’s opening weeks will be far from straightforward, with the fixture schedule placing a significant physical burden on his players.
Real Madrid’s first competitive match is against Espanyol on 22 August. They will then host Real Sociedad on 26 August and Malaga on 30 August, before completing the demanding sequence with a meeting against Real Betis on 4 September.
The challenge is made more difficult by the limited preparation time available to several key players. Cucurella, Kylian Mbappe, Aurelien Tchouameni, Ibrahima Konate and Jude Bellingham are expected to join the squad on 10 August, leaving them with only about a week to prepare for the opening fixture.
That has increased concerns over injuries, an issue that troubled Real Madrid during a chaotic period of physical preparation in the previous campaign.
Club president Florentino Perez discussed the problem during his election campaign, saying: “The reason for the bad season lies in the Club World Cup; we were unable to have a proper pre-season, and we could not recover physically because we played matches on Wednesdays and Sundays every week, and that is where the high number of injuries came from.”
Reducing the risk of further injuries was one of Real Madrid’s main priorities during the summer. The club brought in Monaco’s renowned doctor Alexandre Krouze to help address the crisis, after the team suffered 52 injuries last season. Marco Asensio was the first player to be ruled out this term.
Mourinho has also seen one of his key requests met, with the club seeking to have two players available for every position. The arrivals of Cucurella, Konate, Denzel Dumfries, Espe and Bernardo Silva have helped fulfil that requirement, while the possible signings of Ousmane Diomande and Rodri remain under consideration.
Mourinho understands that coping with the demands of modern football requires a large squad and the ability to rotate players without losing cohesion or overall performance.
Real Madrid will have three more pre-season fixtures before their competitive campaign begins. They face Ferencvaros on 8 August, Deportivo on 12 August and Schalke on 16 August, with those matches taking place across an eight-day period.
That schedule means Real Madrid will play seven matches during August, a workload comparable to periods in which they compete in several major tournaments at once, including La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
The club must therefore manage the players’ physical effort carefully. Dean Huijsen, who has suffered a muscle strain in his left thigh, and Asensio, who is expected to miss about six weeks with a hamstring injury, are already the first absentees.
For years, Real Madrid held their pre-season camps abroad, with the United States their preferred destination in recent seasons. Those trips helped strengthen the club’s international profile while allowing the squad to work away from the pressure of the capital.
That approach has not been possible in recent campaigns. Last year, the Club World Cup disrupted the club’s plans, while this year the reason is the World Cup. As a result, Real Madrid have organised their preparations in a more traditional way, with friendly matches taking place in Europe.
The new Mourinho era will therefore begin with four competitive fixtures in 14 days and seven matches during August. A carefully managed summer programme will be central to the club’s main objective for the 2026-27 season: winning everything once again.
