Mourinho not counting on Higuain return

Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho is resigned to being without Gonzalo Higuain for the rest of the season after the striker underwent back surgery.

Higuain had an operation to fix a slipped disc in his back on Tuesday and is expected to be out for four months.

But Mourinho, who saw Chelsea captain John Terry recover from a similar injury, is not expecting the 23-year-old Argentine to return in time to help Real Madrid’s La Liga campaign this season.

“In two months Higuain will be training, in two more playing, but he won’t reach 100 per cent before next season,” Mourinho said.

“It’s what I expected. I wasn’t counting on him for this season, so I can’t be disappointed.”

Higuain has scored 10 goals in 18 appearances for Real this season, but has been out of action since November because of the injury.

Real have been linked with a move for out-of-favour Manchester city striker Emmanuel Adebayor as cover for the Argentine, and Mourinho gave a strong hint to the club’s directors that he wants to bolster his attacking stocks.

“The majority of great teams have a lot of strikers. Arsenal have up to five centre forwards. Look at Milan, they have (Zlatan Ibrahimovic), Robinho, Pato but we have only (Karim) Benzema now,” Mourinho said.

“But that’s the way it is. There’s no perfect squad.”

Mourinho also revealed he was pleased the red card awarded to Villarreal’s Cani had been rescinded, after the midfielder was sent off for throwing a water bottle at the Portuguese manager during Real’s 4-2 victory on Sunday.

The incident came in response to Mourinho’s boisterous goal celebration in front of the Villarreal bench.

“I am glad Cani’s red card was rescinded because he is an important player for Villarreal,” Mourinho said.

“Nevertheless, if one of my men throws a bottle at someone he gets a three month suspension.”

“He threw a plastic bottle at me. I don’t consider it an aggression. It was just a gesture from yet another person who thinks everything I do has negative connotations.”