Mourinho relieved at winning return

He might have been reluctant to talk of Barcelona, but Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho knew how crucial a return to victory was for his side.

Six days after their 6-0 drubbing at the hands of bitter rivals Barcelona in La Liga’s first ‘El Clasico’ of the season, Real were made to work hard before seeing off Valencia 2-0 at the Bernabeu.

Captain Cristiano Ronaldo’s second-half brace helped ease the hurt of the thumping, although how damaging the result may be – with Barca now two points in front of Real at the top of the table – might not be known until the season’s climax.

Having tasted his biggest ever league defeat as manager and his first at Real, Mourinho was relieved to have immediately bounced back.

“The most important thing was to win a difficult game because it is not easy to react after a terrible loss as bad as the last,” Mourinho told reporters after the game.

“We lacked a little confidence, self esteem. It was more important for me to start the game without suffering, not to try and win the game immediately, so I changed the team. I could imagine what would have happened if we scored first and didn’t control the game. So I chose to fill more of the midfield. This has been a great game, and we controlled it.”

With Real missing defenders Ricardo Carvalho and Sergio Ramos through suspension, Mourinho turned to Alvaro Arbeloa and Raul Albiol.

The Spanish international duo played a big part in keeping Valencia at bay, earning praise from their manager.

“To be honest, I was not concerned about Ramos and Carvalho because we have Arbeloa and Albiol, who are very serious and hard working,” he said.”Albiol has been fantastic. There was no problem not having Ramos and Carvalho because we knew they were going to respond.”

With the Barcelona defeat undoubtedly still fresh in his mind, Mourinho nonetheless chose not to comment on his rivals when quizzed by reporters: “I’d rather not comment on Barca,” he said. “As I said before there is a rule for me and one for others and I will not comment.”