Mourinho to help Portugal if Real Madrid let him

Jose Mourinho said Friday he would like to accept an invitation to take charge of Portugal’s national team for their next two Euro 2012 qualifiers but it depends on Real Madrid giving their blessing.

“I don’t say no but I am the coach of Real Madrid and I have a contract for the next four years. I was not capable of saying no. I leave it up to Real Madrid to decide,” the Portuguese coach told a news conference.

Portuguese national federation president Gilberto Madail met with Mourinho on Thursday in Madrid to try to convince him to take over for the qualifiers at home to Denmark on October 8 and away to Iceland four days later.

Portugal have had a poor start to their qualifying campaign, with a 4-4 home draw against Cyprus and a 1-0 defeat in Norway that have left them second from bottom of Group H.

They have been without a coach since the federation earlier this month sacked Carlos Queiroz after he was suspended for six months for insulting anti-doping agents before the World Cup.

“My help would be limited. The Portuguese national team is an objective for the next 20 years. The ideal would be to give my full dedication to coaching the team,” said Mourinho.

“If there was an agreement with Real, I would work for the national team for zero euros. Prestige and money are not in short supply for me, thanks God. “The only positive thing would be the feeling of pride at being in charge of the Portuguese national team,” the 47-year-old added.

Earlier this month Mourinho said he would like to see 72-year-old Luis Aragones, who led Spain to victory at Euro 2008, take over the Portuguese squad.

He was unveiled as Real’s new coach at the end of May after leading Inter Milan to an historic treble of successes in Italy’s Serie A championship, the Italian Cup and Champions League.