Mourinho's Real Madrid rebuild hinges on Carrico and Santos

On the sun‑lit training pitch at Real Madrid’s Ciudad Real Madrid, Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho watches his squad drill as his second spell officially begins, already overseeing sessions and unveiling two final backroom appointments – sports physiologist Sandro Carrico and goalkeeping coach Nuno Santos. Over the next few weeks several first‑team stars will return after the post‑World Cup break, and Mourinho aims to have the squad well‑drilled with his ideas before the first official game of the season arrives, while also preparing for upcoming Cup and World commitments. He is not pursuing the task alone; the manager has assembled an all‑star coaching team to help translate his vision into daily practice.

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Carrico, a sports physiologist who specialised in sports science at Benfica and held a leading role at Benfica Lab, previously worked with Mourinho during his time at Benfica and now joins Real Madrid to apply his expertise on the body’s adaptation to sporting stress. Luis Llopis, who was a critical part of both Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti’s teams, has been removed as first‑team goalkeeping coach, with his future role at the club still unclear. Nuno Santos replaces him, overseeing the training of Thibaut Courtois, Andriy Lunin and the academy keepers, and he has already worked closely with Mourinho at Tottenham Hotspur, AS Roma and Benfica.

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The seven‑man coaching staff now includes Joao Tralhao as Mourinho’s trusted assistant, Pedro Machado as the second assistant, former Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira as another assistant, Roberto Merella as the analyst, Antonio Dias in charge of physical fitness, and the newly appointed goalkeeping coach Nuno Santos. A photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images captures the staff hard at work, with picture credit to X/@realmadrid, underscoring the new regime’s emphasis on scientific preparation.