José Mourinho said Real Madrid had “three faces” in the 2-2 draw with Fiorentina, and his point was not hard to see. The game at the Worthersee Stadion in Klagenfurt began with Madrid looking sharp enough to go 2-1 up at half-time, then ended with Fiorentina coming back from 2-0 down and the match turning after the break.

Mourinho's assessment of the first half

Mourinho was clear that the opening stretch was the best version of his side. “It was a Madrid with three faces: fresh, tired, and super tired. The fresh team played very well, and the 2-1 scoreline at halftime was far too short,” he said to managingmadrid.com.

He also underlined the standard he expects from the club, even in a friendly. “Real Madrid is Real Madrid. Whether it's a friendly or a training match, it's Real Madrid.” That fits the shape of the game. Real Madrid had the lead and the control early, but the second half looked different once the legs went and Fiorentina found a way back in.

Squads still short of full work

The fitness point ran through Mourinho’s comments as well. He said Endrick and another player named in the lineup had trained for three days and still played more than 70 minutes, which he described as a fantastic effort. He also said, “I'm concerned about not having everyone, and I would like to have three weeks of work with the others.”

That is the real takeaway here. Mourinho did not frame the 2-2 as a tactical mystery or a disaster, he framed it as a squad that is still missing time together. Endrick has only 4 appearances this season and 133 minutes across them, so the match came after a very small competitive sample. Real Madrid also came in with a solid last five league results sequence of win, win, loss, win, win, but Mourinho still wants more work before the group looks ready.

Fiorentina, for their part, were not just passers-by in a warm-up game. They came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2, and they did it after a season in which they barely escaped the relegation zone. The friendly showed both sides of the gap Mourinho was talking about, but the more useful detail is the one he kept returning to: this Madrid side is not fully assembled yet.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →