Jose Mourinho quickly ran over to Denzel Dumfries to remind him about the new La Liga rule during the Real Madrid vs Espanyol match.
A new meme has just been born! Jose Mourinho went viral again after he quickly ran over to Denzel Dumfries to remind him about a new rule during Real Madrid’s first game of the La Liga season.
Back at Real Madrid for his second time in charge, Mourinho started off with a 2-1 win against Espanyol. Jude Bellingham scored first for Madrid by heading in a free-kick from Arda Guler in the 9th minute, but Alex Calatrava equalized for Espanyol around the 30-minute mark.
Madrid controlled most of the game and got rewarded in the final moments when new player Carlos Espi scored his first goal for the club just before the game ended. Mourinho’s reaction was pretty calm – he just clenched his fists and walked down the sideline.
But later, we saw a much more energetic Mourinho when Denzel Dumfries took too long on a throw-in while Madrid was holding onto their one-goal lead.
This season, a new five-second countdown rule for throw-ins was introduced in Europe’s top leagues, including La Liga. If a team takes too long to restart play, the referee starts counting down. If the ball isn’t back in play after five seconds, the other team gets the ball.
In the clip, referee Jose Maria Sanchez is reminding Dumfries about this countdown, and Mourinho, full of energy, runs over to the Netherlands player to back it up. Fans quickly remembered when Mourinho went from laughing to sprinting over to the ref in 2020 after Raheem Sterling escaped a second yellow card during a Tottenham vs. Manchester City game.
After the game, Mourinho shared his thoughts on Madrid’s performance: “I think we deserved to win, but Espanyol didn’t deserve to lose. We played with great control and pressure, especially in the second half. We took risks, and I believe we earned the win.
“But Espanyol defended well and were dangerous on the counterattack. They pushed hard and stayed very organized, so it’s tough they didn’t get anything from the game.
“But still, we deserved to win. When talking about defense, you can’t forget the physical condition of the teams. Espanyol didn’t have players at the World Cup and have been playing together for a long time, which you can see in how they keep up their intensity.”