Athletic Bilbao face bogey coach Jose Mourinho

11 years later, Jose Mourinho returns to prepare for a match against Athletic. During his time as Real Madrid coach, he won all his matches against the Bilbao side, and most of them with flying colors. Now, his Fenerbahce is fighting to get into the top eight of the League Phase of the Europa League and the 'Lions', a little higher up, want the leadership. Turkey will not be an easy place for Ernesto Valverde's team.
Mourinho intends to recall those good results he has always obtained against the Basque team, although he is not in the same position as he was a decade ago. Back then, he had an overwhelming Real Madrid team with several elite players at the top of their game. Now, it is the Spanish side who will be looking for their first win against the Portuguese coach.
The first time the two sides met was in November 2010 in Mou's first season in the Madrid dugout. The Santiago Bernabeu enjoyed a home win with Cristiano's hat trick. Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Ramos also scored, in addition to Fernando Llorente's injury time goal. Joaquin Caparros' team was also unable to resist in the second leg at San Mames. Two goals from Kaka gave Madrid a lead that was later extended by Cristiano from Granero's pass.
In 2011-12, two very similar games were played despite the fact that Marcelo Bielsa was already the coach of the Bilbao team. In Chamartin, Fernando Llorente put Athletic ahead, but Madrid managed to come back with goals from Marcelo, Callejon and two penalties converted by Cristiano (4-1). In Bilbao, Mou repeated the same result as the previous season. Higuain, Ozil and Cristiano made it 3-0.
Mourinho's last season at Real Madrid was 2012-13. Precisely, that of his last head-to-head against the Basque side. Once again, it was almost a carbon copy. An own goal by Aurtenetxe in the first minutes of the match made the task easier for the 'Merengues', who extended their lead with goals by Sergio Ramos and Benzema before Ibai Gomez scored 3-1 before the break. In the second half, Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira completed the scoring (5-1). In Mou's third - and last - match at San Mames, it was a third 0-3 with two goals from Cristiano and one from Higuain. Now, 11 years later, neither Mourinho commands a team full of stars nor Athletic is the same.