Jose Mourinho has revealed how he reacted after learning that then-Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas had phoned Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez during the height of the Clasico rivalry, describing the episode as the origin of a serious problem inside the Real Madrid squad. The two men gave differing accounts of the incident in a new Netflix documentary.
Casillas was captain of both Real Madrid and Spain's national team at the time, a dual role he said made the situation genuinely difficult to manage. He recalled facing Barcelona players as opponents on the pitch one day, only to share national team training camps and common goals with those same players soon after.
Dual role created constant friction
Casillas said he was up against players who were his enemies on the football pitch but who then became his teammates with the national team. He defended his decision to call Xavi Hernandez as a product of that professional reality rather than any act of disloyalty toward Real Madrid.
Mourinho saw the call differently. He viewed the contact as a lack of respect toward the group and believed that during matches between Barcelona and Real Madrid there was no room for any display of closeness between rivals. In his account, the call broke a line he had drawn firmly for the squad, and the resulting conflict lasted several seasons, affecting the team's internal dynamic.
Mourinho set clear limits before facing Barcelona
Mourinho described telling his players before facing Barcelona: "This is Barcelona-Real Madrid. When you go to the national team you can give each other two kisses, but not now. This is war." He said the rivalry had to take precedence for as long as the two clubs were competing against each other.
Any gesture of friendship or conversation between members of the two teams during that period was, in his view, incompatible with the spirit he demanded. He linked the perceived lack of personal respect directly to the emergence of a serious problem within the squad, saying there were things he did not accept and never would, and that when someone failed to respect him, it became a problem.
Casillas said the scene made him uncomfortable and that he told his coach so directly, saying he did not like seeing it and told the boss as much. He maintained that his actions stemmed from his obligations as Spain's captain rather than any betrayal of Real Madrid, framing the call within a complex professional reality in which fierce rivals became training-camp teammates. Mourinho, for his part, rejected any interpretation that softened the episode, comparing those Clasico matches to a sporting war that left no space for gestures of closeness.
A fractured dressing room
The episode marked a turning point in the relationship between the two men. Casillas placed the origin of the tension in his decision to contact Xavi Hernandez, while Mourinho described the call as a point of no return. Both agree that the moment created a problem that went beyond a simple misunderstanding and shaped life inside the Real Madrid dressing room for a prolonged period.
