Jose Mourinho felt he was betrayed by some players during his Real Madrid days

Dudek throws light on Mourinho’s time at Real Madrid

Former Liverpool and Real Madrid goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek has published a book in his native Poland, where he opens up about his experiences during his four-year spell at the Bernabeu. The book gives an insider’s view of Mourinho’s troubled times at Real Madrid.

In this one instance, in 2011 after a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu against arch-rivals Barcelona, a raging Mourinho came into the dressing room and accused players of leaking team information to the media.

Mourinho was enraged when he saw his plans of playing Pepe in midfield to neutralize the threat of Lionel Messi came in the media 4 hours before kick-off. The Portuguese manager was saddened and furious by the incident that he had tears in his eyes

According to the book, this is what Mourinho said, “I turn on my TV four hours before the game and what the f*** do I see? That the journo is giving away our squad.”

He had planned to surprise Barcelona with such a team selection, but the line-up somehow got leaked to the press prompting Mourinho to think that there was a ‘rat’ in the team who had leaked squad information to the press. He felt like he has been backstabbed by his own players and that the preparation that had been done for the entire week was wasted due to this leak.

Dudek was part of Real Madrid team from 2007-11

Mourinho’s reaction to dressing room leak major reason for him losing the players’ trust

Dudek recalls how Mourinho reacted, saying, "How could we ever surprise them if one of you is a rat!!! Yes, yes a rat! Somebody released the info about the starting XI before the game. They knew everything about us. We trained all week. We wanted to surprise them. We wanted to make some changes."

"We put Pepe in midfield to play against Messi and we talked about it... That Pepe knows how to deal with him. He knows when to let him go so he's not the danger for us when he has the ball and makes the difference and we start panicking. That's why Pepe had to play in midfield, right? Right. And everything was perfect. Why could it not work out?”

"Nobody said anything. But Mou started shouting again, 'I always go ahead of you, in the first line. I control everything that happens. Like a general, I always go into fire for you. We were about to attack them when somebody stabbed me in the back. One of you sticks a knife in my back before the game that is so important for us?”

"He pointed at three or four other guys and asked, 'How can you destroy what we've been working for all week? You screwed me over. But you screwed yourselves too. Your families and friends. I will get to the f***ng source. Though I don't know if it will be needed now. I am f***ing sick and tired of you.”

Then he went on to accuse Granero of being the rat who was leaking out team details. "Where's the rat? Is it you, Granero?” Dudek claims that Mourinho asked. Finally, an emotional Mourinho said that he would get to the bottom of the information leak, kicked a water bottle and slammed the door and went away.

This incident might be one of the reasons why Mourinho lost the Real Madrid dressing room. He had a fairly troubled time at Real, especially with the senior Spanish players like Ramos and Casillas, which ultimately led to him quitting Real Madrid.