Madrid: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho believes that strong bonds between players in the squad have been a key factor in his team`s success.
Since the former Chelsea boss arrived in the Spanish capital, Los Blancos have won one Copa del Rey and stormed to Liga glory last season, posting a record 100-point tally.
And the 49-year-old feels that his squad have become a strong collective over the last two years, which helped them grow as a unit.
"It helps that people know each other and get on well together," he explained to the club`s official website.
"The players might have been together for a long time, but if there`s no empathy and pleasure in working together, you have a bigger problem than when you`re putting together a group.
"We all get along well, we know each other well on a personal level, and in terms of football. They know the way I work and my ideas, and I know them.
"We`re excited about our third year after two in which we`ve gone from strength to strength."
The Spanish champions are currently in the United States preparing for the coming campaign, and Mourinho is happy with the work-out his side have undergone.
"It`s going well. We worked hard and well in the first period, and later the games have turned out how we wanted them to. We`re playing well, once again putting together the pieces of a machine that was already working well.
"[In the 5-1 friendly over AC Milan] we played well in the first half against a very closed team that came on with a defensive strategy and many players at the back.
"When we scored the second goal in the second half, they wanted to attack, and the profile of the game changed. They played more offensively, leaving a lot of space. It was a great game to train us tactically."
During the Rossoneri clash, which was played in Yankee Stadium, one fan hung up a banner touting the 49-year-old as a potential replacement to Barack Obama as US president, to which Mourinho quipped: "It must have been a friend of mine doing propaganda."
Enis Koylu/Goal.com
First Published: Saturday, August 11, 2012, 12:55