Mourinho and Mbappé analyze refereeing and the Ballon d'Or in the press conference prior to Real Madrid's debut in the Champions League

This Monday Valdebebas had his most interesting press conference of the season in advance of Real Madrid's debut in the Champions League against Inter Milan. At the microphone, Jose Mourinho and Kylian Mbappé, coach and star of the white team who has rebelled against the referees and criticism. The Portuguese has returned to the famous "Why?" to analyze the referee's performance in the duel against Betis, and the Frenchman was ironic about the negative comments.

"Sorry, I'm going to escape your question and take advantage of yours to go in another direction," Mourinho replied to a journalist who had asked him about the team's attitude against Betis. The Portuguese wanted to talk about the referees. "No one has asked me about this," he insisted. "We have lost because we have not translated the offensive production that the team has had into goals. Period. But the penalty, why has it not been repeated? Because the VAR does not know the regulations or because the VAR did not want to? It is a question that I would like the person in charge to answer me. Why? If it is due to ignorance of the regulations, they have to go home. If it is because they did not want to, it is even worse. Why have they not called the referee to see the monitor? A little strange. I prefer to think that they didn't know the regulations. But if that's the case, they can't be in the VAR," Mourinho reflected.

The Portuguese did not want to discover his solution to the losses of Bernardo Silva, Camavinga and Arda Güler in the midfield and acknowledged that he had seen his team "dead" in the La Cartuja locker room after losing to Betis. "I have seen them the way I like them. Dead in the locker room in Seville after the game, quite recovered in yesterday's training, and today perfectly normal. We analyze Saturday's game and we are convinced that we played a good game, that the goals we missed are an abnormality."

A few minutes later Mbappé appeared. Ironic, questioning some of the journalists' questions, positioning himself as one of the favorites for the Ballon d'Or and insisting that "talking about me sells a lot."

"Only me and Vinicius have to improve in defense?" he answered one of the questions in which the defensive effort of Raphinha and Dembélé was analyzed in comparison to his own. "I can play dumb and tell you that I score more goals than those two you say, but I have to be intelligent. I do many things that others don't do. It's an endless debate. We all have to improve at that. With the ball we have to do things better to create more chances," he said.

"What does it mean if there has been an improvement in the locker room?" he responded when asked about the atmosphere in the group after the "difficult" year that was the previous one. "It is very difficult to answer a question that begins with 'it is said...', it is said, who says it?", he answered another colleague.

On the table, the Ballon d'Or, which Mbappé acknowledged on several occasions that "it is a good year" to win it. "Many people on the street talk to me about the Ballon d'Or, they talk about me for that, I have made a lot of history this summer but let's see. I have the feeling that it is a good year for that," he said first. "I always think yes (if he is the best). Many people will think yes, others no. This year could be a good year for me in the Ballon d'Or."

Finally, a response to those who link PSG's two European Cups with his departure from the French club. "It doesn't matter to me. I know how to analyze football, I know why it happened. I know more than many people and others know more than me, I'm calm. Sometimes it's not analysis, it's things that sell. Talking about me sells a lot." And he winked, made a face, and left.