Mourinho repeats intention to remain at Madrid

 MADRID, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho this Saturday denied he was planning to leave the club either during or at the end of the current season.

Real Madrid's poor recent form has seen them slip to 16 points behind FC Barcelona in the BBVA Primera Liga and led to rumors¹ of a breakdown² in relations with Mourinho and club President, Florentino Perez as well as with various of the Spanish players in the squad³.

Those rumors gathered strength with his decision to leave Spain international keeper Iker Casillas on the sub's bench for his side's 3-2 defeat away to Malaga in the last game of 2012.

However, speaking in an interview with an Italian newspaper "Tutti Sport", the Real Madrid coach said he had no plans to leave the club.

"I am staying in Madrid and I want to win my third Champions League. The defeat in Malaga led to a deep reflection⁵ about my future in Real Madrid, but I spent Christmas in Portugal with my family and we came to a conclusion: football changes, it changes and it changes virtually⁶ every day, every minute and every second, but there is one thing that never changes and that is that the coach makes the team," said Mourinho.

When asked about whether or not he would resign from Madrid, he decided⁷ to use a phrase from the coach of Manchester United, a club he has been tipped to coach in the future.

"I am going to reply using some words of Sir Alex Ferguson: 'I am too old to give up,' well I am too young to give up. My aim is to win the Champions League with three different clubs: Real Madrid, after having done it with Porto and Inter⁴ Milan, something that nobody has done. Also it would be the tenth Champions League for Real Madrid and we'd be the only team to have got into double figures," continued the Madrid coach, whose side will play Manchester United in the last 16 in Europe.

"It is going to be a thrilling challenge, we know we can qualify⁸, but also that they could knock us out. It is going to be fantastic and any coach would want to play a tie like that," said Mourinho.

1 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

3 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

4 inter   

v.埋葬

参考例句：

• They interred their dear comrade in the arms.他们埋葬了他们亲爱的战友。
• The man who died in that accident has been interred.在那次事故中死的那个人已经被埋葬了。

5 reflection   

n.映象，倒影；反射；反映；非议；深思

参考例句：

• The reflection of the sun on the glass wall was blinding.玻璃墙上反射的太阳光令人目眩。
• One can see the reflection of the tower in the water.塔的影子倒映在水中。

6 virtually   

adv.实际上，事实上

参考例句：

• The job was virtually completed by the end of the week.到周末时这项工作差不多完成了。
• He was virtually a prisoner.他实际上是个囚犯。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 qualify   

vt.取得资格，有资格，限定，描述；vi.取得资格，有资格

参考例句：

• I won't qualify until next year.我明年才具备资格。
• You must qualify yourself for the post.你必须使自己具备担任这一工作的资格。