On June 1, 2013, during the last training session of José Mourinho and his coaching staff in charge of Real Madrid, Álvaro Arbeloa wanted to commemorate the moment with a photo with the Portuguese coach and his assistants. He took them to the bench of field 3 at the sports city and demonstrated with an image the strong influence they had on him in those last three seasons. "See you soon, friends," he wrote on his social media. "Friendship is non-negotiable, they are my friends because they have earned it," he explained. Almost 13 years after that image, Arbeloa and Mourinho will meet again for the first time on the pitch in a Benfica - Real Madrid match that could condemn the Portuguese and send the Whites to the Champions League round of 16. A reunion in person after years of long-distance contact, phone conversations despite the Portuguese's number changes, and a lot of influence. "He changed his life, he is his great reference," those who know Arbeloa best admit to this newspaper.
"There will be no one like José. He is a role model. He has had a lot of influence on me. He laid the foundations for what happened later at Madrid with Ancelotti and Zidane. And I know the club has valued him over the years. He was, is, and will be one of us," said the Salamanca native in the press room of Estadio Da Luz, where Real Madrid won the coveted tenth European Cup in 2014. A few hours earlier, crossing the 25 de abril bridge to the other side of the Tagus River, Mourinho was moved to remember "my boy" Arbeloa. "He is my Arbeloa, before and after the match. He is my boy, one of the best men I had at Madrid, one of my favorites," said the Setúbal-born coach in the press room of the sports city of Seixal, just half an hour's drive from the Portuguese coach's hometown.
There, Benfica trained 24 hours before the match against the Whites, and there the Portuguese coach was moved to remember Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso, questioned five times by the Spanish media. "They are my boys. I was moved when I played against Xabi, when he was at Leverkusen, and it moves me to think about playing against Álvaro," he said, serious and concerned about his team's situation, on the brink of continental elimination. "I don't get into how things ended with Xabi, I'm not interested. In football, it's very difficult for something to surprise me," he declared, also not getting into the Negreira case: "I'm not interested."
"A way of doing things"
That relationship between Mourinho, Arbeloa, and Alonso grew during the three seasons of the coach at the Bernabéu, extremely tough in terms of sports and emotions, with a significant crack in that dressing room but with the foundations of a Madrid that would go on to win four of the next five Champions Leagues it competed in between 2014 and 2018. "Being mourinhista is a way of being and doing things, of always being straightforward, defending your ideas to the death, being honest and integral, and not being afraid to be who you are," reflected Arbeloa a couple of years later on a word that ended up dividing Real Madrid fans, its supporters, and some of its players, and that more than ever pitted several footballers and the coach against part of the press.
While controversy grew in the Clásicos and in the Spanish national team, Arbeloa became one of Mourinho's biggest defenders, both publicly and privately. "There is a sector of the press that is taking the wrong path. The club must support Mourinho to the death, and hopefully it will be so," he said in 2011, between the World Cup and the Euro Cup and in the midst of the Clásico wars against Guardiola's team, with the Copa del Rey final at Mestalla as one of the turning points.
"I can call him at three in the morning"
The national team would go on to win the tournament, the following year would be Mourinho's last, and Arbeloa would win the European Cup with Real Madrid, but those months created a relationship that lasts to this day. "He is the bravest person I have met in the football world," the player admitted years later. Their careers took them apart, but technology kept them "close," as they say in their circles, despite the distance.
Mourinho spent a few years in England and then in Italy, Turkey, and now Portugal, changing his mobile number "a lot," but keeping in touch with "his boys," Arbeloa among them: "I have tried not to bother him much because I know who he is, that he has changed his phone several times, but we have kept in touch. I know I can call him at three in the morning."