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Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has hit back at his own player Pepe after the defender said Mourinho ought to have more respect for club captain Iker Casillas.
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Mourinho had said last Friday that his principal regret during his three-year stay in Madrid was not signing his current first-choice goalkeeper Diego Lopez at the end of his first season.
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Those words were then described as "not the most adequate" by Pepe on Saturday after Madrid's 4-3 win over Valladolid and he went onto describe Casillas as an "institution in this club and in Spain."
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However, Mourinho believes Pepe's rebellion is purely because he himself has lost his first-team place to 19-year-old French centre-back Raphael Varane.
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"It is very easy to analyse the Pepe thing. His problem has a name, and it is Raphael Varane," Mourinho told a press conference on Tuesday.
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"It is not easy for a 31-year-old man with experience to be run over by a 19-year-old kid. And he is a fantastic kid. I have had the courage to play a kid. The problem is simple, Pepe's life has changed.
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"He was an indisputable starter and he no longer is. It is one of my few decisions that isn't discussed in public because all my decisions are discussed in public.
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"I perfectly understand the frustration of Pepe that has translated into the words that he has said.
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Things are very clear. I don't have problems with him. I understand that it is not an easy situation but I have to try to be honest and I think that very few don't believe that the future of Real Madrid is Varane and Sergio Ramos."
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The former Chelsea boss also returned to the topic of his decision to continue with Lopez in goal ahead of Casillas since the latter returned from a hand injury over a month ago.