Jose Mourinho is back at Real Madrid this summer, leaving Benfica for a Bernabéu return that gives the club a new edge before the 2026/27 campaign begins. The move lands after two seasons without a trophy, a drought that makes the comeback hard to miss even before a ball is kicked.
That is why the La Liga schedule is being searched now: football is officially back, and Madrid’s first stretch of matches will be watched through the lens of Mourinho’s return. He comes into a squad that still carries Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham, three names that keep expectations high even as the club tries to reset after the barren spell.
Real Madrid are not the only reason this season already feels loaded. The wider 2026/27 picture also includes Coventry City’s rise under Frank Lampard, after he guided them to the Championship title and back to the Premier League following 25 years away, plus Como’s first Champions League campaign. Como reached that place by finishing above Juventus and AC Milan, which means this is the first edition of the competition without either of those clubs.
The friction in Madrid is obvious. Mourinho is returning to a club that has not won a trophy in two seasons, so the reunion is being judged less as nostalgia than as a demand for immediate results. A manager of his profile can change the mood fast, but the schedule will decide whether the comeback looks like a statement or simply the opening chapter of another tense year at the Bernabéu.
Elsewhere, the summer reshaped the Turkish Süper Lig, where Mohamed Salah, Dusan Vlahovic and Romelu Lukaku all arrived, though none of them joined four-in-a-row champions Galatasaray. That keeps the new campaign stacked with storylines from the start, but Madrid’s return to the center of the La Liga schedule may be the one that most quickly tells the season’s truth.
