Fabregas reveals Jose Mourinho was upset with Iker Casillas for fixing rift with Xavi
Former Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho was not at all happy when his goalkeeper Iker Casillas made nice with Barcelona rival Xavi.
That is according to European Championship winner and World Cup champion Cesc Fabregas.
The former Spain midfielder spoke to Rio Ferdinand and Roman Kemp in a special Euro 2024 episode of Legends Lounge where he opened up about his own career, including his role in the Spain side which won the 2010 World Cup and two Euros in 2008 and 2012.
Fabregas revealed that despite the great success of the side, one of the biggest problems within the squad had been the prevalence of club rivalries.
With most members of the national team playing for either Barcelona or Real Madrid, he recalled how the competition between the two La Liga clubs threatened to rear its head in unwanted ways.
"There was a moment in, I think it was 2010 or 2009 when Mourinho joined Real Madrid," he said. "I think they felt a little bit, not inferior, but they knew that Barcelona were really really strong at that moment.
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"So the only way sometimes was to defend them, for example three defensive midfielders playing together, four at that back, very tight and then they were trying to play counterattack with Cristiano, Di Maria, Ozil, Benzema - these type of players.
"And they were a very aggressive team, making a lot of free kicks. And they didn't succeed but sometimes they stopped us from playing."
Fabregas, who joined Barcelona from Arsenal in 2011, went on to explain that this caused significant difficulties in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, as Spain hoped to build on their Euro 2008 victory.
"There was this kind of friction (that started to exist) between (Iker) Casillas and Xavi, Puyol and Xabi Alonso," he explained. "And we had to intervene at some point because us winning the World Cup depended on this.
"We had just come from something beautiful (the Euros), we wanted to repeat it. But there were so many players from Real Madrid and Barcelona that the starting XI was basically 50-50 or 70-30...but there were a lot of players from both team.
"We knew that success was dependent on whether we were going to have a good relationship or not.
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"In the end, we fixed it and obviously Sergio (Ramos) was a big part. I wasn't in Barcelona at that time but I could see it very closely from the outside. Finally they managed to solve everything."
And when asked how exactly the side went about fixing the rifts that this club rivalry has led to, Fabregas admitted that it had taken a lot of phone calls.
But while these calls may have helped to mend the broken unity within the national team, it was something that had the potential to anger others instead - including the-then Real Madrid manager Mourinho.
Fabregas remembered: "The first phone call was between Xavi and Casillas to say,' Right, let's end this. For the best of the country we need to.'
"And then I think Mourinho got upset with Casillas because of this. It was really tough, because you know that from one side you are fixing something but maybe him personally, he's being hurt in the club. It was a very tough solution but for the best of the country, they did the right thing."
Mourinho was the manager of Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013 during which time he won one LaLiga title, a Copa del Rey title and a Supercopa de Espana.
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But his time at the club got progressively worse and he eventually described his final season at the Spanish club as 'the worst of my career' back in 2013 - just days before he left the club by 'mutual agreement'.
As for Spain, if there were any remaining Real Madrid-Barcelona rivalries within the side by the time they competed at the 2010 World Cup, it certainly did not affect their performances as they beat the Netherlands in the final before winning Euro 2012 two years later.