MADRID: Barcelona will face a "very different" Real Madrid when the two sides clash next month for the first time since Jose Mourinho took over as coach, Real star Cristiano Ronaldo has warned.
"Barca is always a difficult and complicated rival but this year’s Madrid is not the same as last year’s, it is completely different," the Portuguese international said in an interview published Friday in sports daily Marca.
"We have changed in many ways: in terms of discipline, playing style, aggressiveness, we all play together for the same goal. Mourinho is a great coach with enormous experience, he knows what you have to do to win."
Real Madrid will travel to Barcelona on the weekend of November 27-28 in the most eagerly anticipated match of the season.
Mourinho in May replaced Chile’s Manuel Pellegrini to become Real’s 11th coach in the past seven years.
The 47-year-old won the Champions League with Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan last season. He also won two domestic titles with Porto, two with Chelsea and two with Inter.
Under his watch Real are first in the Spanish league with 20 points after eight matches, a point clear of Barca and Villarreal.
Ronaldo, who signed for Real in 2009 for 94 million euros, scored a quadruple on Saturday during his side’s 6-1 home win over Racing Santander that knocked Barcelona off the top of the Spanish first division.
He has scored a total of eight goals during his last three league matches.
"I feel good and confident, I am in a good moment and I want to stay that way. There are always points you can improve but I am good," he said.
"It is true that I did not start off very well this season, but I think it is normal. You can’t always be at your top level. I have scored some goals in the last few matches and I feel very well."
The 25-year-old has been criticized in the past for his "selfishness" on the pitch, notably by Sara Carbonero, a Spanish television journalist and girlfriend of Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, a charge he flatly rejected.
"If the cameras were not here I would respond differently," he said when asked about the claims he is a selfish player.
"I listen to the opinion of everybody and I may agree with them or not. I don’t care what people say, I know I am not a selfish player."
