Thirteen years ago, José Mourinho left the Bernabéu in acrimony after a trophyless final season. This summer, Florentino Pérez brought him back anyway. That tells you everything about what the 2011-12 La Liga title still means to this club.
That season was something genuinely rare. One hundred points. 121 goals. A title won by dismantling the best version of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. In terms of Spanish football, no domestic campaign has matched it since. So where did the men who delivered it end up?
The ones who never really left
Start with Cristiano Ronaldo, because you always have to. He scored 60 goals that season — 46 in La Liga alone — and finished runner-up to Messi for the Ballon d'Or despite it. Four more Ballon d'Ors came after Mourinho's tenure ended. As of 2026, he is 41 years old and still scoring for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia. His 2026 World Cup was a disappointment — a double against Uzbekistan couldn't paper over Portugal's structural reliance on an aging talisman — but Jorge Jesus has left the door open for him to continue internationally. Ronaldo, predictably, has not closed it.
Karim Benzema hit 32 goals in all competitions that season, even after Mourinho had publicly compared him to a cat the previous year. He spent the next decade quietly becoming one of the best centre-forwards on the planet, won the 2022 Ballon d'Or, and finished with 354 Real Madrid goals — second only to Ronaldo's 450. He's in Saudi Arabia now too, contracted to Al Hilal.
Sergio Ramos won the title three more times after 2011-12, added four Champions Leagues, and retired as arguably the defining centre-back of his generation. At 40, he hasn't officially called time on his playing career — his most recent stint was at Monterrey in Mexico — but his attention has shifted. Earlier this year he fronted an investment group's bid to buy a controlling stake in Sevilla. The deal collapsed, but the direction of travel is clear.
The stranger second acts
Mesut Özil contributed 19 La Liga assists in 2011-12 — only Messi managed more. He left for Arsenal in 2013 for £42.5 million, won three FA Cups, and then faded from relevance long before he stopped playing. He's retired now, and the internet is currently more interested in his physique than his legacy. Mourinho once called him a "crybaby" and a "coward" in a dressing room confrontation, which Özil documented in his autobiography. Warm reunion unlikely.
Xabi Alonso's story takes the sharpest detour. After leaving Real Madrid for Bayern Munich, he became one of the most acclaimed young coaches in Europe — Bayer Leverkusen, an unbeaten Bundesliga title in 2023-24, the works. Then Real Madrid came calling in 2025. He lasted half a season before a very public falling out with Vinícius Júnior during El Clásico ended his tenure. He's since been appointed Chelsea manager ahead of 2026-27.
Álvaro Arbeloa had a quieter playing career after Mourinho — West Ham was the final stop — but climbed through Real Madrid's academy setup before inheriting the first-team job following Alonso's departure. It went badly. Quickly. He takes charge of Fulham in the Premier League next season.
- Iker Casillas — Retired, now a pundit and club ambassador. Publicly opposed Mourinho's return, posting on X that he did not "want him at Madrid."
- Marcelo — Won seven La Liga titles and five Champions Leagues total. Retired in 2024. His teenage son Enzo Alves now plays in Real Madrid's academy.
- Pepe — Played until 41 at Porto. Turned out for Real Madrid in the Legends Cup against Barcelona in Miami in May.
- Sami Khedira — Retired in 2021, has worked as a commentator and analyst since. Now returns to Madrid as part of Mourinho's new coaching staff.
- Ángel Di María — Real Madrid's all-time assist leader at PSG. Was still playing at Benfica as recently as 2025. Now, at 38, back at boyhood club Rosario Central.
Casillas's opposition to Mourinho's return is the sharpest footnote to all of this. The man who played 37 times that title-winning season, who left the club as its second-highest appearance maker ever, publicly said he didn't want the manager back. Pérez hired him anyway. Some things about Real Madrid never change.
