Football Daily | Real Madrid and some truly toxic vibes. Next up … El Clásico

Instead, if the bookies are to be believed, Florentino Pérez is ready to liberally apply petrol to this bin fire by calling on José Mourinho. The same Mourinho who said that Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni – banned for six games after aiming abuse at Vinícius Júnior – was “victim of a smear campaign”? Yes, that one. The same Mourinho who once poked Barcelona’s Tito Vilanova in the eye after a touchline skirmish? Yes, him. The same guy who can start and finish a fight inside a paper bag? Yep. Maybe Pérez will come to his senses, and opt against hiring European football’s premier agitator. Maybe he won’t, and we’ll still get to see Mourinho hoisting Bigger Cup aloft next season, not allowing his players to touch the trophy. Whatever happens, it’s guaranteed to be entertaining.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The club understand the seriousness of the matter and it is currently being investigated. As a result, Álex will not be included in the squad for tomorrow’s Premier League game against Fulham and the club will be making no further comment at this time” – Bournemouth confirm they have dropped Álex Jiménez after opening an investigation relating to social media posts. It follows alleged exchanges between Jiménez and an individual who appears to state that they are a 15-year-old girl.

Photograph: Steve Bardens/Getty Images

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

double quotation markIf Arsenal fans find that they are getting ripped off by hotels in Budapest for the Bigger Cup final, they might try booking hotels in Vienna near the main train station. Vienna-Budapest is less than three hours by train; a pleasant trip along the Danube. Trains run every hour, cost about €53 one way, and the fastest train makes the trip in 2hr 20min. The hotel prices in Vienna should be back down to normal … the Eurovision Song Contest will be over on 16 May. Bratislava might also be a better place to stay and the beer is cheaper” – Eric Ries (“not a travel agent, nor a worker for the Austrian National Railway”).

double quotation markOn a similar vein to Declan Rice’s misquote (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), I remember sometime ago when Manchester United were having problems, Rio Ferdinand was being interviewed about how the players should react. He replied that ‘someone had to assume the mantelpiece’” – Peter Arnold.

If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Eric Ries, who gets a copy of Classic Football Shirts. It’s out now and the Guardian Bookshop is offering discounted copies here if you’re not successful. The are loads of other top reads on their website, too. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.

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