Real Madrid star Raphael Varane reveals Jose Mourinho took Man City gamble

Varane joined Real Madrid from Lens in 2011 – a year after Jose Mourinho was appointed manager at the Bernabeu.

Varane was only a teenager at the time and struggled to break into the Real first team, having been a regular in France.

Mourinho spotted confidence in the centre-back was low and so, at the start of the 2012 Champions League campaign, started the Frenchman in the 3-2 home win over City.

And Varane told GQ his career took off after that 90 minutes.

“I endured a little bit of a weird period, it was in Mourinho’s time in charge,” Varane told GQ.

“I did not know at the beginning of the season why I was not playing.

“I did not play well in training and I did not play games either.

“I spoke to the manager and he asked me: ‘What’s wrong, why are not you okay, why are not you at your level?’

“And I answered: ‘I don’t know, I’m trying, but things aren’t working out and I’m missing some faith in myself.’

“Then, three days later, at the age of 19, he put me in the starting line-up against Manchester City. It was a very complicated game and I don’t know if knew my personality, but I took it as a challenge.

“The match went very well and from there everything started to go better, I changed a lot.”

Real paid around £8million for Varane and he was convinced to sign after a chat with France legend Zinedine Zidane, who is now his manager at the Bernabeu.

Asked what Zidane said to him, Varane replied: “That Madrid is the club where the objectives are higher and that I would learn from the best. I also think that in Madrid you can only improve.”