Mourinho just wants three points

Posted Saturday, February 18, 2012 by ESPN

Jose Mourinho will not get carried away by Real Madrid's big lead in La Liga and insists he would be happy if the capital side won the title by a single point.

While rivals Barcelona have stuttered, Madrid have been simply unstoppable in the league, dropping only eight points all season, and they head into Saturday's clash against struggling Racing Santander at the Bernabeu with a 10-point advantage.

They are also looking for an eighth league victory in succession, but Mourinho remains wary of the threat of Barcelona and told a press conference: "Our objective is to take three points.

"We're not looking to break records or other things the press talks about. We must keep up the good work because (Barcelona) are a great team that can cause us problems.

"We'll try to win every game and, obviously, to win the championship as soon as possible. Winning the league title by one point would be a success.

"Our cushion over the second-placed team is obviously good for us and it leaves Barcelona in a complicated spot, but they are a great side that could easily have a winning streak so we must continue to work as hard as we've done so far."

Mourinho is likely to have playmaker Angel Di Maria back after injury while Marcelo is also available but Hamit Altintop and Lassana Diarra are injured while Alvaro Arbeloa is suspended.

Santander sit third bottom after only four wins all season but they have managed three successive draws against high-fliers Valencia, Levante and Atletico Madrid.

Captain Pedro Munitis, who played for Real for two seasons a decade ago, knows it will be a huge ask for his side to take anything away from the Bernabeu but he is taking heart from Santander's victory in 2005.

He told a press conference: "The history of Real Madrid at home is impressive but in football we have seen that anything can happen. We are going with the hope of obtaining a positive result, as we have in the past."

The visitors will be without injured pair Jairo and Gonzalo Colsa while striker Christian Stuani is suspended.