Jose Mourinho has pledged to give Real Madrid fans an attacking and winning team under his leadership, although he stopped short of promising them a Primera Division title next season. With Madrid sacking Manuel Pellegrini following a trophyless first campaign in charge for the Chilean, the stage is now set for Mourinho to become the new coach of the Spanish giants.
Madrid are only waiting for Mourinho to resolve his contract negotiations with Inter Milan, with whom he has a deal until June 2012, before being able to unveil the 47-year-old as their new boss.
Having only won two major trophies in seven years and failed to get beyond the last 16 of the Champions League in any of the last six editions, Madrid have gone for one of the most successful coaches in recent times with Mourinho having picked up a plethora of titles at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan.
There have been questions raised, though, as to whether Mourinho's more defensive style of play will go down well at the Bernabeu, but the Portuguese has been keen to allay those concerns.
Responding to a question about how Madrid fans want to win, obtain titles but also see good football, Mourinho told Spanish daily AS: "Me as well, let them have no doubt about that.
"My Madrid will always play well, attack and will be winners. However, there will be times when we will have to face the game in a different manner.
"Having said that, my team always goes out on the pitch with a clear idea: to win. And if we are winning 3-1 and we only have 10 players on the pitch, then my players will have to sit back to defend. That's the way it is.
"It's very difficult during 90 minutes to always be better than your opponent. There's always a time in which you need to be a team and make sacrifices."
He added: "It will be a balanced team. A team that plays to win titles must be aware aware of its virtues and its defects and has to work as a unit.
"A team that wants to win titles has to win games and a team that wants to win games has to play well.
"We will be a side with its own identity, we will not imitate anybody. The identity will be set by the players and me.
"For this we will have to work very hard."
Working hard is nothing new to Mourinho, who insisted he would give everything to achieve his ambitions at Madrid.
"I can give what I have given all the clubs where I've worked; absolutely all of me," he said.
"I work many hours at the club and my life away from football ends up being poor. My life is my family and my club. I will not have time to stroll around Madrid, nor play tennis or golf. I promise total dedication."
He added: "I will arrive with pride for my professional work, but with much humility because Real Madrid are much bigger than all of us."
What Mourinho wants as a reward for that hard work is to make more history.
He became only the third coach ever to win two European Cups with separate sides after guiding Inter to a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final at the Bernabeu last weekend, having previously won the trophy with Porto.
That success on Saturday saw Inter become the first Italian team to win the treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League titles, and Mourinho is determined to continue his winning streak in Spain.
However, he refused to predict a Primera Division trophy in his first season in charge.
Speaking about his goals in La Liga, Mourinho said: "I want to win the league, because no player or coach has won the English, Italian and Spanish leagues and I would like to be the first to do it, and also to be the first coach to lift three Champions Leagues with three different teams.
"I would also like to discover a player from the youth team and make him into a star.
"I have a lot of motivations. I don't want to lose humility, so I cannot come out and say that I'm going to win the league when you are up against a super team like Barca."
Mourinho admits England midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are the type of players he will look to bring to the Bernabeu.
"I like players in the final part of their careers," he told Spanish sports daily AS. "I love to have some players who are 33 or 34 years old...they are players that you buy and you won't recover this money, but if they give you good performances for two or three years you've got your money's worth.
"Both (Gerrard and Lampard) are great players who always give everything."
Another England international, Ashley Cole, has also been linked with a move to Real.