Jose Mourinho has agreed a two-year contract extension with Real Madrid which ties him to the club until 2016, the Spanish champions said Tuesday. “Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho have reached an agreement to extend the latter's contract with the club until 30 June, 2016,” the club said in a statement published online. Mourinho, the self-styled “Special One”, joined Real from Inter Milan in 2010 on a four-year deal and led it to victory in the King's Cup final in his first season, the club's first cup triumph in 18 years. Real won its first La Liga title for four years this month, smashing league records along the way and ending Barcelona's domestic dominance. It set a new points record of 100 from 38 games, beating the previous best of 99 achieved by Pep Guardiola's side in 2009, and broke the league's goal-scoring record of 107 set by the Whites in 1989-90 by finding the net 121 times. It made him only the fourth coach to have won four different league titles after taking the English, Italian and Portuguese crowns, along with Austria's Ernst Happel, the late Croat Tomislav Ivic and Italian veteran Giovanni Trapattoni. On a personal level, the league title was Mourinho's seventh after winning two in Portugal with Porto, two in England with Chelsea and two in Italy with Inter. Mourinho's next big challenge is to win a 10th European Cup for Real, and his third with a different club after Champions League successes with Porto in 2004 and Inter in 2010. Real has fallen in the semifinals to Barcelona and Bayern Munich in his two years in charge. The last time it reached the final four before then was 2003. The 49-year-old has fought for and won unprecedented freedom and power as its coach with the full backing of club president Florentino Perez. His new commitment to Real ended any speculation that he might be lured away elsewhere. The show of unity and strength at the world's richest club by revenue comes at a moment when its great rival Barcelona appear to be entering a period of transition. Mourinho's opposite number Guardiola has decided to step down at the end of the season after winning 13 trophies in four years at the Nou Camp. He could add a 14th if Barcelona win this year's King's Cup final against Athletic Bilbao Friday. Guardiola said he needed time out to recharge his batteries and is to be replaced by his assistant Tito Vilanova next season. Mourinho has been supported through thick and thin by Real president Florentino Perez. Former Real director general Jorge Valdano had unsuccessfully argued against Mourinho's appointment, but then found himself out of a job. In May 2011 Perez terminated the position of director general occupied by Valdano to give Mourinho more autonomy, in what was seen as a victory for the Portuguese coach. Spanish media reported at the time that Mourinho had demanded that Valdano, a former Argentine international, be dismissed as a condition for his staying on at the club.
