José Mourinho's first match back in a Real Madrid dugout finished the way his team played it: in three distinct chapters. Real Madrid drew 2-2 with Fiorentina in a preseason friendly at the Wörthersee Stadion in Klagenfurt, Austria, on Saturday, and the Portuguese head coach's post-match verdict captured a performance that swung from thrilling to threadbare inside 90 minutes.

Endrick struck in the 12th minute and academy graduate Alexis Ciria added a second on his first-team debut in the 24th to put Madrid 2-0 up, before Roberto Piccoli halved the deficit for Fiorentina just before the break. Moise Kean levelled early in the second half, heading home to make it 2-2, and neither side found a winner.

'I loved it all,' Mourinho said afterwards, according to ONE. 'I saw three different faces of the team: a fresh one, a tired one, and a third that was extremely tired.'

The first face, he said, was the one Real Madrid showed before the break — sharp, dominant and, in his view, worth more than a 2-1 half-time lead. 'We produced a high-quality first half and could easily have gone ahead by three or four goals,' he said.

The second face arrived once Fiorentina's physicality began to tell. Mourinho pointed to Kean's power as the problem for his two teenage centre-backs, Joan Martínez and Mario Rivas, both fielded in defence for the first time in a first-team fixture, saying fatigue undid the control his side had shown early on.

By the closing stages, Mourinho described a third version of his team: exhausted, but still organised enough to keep possession and see out the closing minutes without conceding again.

One player did not escape criticism. Substitute Carlos Espí, brought on in the 75th minute and nearly a match-winner with a late header, had trained with the squad only once before kick-off, and Mourinho said it showed, describing him as still 'waking up from a dream.'

Ciria's goal was the highlight of the night for Real Madrid's academy, with Lacosta and Lamini also making their senior debuts alongside him and Rivas. 'Mourinho asked me to have confidence and enjoy myself,' Ciria said of his instructions before going on.

The friendly was played without several first-choice players. Vinícius Júnior, Bernardo Silva and Brahim Díaz were all absent and are expected to report for pre-season training on Monday, leaving Mourinho to lean heavily on youth in his first outing since taking charge.