体坛英语资讯：Mourinho: Next season should be even better

MADRID, April 23 -- Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho began looking to the future after watching his side win 6-3 away to Valencia on Saturday.

Madrid's win was their second triumph in the Mestalla stadium in four days and follows on the heels of their Copa del Rey win over FC Barcelona. Gonzalo Higuain scored a hat-trick and Kaka netted twice as a side with nine changes from Wednesday's side cruised to an easy win.

Madrid will face Barcelona in the semi-final of the Champions League, but although Mourinho was unwilling to discuss those matches, he did look further ahead into the future and promised further success for his club.

The second season at a club tends to be better than the first. That is when we should see what the coach and the team have all learned and with two or three changes during the summer," said Mourinho.

"That is what I hope to see from Real Madrid, but we have already won a title, we are in the semi-finals of the Champions League and still fighting for the league title," he added.

Madrid's win took them momentarily to within five points of league leaders FC Barcelona whose match against Osasuna kicked off later in the day. It looks an almost impossible gap to close with just five matches left in the season, but Mourinho refused to give up on the title.

"We can end this season well, with the feeling that we can win in any ground and with a huge amount of confidence. Barca will have to win points to take the league title, because we are not going to give it away," commented Mourinho, who was delighted with the performance of players who have not been first team regulars.

"We are all delighted with the performance," he said.