Rui Filipe da Cunha Faria (born 14 June 1975 in Balugães, Barcelos), better known as Rui Faria, is a Portuguese football coach, known for his association with football manager José Mourinho, currently working with Mourinho at Real Madrid in the Spanish Primera Liga as a fitness coach.

Faria was born in Balugães, a tiny parish of Barcelos in Portugal. Like Mourinho, he was a physical education graduate who had not played football at a high level. Faria's education took him to a seminar day at the Camp Nou, FC Barcelona's home stadium, where Mourinho was working as assistant manager to Louis van Gaal. Mourinho saw a kindred spirit in Faria, and when he took the U.D. Leiria job in April 2001 he hired Faria as fitness coach and video analyst.

Faria's early time at Leiria, emblematic of Mourinho's new fitness regime, led to a stand-off with the club's directors. Since then, the two have been inseparable, with Faria joining FC Porto in January 2002, Mourinho's first month in charge of his new club. He was part of the club's staff for their 2003 league, cup and UEFA Cup treble and won the UEFA Champions League in 2004 with the club. Faria followed Mourinho to Chelsea FC that summer along with assistant manager Baltemar Brito, chief scout André Villas-Boas and goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro. He became ubiquitous in his Chelsea tracksuit on the London side's bench.

José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix, OIH, or simply José Mourinho (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛ moˈɾiɲu]; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese football manager, currently the head coach of Real Madrid. He is commonly known as "The Special One". Mourinho is regarded by some players, coaches, and critics as one of the best football coaches of all time. Mourinho started out as a player and eventually switched to management. After working as a physical education teacher and spells working as a youth team coach, a scout, and an assistant manager in the early 1990s, he became an interpreter for Sir Bobby Robson. He worked with Robson at Sporting Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, and Barcelona in Spain. He remained at the Catalonian club after Robson's departure and worked with his successor Louis van Gaal.

He began focusing on coaching and impressed with brief but successful managerial periods at Benfica and União de Leiria, taking the latter to their highest ever league finish. He returned to Porto in early 2002 as head coach, winning the Primeira Liga, Taça de Portugal, and UEFA Cup in 2003. In the next season Mourinho guided the team to victory in the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, to the top of the league for a second time, and won the highest honour in European club football, the UEFA Champions League. Mourinho moved to Chelsea the following year and won the Premier League title, the club's first league title in 50 years, and the League Cup in his first season season. In his second year Chelsea retained the Premier League and in 2006-07 he took the club to an FA Cup and League Cup double, though they were league runners-up. He often courted controversy for his outspokenness, but his victories at Chelsea and Porto established him as one of the world's top football managers. Mourinho left Chelsea in September 2007, amidst reports of a rift with club owner Roman Abramovich.

Sergio Ramos García (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈseɾxjo ˈramoz ɡaɾˈθi.a]; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Real Madrid and the Spain national football team. Mainly a central defender, he can perform equally as a right back.

After emerging through Sevilla's youth system, he went on to be a defensive mainstay for both Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, gaining his first cap at the age of 18.

Born in Camas, Seville, Andalusia, Ramos began his career at local side Sevilla FC, emerging through the club's youth system alongside Jesús Navas and Antonio Puerta. He made his first team – and La Liga – debut on 1 February 2004, coming on as a second half substitute in a 0–1 away loss against Deportivo de La Coruña.

In the 2004–05 season, Ramos appeared in 31 games as Sevilla finished sixth and qualified to the UEFA Cup, scoring in home fixtures against Real Sociedad (2–1) and Real Madrid (2–2).

In the summer of 2005, 19-year old Ramos was purchased by Real Madrid for €27 million, a record for a Spanish teenager. He was the only Spanish player brought in during Florentino Pérez first stint as Real Madrid president.

Mesut Özil (German pronunciation: [ˈmeːzut ˈøːzil], Turkish pronunciation: [me̞ˈsut ˈø̞zil]) (born 15 October 1988) is a German footballer who plays for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and the Germany national football team. Özil has been a youth national team member since 2006, and a member of the German national team since 2009. He gained international attention during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and was nominated for the Golden Ball Award, which is awarded to the tournament's best player. Following his breakout performance at the World Cup, he was transferred from Werder Bremen to Real Madrid in August 2010.

Özil is acclaimed for his finesse and improvisation as an attacking midfielder. His style and knack for providing assists for his team-mates has been compared to that of Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane. In 2011, he ranked second in assists in La Liga with 17, and first in major European competitions with 25.

Özil began his youth career playing for various clubs in Gelsenkirchen and then played five years for Rot-Weiss Essen.

Aitor Karanka de la Hoz (born 18 September 1973) is a retired Spanish footballer who played mainly as a central defender (on occasion, he occupied the left back position).

Except for a brief spell in the United States, at the age of 32, he played solely for Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid, appearing in 275 La Liga games over the course of 13 seasons, winning a total of seven major titles with the latter.

Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Karanka played as a youth with hometown's Deportivo Alavés and finished his formation with Basque neighbours Athletic Bilbao. He made his senior debuts with the reserves of the latter in 1992, spending almost two seasons with the team in the second division. Along with Julen Guerrero, he was a member of Athletic's U-19 team that won a national cup and league double in 1992.

Karanka was promoted to the main squad by Jupp Heynckes in 1993, making his La Liga debut on 15 September, playing the 90 minutes in a 3–1 home win against UD Las Palmas, going on to feature in exactly 100 league matches in his three full seasons, before joining the German coach at Real Madrid in 1997. With the capital team, he was used mostly as a backup, but appeared in 33 UEFA Champions League games for the club, including the 1999–2000 final against Valencia CF (3–0 win); he also missed the vast majority of the 1998–99 campaign due to a heart condition.