Mourinho Explained
Mourinho is like Marmite, you either love him or hate him. No
one can deny he is a great coach, any team he takes charge of is a team he
makes into champions.
In the case of Real Madrid, he has only managed to win the
Copa del Rey so far, but this year he is in with a chance to win both the
Champions League and La Liga.
Mou arrived at Madrid as an
answer to Barcelona’s reign as the best club in Spain in recent
history. When Madrid won the Copa del Rey final
against the Catalans in April 2011, it seemed as though finally Madrid were on their way to ending Barcelona’s great run.
In December of last year, Mourinho said he was happy to be
at Real Madrid since he believes it’s “probably the biggest club in the history
of football” but “my passion is England and my next step will be to go back and
if possible, go and stay for a long time” he finished the interview on the
Today programme by joking with Lord Coe “Get me a club in a couple of years”.
Over the next few weeks speculation started growing regarding
his future, there were reports of rows between him and players like Sergio
Ramos and Iker Casillas. A source close to Mourinho told the Sunday times that
he is tired of his situation at Madrid,
and that whether he wins or loses he will leave in the summer. Instead of
putting rumours to rest, Mourinho decided to go house hunting in London.
More recently, in the press conference after Real’s win over
APOEL in the Champions Lague, Mourinho said a return to Inter could be
possible, and it would be like “going back home”.
The area where Mourinho has made the biggest impact is the Madrid v Barcelona
games – The Clasicos. In 2011 Madrid and Barcelona played each other
twice in La Liga, two times in the Champions League semi-finals and in August
they played against each other for the Spanish Super Cup twice. Except for the
first leg of the Spanish Super Cup, Madrid and
Barcelona drew
2-2 at the Bernabeu, and both displayed great football.
Ironically, the worst Clasico would happen just four days
later. At the end of the match – in the 93’ Barcelona were winning
3-2, Marcelo committed a rough foul on Cesc Fabregas, the Brazilian gets sent
off and players start to push and shove each other, and while all that is
happening, Mourinho casually walks up to Tito Vilanova - Barcelona’s assistant coach, and puts his
finger in the Catalan’s eye.
Is Mourinho to blame for the violence in the clasicos? There
are many friendships between players of both teams, they are world cup winners,
but when they face each other in the League all that seems to be forgotten. I
don’t think its Mourinho’s fault, when Madrid face
Barcelona there
is always tension, they both want to win, and in heated situations people do
things they might later regret. Always after these matches it is reported that
the team captains call each other to make amends.
Madrid’s downfall is their
obsession in trying to out-do Barcelona,
and, most importantly, winning the tenth Champions League title. Over the years
Madrid have
gotten rid of many coaches, Pellegrinni, he didn’t win anything, but he managed
a record of 96 points in the league and so he was fired. Fabio Capello got the
sack in 2007 despite having won the league, and before him, in 2003, the club
got rid of Vicente del Bosque the year he won his second league, 29th
in Madrid’s
history.
With the little patience Real Madrid usually has with their
managers, how they can stand back and watch Mourinho how he “sucks up” to his
former clubs? It’s probably because they want to win the the League after 4
years, but most importantly, Madrid want to get their hands on the Champions
League, and winning it against Barcelona would be the icing on the cake.
Mourinho knows how important this would be to the club, and he wants to be the
man to achieve it. If he manages to win the league this year he’ll be the only
manager to win domestic leagues with four different teams – an ego boost he
really doesn’t need.
Source: DSG
