Times have been so turbulent at the home of the Spanish
champions of late that only the foolhardy would say "definitely," but
there is sufficient indication that Spain may be about to see its final
Camp Nou Clasico with Jose Mourinho in charge of Real Madrid.
Even after the crowd booing his name, the guerrilla warfare between
him and a section of the Madrid media, an apparent tit-for-tat feud with
Sergio Ramos, the dropping of Iker Casillas and an eight-stone weakling
defence of a brilliantly won Spanish championship last year, Mourinho
is such a will-of-the-wisp that there are a couple of scenarios (however
unlikely) in which he wriggles free from this straightjacket of his own
making and retains the throne next season.
One of those scenarios is that he fatally holes Barcelona's quest to
retain their Copa del Rey crown on Tuesday night at the Camp Nou and
that this, somehow, reinstates him as an attractive proposition for a
president, Florentino Perez, who may well have to face a full-on
challenge in the elections for office in a few months.
Out of sympathy for Mourinho I feel that it's only fair to add that
he currently seems utterly disenchanted, both with life in Spain and how
Real Madrid functions.
However one of the Special One's more notable talents is his
contrariness. Whether you want to talk about throwing a Premier League
winner's medal into the crowd, not celebrating with his players on the
pitch at the end of a Champions League final victory, talking about dead
swans and bird flu in a football conference, smuggling himself into a
dressing room in a laundry hamper or ranting about UNICEF and favourable
refereeing toward Barca, Mourinho swims against the tide.
Furthermore, as immensely important as it is, this Copa Del Rey
semifinal is only the first part of a trio of matches that may serve to
define his era at the Bernabeu. If he pulls three good results from
this, the Liga Clasico on Saturday and next week's Champions League
return leg against Manchester United then there are undoubtedly some
Madridistas who will forgive him almost all of what has gone before.
If he fails, then some of the genuinely special moments he's had since
taking over from the more restrained and stylish Manuel Pellegrini risk
being overshadowed.
So it's ironic that this trophy, one that Los Blancos went 18
seasons without winning (and often treated like an unwanted smell in an
elevator), now assumes such huge importance. It wasn't what he was
brought in to win.
Yet Mourinho risked humiliation at Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday;
with Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas already out due to suspension and
injury, he rested Xabi Alonso, Rafael Varane and Karim Benzema
altogether while starting the match with Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil, Sami
Khedira and Fabio Coentrao on the bench. At the final curtain in La
Coruna his champions could take a bow thanks to an inspired and gutsy
comeback victory -- but it was a risk.
After all, the points gap between Madrid and Barcelona in the title
"chase" (although that description is a friendly one) is embarrassing
enough for the proud capital club. But to drop further behind because of
a loss to the bottom club would have been a horrible blow to
self-esteem at the most inexcusable time. Thus, it was a gamble well
won, albeit one aimed at preparing for a mighty tussle at the Camp Nou.
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty ImagesJose
Mourinho has a happy knack of working his way out of pressure-filled
situations, though the next two weeks will be crucial if he's to remain
at Real.
If Mourinho's men put Spain's champions-elect out of the Copa then
not only does it act as the perfect springboard for the following week's
trip to Manchester, but it puts the searching, relentless and
uncomfortable spotlight right back on Barcelona -- and with a Clasico at
the Bernabeu coming up on Saturday, too.
Should Jordi Roura's temporary spell at the wheel of SS Barcelona
steer him away from the Copa del Rey rocks and win him the Blue Riband
of these regal battles then Madrid -- and Mourinho -- face some stern
choices, some emergency patching together and a horribly anxious wait
for the Champions League the following week.
It's inescapable that Mourinho was principally bought for two tasks
-- to end Barcelona's domestic supremacy and to return Madrid to its
one-time status as Kings (or at least noble warriors) of Europe -- but
he's been only partially successful at either directive. In each of the
first two "Special" seasons Los Blancos have been muscular Champions
League semifinalists -- last season it was only failed spot kicks that
prevented them facing Chelsea in the final.
That's the kind of record which, should Madrid eliminate United,
will look consistent, impressive and worth thinking hard about if his
credit is running low at the Bernabeu. However, should they go out at
Old Trafford, defeat would convert Mourinho's Champions League record in
his 32-month tenure into a failure.
And while two of Mourinho's three seasons will have ended with
Barcelona as champions of La Liga (I see this title race as foregone),
it would have taken a visionary man or woman to predict last May that
Madrid weren't going to be capable of retaining their Spanish crown. It
wasn't so much that Mourinho's 2011/12 squad set numerous statistical
records, it was that they looked comfortable in their skin as
high-achieving, fast-breaking, free-scoring champions.
There was a hunger, a power, a determination and ruthlessness,
though the bright light has dimmed sufficiently regularly this season
given that the title is gone.
What's left is this knockout tournament, one that served as
Mourinho's sustenance in that deeply tricky first season. It was won
thanks to one of the most gripping of the 15 Clasicos in which he's
fought over the past 32 months. In fact the 2011 Copa del Rey final
wasn't just the scene of an epic that was clinched thanks to a towering
Cristiano Ronaldo header, it was the only one of Mourinho's 15 Clasicos
that ended with his team preventing Barcelona from scoring.
That Copa gave us wild celebrations around the Cibeles fountain and
images of Sergio Ramos dropping the trophy for it to be mangled under
the wheels of the open-topped bus in which the team was parading but,
unfortunately for Los Blancos, the sweet aftertaste only lasted a
handful of days before their elimination from the Champions League at
the hands of Pep Guardiola's side.
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty ImagesReal
Madrid hasn't been imperious this season -- far from it, even -- but
knocking Barca out of the Copa would be a sweet success.
If Mourinho eliminates Barca this time it will not only damage their
greatest rivals (and a club which Mourinho sometimes gives the
impression of being obsessed by), but it might set up the first Copa del
Rey final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid for 21 years --
Los Colchoneros play Sevilla in their own semifinal second leg this week, holding a 2-1 home advantage.
Of the 49 goals in Clasicos since Mourinho signed on the dotted
line, Barca have scored 29 and won six, lost three and drawn six. There
have been 20 different scorers, 104 bookings and 10 sendings-off.
So, if this does prove to be Mourinho's last Clasico at the Camp Nou
then what, other than a partial trophy record, are the conclusions?
Well, thus far there has been an opportunity cost. The trajectory
from losing 5-0 in his first to winning 2-1 in Catalunya in order to
pretty much clinch last season's title is a pretty huge arc. But it's
come at the cost of some of his worst behaviour in all Mourinho's time
at Porto, Chelsea, Inter and now Madrid.
The low point: not losing by a handful of goals but his cowardly
finger-poke at Tito Vilanova's eye during the Spanish Supercopa. The
high point? Certainly the tactical and athletic excellence shown last
April in the 2-1 away win.
An ancillary benefit has been the heightening of the rivalry between
Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Anyone not enjoying it has no passion
and no right to call himself or herself a football fan. During the
Mourinho Clasicos, each player has scored 10 times but Messi's eight
further goal assists make him the stand-out player of this turbulent,
often scalding era.
It's also true that while not always for the most laudable reasons,
the Mourinho versus Guardiola and Mourinho versus Vilanova battles have
served to elevate the entire concept of "El Clasico" to the single
biggest, most desired match in the world of club football. It was
already loved, passionate, coveted and historic but perhaps not
completely dominant as
the match around the world, but I'd contend that it is now.
So, Mr. Mourinho: do you have a last trick up your sleeve? Does the
fact Barcelona continue to defend poorly at full back and are vulnerable
in the air mean that Madrid can compensate for a poorly defended
championship and set up a nice platform for Manchester United next week?
If (and I do mean that word) this proves to be Mourinho's last Camp
Nou Clasico, then it's best to put something firmly on the record. His
erratic and often indefensible behaviour while in Spain means that I've
regularly been critical of this proud, talented, but sometimes dark man.
However there is no denying that during his reign, these Clasicos
have produced many passages of play that have been epic,
adrenalin-inspiring, throbbingly passionate and even inspirational.
Whoever wins, fingers crossed that it's just like that for the 90
minutes, extra time and penalties that I have a sneaking suspicion
Tuesday night will bring us.
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