José Mourinho has changed. The brash, bombastic, fight-picking, opposition-baiting, eye-poking manager, who was worshipped by fans at Porto, Chelsea, Inter and now Real Madrid while being reviled by almost everyone else (including his own colleagues), has been replaced by a more reserved and gentlemanly figure who calmly oversees affairs and stays out of trouble. That was the argument put forward by journalist Tomas Roncero in the Tuesday edition of Madrid sports newspaper AS anyway. “Mourinho has made a radical change in his attitude,” Roncero wrote. “For the better. Since he signed his contract with Madrid for four seasons at the Bernabeu on 31st May 2009, to the Mourinho of 15th … [Read more...] about Real Madrid winning run leaves Mourinho smiling
Liga
The brains behind Levante’s La Liga fairytale
The most appealing story in Spanish football this season so far has been the almost unbelievable success of Levante. The heart-warming tale of the little side on a shoestring budget socking it to La Liga’s all-conquering duopoly was catnip for the Spanish and global media – with even The New York Times sending a reporter to find out what was going on. A run of seven successive wins including 1-0 over Real Madrid and 3-0s against both big-spending Málaga and local rivals Villarreal lifted Levante to be the shock leader of the Primera División (until last weekend). The little Valencia-based club has only been in Spain's top division for seven of its 102 years and has never won a major … [Read more...] about The brains behind Levante’s La Liga fairytale
Wanted: absurdly rich tycoon to lend Spain’s La Liga intrigue
It was while perusing the scoreline of Sunday’s Manchester derby – in which a team of petrodollar-financed stars had trounced the English champions 6-1 - that my mind turned to La Liga. By a twist of fate, something akin to a parallel fixture had been played the day before in Spain, between Real Madrid and Málaga. Real Madrid, like Manchester United, was the big, established power, with a glittering history, a formidable manager and a team built on tradition, as well as money. Málaga was the Manchester City of the piece: a side with no trophies to boast of (at least in recent decades) but with oodles of money provided by a rich foreign owner – Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Thani of … [Read more...] about Wanted: absurdly rich tycoon to lend Spain’s La Liga intrigue
Mourinho’s mad magic loses its lustre
José Mourinho has always insisted that his antics, provocations and pre-match hyperbole are an unselfish gambit, aimed at drawing attention away from his players. Let’s take him at his word, and examine not the state of Real Madrid, but the state of their coach. Mourinho’s appearance has always seemed to speak volumes about his state of mind. When he started at Chelsea, he dressed like George Clooney, kept physically trim and his haircuts were frequently more fashionable than those of his players. When his relationship with the London club’s owner, Roman Abramovich, started to deteriorate and the team’s performances declined, not only did Mourinho start to look tetchy and disgruntled, his … [Read more...] about Mourinho’s mad magic loses its lustre
La Liga dances to the beat of super-agent Mendes
One name dominated this summer’s transfer window in Spain, which closed on August 31, and it was not a player, manager or club president. Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes was everywhere, with his clients starring in many of the biggest, and also most curious, La Liga deals. The largest outlay by a Spanish club was the €40 million paid by Atlético Madrid to Porto for Mendes’s client Radamel Falcao. Falcao had a record-breaking season last year, scoring 17 goals in the Europa League, including the winner in the final. His signing was a real coup for Atléti, who had just lost Sergio Agüero to Manchester City, but the €40-million fee raised eyebrows given the Colombian’s lack of top-level … [Read more...] about La Liga dances to the beat of super-agent Mendes
Mourinho’s second coming suggests serious title tilt for Real Madrid
“Por qué?” he asked. “Por qué?” came the question again. It was a moment to define José Mourinho’s first season at the home of Spanish football’s most successful club Real Madrid, where in recent years silverware has been lacking. Coming after the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against their eternal rivals FC Barcelona, his comments were an attack against UEFA and the purported unfair treatment dished out to his players who had seen themselves down to 10 men for the fourth time in as many clashes in El Clásico last season. It was also during a run of games that would see the two teams meet four times over the course of three weeks and this was exactly the reason why the … [Read more...] about Mourinho’s second coming suggests serious title tilt for Real Madrid
Barcelona seek to extend Liga dominance
With respect to the other 18 clubs in Spain’s top flight, the one and only major debating point at the moment seems to be: will Barcelona be good enough to again thwart the ambitions of Real Madrid? Certainly that’s how many other pundits see the forthcoming season in Spain. The headline in the annual guide to La Liga published by the Spanish sports daily As was: “The first two and then all the rest.” It sums up the current situation in the top flight of Spanish football. Not since Villarreal had their ‘año milagro’ in 2007-08 and finished second behind Real, has anyone broken the hegemony of the two giants of Spanish football. In fact, apart from when Villarreal upset the odds, … [Read more...] about Barcelona seek to extend Liga dominance
Football strike threat highlights Spanish cash shortfall
There remains a very real danger that the Spanish football season will not kick off as planned this weekend. Last Thursday, the Spanish players’ union announced that its members were downing boots for the first two games of the new season, unless the Spanish league leans on clubs to pay back-wages owed to many players at La Liga’s top clubs. The football players’ association (AFE) president Luis Rubiales told a press conference that 200 first and second division Spanish league players are owed wages, some going back a number of years, totalling over €50 million. He called for the Spanish football league (LFP) to put in place a larger emergency fund to help players not being paid by their … [Read more...] about Football strike threat highlights Spanish cash shortfall
Athletic Bilbao’s golden generation stands at the crossroads
It’s a pivotal week for the future of Athletic Bilbao. On Thursday, July 7th, the club holds its presidential elections, with former Athletic midfielder Josu Urrutia challenging current president Fernando García Macua for control of the Basque club. Urrutia’s candidacy started with a bang when he announced that former Argentina and Chile boss Marcelo Bielsa would be manager should he win. Bielsa, who recently rejected the chance to take over at Inter Milan, is a managerial heavyweight. A deep football thinker, he is known for sending out tactically astute, but sometimes mentally brittle, teams. While his unbalanced Argentina flopped at the 2006 World Cup, Chile were one of the stand-outs … [Read more...] about Athletic Bilbao’s golden generation stands at the crossroads
Betis are back after a trip to hell
Two summers ago, long before the indignados and 15-M, there was Yo voy Betis and 15-J. Following the relegation of Real Betis, and amid growing anger at the alleged pilfering of millions of euros by club owner Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, over 60,000 angry green-and-white clad supporters marched in protest through Seville’s city centre. The evening culminated in a mass rally, where former Spain and Betis left-back Rafael Gordillo demanded Lopera’s departure to cheers from a jam-packed Plaza Nueva. Similar to the 15-M movement’s calls for politicians to reform themselves and banks to play fair, the initial practical impact of “15-J” was difficult to spot. The club’s 2009/10 campaign was … [Read more...] about Betis are back after a trip to hell