Starting slowly but building to a crescendo, countless statistics have been bounded about for the past week. This was the eighth time since his arrival, that José Mourinho’s Real Madrid side would face reigning Spanish champions FC Barcelona. The hosts had a 100-percent record at the Santiago Bernabéu this season and were on the verge of a record-breaking run of victories. This clash would supposedly signal a shift in power to the Spanish capital. A Clásico that would be el fin de ciclo for Barcelona. But at the final whistle, only one statistic stood out. Madrid have not beaten Barcelona in la liga since 2008. The game could not have started better for Madrid who were ahead in just 23 … [Read more...] about La Liga: Real Madrid still in thrall to Barça’s brilliance
Mourinho
El Clásico offers Mourinho a glimpse of glory
While Spain’s La Liga contest has long been seen as a two-horse race, the Champions League is also starting to show signs of falling into the grasp of the Real Madrid-Barcelona duopoly. That impression is, admittedly, based heavily on this week’s elimination of two English giants from the European competition, Manchesters United and City. But with the two Spanish sides strolling into the knock-out stages, their status as the best in Europe has been further burnished. So when they meet on Saturday in Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu to contest the Clásico, the eyes of the world will be on them. Barcelona have eight players nominated for UEFA’s 2011 team of the year; Real Madrid have six. … [Read more...] about El Clásico offers Mourinho a glimpse of glory
Late-blooming Benzema the apple of Real Madrid’s eye
Florentino Pérez rarely betrays emotion. A wry smile is the most common reaction from the presidential palco, maybe a broad grin upon winning a title. But on a chilly night in Lyon in February, the Real Madrid president stunned everyone when he leapt up, arms raised, to celebrate the goal just scored by Karim Benzema. It was a moment that would be a turning point for Benzema and a very public display of affection for the young man Pérez personally secured by flying to the same French city in 2009, to convince him to sign. Born to parents of Algerian descent and one of nine siblings in the working class Bron neighbourhood in Lyon, his background and shaven head gave rise to comparisons … [Read more...] about Late-blooming Benzema the apple of Real Madrid’s eye
Real Madrid winning run leaves Mourinho smiling
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
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
Mourinho shuns headlines to underline Madrid’s new balance of power
The faces of two young footballers have dominated the front covers of Spain’s two biggest-selling sports newspapers this summer. In just two months, AS featured Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (or Neymar for short) 28 times and Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero’s 20 times in their leading photograph and/or story. Neymar also battled Agüero for top spot on the front page of Marca, which led with the Brazilian 22 times and the Argentinean on 15 occasions. One or both players was prominent on the front page of AS and Marca 41 and 34 days respectively. AS readers were met with Agüero’s face five mornings in a row from June 9 to 13. Neymar matched that run with Marca from July 6 to 10. The fun began within … [Read more...] about Mourinho shuns headlines to underline Madrid’s new balance of power
Real Madrid’s ‘señor’ status at play as Mourinho takes control
Spanish football is a peculiar beast when placed under a microscope, rather like a petri dish teeming with all the bacteria Fifa is currently trying to scrape from its gilded Zurich halls. There is no fit-and-proper-persons test in La Liga, as Racing Santander is currently being left to rue. Match-fixing was made a criminal offence just six months ago. Clubs are traditionally controlled by wildly unreliable clans like the Gil family at Atlético Madrid and the Ruiz-Mateos' at Rayo Vallecano – currently busily covering their own backsides as their Nueva Rumasa congolmerate goes under for the second time, leaving thousands of investors, and Rayo's players, on the bread line. If your club … [Read more...] about Real Madrid’s ‘señor’ status at play as Mourinho takes control