As the curtain was raised on the liga season last summer, he was largely an anonymous figure known only by FC Barcelona aficionados, but one lone act would change that. As a melee that so often accompanies a Clásico broke out at the Camp Nou between the 22 men on the pitch, substitutes and technical staff, José Mourinho calmly strolled over and poked Tito Vilanova in the eye. The Barcelona assistant coach swiftly responded with a slap to the back of ‘The Special One’s’ head. Vilanova was no longer anonymous and while still in the background, his figure would loom large over Barça’s season, culminating in his appointment as the new head coach after four years of Pep Guardiola at the … [Read more...] about La Liga: Tito Vilanova steps out of Barcelona’s shadows