Jose Mourinho, the manager of Real Madrid, is the only person in football at this moment, who can feel comfortable when his side visits Camp Nou on Monday.
The Portuguese tactician is probably the most successful manager, in the last couple of seasons, against the Catalan giants. Last season, Mourinho was responsible for Barcelona’s exit from Champions League, defeated by his club Inter Milan.
Mourinho has served for some time in Barcelona as well. The Portuguese mastermind stayed at Camp Nou as a translator for Bobby Robson and Luis van Gaal. Mourinho, who did not have a prior experience in football, learned the tricks of the game from these
greats of Barcelona. However, despite achieving a lot of success in his career as a manager is still not recognised as a great in Barcelona circles.
However, it is Mourinho’s record against Barcelona that would be troubling the Catalans right now. Jose Mourinho has beaten Barcelona with Chelsea as well as with Inter Milan. Last season, Mourinho put an end to Barcelona’s dream of winning back to back
European titles, as his team knocked them out in the semi-finals. Now, Mourinho is managing the archrivals of Barcelona, Real Madrid, which has only worsened the manager’s reputation at Camp Nou. According to Mourinho, these are the three main reasons which
would give him the status of ‘persona non grata’ in Catalonia.
Mourinho said that the match against Barcelona only matters as any other match in La Liga. Mourinho suggested that his team would have to go on despite the results against Barcelona on Monday. The crowd, according to Mourinho, would be hostile but this would
not change the way his team would perform in the match.
Mourinho also had a lot of praise for his counterpart in Barcelona. Mourinho has worked, for some time with Pep Guardiola. Mourinho said that the Barcelona manager knows his team very well as he has been a part of it since the beginning of his football career.
Guardiola, therefore, knows what the fans want at Barcelona and he is delivering everything according to the expectations of the fans.
Real Madrid has not been able to win anything against their archrivals since the last two seasons. One thing is for sure that Mourinho was brought in as a manager of Real Madrid only because he had the credentials to turn around the fortunes for his team,
while his success with Inter Milan became the highlight of his résumé.
The would be some interesting battles in the match, but the main one would be on the sidelines, between Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho. Mourinho is right in the sense that Guardiola knows Barcelona more than anyone and he knows the strategy to follow in
order to deliver results. However, this does not ensure victory for Guardiola, at least not any more. Now, Real Madrid has grown stronger than their previous two seasons and Guardiola would have to be dynamic in order to beat Mourinho down. For example, Guardiola
likes to keep his defence line up, but he would have to make different plans because Madrid is splendid on counter-attacks. Also, Messi would be targeted by Madrid players, so Guardiola would have to build his attack around other players.
Nevertheless, the most important match of this season is on the horizon and everyone is anxiously waiting for the final moment. At this point, rather than indulging in war of words, Mourinho is actually taking time and praising his opposition. However, the
fans are certain that the match would not be as friendly as Mourinho’s pre-match comments. Rather, it would be an epic battle, worth remembering in the history of football.
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