Real Madrid 1 - 3 Barcelona : Mourinho handed reality check

• zocoss

  9 Dec 11, 23:22

  José Mourinho determined to prove Real Madrid's superiority in Clásico

  • Real coach feeling upbeat ahead of Barcelona game
  • 'We are confident … a better team than last season'

   

  

  José Mourinho says Real Madrid are confident ahead of their match against Barcelona. Photograph: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/Reuters

   

   

   

   

  Saturday, 10 December 2011

  Channel 222 (Starhub) - 5 am - (Live) (Sun morning)

   

    

   

   

   

   

  José Mourinho wants to prove there has been a shift in the balance of power towards his Real Madrid side when the La Liga leaders host Barcelona in the opening Clásico of the campaign on Saturday.

  The Real president Florentino Pérez poached Mourinho, a Barça assistant coach in the late 1990s, from Internazionale at the end of the 2009-10 season to try to wrest the Spanish title back from the Catalan capital.

  The consensus, at least among the Madrid fans, is that Real are closer than ever to matching the team many consider the best club side ever, and several hundred million television viewers worldwide will tune in when they meet.

  Real have won their last 10 league games – and their last 15 in all competitions, equalling a club record – and lead Barça by three points with roughly a third of the season played and with a game in hand.

  "You never know – in football there are always surprises," said Mourinho after Real's 3-0 Champions League victory at Ajax on Wednesday. "But right now we feel more confident and we are a better team than last season."

  Pep Guardiola's side, chasing a club record-equalling fourth consecutive domestic title, have been almost impeccable at home in La Liga, winning eight, drawing one and scoring 39 goals without reply. However, they have managed only two victories in six away games, scoring eight and conceding seven.

  However, the Barcelona playmaker Xavi insists that statistics are meaningless once the players take to the field and unexpected events can, and quite often do, change the game in a moment. Recent meetings have included several mass brawls and a slew of red cards, as well as some outstanding individual performances.

  "It's true that Madrid are in good shape," said Xavi. "They are a bit better but that does not mean anything. The Clásicos have nothing to do with statistics and anything can happen."

  Guardiola has enjoyed the upper hand over Real since he took over as coach at the end of the 2007-08 season. He has engineered victories in seven out of 11 games, and since Mourinho arrived at Real, when their rivalry grew yet more intense, he has three wins, three draws and only one defeat, in the King's Cup final in April.

  Saturday's game will pair not only two of the game's most influential coaches, but also the world's two best players. The Argentina forward Lionel Messi and the man he replaced as World Player of the Year, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, are joint top of the La Liga's scoring chart with 17 goals each, although Messi boasts by far the better record in Clásicos.

  The 24-year-old has scored 13 in 15 matches against Real, including two in last season's Champions League semi-final first leg at the Bernabéu, while Ronaldo, 26, has three goals in nine games against Barça.

• zocoss

  9 Dec 11, 23:43

   

   

  José Mourinho refuses to face the media ahead of clash with Barcelona

  • Mourinho leaves press duties to his assistant Aitor Karanka
  • Real have a three-point lead and a game in hand over Barça

   

  

  The Real Madrid coach, José Mourinho, has refused to talk to the media ahead of the season’s first Clásico. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images

   

   

   

   

   

  The Real Madrid coach, José Mourinho, has refused to speak to the press ahead of Saturday's clash with Barcelona leaving those duties to his assistant, Aitor Karanka, before the first Clásico of the season.

  Mourinho has had a testy relationship with the Madrid-based media since joining from Internazionale and declined to speak before a league game against Barça in April, prompting a walkout by around 30 local journalists.

  With roughly a third of the season played, leaders Real have a three-point lead and a game in hand over second-placed Barça, who are chasing a club record-equalling fourth consecutive La Liga title.

  Real have won their last 10 La Liga matches, and their last 15 in all competitions, while the Catalans have lost only one of the 11 matches against their great rivals since Pep Guardiola took charge in 2008. The former Barça and Spain midfielder has never lost at the Bernabéu as a coach, boasting three wins and two draws with 13 goals scored and five conceded.

  Mourinho has a full squad available except for the Portugal centre-back Ricardo Carvalho, who is recovering from twisted knee ligaments and has not played since late September. Guardiola also has a full roster, apart from long-term absentee Ibrahim Afellay, who is recovering from knee surgery in his native Netherlands.

   

• zocoss

  11 Dec 11, 10:54

  Real Madrid 1 Barcelona 3: Mourinho's upstarts handed reality check by Barca

   

  

  Barcelona recovered from conceding the quickest

   

   

   

   

  Nearly, but still not quite — Jose Mourinho’s Madrid fell short of Barcelona’s benchmark again as the seventh clasico of the year ended with a victory for the Spanish champions.

  Madrid had the perfect start with Karim Benzema scoring inside 23 seconds but Cristiano Ronaldo missed the chance to double the lead and Alexis Sanchez equalised.

  Xavi scored with a deflected shot soon after the break and after another Ronaldo miss, Cesc Fabregas put the result beyond doubt.

  Mourinho had shown his hand with a bold team selection starting with Mesut Ozil behind Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria and Benzema. It was not the choice of a man still in fear of the Barca side that put five past his team one year and 11 days earlier.

  Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola surprisingly picked Carles Puyol ahead of Javier Mascherano.

  The Argentine has been Barcelona’s most consistent defender but Puyol’s incredible record of not being on the losing side for Barcelona in 19 months had persuaded his manager that he was the man for the big occasion and his Ronaldo-shackling performance completely justified the decision.

  Right on cue, the rain began to come down on an already wet pitch five minutes before kick-off and with conditions not favourable towards goalkeepers looking to play the ball out from the back, Madrid went 1-0 up with the quickest goal in El Clasico history.

  Victor Valdes kicked straight out to Di Maria who tried to find Benzema.

  His pass was blocked by Sergio Busquets but ran to Ozil, whose shot was blocked by Busquets again but the rebound fell perfectly for Benzema to smash into the roof of Valdes’ net.

  Real Madrid were on a 15-match winning run and looking to strike a potentially decisive blow in the race for the Primera Division trophy, which rivals Barca had lifted for three years in a row.

  The capital club kicked off with a lead of three points with a game in hand. But the tricky surface was also a problem for their defenders and when Sergio Ramos slipped, Messi robbed him and homed in on Iker Casillas.

  The Madrid captain got down to his right to turn the Argentine’s shot round his post.

  Benzema tested Valdes again on 10 minutes with a header from a Di Maria cross. The keeper saved comfortably but then sent his kick straight down the pitch to Casillas. It was a nervous start from the visiting goalkeeper.

  Yet another poor kick from Valdes went straight to Xabi Alonso but his attempt at sending it over the goalkeeper’s head failed.

  Valdes was urging his players not to give the ball back to him on the greasy surface.

  Di Maria was the next victim of the conditions, slipping inside the penalty box and needing lengthy treatment off the pitch.

  On 25 minutes it should have been 2-0 to Madrid. Benzema played in Ronaldo but from the edge of the area he blasted wide.

  Real’s leading scorer was losing his personal duel with Puyol while at the other end Messi was getting the better of every Madrid defender who came near him.

  When he was brought down by Alonso with 25 minutes on the clock, referee David Fernandez showed his first card.

  Sanchez followed him into the book moments later with a crude challenge on Di Maria.

  Sanchez combined with Messi as Barca levelled on the half hour. Messi slalomed past two lunges and slipped a pass through for the Chilean to find Casillas’ bottom right-hand corner.

  Messi then won the ball back in his own half, robbing Di Maria with a sliding challenge. His industry was almost punished though. He had been booked for protesting a late challenge from Pepe on Sanchez and when he brought down Alonso two minutes before the break, the referee considered a second yellow.

  From an Alonso cross, Ronaldo headed wide with only the keeper to beat and with almost their next attack, Dani Alves crossed to the back post where Fabregas sent a diving header past Casillas.
  

  The introduction of Seydou Keita was the trigger for some racist chanting from a small section of the Bernabeu.

  That aside, Spanish football served up a fine spectacle in difficult conditions but that will be of little consolation to Mourinho, who this morning is again looking up at Barcelona in the title race.

  
  

• dragg

  11 Dec 11, 10:58

  Real still have a game in hand right?