subject: Real Madrid visits Barcelona with the leadership in game [print this page] Real Madrid visits Barcelona with the leadership in game
The most awaited match of the year in Spain will be played on an awkward day: Monday. A hostile environment is expected in the Camp Nou stadium against Real Madrid's coach Jose Mourinho, who is not welcomed in Barcelona.
Year after year the match between the two biggest teams in Spain awakens the exact same passion between the fans from all around the world, that anxiously wait for the two games that are disputed throughout each tournament. For the fourth consecutive season the first game of "El Clasico" -Spanish for Classic- will be disputed in the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, where Real Madrid's last road victory was back in October 22 of 2006, when Raul and van Nistelrooy scored one goal each for the 0-2 win.
The last two seasons have been nothing but perfect for Barcelona, that besides winning two consecutive La Liga titles, they have also swept Real Madrid in their last four confrontations, which includes the most memorable one in Barcelona's history: a 6-2 on the road that represents the highest scoring suffered by the whites in El Clasico history.
On their last visit to Madrid, the red and blue team didn't win by a bulging score, but that didn't make the loss less painful for Real Madrid, as it created a one point difference between them which was enough for Barcelona to crown themselves as the number one team in Spain once again, in a season that will be remembered as the 99 points Liga -since that's how many points it took them to win the championship.
In their effort to put an end to Barcelona's supremacy, the white team hired former Inter de Milan coach Jose Mourinho, a guy who is commonly associated with the word success. The history between Barcelona and the Portuguese coach is one of love and hate, as he worked for the club from 1996 to 2000 as an interpreter for coach Bobby Robson first, and then for Louis van Gaal. During that time he did not only learned from the best, but also played a role as an assistant coach, winning the Copa Catalunya title under van Gaal's tuition and the fans' appreciation in 2000.
But that appreciation that the Barcelona fans felt for Mou came to an end in the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League season, when his team Chelsea eliminated Barcelona (4-3) in the first knockout round. One year later, in the same competition and at the same instance the dislike for the Portuguese coach grew when Barcelona had their revenge against Chelsea (2-3 on the aggregate), and Mou's comments were not welcomed, as he claimed that Barcelona only won because in the first game of the playoffs (2-1 on the aggregate) Del Horno had been expelled. He said that 11 against 11 things would have been different, and that Messi had fooled the referee with a bit of theatricality and that resulted in Del Horno's expulsion.
The story had a new chapter in the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League semifinals where Inter, under the command of Mou, eliminated Barcelona (3-2 on the aggregate) in the Camp Nou, and crushed their dreams of disputing the final that was going to be held in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, Real Madrid's home field.
This season Real Madrid's coach Mou has tried to open a verbal war through the media against Barcelona - without success- to mentally unbalance them. His attempts have not been effective since Barcelona's coach Joseph Guardiola has decided to stay at the margin of his statements, and has told his players not to pronounce themselves about it.
The Portuguese has created such a hostile environment that assures that Monday's game will be played at a great intensity and a lot of involvement from the crowd. Despite of the result one things is for sure, the hate that Barcelona fans feel for Mou is far from over, and you can expect more spicy statements from him.
