Revisiting Jose Mourinho’s reign as Real Madrid manager

Laliga de Los Records, 2011-12

Jose Mourinho and his team broke all sorts of domestic records in the very next season. This was the year which goes down as the one that defined that era of Real Madrid superstars best.

Following a somewhat slow start to their league campaign, Los Blancos – wearing the Royal White with the iconic golden stripes – raced to the top by matchday 10. The fans had fallen in love with the blistering counter-attacks and there was nothing opposition teams could do against the unstoppable force they had become in transition. A loose ball from an opponents’ set piece or attacking sequence was quickly picked up and followed by a series of exchanged passes and pacey runs into the channels.

Xabi Alonso was the orchestrator in midfield while Sami Khedira ran the engine as the box-to-box. Mesut Ozil played at the tip of the diamond with Lassana Diarra sometimes as a defensive midfielder or as a second striker to either Karim Benzema or Gonzalo Higuain, who shared striking duties throughout.

Ozil assisted a mind-boggling 28 times in all competitions that season and contrary to popular belief, worked incredibly hard to keep the structure intact and to cover up for Cristiano Ronaldo who had begun cutting inside from the left wing and defended less and less as the season went on.

Ronaldo had reached what many believe to be the true peak of his powers, going on to score no less than 60 times that season. His chemistry with those around him – Benzema, Marcelo and Ozil – was a treat to watch. Angel Di Maria too, pulled the creative strings from out wide and put in incredible amounts of efforts to track back when needed.

By the end of the season, Ronaldo had scored against every team he’d faced in La Liga at the time. At the back, captain Iker Casillas shielded what was a perfectly balanced defensive four of Marcelo, Sergio Ramos and Pepe in their primes alongside the more disciplined Alvaro Arbeloa.

The football flowed without much friction and as long as that was the case, those on the pitch and higher up at the club were happy with the progress Mourinho had made. The team set records for most wins, most away wins, most points in away matches, highest goal difference in La Liga that season, racking up a century of points and scoring 121 goals along the way.

Ironically enough, this team was often labelled “defensive” for their transition-based style but ended up being one of Europe’s most efficient attacking units ever.

The Champions League brought heartbreak once again though as Real Madrid came ever-so-close to a final before going out to Bayern Munich on penalties in the semis.