Revisiting Jose Mourinho’s reign as Real Madrid manager

The peak of El Clasico

This was at a time when El Clasico tempers were at it’s all-time peak. The tension was palpable – felt in each kick of the ball, each pull of the shirt, each shove to the ground and each time an insult was hurled at an opposition player.

This was Mourinho vs Guardiola, but it was also Ronaldo vs Messi and the rest of the line ups virtually matched up against one another.

Real Madrid and Barcelona played each other no less than six times that season, with the Catalans again clinching Supercopa de Espana and Copa del Rey success with ease thanks to the dazzling football their midfield plus Lionel Messi orchestrated.

However this time like the last, it was Real Madrid, who had the last laugh as the all important ‘title-deciding’ El Clasico at the Nou Camp went the way of the eventual champions.

Cristiano Ronaldo latched onto Mesut Ozil’s precise driven ball and scored beyond the Barcelona defence to win them the game. This, with four league games to go virtually crowned them Champions of Spain for the 32nd time.

A Barcelona side that had looked unstoppable just the previous season, had not only been stopped but outclassed by nine points. It also led to the exit of Pep Guardiola. The Mourinho era in Spain had begun, or so we had thought.