El Clásico

If football teams are a reflection of their coach, then what must José Mourinho have seen when he looked in the mirror this morning? On the basis of Real Madrid's performance versus Barcelona last night, or Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid, as the British media like to refer to them, perhaps it was a gorgon staring back.


There are of course obvious limitations when defining a team, or for that matter a manager, by the result of one game. But if that is to be the fate of The Special One, it is of his own making. Since taking the job with Los Blancos he has attempted to get under the skin, or perhaps more accurately, to get into the head of his Catalan counter-part, with the full spectrum of mind games at his disposal.


Real Madrid spent most of the first El Clásico of the season chasing shadows, though to expand the metaphor, more like apparitions, as the manner in which Barça outclassed Madrid will haunt them, one would think, until the return fixture at least. Those rare occasions when Real did get close enough to make a tackle, the result was usually a free-kick to the home side or an advantage from referee Gonzalez, whose rugby-like interpretation of the advantage rule inhibited Real's disruptive tactics (also deployed by Internazionale under Mourinho in last season's Champions League) and prevented Real from regrouping or reorganising their (high) defensive line.


As the game progressed, Madrid's players resorted to kicking, elbowing and shoulder-charging their opponents, and toward one another cast accusatory petulant gestures which became Real's only means of expressing themselves in the face of such humiliation.


Sergio Ramos, who prior to his sending off could have walked for a swipe on Andrés Iniesta, should face a lengthy ban for the circumstances which finally led to his dismissal. His tackle on Leo Messi, in which his team mate Lassana Diarra was collateral damage, was an assault. The subsequent scuffle and hand-off to the face of Barça's captain and spiritual leader Carlos Puyol was further evidence of Madrid's embarrassment.


Substitute Alvaro Arbeloa, whether through a spectator's pent-up frustration or a coach's instruction had only one intention on arrival, and within minutes Messi, who was the focal point for much of Real's aggression, could have no doubt as to the nature of Arbeloa's role in the game.


Though it is still early in the The Special One's tenure, if Real Madrid are made in Mourinho's image, on the basis of the Clásico, perhaps José should get a few more early nights.

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