Vilanova plotting to restore Barca’s air of superiority
I’M pretty sure that decades went by in Spanish football when Real Madrid and Barcelona fulfilled their standard commitment to play each other in two league games per season, something like normality reigned, and the rest of the world didn’t ache with longing for a superpower battle every couple of months.
But here we are in the age of the something which is proven by the fact that, by October, Jose Mourinho will have competed in 14 of them as Madrid manager — one approximately every eight weeks.
And it all starts again this week. Spanish Super Cup. Nou Camp. Thursday night. Barcelona v Real Madrid. However, neither I nor any sane person is complaining — not yet anyway.
The quality of the recent meetings has been exceptional and even when there is a minute drop in excellence there will always be a plethora of human stories to fill the gap.
The stats alone tell a tale of the tape. Of the 11 between Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, there have been four score draws, five Barcelona wins and two for the Special One. Of the 35 goals, Barca have scored 22 and Madrid 13, while
have a significant card lead — 50 of the 81 bookings and seven of the nine red cards.
Last season in the Super Cup we were treated to two absolute epics, Barcelona eventually emerging 5-4 winners thanks to Leo Messi’s four goals and an assist. But if the incoming Catalan coach who replaces Guardiola, Tito Vilanova, is looking for lessons from last season, he might, possibly, look on it as a pyrrhic victory.
Significant numbers of Barcelona’s squad weren’t fully fit, the Real Madrid crowd bayed with absolute expectation of not only triumph but a thrashing in the first leg, yet Barca heard the bell, took a few jabs to the jaw and then came out with a flurry of punches over 180 minutes which gave them the trophy.
At the time there were triumphalist noises from the Catalan media and the dressing room, with Xavi and Guardiola making mention of winning after ‘just having left the beach’.
When that was followed by a 3-1 away Liga win against Madrid in December, having fallen behind within as many seconds as it takes Usain Bolt to win gold, and successfully eliminating from the cup (4-3), it seemed like the
were anointed again. But in the spring they faltered and fell over a two-week period when Chelsea put them out of
NEW ERA: the Champions League semifinal and Madrid killed the title chase with their first win at the Nou Camp since 2007.
Did they throw too much heavy artillery at the Super Cup in a manner which cost them that razor-edge difference between Spring flop and what might have been a fifth and even a sixth trophy of the season?
Is it feasible that while Vilanova patently wants a win in his inaugural and to lift his first trophy as head man at Barcelona, this competition won’t be treated as do or die? Not according to the new man. ‘Our philosophy is clear,’ promises Vilanova. ‘Play well, make people impressed with us on and off the pitch, don’t bother looking too far ahead to this issue or that, just make sure that we produce good football every match. Our objective? Win everything if possible.’
The reception for Mourinho returning to the city and the club where he once worked will, of course, be a little tasty.
He fits with the Catalan palate like a long drink of vinegar — but there has been a change of tone. And a welcome one.
A year ago, we had a right brawl in this match. Marcelo’s kung-fu lunge at Fabregas, lots of kicking, shoving and handbagging, three red cards and that infamous eye-gouge by Mourinho on Vilanova. Yet he’s chosen now, the moment when Barcelona are a tad vulnerable and Vilanova is new on the battlefield, to apologise.
Regarding that shambles last year, Mourinho admitted: ‘I obviously should not have done what I did, obviously not. But I’m not an idiot who does something without a story behind it that led me to lose control a bit.
‘I work a lot with my players on exactly that, on controlling emotions, on concentrating on playing and playing well. But there I failed and I am not looking for excuses. If I failed, I failed.
‘Now our priority is to ensure that nothing like that happens again.’
With the Spanish title tucked away in his cupboard, Mourinho can afford to be magnanimous
But now it is a new season and a new rival. Step forward Tito Vilanova — destiny is turning its spotlight your way.