“Y como usted nunca se ha vestido de corto, no sabe que a veces se dan esas situaciones”. This is the disputed sentence, and it comes directly from the Real Madrid dressing room, according to what was reported today by the Spanish sports newspaper Marca, citing an internal source. "You've never played, and you can't understand certain situations on the pitch": this is how defender Sergio Ramos would have replied to an annoyed Josè Mourinho who, after the defeat (yet another) in the Clasico called the team to report to ascertain the serious responsibilities for Puyol's goal.
Ramos was chosen to mark the Blaugrana captain, but initially he would have justified himself by saying that he decided on the spot to switch men and go to Piquè, unfortunately leaving Puyol free to head in for the momentary 1-1. To which Mourinho, again according to Marca, would have retorted piqued: “Do you also play coaching now?”. And from there, I face it.
Not to mention the controversy between Special One and the captain Iker Casillas, accused by the Portuguese coach of having apologized to Xavi for yet another Pepe blackout (guilty of having voluntarily stepped on Leo Messi's hand). The story seems to recall the one that saw the dismissal of former sporting director Jorge Valdano, "guilty" according to Mou of "not serving Real Madrid's interests" only for having warned Pepe himself (again...) not to repeat certain behaviour, after last year he had insulted the Valencia striker Roberto Soldado, a former merengues canterano on the pitch. "It's either me or him," Mourinho said to president Florentino Perez. Who, of course, chose him, after snatching him with millions from Inter to bring the Champions League back to Madrid, where it has been missing since 2002 (and in the meantime Barça has won three..).
The same will hardly happen with Casillas and Ramos, two players Real cannot do without, even if the situation in the casa blanca seems increasingly in the balance. Mourinho, who made "everyone united against everything and everyone" his workhorse in his coaching career, now seems to have lost the reins of command. And the locker room is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, increasingly distraught by the umpteenth humiliation suffered by Guardiola's men (even if Real are still first in the standings) and internally divided by a Spanish-Portuguese rivalry, fueled by same mister. Who, if he did not fail to argue against the two Spanish senators ("You are world champions and the press will always defend you", he also added), did not treat his compatriots in the same way, first by defending the indefensible with Pepe (“Don't believe him, but do you believe someone who has hurled racist insults?” he provocatively asked the press referring to the Busquets-Marcelo episode last season), then shielding Cristiano Ronaldo (“Criticize me, but don't touch him") and finally by surprisingly fielding defender Ricardo Carvalho in the Clasico after months of inactivity.
There is a rematch on Wednesday in Catalonia. The return match of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals. The level of alarm is high not only for the bitter rivalry between the teams, but above all for the powder keg that seems about to explode at Real. A time bomb, and Mourinho will have to be really careful to defuse it. Otherwise you'll see that this time the season with "zero tituli" ends him.
