According to Varzesh3, Jose Mourinho is set to face Barcelona at the Camp Nou tomorrow, years later, as the head coach of Real Madrid. No one can deny that this match reminds Mourinho of one of the darkest nights of his coaching career. Every Barcelona fan knows this because they have repeatedly revisited that match to taunt their Real Madrid rivals. That night, Jose Mourinho at the peak of his powers, the charismatic Special One at the height of his professional career, experienced El Clásico for the first time and after the match told himself he wished he had never experienced it! Mourinho himself later said that the 5-0 defeat against Pep Guardiola's team was "the worst defeat of my professional career".
Jose Mourinho will step out against Barcelona tomorrow for the fourth time with the title of Real Madrid head coach next to his name. Any coach who holds a bitter memory of a derby (even though El Clásico is not between two teams from the same city, it is truly a derby—more sensitive than any other derby in the world, a national derby, and arguably the most tense, most viewed, and most fiercely contested match in the world of football), any coach who has a bitter memory of a derby wants to take revenge years later when he gets the opportunity to stand on the touchline in that same derby. Without a doubt, the Special One is looking to avenge that 5-0 loss. However, considering the current strength of Hansi Flick's Barcelona, the Special One probably does not expect to reverse that result. Passionate as he may be, Mourinho is a realistic coach.
That night, which Mourinho wishes had never remained in his memory, was November 29, 2010. Real Madrid headed to the Camp Nou on Matchday 13 of La Liga. Mourinho's team had been undefeated in the first 12 matchdays of that season, and since arriving in Madrid, Mourinho had not tasted the bitter pill of defeat in any competition. But that night, everything collapsed within 90 minutes.
Barcelona took control of the match very early. Xavi Hernandez scored the opener in the 10th minute, and eight minutes later, Pedro Rodriguez doubled the lead. Barcelona went into the dressing room with a two-goal advantage before Mourinho's angry, reddened eyes.
The Special One pulled out every trick in his player-management experience book in the dressing room to change his team's situation in the second half. Tactically, Mourinho also tried to halt Barcelona by bringing on Lassana Diarra in place of Mesut Özil, but this substitution could not alter the flow of the game either.
Barcelona did not stop attacking, and in the second half, it was David Villa's turn to beat Iker Casillas twice in the span of just three minutes. Villa scored in the 55th minute and then in the 58th minute. And an interesting point that Messi fans will surely love to mention is that Lionel Messi acted as the provider on both occasions. Barcelona's goal-fest was completed by Jeffren Suarez in the first minute of stoppage time, and Barcelona players, beside themselves with joy, saw the unbelievable 5-0 scoreline on the Camp Nou scoreboard.
Now that we have reviewed the match, it is fitting to also look at the statistics. The match statistics paint a clear picture of a completely one-sided game. Barcelona possessed the ball 66 percent of the time, while Real Madrid had the ball for only 34 percent of the match. Pep's disciples took 15 shots, whereas Mourinho's Real attempted only five. Of these, six of Barcelona's shots were on target, while Real's share was just two.
The Real Madrid players were all exasperated. Jose's facial expression on the touchline reminded us Iranians of the proverb: The face reveals what lies within the heart!
Sergio Ramos, hot-headed in these moments with his team trailing 5-0, lost his composure and was sent off following an altercation with Carles Puyol. If Mourinho had been a player that night, he probably would have gotten involved like Ramos and been sent off.
Mourinho did not try to deny reality after the match. There were no printouts of controversial incidents, nor was there anything called Real Madrid TV at that time. He accepted Barcelona's superiority and described his own team's performance as very poor. That night, Mourinho referred to the 5-0 El Clásico loss as the worst defeat of his coaching career and repeated this in several later interviews.
16 years later, Mourinho is once again on the verge of El Clásico. Tomorrow, the Camp Nou will host this grand battle, and the Special One hopes that this time the story will have a different ending. Perhaps until a few weeks ago, Real Madrid fans also believed that Mourinho would not be able to pull it off. But the Barcelona that was portrayed as grand and gigantic looked like a defenseless Warsaw against Hitler's fully armed army when facing Paris Saint-Germain. That was when Real Madrid fans and Mourinho smiled for the first time. No, this Barcelona is not unbeatable as they claimed. Immediately afterward, Real played Leipzig in the Champions League. Yes, Real fans also knew that Bayern had put six past that same Leipzig a few days prior, but Mourinho's team showed a different Real in the match preceding the Clásico. A terrifying, hungry team that fired missile after missile and put four past its opponent. The Special One is definitely thinking about revenge against Barca, even if it is not by 5 goals.
Source: Varzesh3
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