A cautionary tale for Jose Mourinho

Posted Thursday, February 02, 2012 by Supersport.com

Even if you skip forward to Xavi's first title, in 1999, Barcelona was ninth on Matchday 15 when the young midfielder's solitary goal won a victory against Valladolid that saved Louis van Gaal's job and sparked a fight-back. Some of the Barca sheen, certainly before this era of domination, came from their rear-guard underdog action in La Liga.

The current squad is so good that an odds-against fight-back can't totally be ruled out, even if the side is decimated by injury. But logic would dictate that if Madrid plays to anything resembling its potential between now and May, then even losing the remaining league Clasico would hardly be disastrous. Barcelona would still have to make up the four remaining points, and then match Real result-for-result to retain its title. (Spain works on a head-to-head rule -- if two sides finish equal, then the results between them dictate who wins).

What does remain a threat to Madrid, however, is team harmony.

Thus far I've made the point repeatedly that the patent disagreements on subjects like playing style, formation and media policy are not yet at a level that they will divide sufficiently to derail Mourinho and his squad.

It is clear that there are some Spaniards in the Real Madrid side who disagree with Mourinho over how to defeat Barcelona, over the attacking philosophy in other Liga games when Madrid finds itself on top, over how to defend, and over what kind of public persona is expected of a Real Madrid manager.

What counterbalances that dissent is the fact that Mourinho possesses a group of players -- particularly Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain and the core Spaniards -- who are driven by the need to lift silverware, are accustomed to winning and are low-maintenance for the manager.

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