Barring some kind of cataclysmic collapse””aliens landing at the training ground and kidnapping half the squad might do the trick””Real Madrid will win its 32nd Spanish title this year. Saturday’s 2-1 win at archrival Barcelona left Jose Mourinho’s crew with a seven-point lead and four games to play, which means arithmetic is the only factor delaying Real’s coronation.
Real Madrid could well have lost at Camp Nou and still won La Liga. But actually defeating its eternal rival is something of a game-changer. Mourinho may not admit it, but he didn’t just get a monkey off his back, he banished a whole pack of screaming orangutans.
Well . . .credit where credit is due . .but 2 wins out of 10 counts as slaying the monster? The game could have easily gone otherwise with Barca’s knocking on the woodwork at least twice and some misses from close range. So the headline is way overstated and the piece itself a little too effusive for me. On the pitch, players win and lose the games, and the bits of the game I saw, had some easy put-aways that Barca missed.
Real still a world-class team who ought to continue to go IMHO north-south with pace against Barca as Mourniho knows. But it will take, oh, about 3-4 victories over Barca . . . and one over Bayern to make me stand and clap for Real.
Alas, there is no, none, zero, zilch change of Jose Mourinho (who BTW is openly Catholic) becoming the next manager of England. He is not interested. And we probably could not afford him even if he was. And, finally, the Football Association wouldn’t have the wisdom to choose him even if he was interested and we threw money at him. A pity. The England team need someone like him. Or a big dose of divine intervention. Or both.