It’s tomorrow evening that FC Barcelona and Real Madrid meet for a new Clásico (9 p.m.). Despite the six points that separate them in La Liga, the gap between the two best enemies perhaps seems a little smaller on the pitch than it was even a week ago. Over the past ten days, Casa Blanca has shown signs of improvement, particularly with Federico Valverde placed on the right of the defense. Real is coming off three wins in a row against Roma (4-3), Sevilla FC (4-1) and against RB Leipzig (4-1) when Barça has just experienced its first defeat of the season at the Parc des Princes against PSG (4-2). This is essentially the message that José Mourinho wanted to convey to the press this morning. According to him, we probably see Barça a little too good when his own team is over-criticized.
“Some people thought a week ago that we were going to get crushedhe begins to the press this Saturday morning. The fact that people say good things about Barcelona doesn’t affect me. Honestly, there are times when they deserve praise because they do really good things. In our case… we are considered a successful team, which is very difficult in football, but we are only just starting out. We have been working for three months, with a pre-season where the players arrived two by two every week, then the break… We are far from being readyextends the Portuguese. We are only at the beginning. We are still in a learning phase. We get to know each other, analyze our game, define areas for progression, and the players get to know the coach…»
Mourinho stands as a bulwark of his locker room
Mourinho believes that the analysis of the two teams cannot be done on the same level. “Comparing a team in this state to another that has been playing together longer doesn’t seem fair to me.» According to him, Real is in an ascending phase and deserves the praise that has been given to it in recent days. “We have the impression that Real Madrid works like that… But I’m not asking for more. I congratulate my players when they play well and I criticize the coach when we don’t play well. This is the case for almost all coaches in the world. It’s our life. The Clásico, there are at least two per season. It doesn’t matter who the coach is, what matters is the global importance of the Clásico. There are other important matches in the world, but there is the Clásico, the world stops.»
The Special One has tanned leather. At 63, he has seen others and is a perfect lightning rod for his team and his locker room. “We are in great shape, we are playing well, we are scoring goals… but the Clásico, no matter what you did before, it has no influence. It’s really different.» He knows what he’s talking about, having already managed Real for 3 years between 2010 and 2013, and experienced overheated Clásicos. What if it was ultimately he who had the most experience of this type of big meeting? A title is not always won during these duels but it is certainly a marker for the rest of a season. He knows something about it.
