Jose Mourinho (Manager of Real Madrid) Angry About the Schedule

The Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho is angry about the fixtures schedule which favours Barcelona according to him. Real Madrid has to play the second leg of UEFA Champions League on
Wednesday against Lyon. The first leg was drawn and Mourinho needs a victory in order to ensure that his team makes it through to the next round.

However, he is angry about the match that is approaching after the Champions League clash. Real Madrid will be travelling on the road to play against their neighbouring rivals Atletico
Madrid. This is a fixture that demands a lot from the fans but Mourinho has different ideas about it. He is thinking about giving a rest to his goalkeeper Iker Casillas for the match. Mourinho said that he was compelled to do it in anger and he was not worried
if this decision awards the title to Barcelona, earlier than possible.

In this week’s match against Hercules, Mourinho was without Ricardo Carvalho or Cristiano Ronaldo. The former was rested for the European tie while the latter is still making a comeback
from a two weeks old injury. Now, the manager has already laid down his plans for the Saturday fixture. However, it will be a sign of protest towards the authorities who are apparently not providing the level playing field for all the teams in Europe.

There are two points where Mourinho is totally wrong in making his whole assessment. First, all the teams have been provided with a level playing field. In fact, Barcelona had more trouble
than Madrid will ever have in their whole week of football. The Catalans had only two days before the important match against the Gunners on last Tuesday. However, Guardiola rested a lot of his players on the weekend’s match against Real Zaragoza. Now, after
only four days, they will take a trip to Seville, which is a totally different climate.

On the other hand, Madrid has three days to prepare for the midweek clash against Lyon, which is apparently not as strong a side as Arsenal. Also, Barcelona had to play against a lead
of one goal, which was more difficult for them in only two days time. Then, in two days Real Madrid will go against Atletico Madrid, which is almost the same as the Barcelona’s fixture against Seville. In short, both these teams have matches spread over the
same time span and Mourinho is only making false excuses because he knows that his season is already over.

Second, all the teams have to manage within their resources and all the teams playing for the titles have vast resources to cover from. The only problem with Mourinho is that all his players
are not performing well and he has to make a choice among a smaller bunch of players. This makes life difficult for him because he has to play the same team in every single match in order to obtain a victory. The pressure has increased manifolds especially
because that he is chasing the leaders Barcelona, who have opened up a big gap of 7 points. Hence, all of a sudden the schedule looks tough which is almost the same as every other team in Europe.

Actually, all the managers trailing the leading teams make the same excuse when they have nothing else to say. Roberto Mancini made similar complaints with his side Manchester City and
Jose Mourinho is no different from these managers. The reality is that Mourinho is looking at the prospects of facing Barcelona in the coming months. The defeat inflicted on his team in the first leg of El Clasico is still a big one to swallow and things do
not look good for his team apparently. Therefore, he is coming up with obnoxious ideas so that the blame shifts in other directions. Mourinho thinks that he cannot make mistakes because he is the Special One and he has to live up to his self-created standards.