The Barcelona Inheritance by Jonathan Wilson

Author:Jonathan Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2018-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

Even as Mourinho was protesting and most of his players were following the prepared script, his biggest star was querying his approach. Ronaldo was initially compliant–‘I don’t understand,’ he said, ‘why in all Champions League knockout games, Barça end up playing against ten men’–but then couldn’t help himself: ‘I don’t like our defensive style but I have to adapt because that’s the coach’s choice. Nil-nil wouldn’t have been a bad result–it would have allowed us to play on the counter-attack in the Camp Nou.’

Although there were some who felt it was about time Ronaldo sacrificed at least a little of himself for the team–there was a theory that one of the reasons Mourinho preferred a counter-attacking approach was so that Ronaldo had space to accelerate into–the wider reaction was of shock: if even Ronaldo was prepared to express such discontent, what were others saying in the dressing room?

Mourinho reacted by leaving Ronaldo out of the league game at Real Zaragoza the following weekend. Given Ronaldo was two goals behind Messi in the top scorer’s chart and given how much Ronaldo valued that award, that was a significant statement; it certainly wasn’t a case of him being rested. A clash between the two huge Portuguese egos had always been a concern. Paolo Condo, in his book The Duellists, suggests that Jorge Mendes was aware of the potential dangers of having his two highest-profile clients at the same club and had actively sought to keep them apart until Guardiola’s rise had made Mourinho’s gravitation to Madrid inexorable.

Barça rested a number of players that weekend and lost 2-1 at Real Sociedad. Some have claimed that by leaving out Ronaldo and losing 3-2, Mourinho missed the opportunity to apply pressure to the leaders, but the fact is that even if Madrid had won that game, Barça would have been five points clear with five games to play. It’s entirely understandable for both sides that focus dipped between the two legs of the semi-final.

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