Over and out for Mourinho

During the Press conference after Real Madrid had exited the Champions League at the semi-final stage for the third year in a row, a dejected Jose Mourinho sought to explain why his team had not reached the final of the competition during his time at the club.

“In the first year we were knocked out because we weren't allowed to make it to the final,” he said, blaming the 2011 exit to Barcelona on refereeing decisions – Pepe being sent off in the first leg and Gonzalo Higuain having a goal disallowed in the second.

“In the second year we lost on penalties and in the third year we lost because of our performance in Dortmund,” he added, in reference to being eliminated by Bayern Munich last season and Borussia Dortmund this year.

Madrid's performance in their 2-0 win over Dortmund at the Bernabeu showed they were capable of making it to the final, and if either Higuain or Mesut Ozil had taken advantage of clear chances in the first half, they may have pulled off the miracle.

However, seeing as this was third time unlucky for Mourinho's Madrid, it is worth asking if these narrow margins he talks about point to a deeper problem.

It is no secret the Coach does not get on with some members of the dressing room and it was telling that he and Sergio Ramos, with whom he has had more than one public dispute, spoke separately at the Press conference before the second leg, when it is customary for player and Coach to address the media together.

This discord in a team can be covered up against Levante or Getafe but becomes clearer against tougher opponents, when more organisation and discipline is required.

Madrid were dishevelled in the first leg, suffocated by Dortmund's midfield pairing of Ilkay Gundogan and Sven Bender, and undone by attackers Marco Reus, Mario Gotze and of course Robert Lewandowski, who was responsible for all four of the German side’s goals.

Each of Dortmund’s goals came about because Madrid failed to deal with their pace and intensity.

Their lack of shape was in stark contrast to Dortmund's unity, which their Coach Jurgen Klopp has said is the key to his young side’s success: “When we attack, we all attack – when we defend, we all defend.”

In the second leg, the German defence was disciplined and quelled Madrid's pressure, until their resistance finally broke on 82 minutes.

Questions should also be asked of Mourinho’s tactics. In a total of 360 minutes across four matches with Dortmund this season, his side were only ahead for eight minutes. Why did he not learn from the group games? How did someone who has lead teams in nine Champions League campaigns and won the trophy twice lose the tactical battle to a Coach in just his second campaign in the tournament? Why was his squad, which cost €480m to assemble, defeated, and at times outclassed, by players who had a lower combined price than Kaka, on a wage bill comparable to that of Aston Villa’s?

Asked if his tenure at Madrid had been a failure, Mourinho pointed to the extra money he had earned the club in bonuses by reaching the semi-finals on three occasions and reminded journalists that his record was an improvement on the six years before he arrived, when Los Blancos never made it beyond the Last 16.

“Sergio Ramos had never played a Champions League quarter final in his life,” he added.

There was a large sense that Mourinho was protesting too much. When Ramos looks back on his career, he is unlikely to rank quarter-final ties against APOEL Nicosia and Galatasaray over winning the World Cup and two European Championships.

Neither will three semi-finals stand out in Madrid’s history books alongside nine European Cups and 32 League titles. The club did not buy out Mourinho's contract at Inter to increase revenues or pay him a salary of €15m per year to restore their pride in the Champions League, they hired him to win it.

In between defending his ego and complaining that Spanish journalists ‘hate’ him, the Portuguese delivered one profound line that was a damning summary of his time at the Bernabeu: “Madrid doesn't live off the ‘almost’ and nor do I.”

With all signs pointing to Mourinho leaving Real Madrid in the summer, it will be difficult to not look back on his time there as ultimately being a failure.

La Liga - Club News