View from Spain: Mourinho hopes to avoid Portugal-Spain punch-up
Wednesday 27 June 2012 17:33
As a proud Portuguese patriot, José Mourinho's finest achievement so far at the Bernabeu may be the apparent damage he's done to Spanish team morale and unity.
Barcelona and Real Madrid have never been bosom buddies, but Mourinho has urged his capital-city players to adopt a far more hands-on (and studs-on) approach during the many, many, many, many Clásicos – and on the rare occasions when the country's big two aren't facing each other, they've been knifing each other in the back.
In 127 games of near-constant name-calling and eye-poking has inevitably produced a certain amount of tension in the Spanish camp – despite the best efforts of Iker Casillas and Xavi Hernández to get everyone together singing songs and toasting marshmallows around la Roja’s campfire.
What poor old Vicente del Bosque has had to put up with of late might also rebound on Mourinho next season. Wednesday’s clash between Spain and Portugal almost amounts to a Real Madrid civil war, with seven starting players drawing cutlasses and boarding each other’s boats.
The clubmate clash that has naturally attracted most attention in Spain is that of Cristiano Ronaldo trying to breach the Real Madrid rearguard of Alvaro Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas in what could be a very tasty contest indeed. “In the end, each of us has to defend their national side and here there are no club teammates. They will all be enemies,” warns Arbeloa.
We might also be blessed with the sight of Pepe trying to chop down Xabi Alonso’s fancy passes, although Fabio Coentrao will probably try to stay out of trouble, considering the Portuguese left-back still has the newbie tag in the Spanish capital.
"Let's do it for the gaffer! No, not you, Paulo..."
While LLL has been fairly confident over Spain’s passage through the tournament thus far, the blog suspects that the champions might be running into trouble against their Iberian neighbours.
A number of factors are against Spain. There's the enormous commute between the side’s training base on the Polish coast and Donetsk, scene of the semi-final and la Roja's quarter-final victory over France. Then there's the fact that Portugal have had two more days to prepare for the match, which does seem a little unfair and some iffy planning by UEFA.
Although Del Bosque may tinker with the formation (but probably not) and include Fernando Llorente – a player who made an impressive cameo in Spain’s narrow victory in the same fixture two years ago in the World Cup – his team aren’t creating nearly enough chances to defeat a team who could be a lot more prolific than their previous opponents.
The other advantage Portugal have – besides naturally lower expectations – is that they don’t really need as much possession as other rivals, as Ronaldo and Nani only need five or six seconds to get the job done. And score a goal, too.
Mourinho will be hoping for a Portugal victory, but one which makes his Madrid men shake hands after the match rather than stamp on them from the first whistle.
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About Tim Stannard
La Liga Loca is the playground for the evil, more childish half of Tim Stannard’s psyche to be let loose. The other 50% is a contributor to FourFourTwo magazine, Football365, Sabotage Times as well as other publications such as UEFA Champions Magazine and When Saturday Comes. He is also a regular guest on Real Madrid TV’s Extra Time show and works as a TV producer extraordinaire for hire. To contact Tim directly email laligaloca@yahoo.co.uk