For months now, the Spanish press have been performing their solemn duty of trying to make José Mourinho go completely postal, but sadly with little success.
However, on Monday evening, it was joy to the world and ding dong merrily on high as, after a trying period of four press conferences a week for the Bernabeu boss, hours and hours of provoking, probing and pressing finally brought some decent results - not only did Mourinho completely lose his rag, he also found it again and then set it on fire...
And this is a very good thing indeed, reckons LLL.
After all, if Mourinho is not going to provide any decent entertainment on the pitch, then the very least the Real Madrid coach can do is raise a few eyebrows (and belly laughs) off it.
The first sign Mourinho was starting to shed his usual calm, collected, serious and straight-laced demeanor was before SaturdayâÂÂs bore draw against Levante - a result that TuesdayâÂÂs Marca blames squarely on the oppositionâÂÂs âÂÂanti-footballâ - when the Madrid manager unleashed a thinly-veiled attacked against Sporting for resting first-teamers in their midweek clash against Barcelona.
âÂÂIf some teams who play (Barça) give the game away because they think they canâÂÂt win...then it will be much harder,â Mou opined.
âÂÂWeâÂÂll talk about it in November,â was the curt reply from Sporting boss, Manuel Preciado, already looking forward to their upcoming clash, no doubt.
Whilst this can be considered classic, pre-planned âÂÂmind gamesâ from Mourinho, witnessed time and time again, TuesdayâÂÂs huffy-puffy storming out of the pre-Auxerre press conference certainly wasnâÂÂt.
One habit of the Spanish press that clearly seems to rile The Special One is boldly predicting the line-up of his teams ahead of each game. Over the summer he listed the eleven names that would start a friendly clash against Standard Liege to the hacks noting tartly that âÂÂthis time youâÂÂll get it right.âÂÂ
MondayâÂÂs editions of Marca and AS were full of predictions that Pedro León was to be the great change to the Real Madrid side to face Auxerre along with Karim Benzema starting in place of Gonzalo HiguaÃÂn. However, hours later the Real Madrid squad that was heading to France was announced and it did not contain the former Getafe man.
Later that evening at the press conference, the journalists asked the perfectly legitimate question of why Pedro León had been left out. The reply saw Mourinho go quite mad.
âÂÂI donâÂÂt have to justify the absence of Pedro León to you!â jeered José, claiming the only person he ever had to give explanations to was Florentino Pérez. âÂÂYouâÂÂre all talking about Pedro León as if he were Zidane or Maradona...it was just a couple of days ago that he was playing for Getafe,â Mourinho reasoned in a way certain to boost the confidence and self esteem of his player.
The press conference then came to the swiftest of conclusions as Mourinho made his way out of the door in a bit of a strop, stopping briefly to greet Guy Roux on the way out.
The very Madridista Marca have largely chosen not to comment on their managerâÂÂs antics but have given over half a page to a useful and timely description of the âÂÂMou Knotâ he uses for his ties, that was on display in the press conference - and clearly the main talking point amongst the journalists.
AS are less shackled to Real MadridâÂÂs apron strings and have got it completely right for once, with editor Alfredo Relaño branding the managerâÂÂs madcap performance as âÂÂmagnificentâÂÂ.
âÂÂMourinho passed through anger, then humour, then dramatics, then anger again and then finally he left.â 'Great TV' was the final summary of a happy Relaño.
The Mourinho mental-breakdown was just as appreciated in Barcelona but for very different reasons, as it was another chance for them to finger point and claim Castle Greyskull was in crisis.
âÂÂThe Whites dressing room is not going to let this go,â writes a gleeful Santi Nolla in Mundo Deportivo, a paper which screams âÂÂMou sets Madrid on fire!â on the front cover. âÂÂSuch disrespect to a team-mate is not normally forgiven,â continues the main MD man.
Sport have focussed on the shame and embarrassment that they reckon Mourinho is bringing on Florentino Pérez with his recent behaviour with their headline of âÂÂUnpresentable Mourinho.â âÂÂIâÂÂm afraid that Florentino is going to keep on suffering for many weekends to come,â chuckles Joan Vehils.
That may be quite true, but for everyone else watching on, MourinhoâÂÂs lapses in anger management are set to be some of the most enjoyable events of the season.
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