Mourinho caution has hand in Madrid flop
Reuters - Thursday 26 April 2012, 10:03
However much he might blame
rotten luck or fatigue for Real Madrid's failure to get past
Bayern Munich on Wednesday, it was Jose Mourinho's caution that
possibly cost the Spaniards a place in next month's Champions
League final.
They were eliminated at the last-four hurdle for a second
straight season as they failed to hold on to a 2-0 lead on the
night, curbed their attacking instincts more and more as the
game wore on and were ultimately undone by the brilliance of
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in a nervy penalty shootout.
"The match went through many different phases after our
second goal. We can't attack all the time," Sergio Ramos, who
blasted his penalty over the bar, told reporters.
Everything went to plan in the opening 15 minutes, with Real
racing ahead in the semi-final second leg at their Bernabeu
stadium - where they had netted 22 goals in five previous
Champions League outings this season - thanks to a double from
Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, after Bayern pulled a goal back through Arjen
Robben's penalty in the 27th minute to make it 3-3 on aggregate,
Real seemed to take their foot off the gas and the Germans
settled into the game and began to control possession in a
manner rarely witnessed at the giant arena.
Bastian Schweinsteiger, another hero of the night after
netting the penalty that sent Bayern through, expertly
marshalled the midfield and was ably supported by Luiz Gustavo
and Toni Kroos.
Real's defensive midfield pair of Xabi Alonso and Sami
Khedira huffed and puffed but were unable to exert the control
that would have allowed them to get the ball forward more often
to the lethal Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Angel di Maria.
Bayern's defenders, particularly Holger Badstuber and Jerome
Boateng, played solidly and intelligently with the two centre-backs occasionally striding out to join the attack and Philipp
Lahm and David Alaba roving down either flank.
SHIP SAILED
Mourinho threw on playmaker Kaka for Di Maria with 15
minutes of regulation time left but his next change midway
through extra time was to take off Mesut Ozil, who created
Ronaldo's second and has the most assists of any Real man this
term, and replace him with defensive midfielder Esteban Granero.
Striker Gonzalo Higuain had been deployed a few minutes
earlier in a straight swap for Benzema but by then there was a
sense that the ship had sailed and Real had missed a chance to
take the game by the throat.
"We had big problems in the first 15 minutes and then we
played some excellent football for long periods," Bayern coach
Jupp Heynckes, who led Real to a Champions League title in 1998,
told reporters.
Mourinho, whose failure to reach the final will be a bitter
blow after Real's arch rivals Barcelona were knocked out by
former club Chelsea on Tuesday, suggested the packed calendar
had helped bring about Real's failure.
Real and Barca locked horns in the La Liga 'Clasico' on
Saturday and Real's 2-1 win at the Nou Camp put them seven
points clear with four games left and within touching distance
of a first title in four years.
"The final will be contested by the fifth-placed English
team [Chelsea are actually sixth] and the second in Germany, who
have been playing with their B teams while Barcelona and Real
Madrid had to play the most important game of the season on
Saturday," Mourinho told a news conference.
"When I said they had to change the calendar in Italy and
they did it I was pleased," added the former Inter Milan
manager, who was bidding to become the first manager to win the
Champions League with three clubs.
"Here in Spain I don't command the same respect, power or
value of opinions.
"We started the most important month of the season playing
midweek La Liga games and that's why things happen like this."
Mourinho now needs to rally his troops for Sunday's La Liga
game at home to Sevilla, when Barca play at Rayo Vallecano.