Without his favourite playmate and wrestle-buddy Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho has cut a bit of a gloomy figure this season. OK, even gloomier than usual.
Bickering with the press no longer gives the Portuguese the same spacedust-in-the-mouth buzz, UEFA donâÂÂt answer back to his name-calling and an ongoing sulky feud with Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos is always going to be a bruising battle the Madrid manager will lose with the fans.
Happily, Mourinho has found a new arch-nemesis to spar with â and to find him, he only had to stick his neck out of his training ground office door. Alberto Toril â the fearsome figure of the manager of MadridâÂÂs second side, Castilla â is a bit of a rising star at the club's Valdebebas training complex: he recently guided Castilla out of Spanish football's third tier, the realm of small clubs' second strings, and into the second alongside clubs the size of Sporting Gijon, Villarreal and Racing Santander.
However, tension has been developing between the two managers over MourinhoâÂÂs continuing habit of overlooking the youth team for options â most recently evident in the selection of Michael Essien at left-back during an injury crisis which cost Madrid the services of Marcelo, Fabio Coentrao and Alvaro Arbeloa.
There had been talk of elevating a Castilla centre-back called Nacho who can also play full-back, but Mourinho clearly disagreed with the concept in matches against Celta Vigo and Borussia Dortmund, sniffing that it is impossible to play two roles when developing as a player. Toril responded by claiming that Nacho is perfectly fine in both spots.
Mou considers deploying the "left back on the training ground" joke
This simmering cauldron sort of spurted in TuesdayâÂÂs press conference ahead of the Copa Del Rey match against Alcoyano, with Mourinho unceremoniously predicting that most of the current Castilla side wonâÂÂt brave the bright lights at the Bernabeu, unless they come back playing for Getafe: âÂÂIf a footballer who is 23, 24 or 25 has not reached a high enough level to be in MadridâÂÂs first team, heâÂÂs not going to get there at 26, 27 or 28.âÂÂ
The topic covers a common and heated theme in Madrid on why more youth team players donâÂÂt make it to the first team and are forced to leave the club. ItâÂÂs a topic too titanic to cover here, but Mourinho partly blames Toril's tactics. âÂÂThere are footballers with Castilla who play in positions that donâÂÂt exist in the first team. We have no âÂÂnine-and-a-half' where Jesé plays. We have the seven, the eight, the nine, the 10 and the 11.âÂÂ
For good measure, Mourinho then went on to list a long line of failures in the recent history of MadridâÂÂs youth system by reeling off players such as Francisco Pavón and Raúl Bravo. âÂÂIâÂÂve not broken a fixed dynamic,â he said, not unreasonably.
This story has now become the main event ahead of WednesdayâÂÂs cup game, with MarcaâÂÂs front cover yelling about âÂÂdynamite against the canteraâ and AS fretting over âÂÂMou-Toril, an asymmetric war,â with the paperâÂÂs editor writing of âÂÂMourinhoâÂÂs obscene search for total controlâ of Real Madrid in picking a fight with one of the clubâÂÂs coaching team, and an important one at that.
A couple of those footballers not yet at MourinhoâÂÂs age cut-off point will be expected to play alongside Karim Benzema and Kaká against Alcoyano, a third-tier side based not far from Alicante. Barcelona brought out their big guns in TuesdayâÂÂs clash against Alavés, ensuring one-way traffic and goals from David Villa, Andrés Iniesta and Sergio Busquets in a 3-0 win. Valencia came away with a very healing 2-0 win at the rain-swept training pitch that Llagoste call home, giving Mauricio Pellegrino just a tiny bit of breathing space ahead of SaturdayâÂÂs visit of Atlético Madrid.
WednesdayâÂÂs Copa del Rey Fixtures
AlmerÃÂa v Celta Vigo
Alcoyano v Real Madrid
Cacereño v Málaga
Jaén v Atlético Madrid
Las Palmas v Rayo Vallecano
Zaragoza v Granada
