The Real Madrid crowd have been booing recently. And surprisingly, the boos are directed towards two of the most important men in the team – Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho. Their frustration with Cristiano Ronaldo is understandable to an extent, as he is the best player that Real Madrid could have had yet he is consistently outscored and outshone by their rival’s best player, Lionel Messi. However their frustration with Mourinho has deeper rooted reasons.
Never in the history of the club has any single person been bigger than the club itself. On the other hand, Mourinho is the type of personality who is strong and likes nothing standing in its way. In simpler words, Mourinho and Real Madrid are the complete opposites of each other. But it is a problem that could not have been thought before Mourinho’s appointment at the club. At first, it seemed like a match made in heaven. Real Madrid’s superstar egos needed to be controlled by someone who has managed it before. Mourinho’s success at Chelsea and Inter in achieving that sort of results suggests that he was more than capable of handling the pressure at Real Madrid. But at the moment, it seems like it is getting harder, even for the Special One himself.
One of the obvious reasons why Mourinho is unpopular with the Madridistas has to be the fact that he has not managed to unlock the code required to defeat Barcelona. His one off fluke success with Inter against Barcelona in the Champion’s League has been given far more importance than it actually deserved. It was felt at that moment that only Mourinho was the person capable of defeating the Catalans. Since being appointed as Real Madrid manager, he has defeated them only once. Agreed that it was in the finals of the Copa Del Rey, but when your arch rivals are busy lifting the Champions League trophy, it is hard to digest a cup victory.
Another reason for Mourinho’s unpopularity with the crowd is his outlandish and too an extent, classless behaviour (the Tito Vilanova incident). He has blamed everyone except his own players. He hasn’t spared the referees, the linesmen, the ball boys and not even UEFA, claiming that it was a conspiracy from their part to eliminate Real from last year’s Champions League. Even in the theatrical showdowns that the El Classicos have become, where it is now expected that both the teams will provide at least three players for the top acting honours, he has gone on to crucify Sergio Busquets, Pedro and Dani Alves, without even glinting an eye over his own crop of actors: Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Angel Di Maria. The Madrid fans would surely have appreciated if Mourinho came out and scolded Pepe for playacting in their Copa Del Rey second round match against Barca.
Real Madrid are a club like no other in world football. They have had exceptional talents gracefully exhibiting their skills on the pitch and conducting themselves admirably, off it too. An egoistic and brash manager with limited success (with Real Madrid, of course) is not what the Madrid faithful are used to. With Barcelona now seven points behind, Real Madrid can possibly win the La Liga title this year, without them having to beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou, and Mourinho, having completely lost the plot, has come out and said that it would be even better if they could do it that way. If Mourinho just somehow managed to feel what a normal Madrid faithful would, he would have known, that the deal would be sweeter if they included Barcelona in the mix.
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