It has been a full season now that Jose Mourinho has been in charge of Real Madrid. So at the end of an eventful La Liga season, we evaluate whether the self proclaimed ‘Special One’ was the right man for the job.
Mourinho widely regarded as one of the best coaches of all time has lifted major honors at every club he has managed in his career so when he took the helm at the Santiago Bernabéu expectations were high.
To set the scene of Mourinho’s appointment, Barcelona had dominated the league for two seasons, Real hadn’t won the Copa Del Rey in 18 years and had failed to progress past the last 16 of the Champions League since 2004. Mourinho’s objectives were simple, bring success back to Madrid. The club aimed for Mourinho to be the man to close the gap on the almost invincible Barcelona by mounting a serious challenge for the league and breaking the club’s curse of ending their European campaigns at the last 16.
Taking the Real Madrid hot seat has always been a job under much scrutiny, Mourinho became the Galacticos’ eleventh manager in just seven years and the suits who run the club have never been shy to give a high profile name the sack. The expectations of Mourinho were high and for good reason too, going into the job Mourinho had won the Champions League twice with arguably smaller clubs.
Looking at the La Liga season first, it was definitely anything but uneventful. Mourinho started off his campaign with a goal-less draw but vowed to make amends and went on to do so. His Real Madrid side scored more goals this season than any other team in their league (102 goals), the same tally as the season before but still their highest goal tally in the past four years. Mourinho also won a game by the highest margin of his career, thrashing Levante UD in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey quarterfinal 8-nil.
With the signings of Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Angel Di Maria in the summer and then Emmanuel Adebayor in the winter, Mourinho kept Real Madrid a strong attacking side and made the Galactico’s entertaining to watch again.
The highlight of Real’s season must without doubt be their 1-nil win over Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey final. The win secured Mourinho’s only silverware with Real this season but also showed his side weren’t inferior to Barcelona on their day.
Mourinho suffered his fair share of downs during this season also. The humbling 5-nil defeat at the hands of Barcelona was described by Real’s director Florentino Perez as the worst game in Real Madrid history although the Special One refused to admit humiliation. Mourinho was also troubled by the saga leading up to the eventual loan signing of Adebayor from Manchester City.
This La Liga season had all eyes on the intense rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona who played each other five times. Barca getting the better of Real Madrid twice, Madrid taking one victory and the drawing the other two games. The comprehensive 5-nil win and knocking Real out of the champions league showed Guardiola was the biggest thorn in Mourinho’s side this season.
So here we are, all the matches have been played, training grounds are closed and players and staff are enjoying holidays or international football. The only question remaining on Mourinho is has it all worked? Looking at the results, maybe not. Real Madrid’s only silverware this campaign was the Copa Del Rey, a competition Real Madrid seem to have ignored for the past 18 years but as they say any trophy is better than no trophy. They lost the league to Barcelona by 4 points, one point more than the previous season.
Looking at Real Madrid as a team and their performances then I would argue yes, Mourinho’s appointment has been successful. They finally broke the curse of only being able to reach the last 16 of the Champions League, the team is putting in more consistent performances and have the talent to maintain and improve their position. But what is most important I believe, is that they are closing the performance gap on Barcelona who are not just the dominant team in Spanish football but world football. Real still have many kinks in their armor and it will be interesting to see how Mourinho does in his second season as Real boss. That is, if he stays.
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