Real Madrid: Confusion, conflict and crisis reign for Mourinho's men

What's going on at Real Madrid? It's hard to know at the best of times but, as Jonathan Wilson explains, this an especially strange era at the Bernabeu. So can we write  them of for silverware this season?

No war is ever won without a cost. Jose Mourinho finally overcame Barcelona last season, breaking Pep Guardiola to the point he has taken a year-long sabbatical and even  now is saying he's not sure he wants to return to management. To edge out this Barcelona is a significant achievement, even at a club as storied as Real Madrid, but the  price has been far higher than anybody could have imagined.

 

Guardiola has gone but Barcelona have not. Indeed, if anything, they seem to have risen up stronger than ever. They may not be quite so fluent (yet) under Tito Vilanova, but  they have an effectiveness and a directness that Guardiola's sides - if we're being ultra-critical - did at times seem to lack. The real test, of course, will come in the later  stages of the Champions League. And, of course, there is no way of knowing how they will react to this week's dreadful news that Vilanova's cancer has returned.

 

Real Madrid, meanwhile, have sunk into a morass of backbiting and discontent. Mourinho wrote off their chances of winning the title after Sunday's 2-2 draw against  Espanyol left Real 13 points behind Barca (and 28 to win the title). "It is practically impossible," Mourinho said. "That's too much of a gap at this stage. Last year we had a  10-point advantage in February or March and we were able to maintain it. But if we can improve in the league it will serve to help us in the Copa del Rey and the Champions  League."

 

But Real Madrid finished only second in their group in the Champions League and last week lost 2-1 to Celta Vigo in the first leg of their Copa last 16 tie. "I have never seen  a situation like this before, losing so many points, and having a team so far from its objectives," Mourinho said. "It's new for me, but I am not about to give up. I am not going  to make a drama of it. We will seek to finish the season in the best way possible. We have titles within our reach and we have to fight for them, but the league is almost  impossible now."

 

Trying to work out exactly what is going on at Real Madrid is never easy. It can feel at times like the Kremlin in the most paranoid days of the Cold War, when every  photograph of officials was studied to try to discern the shifting political sands. Was there any significance in the pitchside announcer at the Bernabeu omitting Mourinho's  name as he read out the teams on Sunday?

 

And what is the significance of Mourinho's recent spat with a radio journalist that was plastered all over Marca, which often seems like the clubs propaganda arm? Anton  Meana, who works for Radio Marca, had named the goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro as Mourinho's "spy" in the dressing-room. At the pre-Espnayol press-conference,  Meana was asked to go behind the press office where he found Louro waiting with Mourinho and a handful of others. In the midst of the row that ensued, Mourinho asked  why Meana had listened "to one of the three rotten eggs" in the squad rather than the 21 he claimed are with him.

 

There was, apparently, an initial agreement that the conversation would not be reported, but a day later it was there in Marca. The assumption is that this was sanctioned on  some level, wither by the club or by Mourinho or perhaps even both. Certainly talk of a divided dressing-room makes it easier for both sides to part ways. Mourinho can  blame the players, while the club can suggest he should have retained tighter control.

 

Real Madrid are away at Malaga on Sunday and 1.64 to win. Given Malaga are just five points behind Real, it must be worth laying Madrid even if Malaga's form has  stuttered of late, or perhaps even backing Malaga draw no bet at 4.4.

 

Bet HERE

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