Straight talking Barca defender Gerard Pique has been very critical of the attitude of Jose Mourinho during his stay at Real Madrid. The statements are captured by UK newspaper ‘Daily Star‘, where the Barca defender ensures that the conduct of the Portuguese manager, who is now back at Chelsea for a second spell, was motivated by the fact that he could not cope with FC Barcelona’s brilliant game.
“At one point we were very superior to Real Madrid and were winning many trophies. Jose Mourinho attempted to divert the game from the pitch and I think he did it because he felt inferior to Barcelona,” said Gerard Pique.
“All this created a bad atmosphere and generated everything that is not good for a team or whoever plays football,” he added. Gerard Pique admits that the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona crossed the line: “Things came to a point where it crossed the line. The atmosphere was very intense.”
“There was a time when there was great tension between the players of Barcelona and Real Madrid. That’s where maturity of everyone involved finally said: ‘Enough,'” he explained. He also noted “it wasn’t Mourinho who put a stop to it. It was the players who realized that it was all getting out of hand”.
We have often said that Mourinho became a different person when he landed in La Liga. We were used to his showman antics in the Premier league with stand-offs with Alex Ferguson, Rafa Benitez and Arsene Wenger and it made for good TV and press coverage. It was mostly good fun and entertaining.
When he arrived in Spain however, Mourinho had a mission, and that was to kick the good football out of Barcelona. Mourinho wanted to be the saviour of Real Madrid but ended up cursing the club with his stupidity and immature behaviour, both on and off the pitch.
Real Madrid can now look forward to playing like they know under the guidance of a new manager that will enthuse good football back into the club. Certainly the Mourinho years will be looked upon as sad ones from a sporting view of the club.
True talk