Madrid derby defeat an indication of the massive job José Mourinho has at Real Madrid
José Mourinho walked into the post-match press conference with two big photographs. Those images contained stills of two fouls from Atlético Madrid players Cristian Romero and Lee Kang-in on Jude Bellingham and Fede Valverde. And he started off the conference saying, “We can skip the press conference as the story of the game is here – they are two clear red cards.”
How Mourinho would have hoped that his Real Madrid side had shown even a fraction of the same defiance he did. His side suffered a 2–1 defeat at the Metropolitano, which has not only put Los Blancos six points behind leaders Barcelona ahead of a three-week-long international break, but also brutally highlighted the magnitude of the job that the Portuguese has on his hands.
While the fouls he showed were valid talking points, one cannot look past the disjointed nature of the performance that Real Madrid conjured in what was their first big test of the season. Atleti were clearly the better side on the day, comfortably outplaying Real in a way that was eerily reminiscent of the 5–2 mauling they handed them when Xabi Alonso was at the helm.
While the defeat was not as pronounced as the previous one, it has already left them playing catch-up, especially given that Barça have started this season like a dream.
Many problems lie at Mourinho’s door. To begin with, the front six of Bellingham, Valverde, Arda Güler, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Vinícius Júnior, and Kylian Mbappé that started yesterday’s derby also started in that 5–2 defeat. And just like the last one, Real Madrid’s midfield was comfortably overrun and outmatched multiple times in the game. Dean Huijsen is a very talented defender, but once again Atleti targeted him with ruthless efficiency, and that led to his sending off and the awarding of the penalty that Alejandro Grimaldo dispatched nervelessly.
After Jonathan David scored to make it 2–0, Mourinho was proactive and made the changes to infuse more attacking thrust in his side, but it failed to have the desired effect as his side got even more passive than before, which did not help matters one bit.
Vinícius was ineffective, while Mbappé was not his usual self. In fact, a big part of the insipid nature of the attack was Vini and Mbappé trying to occupy pretty much the same attacking positions. This meant that their attacks did not have the desired potency and failed to deliver. In fact, it took until the 39th minute for Real Madrid to register a shot on target.
Antonio Rüdiger eventually scored, albeit in the 89th minute, a bit too little too late. Even though Real Madrid did everything to get an equaliser, they didn’t get one, but even if they had, it would not have disguised the poor performance that saw them perform like a shadow of themselves.
Mourinho and Real Madrid will both stew over the nature of this loss over the next three weeks, looking for answers forcefully and hoping they arrive quickly. Games like these are the ones that earn managers like Mourinho their name, and failure to win them only adds to the already mounting pressure that comes with being the manager of Real Madrid, not to mention the fact that they have now gone two years without winning a major trophy.
The derby loss is a big indication of the job that lies ahead of Mourinho. Rectify the problems, and there is still a big chance he steers things in the right direction. Fail to do so, and people will speak about his inability to find answers in modern-day football as to why he has been at three clubs in the last four years.
No pressure, eh, José?
