SOCCER UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Real Madrid (1) v Bayern Munich (2):ON THE eve of Real Madrid's Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, Jose Mourinho has given his strongest indication yet that he intends to continue at the club next season. Madrid must overturn a 2-1 deficit as Mourinho seeks to become the first man to win the European Cup with three different sides, just days after they overcame Barcelona to virtually secure the Spanish league title.
Although Mourinho never publicly stated that he was planning to depart, strategic leaks from the coach’s camp in January said that he would seek a return to England at the end of the season. Those reports could be seen in effect as an advert for the coach’s services, putting Premier League clubs on alert as to his availability.
Since then, Mourinho has refused to be drawn on his future. Now, though, he has suggested that he will remain in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Asked if he could state that he was going to carry on as Real Madrid manager, Mourinho replied: “That is not important [at the moment],” he said. “But I think so. I have a contract and I do not have any reason not to be here, but before the last game there will be sufficient time to talk to the players and the directors and decide what is best for me and for the players. In any case, it is the players that matter not my future.”
There was a further hint when he said that success is the result of work over an extended period of time and claimed to see the same hunger in his Madrid team as he did at Internazionale, despite the players finding themselves at very different stages of their career.
“That was the last chance for a generation of players. The semi-final was a day to get to the final or maybe never get there again. That’s why it was so emotional and why we celebrated so much.
“I look at this group today and I see the same hope and hunger, leading me to the conclusion that it’s not about it being your fifth [final] or your first, about being young or old, but about hope, about it being the Champions League, full stop.
This is the year for Real Madrid.
“Working at Madrid is an enriching experience and that has made me a better coach. I have always wanted to work in different places, with different cultures, different clubs and different players.
“I hope I do not fail to live up to people’s expectations. There’s less than a month left: we can win two great titles, or one, or none. That’s the emotion of football – that is something I like a lot.
“It is about the way we work together, the way we create empathy. It’s about the work over the course of a season. And when the seasons are accumulated, then so much the better. It is better to be in charge for three, four or five years than one or two because you can do more things.
“This is not my first semi-final and if I was to reach the final it would not be my first. But it is the players who are out there and I have faith in them.”
Mourinho admitted to having rather less faith in fortune. For a coach who has won so much, defeat weighs heavily in his discourse.
There was yet another mention for Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool here and for Barcelona, who knocked out Real Madrid at this stage last season.
And a mention for Howard Webb, who refereed the first leg.
There was no mention of the 2010 semi-final when a relieved, 10-man Inter side saw Barcelona have a late winner ruled out, or for the 2004 semi-final when Porto knocked out Deportivo 1-0 on aggregate after a Derlei penalty and with the Spanish side having had a man sent off in both legs: in the first, Jorge Andrade was handed a red card for playfully kicking countryman Deco, his friend.
“I think if I look at it overall, I was not lucky in my semi-finals because I lost one [in 2005] with a goal that was not a goal – the ball did not cross the line and I didn’t reach the final because of that,” he said.
“Another season [2007], I lost a semi-final on penalties [to Liverpool], and penalties are more luck than anything.
“And last season, I lost a semi-final the way that everybody knows. Last season the way everybody knows.
“I hope to win this one but I was not lucky this time either because I lost the first leg with a goal that was not a goal. It was offside.”
Guardian Service
Stat attack: Real v Bayern
Head-to-head record
Played: 19
Wins: Bayern 11, Real 6
Draws: 2
Goals: Bayern 32, Real 24
Previous matches
European Cup
1976 semi-final – Real 1 Bayern 1; Bayern 2 Real 0
1987 semi-final – Bayern 4 Real 1; Real 1 Bayern 0
1988 quarter-final – Bayern 3 Real 2; Real 2 Bayern 0
Champions League
2000 group stages – Real 2 Bayern 4; Bayern 4 Real 1
2000 semi-final – Real 2 Bayern 0; Bayern 2 Real 1
2001 semi-final – Real 0 Bayern 1; Bayern 2 Real 1
2002 quarter-final – Bayern 2 Real 1; Real 2 Bayern 0
2004 first knockout round – Bayern 1 Real 1; Real 1 Bayern 0
2007 first knockout round – Real 3 Bayern 2; Bayern 2 Real 1
2012 semi-final – Bayern 2 Real 1
Champions League record this season
Real Madrid P11 W9 D1 L1 F33 A8
Bayern Munich P11 W8 D1 L2 F24 A8
Top scorers
Real Madrid – Cristiano Ronaldo 8, Karim Benzema 7, Jose Callejon 5, Gonzalo Higuain 3, Kaka 3.
Bayern Bayern – Mario Gomez 12, Franck Ribery 3, Arjen Robben 3.
Most appearances
Real Madrid – Higuain 11
Bayern Munich – Jerome Boateng 11
Misses the final if booked
Real Madrid – Xabi Alonso, Fabio Coentrao, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Ramos
Bayern Munich – Jerome Boateng, Thomas Mueller, David Alaba, Luiz Gustavo, Toni Kroos, Holger Badstuber, Philipp Lahm.
Real and Bayern are meeting for the 20th time, a record between two clubs in European competition.
Real have won nine of 12 previous home games against German clubs in the Champions League. They have lost twice - both to Bayern Munich.
Real are aiming to reach a fourth Champions League final and what would be a record 13th in the European Cup/Champions League.
Real have scored 22 goals in their five Champions League home games this season, all of them victories by at least three goals. They have conceded five.
Real forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored eight goals this season in nine Champions League games, has yet to find the net against a German team. He has only played twice against German opposition and both games resulted in defeat – his Champions League debut for Manchester United against VfB Stuttgart in 2003 ended in a 2-1 loss and last week’s semi-final first leg against Bayern was lost by the same score.
Real coach Jose Mourinho, who has lost just two of 20 Champions League games in charge at the club, has a negative record against German sides. He has lost four of eight such games, including two against Bayern, and won only three – but one of those was the 2-0 victory over Bayern in the 2010 final when he was manager at Inter Milan.
Bayern have won their last four Champions League games, scoring 13 goals and conceding just one.
Bayern have won six of their last 10 Champions League away games but have not done well in Spain where they have lost five of their last six, including three against Real.
Bayern are aiming to reach their fourth Champions League final and their ninth in the European Cup/Champions League.
Bayern have kept clean sheets in seven of 13 games in this season’s competition, including the play-off round.
Bayern have won three games out of three against Spanish clubs this season. Apart from beating Real in the first leg, they beat Villarreal home and away in the group stage.
Bayern striker Mario Gomez has scored 12 goals in his 10 Champions League games this season and a remarkable 20 in his last 16 matches in the competition.
