Eye on La Liga : La Liga taking on to a Real shape

Jose Mourinho signed a four-year contract in May to become their 10th Real Madrid coach since Vicente del Bosque, the current Spanish national team coach was sacked in 2003. And after a lackluster nil—nil draw in the first league game against Real Mallorca, Mourinho defended his team and himself by warning Real Madrid fans that he wasn’t Harry Potter, but just a normal human (coach). On the same weekend, archrivals Barcelona swept aside Racing Santander 3-0, opening up an immediate two-point lead. “I am a coach, not Harry Potter,” Mourinho, who is known for his bluntness, told the media. “He is a magician. Magic is fiction and I live for football which is real. I’ve only been two months in Madrid. Do you know how many training sessions I have had with everyone together, including the new signings? Not even 10.” The self-anointed ‘Special One’ was brought in to replace Manuel Pellegrini in an attempt to end a run of two trophy-less seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu, and to break Barcelona’s dominance, and with eight games into the season, it already looks like Mourinho is on the way to accomplishing exactly that. “My profile as a coach is different from those they have had in recent years,” he went on. “If things go badly and I have to leave I would have one of the best clubs in the world waiting for me. “This personal stability allows me to say I am the ideal person to be at Madrid because I fear nothing. Madrid need stability and I’m here to give it. Madrid is in many ways a conflict of footballing ideas. Coach after coach after coach ... They need stability.” Ideally, Mourinho is the perfect person to bring that much needed long-term stability to Real Madrid and with a one point lead at the top of la Liga table standing over Barcelona and Villarreal, the draw against Mallorca seems a distant memory as season starts to take a real shape. The men are starting to separate from the boys, early season pace setters, Valencia are now fourth, four points off the pace. Real Madrid, who struggled for goals in the first four league games, are now scoring for fun. With 16 goals in their last three league matches, Real have scored the most goals and conceded the least (22/4). Mourinho’s team has scored 8 more goals than Barcelona and conceded two less. Seeing them tie apart their last three opponents Malaga (4-1), Deportivo La Coruna (6-1) and Racing Santander (6-1), it appears as though Mourinho is starting to apply his magic (not like Harry Potter) as one of the best coaches around. Until last weekend, I hadn’t taken much interest in Mourinho’s unbeaten home record, stretching from his time at Fc Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and now Real Madrid. The Special One is on an unbeaten run of 140 home league matches: 38 (W36–D2) with Porto, 60 (W46–D14) with Chelsea, 38 (W29–D9) with Inter and 4 (W4-D0) with Real Madrid. This is a phenomenon record, and with Mourinho, it’s hard to bet against him stretching it to another season and more. nku78@yahoo.com