I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 838: Chapter 72: Champions League Semifinals: Barcelona Again

In a short time, Real Madrid and Barcelona face off 4 times, meeting 5 times in one season.

This is quite rare in the long history of both teams.

During this period, the biggest news in the football world undoubtedly revolves around the quarrel between Real Madrid and Barcelona, from coaches, to players, from media, to celebrities...

Everyone is arguing over Real Madrid and Barcelona, and during this time, Real Madrid is the dominant side, because in the last two encounters, Real Madrid won one and lost one, claiming the King’s Cup championship.

This puts the Barcelona media in a disadvantaged position during discussions.

However, recently the Barcelona media found a point to counterattack.

Mourinho always has astonishing remarks. After the famous quotes ”After God, it’s me” and ”The Special One,” the maverick once again threw out bizarre talks before the big battle against Barcelona. This time he brought up the scientific giant Einstein to explain his pre-match motivational thoughts.

In a joint interview, The Sun asked Mourinho how he motivated Cristiano Ronaldo and others to believe they could beat Barcelona and do it in the King’s Cup final, to which the maverick gave the following answer.

”I am just a common motivator, before motivating you, I need to motivate myself first,” Mourinho said. ”When I am full of motivation, it’s easier to motivate others. Actually, I haven’t changed; I’m still myself, no magic involved.”

”I simply told my players, it’s not my words, it’s a guy named Albert Einstein who said it. The only thing more powerful than steam, electricity, or atomic energy in the universe is human desire. This guy named Albert isn’t stupid; with desire, you can achieve things.”

Mourinho’s words led the room into silence, then there was some applause. The Sun commented that this was yet another classic moment of Mourinho’s brilliance, a classic quote indeed.

The Barcelona media throwing out this news obviously shows their desperation; Real Madrid, in response, doesn’t care at all. Instead, more people begin to focus on the relationship between Mourinho and Guardiola.

Soon they find out that Guardiola and Mourinho will likely never be able to become friends again.

They once respected each other and even admired each other, but now their relationship has entered a frozen state.

Being the managers of Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively has destined them not to be friendly, and after launching verbal attacks before the Champions League semi-finals, their relationship has essentially completely broken down.

Guardiola has endured Mourinho’s sarcasm for a long time, and after losing the King’s Cup, he finally refused to remain silent.

Before the Real Madrid and Barcelona Champions League semi-final starts, Guardiola began to play the ”victim” role.

He stated that the opponent is actually the favored team, their lineup is stronger than his, and the referees are biased towards them.

This is completely different from his previous style; it’s as if he’s a different person.

After Guardiola’s comments, the verbal battle between the two managers finally kicked off.

Guardiola’s remarks about UEFA appointing Portuguese referees to officiate the match, Mourinho must be very happy, and the sarcastic comment about Real Madrid: ”Everything is against us, few fans bet on us, everyone thinks the league-leading Real Madrid are the favorites,” made Mourinho quite uncomfortable, so the Real Madrid manager also countered.

In the pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Mourinho said: ”Previously, there were two types of managers in football, a small number who did not talk about referees, and a large number who criticized referees after major mistakes — this includes me because we can’t control our frustration. Now, after Guardiola’s comments, we have entered a new phase, where there is a third type — criticizing referees for correct decisions. This kind of manager is only him (Guardiola). I have never seen such a thing in my life.”

Mourinho further mocked that the reason Guardiola is now criticizing referees is because Barcelona was accustomed to benefiting from decisions, and once they experience not benefiting, they complain.

The Portuguese stated: ”In his first season as coach, the Stanford Bridge scandal occurred, he was very satisfied then. Last season against Inter, for over an hour he played with a man advantage. This season against Arsenal, they were almost pushed out halfway, then that well-known incident happened. Now in the King’s Cup, the referee made an excellent and correct decision, yet he criticizes this right decision.”

Mourinho’s words were obviously directed at Guardiola’s sarcastic comments regarding the King’s Cup referee. The Barcelona manager recently said: ”Real Madrid seized the King’s Cup from us, because the referee has a good eyesight, seeing Pedro’s two-centimeter offside.”

Speaking of the Champions League semi-final’s officiating referee, Messi fan Stark, Mourinho stated: ”I don’t want to talk about the German commissioner, Stark. In the match against Lyon, he didn’t award us a penalty for their handball blocking Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot in the penalty area. I just hope Stark meets the standards, has luck, and can make accurate rulings.”