He’s a genius. He’s got guts. He does what it takes, what is necessary, to win. Is it good for Real Madrid? Excellent. Real have captured the first spot in their Champions League group, no matter what the result is next week against Auxerre. So Mourinho, via other people, ordered Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos, who were already booked earlier in the match, to get themselves sent off.
Why? To erase their yellow card count and be ready with a clean slate for the knockout stages, missing next week’s match against Auxerre.
Real didn’t do anything illegal. The players wasted time, deliberately, and got the bookings they deserved, sending them off. The ref did the right thing. However, the way it was done, the bluntness, the total disrespect for the game, was way off line. Mourinho showed he is clever, but that might come right back to bite him. UEFA have already launched a probe into the matter, and if they come to decide that Ramos and Alonso got themselves sent off deliberately, the punishment will be for more than one game.
Mourinho is a football genius – Tactically and physiology, but his arrogance does get the best of him at times, and an arrogant and obvious disregard and disrespect for the game as shown by him last night in Amsterdam isn’t something fans, unless you’re a Real Madrid fan, want to see. I don’t think Platini and his chaps in the UEFA ivory tower liked what they saw against Ajax, and I think that tonight or tomorrow Mourinho’s “genius” move won’t seem so brilliant as it did to him and many others not too long ago.
10 responses to “Jose Mourinho – Genius, Clever, But Wrong”
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To punish Mourihno or real Madrid for what happened will be total injustice. Football is not charity. It is a competition and those who win are those who exploit the loopholes in the system combined with good play. That was exactly what real Madrid did. If that was found to be unfair, it means the rule is not good in the first place.
The players were punished according to the book. At the world cup in South Africa, Suarez deliberately used his hands to block a goal bound shot from Ghana. He got the deserved red card and Ghana missed the subsequent penalty and Uruguay qualified for the semis. You could see Suarez jumping in excitement after the Gyan missed the penalty. He later claimed his was more than the hand of God. I hold nothing against Suarez because that is what the rules of the game have dealt us.
In basketball, if you make a shot ring bound and someone snatches it before it gets to the ring, it is considered a basket. This rule as a result of very tall players just standing at the ring and scooping out opponents shots. That means we can always learn to redraft when rules don’t work.
Instead of punishing Mourinho and Real Madrid, they should be commended for bringing to the notice of all how stupid that rule is. We wait 4 years for the world cup and some stupid two yellow card rule makes teams play second rated players at crucial stages of the tournament.
What will EUFA do if Real decides to field a weak team in their last game because they dont have anything to lose?
Give me a break EUFA
Very true about the rules being a problem the way they are. Still, I don’t think we’d like to scenes like the one at the Amsterdam Arena last night.
I agree w/ the first comment. Rules are meant to be examined and modified according to the circumstances. Real Madrid players didn’t do anything illegal. Hopefully this incident triggers a new clause where players can voluntarily skip a game to reset their yellow card count, and they don’t have to resort to these kind of actions, that makes a lot of strategic sense, but it’s awful for the fans.
Okay, let’s say you are right, that “it is a competition and those who win are those who exploit the loopholes in the system combined with good play” and that Real simply followed the rules.
So then if EUFA decides to penalize Ramos and Alonso with more than 1 game of suspension for non-sportsmanlike conduct, which is perfectly legal for EUFA to do and is also clearly in the rules, why would that be injustice? If you are completely fine with Real Madrid exploiting the rules, then surely you should not have any complaints if UEFA penalizing them within the rules. I hope they do!
This is a game, and everyone must follow the RULE! The two players wasted the time and they got booked. If UEFA think want to penalize them, then they need to change the rule first!
Jose Mourinho – Genius, Clever, But Wrong | Sportige…
Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing……
[…] this? Jose Mourinho told two of his players to waste time while leading 4-0 against Ajax so they can […]
[…] in the way to mull things over. Last season, in that same venue and pretty much the same date, Mourinho made his famous red card play, with Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso delaying the match so they can come into the knockout stage […]
[…] Last time, it was over two years ago in the Champions League. Mourinho getting Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos sent off after leading 4-0 at Amsterdam against Ajax, so there isn’t a chance they’ll be booked and miss the first match of the knockout stages. He could have simply not used them in the next match, but Mourinho prefers doing it in a way that screams “I don’t give a F$%^ about your rules.” […]