Will it be another Hell Clasico?

THIRTY seconds from the end of the game in the Bernabeu stadium on Saturday, with Real Madrid trailing 3-2 to Zaragoza, the fourth official flashed up a board indicating there would be 100 minutes of added time.

Even by current Spanish standards it seemed unlikely and so it proved. Seven frantic minutes later the referee blew the final whistle and Madrid had lost their second home game running and José Mourinho his second home league game in a month after going nine years unbeaten. In itself it was an irrelevant match for Madrid, although not for Zaragoza who are now just about safe from relegation It could be more significant for tonight’s game and also for Mourinho’s future.

This match has ceased to be a sporting contest and become more like a war: a petty war, a war of puffed up pride and pomposity on both sides, but a war all the same. As with all petty wars the danger is that the participants become locked into it.