Mourinho and his ‘machine’

It’s many years since Real Madrid fans have been as happy going into a new campaign.

Jose Mourinho’s side finished last season with a record 100 points after scoring a historic 121 goals in 38 games, while they were also boosted by the departure of Josep Guardiola, the architect of Barcelona’s recent success. The momentum is all with José Mourinho’s men now, and the likely addition of Luka Modric from Spurs should further strengthen their squad.

Mourinho has not been shy about talking up Madrid’s chances and his own contribution. Earlier this week he told Portuguese station SIC that he no longer should be known as the ‘Special One’, given all he has achieved in his career so, he reckons, ‘The Only One’ would be a more suitable title. After his side won all four games on their pre-season US tour, including a 5-1 defeat of Milan and a 2-0 victory over Celtic, he predicted further improvement from his team this year.

“We are a machine that is working well,” said Mourinho. “When people get to know each other they become more united and support each other. The players know my way of working, my ideas, my methods, we have grown together and you can see that in the development of the group. We want to begin our third year in a balanced way, not too high, but in good condition.”

Madrid, who opened their campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to Valencia last night, will need to begin positively as, they are straight into two highly-hyped Supercopa ties against their Catalan rivals. These games are even more hyped than usual as they bring Mourinho face-to-face almost immediately with Guardiola’s successor Tito Vilanova, who the Portuguese famously poked in the eye during last August’s Supercopa clash.

Vilanova has taken a much more low-key approach to the new season and his new job, sticking closely to the approach favoured by Guardiola and giving little away in interviews. His team, who kicked off their Primera Division campaign with a 5-1 home win against Real Sociedad, have also had a promising summer, bringing in left-back Jordi Alba from Valencia for a bargain €14m, coming undefeated through high-profile friendlies against Man Utd and Paris St Germain, and welcoming back David Villa and Carles Puyol to fitness. Barca also have Leo Messi fresh after a full pre-season as he aims to better last season’s tally of 50 La Liga goals, but their Spanish internationals have had limited preparation time post-Euro 2012. One of those, Cesc Fabregas, said anyone underestimating Vilanova would be surprised.

“Tito Vilanova knows a lot about football and has a lot of personality, more than people think,” Fabregas said. “He will bring new things and help us. This can be a good year.”

Less optimistic ahead of the new season are Malaga, where fans awaiting new big money signings ahead of a season in the Champions League instead watched their best player Santi Cazorla leave for Arsenal after the club’s Qatari owners abruptly withdrew their financial support. Coach Manuel Pellegrini has vowed to stay, but accepted things had gone awry.

“My situation is very clear at Malaga, to stay and lift the club out of these difficult moments,” said Pellegrini. “Things are being done badly, but I want to work with the club to improve them.”

Another club where dreams of sustained success have been dashed is Athletic Bilbao. Last spring a talented generation of Basque youngsters looked to be heading for the top under eccentric tactician Marcelo Bielsa, but the expected loss of both Fernando Llorente and Javi Martinez has hit these hopes hard.

Expectations are higher at Valencia where new coach Mauricio Pellegrino has lost Alba but kept last season’s top scorer and captain Roberto Soldado, despite a €30m offer from Tottenham. Their main rivals for the ‘best of the rest’ spot should be Atletico Madrid, who themselves have kept hold of main forward Radamel Falcao.

Sevilla will also be hopeful of a decent season, with their Spanish internationals Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo full of confidence after the Euros. Other potential challengers for European qualification are the well-coached Real Mallorca and Getafe, while Real Sociedad’s talented youngsters — Antoine Griezmann and Ruben Pardo in particular — will also be worth watching.

Deportivo la Coruna, with young Portuguese striker Nelson Oliveira an astute loan signing, look the best prepared of the promoted teams. Fellow new boys Celta Vigo and Real Valladolid will be happy with avoiding the drop. Rayo Vallecano, having ditched popular coach Jose Ramon Sandoval, look likely to go down, while Levante coach Juan Ignacio Martinez must ensure his side are not distracted by the excitement of a debut Europa League campaign.

The most predictable story of the Spanish summer was more off-the-field financial drama. Squabbling over TV revenues and kick-off times lead to a threat by ‘13’ rebel clubs to postpone the season’s kick-off for a second successive year. This weekend’s start was only confirmed last Tuesday when Spain’s secretary of state for sport Miguel Cardenal postponed his holidays to chair an emergency meeting of first and second division clubs. “All of Europe is laughing at us,” said Espanyol chief executive Joan Collet, with some justification.

Not for the first time, Madrid and Barcelona were able to overcome opposition to the current arrangement which sees them share about half of the €600m revenues. The only real novelty in the agreement announced was a schedule change which could see games played Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings.

The hope in Spain is that most of the talking will now be done on the pitch, where most pundits agree that Mourinho’s confidence in his side’s chances is well founded. It is asking a lot of Vilanova to hit the ground running and regain the title in his first season as a top flight head coach.