Wily old hand struggles to keep up with new boy

Teething problems were always likely when La Liga’s big two began the season with new coaches, but even by La Liga standards Barcelona’s Gerardo Martino and Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti have had eventful first 100 days in charge.

The less experienced Martino was expected to struggle more — and murmurs soon began around Catalonia when the new man started the season by benching €60 million signing Neymar, and substituting Camp Nou darling Lionel Messi, while regularly talking about tweaking Barca’s tactics to be more ‘direct’ and ‘vertical’.

The dam broke after mid-September’s visit to minnows Rayo Vallecano, when the opposition had more possession — for the first time in 315 games — as well as more shots on goal and more passes completed than Barca.