Barcelona’s advantage and Real Madrid’s improving form set the backdrop for next Sunday’s El Clásico, a fixture that will also bring José Mourinho back to the Barcelona touchline as an opposing coach for the first time in 13 years. The Portuguese manager’s earlier Madrid spell, from 2010 to 2013, belonged to one of the fiercest chapters of the rivalry: Pep Guardiola on the other bench, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo defining the era on the pitch, and Europe watching every meeting between the Spanish giants.
Mourinho played 17 Clásicos during his first time at Real Madrid, recording five wins, five draws and six defeats. His final five matches against Barcelona produced three victories and two draws, an unbeaten finish he will seek to extend in the latest encounter.
A rivalry shaped by Camp Nou nights and European tension
His introduction to the fixture could scarcely have been harsher. Barcelona marked their 111th anniversary with a 5-0 league victory over Real Madrid at Camp Nou in November 2010. Xavi, Pedro and Jeffren scored once each, while David Villa struck twice, with Messi, Andrés Iniesta and the rest of Guardiola’s side overwhelming Mourinho’s new team. Barcelona went on to win both LaLiga and the Champions League that season.
The continental confrontation later that campaign brought another defining episode. Barcelona won 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu in the Champions League semi-final first leg, Messi producing the decisive attacking display. Pepe was sent off early in the second half and Mourinho was dismissed shortly afterwards for protesting. A 1-1 draw in Barcelona ended Madrid’s hopes and carried their rivals into the final.
In the aftermath, Mourinho sharply questioned the refereeing and Guardiola’s methods, saying he would be ashamed to win in the manner he believed Guardiola’s team did. The dispute added heat to a contest already elevated by the Messi-Ronaldo duel.
There was further friction in August 2011, when Barcelona beat Madrid 5-4 on aggregate in the Spanish Super Cup final. Messi scored three times across the tie. The return match ended amid late disorder, dismissals and the incident in which Mourinho poked Barcelona assistant Tito Vilanova in the eye.
Madrid’s answers under Mourinho
For all Barcelona’s superiority in several of those early meetings, Mourinho did find major victories. In the 2010-11 Copa del Rey final at Mestalla, Cristiano Ronaldo headed Ángel Di María’s cross in extra time to secure a 1-0 win and hand Madrid the trophy.
The following spring brought a league result that shifted the balance of the title race. Madrid travelled to Camp Nou in the closing phase of the 2011-12 season holding a four-point lead. Sami Khedira put the visitors ahead, Alexis Sánchez restored parity, and Ronaldo replied three minutes later for a 2-1 victory. Madrid’s lead became seven points with only four rounds remaining, and Ronaldo’s gesture asking for calm became one of the enduring images of that night.
Mourinho’s last Clásico before this return came in May 2013. Less than a week after Madrid had eliminated Barcelona from the Copa del Rey, they won the league meeting 2-1 as Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos scored, with Messi on the scoresheet for Barcelona. It was a fittingly hard-edged final note to a spell in which Madrid and Barcelona met repeatedly across league, cup and Europe.
Thirteen years on, the setting is familiar even if the personnel and circumstances have changed. Barcelona enter as favourites, while Real Madrid arrive with momentum, and Mourinho returns to a fixture that once seemed to follow him from one season to the next.
