Talking Points: The 'other' Madrid's La Decima

Atletico Madrid has broken a 14-year-old jinx against their city rivals Real Madrid by beating them2-1 in extra time to win the Copa del rey for the 10th time in their history. It was a frantic match with a stream of yellow cards shown every now and then and both the teams ending the match with ten men. It had the fervour of a derby match with emotions running high in both the camps. Though the match was in Real Madrid’ s fortress, 30,000 strong Atletico fans thronged the Santiago Bernabeau stadium and occupied the entire right side of the stadium. Atletico put an end to Real’s 43-match unbeaten home streak dating back to January 2012. As a result Real will end with no silverware in its cabinet this season – a first since 2009-10.

Real Madrid’s Achilles’ heel against the lowly teams

This season Los Blancos played exceptionally well against their Catalan rivals Barcelona. The stats show Real’s supremacy against Barca – they won 3 out of the 5 matches played. Real are no more out-thought and out-paced by Barca’s passing game and the “Special One” had a big influence in thwarting Barca ‘s game plan.

What is the reason for the Galacticos’ failure which had the same team composition that won the league the previous year? Real’s predicament was their under-performance in crunch matches against lower ranked teams. Their struggles against the likes of Granada, Betis , Mallorca, Osasuna, etc highlighted their problems this season. They simply failed to be consistent against the more humble teams, which led to them dropping unexpected points at regular intervals. Real Madrid paid for being soft against these teams.

Atletico Madrid showed that Spanish football is not dead

Just a few days back, the world was talking about German football overtaking Spain. But Atletico Madrid have shown that there is more to Spain than just the Big Two. The attacking brand of football led by Falcao gave a timely reminder to all the skeptics, reminding them of their prowess. This team is very entertaining to watch due to their speedy offensive forays into the opponents’ territory with Falcao always breathing down defenders’ necks. But what remains to be seen is that whether they can challenge the Big Two on a consistent basis because, if rumours are to be believed, many of their top players are on English teams’ wishlists in the summer transfer season.

Mourinho failed to do the job

Mourinho was brought to Real Madrid to get the long overdue 10th Champions League title. Three seasons, three semi final appearances – that is not bad for a coach’ s CV. But at a club like Real Madrid, where failures are not accepted, one can say that Mourinho came a cropper. One La Liga and cne Copa del rey title notwithstanding, Mourinho will be honest enough to admit that his tenure at Real was a failure – a term not synonymous with him. His record here pales in comparison to what he achieved in Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan.