The Portuguese José Mourinho was once again the protagonist of the sports press with one of his most controversial conferences after the game against Barcelona. In the press conference on April 26, 2011, one day before the Champions League semi-final, the Real Madrid coach was ironic and critical, remembering his previous meetings with the Catalan club and questioning his rivals. Pep Guardiola, who was managing Barça at the time, commented that Mourinho “is the boss, the master” of the press room, and that he does not compete with him “not even for a moment.”
Mourinho, who left Barcelona after his time as assistant to Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal, has been a regular interlocutor for the media when they face Barça. In the semi-final of the 2009-10 season, Inter Milan, under his command, denied Barça the possibility of repeating the title of European champion. The second leg ended 1-0 in favor of Barça, but Inter had maintained their 3-1 lead from the first leg, despite the sending off of Thiago Motta. In 2011, in the Champions League, Mourinho's Chelsea beat Barça 2-1 at the Camp Nou after Didier Drogba was sent off, and then won 4-2 at Stamford Bridge.
During the press conference, Mourinho asked a series of rhetorical questions: “Why?” against the performance of players like Ovrebo, De Bleeckere, Busacca and Stark, and referred to the alleged influence of Barça on UEFA and on UNICEF advertising. He also recalled the 2009 episode in which referee Anders Frisk was threatened by English ultras after a controversy at the Camp Nou.
The controversial “monologue” included an episode in which Mourinho insulted Barça assistant Tito Vilanova, whom he called “Pito” after an alteration in the Spanish Super Cup. In later years, the coach returned to Real Madrid with a more moderate attitude, but still shows his penchant for shooting against Barcelona. Recently, the Catalan club is investigating millionaire payments to the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees, José María Enríquez Negreira, alleging that reports were received about refereeing and scouting.
Mourinho, in response to Vinicius Jr.'s four-match ban for a foul in the Champions League against Roma, used the metaphor of the “hidden cat” to indicate that Barça's influence is no longer hidden. With the Champions League underway, Real Madrid and Barcelona will continue to face each other in the European competition, while the media continues to cover the tensions and statements that characterize both clubs.