Mourinho anticipates Barcelona challenge

Mourinho anticipates Barcelona challenge
(AFP) Thursday 14 April 2011
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After overcoming Tottenham with ease, Jose Mourinho is eagerly anticipating a UEFA Champions League semi-final showdown against Spanish rivals Barcelona, with four upcoming matches between the pair in less than a month.

Spurs had to make Champions League history in coming from 4-0 down after the first leg and they made a good fist of it in the first half, having a goal ruled out and two penalty appeals turned down before Cristiano Ronaldo's scored with help from a Heurelho Gomes's goalkeeping error.

Mourinho had fielded a full strength side despite the huge lead from the first leg which came at a cost as central defender Carvalho was booked and is suspended for the opening tie of the Barcelona clash.

"I had to field a first choice side because Spurs are a top class side and capable of scoring early on which would have rattled us and made it a more nervous match," said Mourinho. "As it was I was right because they had one or two chances in the first half but Ronaldo's goal killed the game."
I don't think it would be considered a good season to get to the final of the Spanish Cup and the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho

Real have fallen well behind Barcelona in La Liga and face a must-win clash against Pep Guardiola's team on Saturday. They meet again in the Spanish Cup final on 20 April before heading into the two European meetings. "In a semi-final anything can happen. They have a great situation with the suspensions, which we don't. But we will fight," Mourinho said.

"We have two matches against them before the semi-finals, so we have to look at those games first. We have to take each game as a separate entity. I'm not of the opinion that what happens in the first game can influence the second, third or fourth."

Taking a team to their first Champions League semi-final for eight years would be a significant achievement at some clubs, but Mourinho knows only securing Madrid's tenth triumph in the competition would be enough to satisfy his demanding employers.

"I know you are judged by your results," he said. "If you don't win titles it is easy to forget all the good work that has gone before. But I don't think it would be considered a good season to get to the final of the Spanish Cup and the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Inevitably on one of his rare returns to England, former Chelsea boss Mourinho was asked if his future lies in the Premier League. "It is my natural habitat," he said. "It is where I want to come... after Real Madrid. I stay in Real Madrid next season, unless the press sacks me."
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