Reports of disparaging remarks that may or may not have been made by Jose Mourinho in private about Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas elicited whistles and boos from the Santiago Bernabeu crowd as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 4-1 on Sunday. According to Mourinho, this is the first time he's ever been jeered by his own club's fans. But he's opting to take it as a compliment.
From the Independent:
"There is a first time for everything," he said. "It never happened to me at Porto, or at Inter or at Chelsea. It does not bother me. it happened to Zidane, it happened to Cristiano Ronaldo and it happened to the other Ronaldo. If it happened to them then why not to me. They responded with their football and I will keep working hard." [...]
Mourinho blamed Ramos for Bar�a's first goal on Wednesday and a dispute over marking duties ended with the defender reportedly saying: "Sometimes it's necessary to change. You have never been a player so you wouldn't know."
The Real coach was also accused of attacking the Spain internationals in his team.Mourinho is quoted as saying to Ramos: "Of course, as you Spanish are world champions, your friends in the press protect you ... like the goalkeeper [Iker Casillas]."
The jeers started late in the match when ultras began chanting Mourinho's name and the rest of the crowd responded with negativity, even though he has the club five points clear of Barcelona in the league table and into the knockout rounds of the Champions League. But Mourinho is taking this as a sign that he's among the world's greatest. Because he is Jose Mourinho. And everything is a sign that he is among the world's greatest.
From Reuters:
"If they whistle me at a club where they don't whistle anyone, for example like Chelsea, it would be difficult to accept," he said.
"But at a stadium where they whistle the world's greatest, who am I not to be whistled at? It's no problem."
See? It's totally a compliment to him. Like some kind of loving auditory S&M type thing.
Meanwhile, Casillas publicly questioned the journalist integrity of Marca, the paper that started the story. He also said that anyone who jeers Mourinho is jeering the whole team (1:45 into the video below).
Whether this is a case of actual splits within the dressing room or journalists better suited for writing soap operas, Mourinho, like Arsene Wenger, must now deal with the rabble of the common folk. Of course, a win over Barcelona would quickly shut everyone up.
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