Mourinho takes charge of his first Clásico since returning to Real Madrid when his side visit Barcelona at the Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday at 22:00 SAST.
During his first spell as Madrid coach, between 2010 and 2013, he faced Barcelona 17 times across La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup. He won five, drew six and lost six.
A nightmare start
Mourinho arrived at Madrid in 2010 with a history against Barcelona. He had worked at the club as a translator under Bobby Robson, and shortly before taking the Madrid job, his Inter side knocked Barcelona out in the Champions League semi-finals.
His first Clásico, on 29 November 2010, went badly. Madrid arrived at the Camp Nou unbeaten in the league, but Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona won 5-0, with Xavi, Pedro, David Villa (twice) and Jeffren scoring.
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Four Clásicos in a matter of weeks
In April and May 2011, the sides met four times in a matter of weeks. A 1-1 draw in the league was followed by the Copa del Rey final at Mestalla, where Cristiano Ronaldo headed the winner from Ángel Di María’s cross in extra time. It gave Mourinho his first trophy as Madrid coach and the club’s first Copa del Rey since 1993.
Barcelona had the final say that season, though. They won the first leg of the Champions League semi-final 2-0 at the Bernabéu, and a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou took them through to the final.
The title at the Camp Nou
Mourinho’s biggest Clásico win came on 21 April 2012. Sami Khedira put Madrid ahead at the Camp Nou and Alexis Sánchez equalised, before Ronaldo ran onto Mesut Özil’s pass to score the winner in the 73rd minute and celebrated by telling the home fans to calm down.
It was Mourinho’s first win at the Camp Nou, and Madrid’s first league win there since 2007. It put them seven points clear with four games to go, and they went on to win the title.
Unbeaten in his last five
Mourinho finished his first spell with five Clásicos without defeat. The last two came within four days of each other. On 26 February 2013, Madrid won 3-1 at the Camp Nou, with Ronaldo scoring twice, to reach the Copa del Rey final. On 2 March, they won 2-1 in the league at the Bernabéu through Karim Benzema and a late Sergio Ramos header.
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The return
Mourinho goes back to the Camp Nou with Madrid six points behind league leaders Barcelona and without the suspended Vinícius Júnior. Barcelona are still unbeaten in La Liga, but they lost 4-2 to PSG on Tuesday and are without Dani Olmo, Eric García and Andreas Christensen.
Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images
