Winning La Liga trumps Super Cup – Mourinho
Pepe to skip first leg after head injury
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said yesterday he would rather lose the Spanish Super Cup to arch-rivals Barcelona if it meant his team could win La Liga.
On the eve of the first leg of the Super Cup at Camp Nou, the self-annointed “Special One” said, however, that the trophy would have no impact on the season and he still wants to win it.
“If losing the Super Cup is a motivation for winning La Liga I would sign right now but I don’t think that’s how it is,” Mourinho said.
“It is simply the least important competition of the four that we play and in my opinion it has no consequence on the season. But obviously it is a competition we want to win... and our opponents too.”
Besides competing in the Super Cup, Real Madrid will this season defend their title as champions and try to win back the domestic King’s Cup from their Catalan rivals.
The Champions League title is a coveted goal for Mourinho, who has made no secret of his ambition to achieve three victories with three different clubs after winning with FC Porto in 2004 and Inter in 2010.
The coach said Barcelona was basically the same team when asked if he expected a change under new coach Tito Vilanova, promoted from his previous job as assistant to Pep Guardiola who left at the end of last season.
“It is the same Barca we know: a quality team with great players,” Mourinho told reporters.
In the second leg of last season’s Super Cup, Mourinho famously took exception to Barca’s then assistant Vilanova and poked him in eye in a pitch side scuffle.
Barca won 3-2 that night and afterwards Mourinho conveniently misnamed his victim as “Pito Vilanova” in the post-match press conference.
On Sunday, Vilanova launched his league campaign with a 5-1 victory over Real Sociedad and said he aimed to win the Super Cup tie.
“We’re playing Real Madrid so you can imagine,” he said.
Mourinho’s squad will face the Catalans tonight without Pepe, however, after the defender bashed his head in the season’s first game and spent a night in hospital.
Mourinho said that if Pepe had a choice he would play, despite clashing heads in mid-air with goalkeeper Iker Casillas in the 1-1 home draw with Valencia on Sunday.
“For him yes but for us no. It is not human to risk a player for a football game. So, there is no doubt either with the medical department or with the coach that Pepe will not play,” Mourinho said.
“He is progressing well and without wanting to go too far, our feeling is that Pepe could be there on Sunday without any risk.”