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As we've all been observing, for the last few weeks Jose Mourinho has stalled on the idea that the fixture list from the very beginning has been tweaked, by the media and the powers that be to favor Barcelona in all competitions and hinder Real Madrid, and therefore Jose Mourinho's chances in said competitions. I won't go into the Copa del Rey too much by the way, since both clubs are facing off against each other, there is no advantage or disadvantage directly there.
My first reaction when dealing with Jose is to tell him mentally to "shaht-ahp" as if he were on a mental speed-dial, but since that's not an option foregoing the tin-foil hat or mental telepathy required, I decided to test it out for myself. In the Champions League group stages, Real Madrid played 6 matches and dropped two points total in those matches winning their group. Good to start so far, I know Jose requires perfection, so let's look at the matches that he dropped points.
October and November were particularly busy months for all clubs in La Liga. Europe called, Copa del Rey matches were in full swing, and there were even midweek games going on. Real Madrid beat Malaga on Sat., 10/16 then beat Milan at home on CL Matchday-3, three days later, on a Tues. and then played again on Sat. 10/23 against Racing where they destroyed the Cantabrians 6-1. Three matches in a week, all wins, before before dropping points to lowly Murcia on the following Tuesday in a 0-0 draw. The next Saturday they beat Hercules in Alicante before drawing to Milan at the San Siro with an extra day's rest (from the recent pattern at least) on Wed., 11/3. They would drop no more points in the Group Stage and would be clear enough through to last month's match in Lyon where they dropped another two points in a 1-1 draw on Tuesday, Feb.,22. They beat Levante the Saturday before. So let's see what we have. Two draws in the Champions League precipitated by a maximum rest possible against Milan in November and the same situation against Lyon? I know Jose would like the league to schedule Friday matches when La Liga squads have Tuesday European matches, but that wasn't on the table when he took the job.
In comparison Barcelona also won their group, but drew two matches to Madrid's one. On paper, it doesn't look like the blaugrana were helped at all. They played Saturday-Wednesday, an extra day to Madrid's surely, but they drew 1-1 to Rubin Kazan and then preceded to draw 1-1 at home to Mallorca on four days rest, the same matchday that Madrid were destroying Depor 6-1 at the Bernabeu on 5 day's rest. Barcelona's next CL dip was dropping points to Copenhagen on Matchday-4: the same sort of Saturday-Tuesday match that Jose rants about. They did get a ful four day's rest from drawing 1-1 to Sporting at El Molinon in February before traveling to London to get beat 2-1 at the Emirates, but got only 3 day's rest before the return leg. A little aside, Real Madrid will get a full four day's rest before facing Lyon midweek in the deciding match next mid-week.
Looks like the edge to me is for Madrid so far in the Champions League, but what about for the League? That's where Jose thinks the advantage to Barcelona is decisive. They have half as many draws and losses as Real Madrid, so it looks like there may be something to it. Maybe, but even that becomes tiresome.
Madrid drew to Mallorca on the first day of the season, so how much rest can you get for that? An entire Summer? It may be too much rest, because Barca's only loss this season came after an 11 day International break in September when they lost to newly-promoted Hercules. Real Madrid beat Osasuna on the same day after having the same amount of rest so it must not have an effect on all clubs equally. When Real Madrid drew to Levante in Valencia on the 25th of September on 4 day's rest, Barcelona were beating Athletic Bilbao at San Mames on 3 day's rest. In fact, when Real Madrid and Barcelona faced each other in November at the Camp Nou, Jose's club had 6 days to prepare for the match. Barcelona had 5.
Get the picture so far? Doesn't hold up to scrutiny does it. In the rest of the matches: draws to Almeria, and Depor, along with the loss to Osasuna were on 3, 4 and 4 day's rest respectively. On the same match-days, Barcelona had 4, 6 and 3, the out-lier being the Champions League fixture which Barcelona played the week before on an equivalent 4 day's rest to Real Madrid's. That looks pretty even to me. On the other hand, in Barcelona's two league draws, against Mallorca in October and against Sporting last month, they got 4 days and 7 days rest respectively. For Real Madrid? They got 5 days rest and 7 days comparatively on those match-days. Advantage Madrid.
So in a sense, the fixture congestion is equal if anything with a slight tilt to Real Madrid if you wanted to get technical. Jose doesn't have a leg to stand-on. Of course, this is exactly what he wants. He's not going to foot the blame at the fact that his side just isn't as good as Barcelona's; that his players are not on par with their rivals and he won't concede that his mistakes are front and center to why Real Madrid have fallen into a 7 point deficit with 36 to play for. If everything continues at this pace, Barcelona will finish on 105 points to Real Madrid's 96, and the difference will be on the pitch and not in some byzantine plot by the Spanish footballing authorities to torpedo the Special One's La Liga coming out party.
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