Focus on: Manolo Preciado

The league was lost on Saturday in Madrid. I realize that mathematically there is still a chance, but with so few games left and with the lack of real competition, it is a safe bet to say that there will be no more remontadas, no hay liga, in short the title race is finished. Negativity abounds, and all anyone wants to talk or write about is failure: the inability of Real Madrid to close the gap on Barcelona, the favoritism that the blaugrana get from the referees, or even worse, how quickly everyone's attention split for the two cups that are still open. Hold on a second though. As much as people are quick to blame, rather I would say they should celebrate instead. A league was not given away to FC Barcelona last Saturday night in Madrid, it was rightfully won, and not by Pep Guardiola whose club had a difficult time impressing themselves later that night on Villarreal, but by the man occupying the other seat at the Bernabeu, quite ironically considering the events of the last six months, Manuel 'Manolo' Preciado Rebolledo.

If the name is unfamiliar, it is because up until recently, his public profile has been quite honestly that of any ordinary second tier coach in La Liga, and yet, if you look closely, you see right away that this coach is anything but anonymous. Maybe it's the bristle-bar mustache that he sports, the salt and pepper running through it and the wild-hair, the comically up-turned eyebrows and the expressiveness in which he runs the sidelines at El Molinon. That captures the eye, then you consider the two-pack a day habit or the ashy, raspiness of his voice, and you think this comical little gnome is too cartoony to be true. He looks nothing short a life-sized Super Mario in sweatpants, or Albert Einstein's slightly more athletic younger brother.

Then you hear the outburst. Defending his club from the verbal jibes of Jose Mourinho, this proud Cantabrian reacts. "Who the hell is this guy? Mourinho is a scoundrel and a bad partner", the papers say. The plan works and Mourinho keeps the focus away from his emotionally fragile team, but the full weight of the media circus that is Real Madrid comes down on Preciado. They call him unprofessional. Another easy victim for the media-centric antics of Mourinho the shark. Why can't he just admit that his Sporting didn't compete as aggressively against Barcelona? Well, because even a generally accepted lie is still a lie and Preciado saw no need to acquiesce to a media looking for excuses rather than answers. How ironic that Manolo got the last word on Saturday. His Sporting took 4 points from the four games against the big two and holding them to less than a goal per game overall. If you think this was a fluke, then you don't know Manolo Preciado.

This is a guy who has come through the fire and has earned everything he has. He came up as a player through the Racing Santander youth system. He studies medicine, but football called instead. A solid central defender, he could play on the wing as well, he made his circuit through practically every region in Spain: Racing in Cantabria, Linares of Jaen in Andalusia, Real Mallorca on the islands, Deportivo Alaves in the Basque-lands, Ourense in Galicia, only to return to his homeland to play at lowly Gimnástica de Torrelavega where he would retire and where he would subsequently start his coaching career.

He would lead the torrelaveguenses to a quick promotion back to the Segunda Division B after the club had fallen to the depths of Tercera. It would be a pattern he would repeat often, gaining the reputation of being a facilitator of promotions. He gained promotion for Racing's B-squad not once but twice and was on the bench alongside Quique Setien when Ukranian businessman Dmitry Piterman bought 24% of the club, took control and immediately installed himself as coach. League rules would keep Piterman away from the bench officially, but the Ukranian circumvented the rules by passing himself as an equipment man, a photographer or a journalist. Either way, Setien and Preciado would quit their hometown club; a painful period made worse by the fact that his wife would pass-away that year, a victim of cancer. He would bounce back with Levante, winning them their first promotion to the Primera since the early 60's, dedicating the victory to "his girl, looking on from Heaven", but he would not continue in the first division. He would lose a son, Raul, to a motorcycle accident and sign with Real Murcia. He spends another time with Racing, when they bottomed out in 2005-2006, but it would be for Sporting de Gijon that he would succeed, finally in the first division as he led another club to promotion, his fifth, and would secure for the Asturians their place in the first division ever since.


Now he is known for what he has done in reaction to and in the orbit of Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho, a glaring example I might add of the lazy journalism that persists in Spain, but as is usual, when one digs in deeper, much more important information can be found if one just cares enough. By all means also, keep finding people to blame for failure, it's an easier task, but I'd rather focus on the positive. Give it up for Manuel Preciado. He and his club deserve it.

Sporting de Gijon 1-1 FC Barcelona

Anyone who was surprised by the result at El Molinon either doesn't know La Liga, Sporting de Gijon or just doesn't know FC Barcelona. Yes, La Liga is far more competitive than pundits give it credit. Check that talking point for your friends and neighbors. Sporting de Gijon, especially at El Molinon, is a particularly tough walnut to crack when they play as effectively on the counter-attack as they played last night, but FC Barcelona was fulfilling an annual dip in their biorhythms, a predictable notch in their run of form that is as astonishing as it was expected.

Consider the two matches prior to the midweek Champions League encounters in the Round of 16. Over the last 5 years, Barca have scored 18 goals in those 10 games, but 7 of those goals came in just two matches: last week's 3-0 whitewash of Atletico de Madrid and a 4-0 battering of Racing Santander last year. Other than those two outliers, Barcelona scored 11 and let in 11 in the remaining 8 matches. In that stretch: 4 wins, 3 draws, 3 losses.

Blame it on the FiFA virus of fixture congestion, an inability to maintain their competitive edge over a long season and three competitions, bad refereeing or maybe the fact that this Barcelona squad just isn't as good as the hype, you'll hear all the excuses and some or all of them may be true, but it's not a shock.

Let us also not forget that Manuel Preciado, vilified because he dared rattle the cage of sycophants that surround Jose Mourinho, is a decent and hard-working coach of a a decent and hard-working team that somehow beat the "best team ever", and somewhat ironically, had madridistas rooting them on in the process. How ironic now that the Barcelona papers are backing the oft-forgotten neighbors down the road to restore order. It can happen. RCD Espanyol can shave points off Real Madrid in this league, but they shouldn't be too worried. See, in the 9 games they've played right before Champions League over the last five years Real Madrid are 7-1-1. Their problem is in the Champions League: 1 win and 3 losses.