It's possible that Jose Mourinho will get to face his former employers, Real Madrid, a little bit too soon on Wednesday in the Guinness International Champions Cup. Real Madrid are already through to the final of the competition billed to take place in Miami, Florida. They came out tops in their encounter with Everton, winning 2-1. Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil both scored for los Merengues in the first half. Everton's Nikica Jelavic fired home past Diego Lopez in the second half, but it was not enough to earn them a comeback in the first soccer match to take place at the historic Dodger Stadium.
Chelsea, meanwhile, will have to beat AC Milan later on tonight if they are to set up a dream final with Real at Miami Garden's SunLife Stadium. But the Blues are well backed by punters to overcome the Rossoneri. Prior to the likely encounter, both sides have been firing slingshots into each other's camp. Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, had hit out at Cristiano Ronaldo and his perceived arrogance by saying that he (Cristiano) thinks he knows it all. He added the icing on the cake yesterday by saying that he is not the "real" Ronaldo.
Mourinho in his words: "I was manager for the first time in 2000 year, but before that I was assistant in big clubs and with big managers and coaching the best players in the world, so I was 30 and I was coaching Ronaldo, not this one [Cristiano], the real one, the Brazilian Ronaldo." He was speaking to ESPN reporters about his time as assistant manager under Sir Bobby Robson at Barcelona. Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to reply.
He didn't stop there. He went further to criticize the Madrid hierarchy by accusing them of putting football politics above football itself at the club. "I know Madrid is a special club. Madrid is not just a club. Madrid is politics. Madrid is not about football, Madrid is not about sport, it's about many things around."
Sergio Ramos, who along with Casillas and Pepe had a series of problems with the "Happy One" during his time in Real Madrid, encouraged his teammates to ignore him and "forget about the Mourinho era". He said this after his club's victory over Everton in Los Angeles.
"We have to forget Mou and focus on what we want to instill with Ancelotti," Ramos told sports journalists after the match.
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| Sergio Ramos, Los Angeles |
When asked about how he felt seeing Spanish captain, Iker Casillas, between the sticks again after being ostracized by the Special One towards the end of last season, he replied, "It was very good, for me it is good to see him behind us in defence. To us he remains the best goalkeeper in the world and, in that sense, has our confidence. There are players who are pushing hard and Diego Lopez has to take credit for last season."
The buildup to the match has already started and what a match it promises to be... if it ever happens.
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