Barcelona V Real Madrid: Why Pep Guardiola Failed and José Mourinho Succeeded

It was 145 days ago that Barcelona mounted wave after wave of attacks on a shell-shocked and crestfallen Real Madrid.

Having given Barcelona a preview in El Clásico II, in El Clásico III, Real Madrid shut down Barcelona’s elegant playing style, giving credence to the philosophy that you can only defeat Barcelona by playing anti-football.

In doing so, Mourinho’s Real Madrid emerged victorious in the Copa del Rey final for the first time since the 1992-1993 season.

This slideshow will compare and contrast the managerial competency of Guardiola and Mourinho. 

Pep Guardiola's Problems

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VALENCIA, SPAIN - APRIL 20: Head coach of Barcelona Josep Guardiola reacts during the Copa del Rey Final between Real Madrid and Barcelona at Estadio Mestalla on April 20, 2011 in Valencia, Spain. Real Madrid won 1-0. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Classy, humble and successful. These are traits of Pep Guardiola, which epitomise what Barcelona attempt to convey in their organisation.  

Guardiola congratulated Real Madrid and told Vanessa Forns at fcbarcelona.com, "Life isn’t always about winning."

He could have easily nit-picked the linesman’s marginal decision to flag Pedro’s goal offside, but he didn’t.

When you observe the vindictive rhetoric from the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, José Mourinho and Arsène Wenger; Guardiola is a gentleman among managers.

Yet even with a 73 percent win percentage, eight trophies and counting in three seasons, all this whilst advertising beautiful football; there are question marks over his tactical nous.

Why did he play Javier Mascherano at centre back, when he’s deployed Sergio Busquets at centre back before?

Mascherano would have roughened things up in the middle, instead his only highlight was shamelessly begging referee Alberto Mallenco to send Emmanuel Adebayor off. 

It was a bold move from Guardiola to play Mascherano at centre back as he’s not a natural centre back, he’s only 1.74m (he’s no Daniel Passarella) thus being a liability in the air and Busquets has played at centre back before (even though he can’t defend).

So why not boldly start or substitute Thiago Alcântara into the game? Thiago is a carbon copy of Andrés Iniesta, and having another player who has the ability to make incisive runs, may have drawn out a second yellow from Pepe or Xabi Alonso. 

It’s not as baffling as substituting Zlatan Ibrahimović out against nine frantic and catenaccio-minded Inter Milan outfielders last season.

But one has to wonder why Thiago can’t get any time, let alone a start, whilst the likes of Busquets and Afellay (his time at Barcelona will end up like Luis García, Ricardo Quaresma and Simão Sabrosa) continue to disappoint. 

It will be interesting to see what changes (if any) Guardiola makes for El Clásico IV and V.   

José Mourinho Riding High

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VALENCIA, BARCELONA - APRIL 20: Head Coach Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid celebrates after the Copa del Rey final match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at Estadio Mestalla on April 20, 2011 in Valencia, Spain. Real Madrid won 1-0. (Photo by Manuel Queim

José Mourinho has always had an inclination for unorthodox tactics, perhaps fitting for his maverick-like persona.

This was on show in El Clásico I, where he played an open formation, and by going against his counter-attacking philosophy, Real Madrid lost 5-0.

In El Clásico II and III, everyone, let alone Pep Guardiola, were caught off-guard by Mourinho deploying Pepe as an enforcer in midfield. Though this position isn't foreign to Pepe, it was a tactic straight out of left field.

Playing players out of their normal position isn't new for Mourinho. At Inter Milan, Mourinho played prolific forward Samuel Eto'o as an auxiliary defender; his selflessness was pivotal in Inter's treble-winning season.

At Chelsea, Mourinho played uncompromising centre back Khalid Boulahrouz at right back to mark Ronaldinho; Boulahrouz man-marked Ronaldinho out of the game and Chelsea won 1-0. Mourinho also played world-class defensive midfielder Michael Essien at right back against Valencia in the Champions League quarterfinal; Essien provided an assist and scored the winning goal.

Pepe's gung-ho style of winning the ball in midfield cannot be taken for granted in Real Madrid's success in El Clásico II and III. Having tasted humiliation, Mourinho was proactive to change the playing field. So far Guardiola has not reacted, let alone been proactive, in finding a solution to countering Pepe.

The loss of Claude Makélelé precipitated the collapse of Florentino Pérez's first Real Madrid presidency, hopefully in his second stint, he'll have an appreciation for blue collar players such as Pepe and Sami Khedira.  

To sum up Mourinho's tactics against Barcelona: team work + defence + counter attack = best chance for Real Madrid to win, and we'll be seeing more of this in El Clásico IV and V.   

Decision Time for Pep Guardiola

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MADRID, SPAIN - APRIL 16: Gerard Pîque of Barcelona consoles Carles Puyol after he was injured during the La Liga match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on April 16, 2011 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Image

Let's run through some of the problems facing Pep Guardiola for El Clásico IV and V.

Carles Puyol's hamstring: Given a loss against Real Madrid in El Clásico II wouldn't have been instrumental in Barcelona forfeiting La Liga, was there a need to play Puyol? Puyol played and showed signs as to why he's so important to Barcelona...but then he picked up an injury, which wasn't surprising as he hadn't played a match in three months.

When Hercules beat Barcelona 2-0, Puyol wasn't in the starting lineup. When Arsenal beat Barcelona 2-1, Puyol wasn't in the starting lineup. When Real Madrid beat Barcelona 1-0 to win the Copa del Rey, Puyol wasn't in the starting lineup. 

Dmytro Chygrynskiy would have been handy right now.

What to do with Pepe?: It didn't make any sense for Guardiola to play Javier Mascherano at centre back, then again it didn't make any sense for José Mourinho to play Samuel Eto'o as an auxiliary defender. 

Whilst Sergio Busquets was a non-factor, Pepe along with Sami Khedira, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso bullied and hacked Lionel Messi like there was no tomorrow. If Guardiola played Mascherano in midfield, he would have given Messi some protection. Busquets doesn't fight, he flops. Guardiola needs a fighter in midfield and that means playing Mascherano in midfield. 

Being brave in playing Thiago Alcântara: If Guardiola doesn't play Mascherano in midfield, then he needs to be brave in playing Thiago. Thiago offers the ability to pierce opposing defences with his vision and his ability to go past players. What's to say, he wouldn't have triggered a second yellow from Alonso or Pepe? 

Hope and pray: This is what Guardiola shouldn't do! El Clásico II and III have been an indication that by reverting to his philosophy, José Mourinho's Real Madrid have acquired the result they seek: not losing to Barcelona. 

Guardiola needs to react because he shouldn't forget that Mourinho shut Barcelona down with the exact same tactics when he was at Inter Milan. So did Kurban Berdyev's Rubin Kazan and Guus Hiddink's Chelsea.