Real Madrid vs. Barcelona: Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo Must Go

Real Madrid must surely begin the long farewell to coach Jose Mourinho and star man Cristiano Ronaldo—the world’s most expensive player—after their Champions League semi-final defeat to arch-rivals Barcelona.

The controversial couple can hardly stay at the Bernabeu after the saga of the infamous four frantic Clasicos wound to its inevitable conclusion at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night.

Even former Real owner Ramon Calderon accepts they have gone too far with the shenanigans between the two sides. He told the BBC that “Talk like this is harmful for Real Madrid. Big clubs should not blame the referee for their mistakes or their defeats."

"We invested £400m in the last two years to be a very important and strong team, so if you lose you cannot blame injuries, bad luck, referees or nothing. If you lose you have to congratulate the rival and that is all."

"What Mourinho did in terms of talking about UEFA and referees is not acceptable at all."

Just as he did at Chelsea and Inter Milan, the "Special One" has talked himself out of a job, despite a surprise win in the Copa Del Rey a fortnight ago.

Quotes like these simply don’t make for a long-term retirement plan. Mourinho, who watched the second leg from his hotel room, fumed, “It's clear that against Barcelona you have no chance."

"I don't know if it's the publicity of Unicef [the club's shirt sponsor], I don't know if it's because they are very nice, but they've got this power."

"I don't know if it's the friendship of [Spanish football federation president Angel Maria] Villar at Uefa, where he is vice-president."

Former Manchester United star Ronaldo wasn’t holding back after a second leg draw saw Barca progress to the final at Wembley with a 3-1 aggregate win.

Real’s iconic top scorer said: "Next year they might as well give the cup directly to Barcelona."

"The team is sad, but we knew it was an uphill battle."

"The name of the match is Mission Impossible IV. Once again it was the referee that didn't allow us to dictate the outcome. We knew we could beat Barca, but the referee didn't let us."

"Higuain's goal was good. Pique pushed me and I landed on Mascherano. He didn't used to fall to the ground in England, but he's picked up the bad habit of doing it here like everyone else."

"Those who know about football know Barca are very well protected. But you just have to live with all these injustices."

It’s not as if Mourinho and Ronaldo don’t have a point. Higuain’s goal looked valid from where I sat and would have put the semi-final in the balance at 2-1.

Instead, the Belgian referee, surely a Waloon, judged that Ronaldo fouled Mascherano as he fell under Gerard Pique’s push.

Decision after decision went the way of the diving, rolling, play-acting Catalans.

But they remain the best club side in the world—largely thanks to that little man Lionel Messi—and they are unlikely to slip up in the La Liga title race or the Champions League final as refereeing errs on the side of caution and ballet dancing.

Mourinho and Ronaldo have to accept modern football is no longer a man’s game. The tiny Messi is well protected—he had a record 12 fouls given against him on Tuesday night—and the dull Spanish World Cup-winning ploy of possession and mincing is now simply the way of the footballing world.

Given the passionate hatred between Catalan and Castillian—the Barcelona v Madrid split is a matter of historic nationalism and civil war, not simply ball games—how can Mourinho or Ronaldo soldier on? How can they go through such perceived injustice next season?

With Calderon joining the critique levelled by Alfredo di Stefano, what price on Mourinho returning to Chelsea with Ronaldo for a few billion Roman Abramovich roubles?

At least in England’s Premier League, the odd diver is booked. And nationalism counts for nothing when Manchester United face the Blues, as we will find out on Sunday.

Who the hell is Neal Collins (nealcol on Twitter?) see www.nealcollins.co.uk.