Mourinho, stay

I suspect that the stands of the Camp Nou will not take long to chant "Mourinho, stay" with an effervescence similar to the one with which they already sing "Raphinha, captain". It will not surprise me, to be honest, because the new stage of the Portuguese coach at Real Madrid looks like it will end fatally. Fourth in the standings, six points behind Barça after seven matchdays played, without a game, soul, footballing solutions or self-criticism and already pointing to malevolent conspiracies in the shadows, it sounds like an unbeatable path to crashing into the ravine just as it begins. And there is already a date for the show: on October 25th at nine o'clock at night, Mourinho's Madrid visits the Camp Nou.

And wait, it could still be worse, considering that Carlos Espí saved the day in the last minute against Espanyol and Elche. But Mourinho, instead of minding his own business—which is training, preparing, and looking for alternatives for a plan that is clearly not working for him—walked out at the Metropolitano with the same midfield and the same forward line with which Atlético ran over Xabi Alonso's Madrid last season. No revolution, no evolution. It is the same old song: the referees. But it doesn't wash anymore. Because it is as true that Cuti Romero and Kang-in Lee should have seen red before halftime as it is that Madrid is not playing a lick of football and the coach only worries about the former and denies the latter.

This Mourinho is no surprise either; the artificial one was the other, pretending to be mature and calm, whose years have brought grey hair and tempered his character. And let's not kid ourselves, that is exactly why Florentino Pérez hired him back: so that it isn't just Real Madrid TV shouting into the wind. As happened with Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso, and Arbeloa, the media focus will be on the coach of the moment, pushing aside the person truly responsible for the poor sporting management of the squad: the president who hasn't signed a midfielder but has signed a coach in decline to stir up trouble in press conferences, letting the noise drown out the urgent debates and analysis within the club and the team.

So yes, I suspect that the Camp Nou, sooner rather than later, will chant "Mourinho, stay" while Florentino, Mourinho, and Real Madrid TV continue in their own bubble, outdated and paranoid, blaming everything on the referees. What a drag.