When Mourinho upset Guardiola’s Barca superstars

Few people backed Inter Milan’s progress against Pep Guardiola’s world-leading opponents when the team met with Barcelona in the semi-finals of the 2009-10 Champions League.

Both wanted to preserve a piece of history. Barcelona were trying to become the first team to claim back-to-back titles in the Champions League era while Inter were seeking a first European Cup final since 1972 and a first win in the competition since 1965.

Inter manager Jose Mourinho and Guardiola, who had previously worked together at Barca but are now fierce rivals, squared off in a fight that had a bitterness in it.

As Inter won the Serie A title, the Coppa Italia, and the Champions League, Mourinho was ultimately able to command the trophy as the first Italian team to do so.

And on 28 April 2010, he and Inter took a mighty leap towards that historic achievement.

Tension had been brewing long before the players set foot on the pitch.

After firing 2006 Champions League champion Frank Rijkaard, Barcelona were searching for a new manager in the summer of 2008.

Mourinho or Guardiola, who had a close relationship with the Portuguese when he was Spain’s captain and Sir Bobby Robson’s assistant in the 1990s, made the decision.

It was a position Mourinho had acquired having first started out as an interpreter for Robson at Sporting, before evolving into an assistant coach. He followed Robson to Barca and Porto.

The Portuguese was unhappy with his treatment while they were in Catalonia, though.

He was nicknamed ‘ the translator ‘ and felt he was not taken seriously.

Mourinho, who had by then had titles in the Champions League and Premier League on his resume, was replaced by Guardiola, who had just finished his first year in charge of Barca’s reserves.

Mourinho made the difficult choice, which sacrificed beautiful football, like Guardiola’s tiki-taka, for efficiency and a strong defense, and had a profound impact on how he would later set up his teams.

Mourinho’s ‘ the translator ‘ nickname returned in mocking tribute in the build-up to the first leg at San Siro.

After winning the Treble the previous year, Mourinho was left with the impression that he had no chance against a Guardiola team at the height of his influence.

The first leg was played under an ash cloud after the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted, which was already rife with drama and a gripping narrative.

It meant Barca could not fly to Italy and instead had to take a 10-hour bus journey.

It’s impossible to determine whether that affected the outcome of the game. However, it undoubtedly gave a tie that was already intriguing a theater-like quality.

“When you get to the knockouts against a team like Barcelona, you have to win your match at home”, said Mourinho in a new BBC Sport documentary – How to Win the Champions League: Jose Mourinho.

Lionel Messi, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who Barca had acquired from Inter in a swap deal with striker Samuel Eto’o, are all examples of Guardiola’s illustrious squad, which is of course easier said than done.

Former Inter defender Javier Zanetti is quoted as saying, “Before the first leg, Mourinho told me, you’re going to play left-back and you will mark Messi.”

“I knew Messi from the Argentina team and he was the best player in the world. Two of my team-mates pressured Messi to give him more space to play a role in every zone he went into.

Wesley Sneijder levelled before the break, but Maicon and Diego Milito’s tactics provided a 3-1 victory at a rocking San Siro, and Inter responded with a 3-1 victory thanks to Mourinho’s tactics.

So to the second leg.

Inter needed to create a defensive masterclass to stop Guardiola’s men, supported by their eager supporters, overturning the deficit with a two-goal advantage to protect.

The players greeted as they left the Nou Camp tunnel, which was merely printed with the Catalan phrase “remuntada” – comeback.

“I think that put the pressure on them]Barcelona] because everyone believed they could do it”, said Zanetti.

That night in Spain, Mourinho relyed on his own style of play, which is synonymous with a strong defense. that along with a number of elite, knowledgeable players.

“At Inter, my bench was full of top players at the end of their careers. [Ivan] Cordoba, [Francesco] Toldo, [Marco] Materazzi, [Dejan] Stankovic. They weren’t my first choices, but they were my biggest allies, Mourinho said.

He recalled a speech made before the match by defender Cordoba in the dressing room.

He said, “This is my dream, this is my last chance,” he said. [Mourinho] Because of him, I’m not playing. He decided to put me on the bench and decided to play you. You’re going to play for me, Mourinho said.

Your work becomes much easier when you have this kind of person on the bench and in the dressing room. I knew that they would do anything for me and I would have done anything for them”.

When Thiago Motta was sent off in the 28th minute for catching Busquets in the face while holding the ball, Inter’s task became much more difficult.

Busquets scurried around on the ground while his hands were clutching his face, stopping only to move his hands in a “peekaboo” gesture to make sure the referee had received a red card.

The Brazilian’s reaction following the dismissal, man-handling Busquets in protest, only fanned the flames of a high-octane encounter.

Mourinho remarked, “We went there with a strategy to try to control, to try and bite in counter-attack.”

Motta is “sent off after about 20 minutes.” People are sometimes afraid to speak about it, I am never afraid to speak about it – the referee’s decisions are always crucial”.

With a 90,000-strong crowd on hand and a passing game that was typically excellent but failed to find the gaps, Inter sat deep and flooded their defensive areas while the hosts sat down to 10 men.

“He]Mourinho] was persuaded that we would reach the final during the second half. His confidence was contagious”, said Zanetti.

Mourinho was confident that his tactics were effective because he had already dubbed himself The Special One.

It becomes “epic” to play against Barcelona with 10 players. You need heroes. Mourinho remarked that you must get the best out of everyone.

High-pressure tactics and gamesmanship continually frustrated Barcelona as almost the entire second half was played in Inter’s defensive third. However, Guardiola’s superstar team probed unproven.

When Xavi’s pass was collected by Gerard Pique, who had six minutes of regular time left, Barcelona almost completely broke the Italians’ backline.

Barca’s tails were up and so was the crowd. With one more, they could tie the game and advance to the championship game in Milan.

Bojan Krkic thought he had won because he broke free in injury time in the Inter-box and lashed into the top of the net.

But the Nou Camp’s joy was short-lived as the referee gave handball against Yaya Toure in the build-up and the match finished 1-0, with Inter progressing to the final to face Bayern Munich.

Before Mourinho sprinted onto the pitch with his teammates one arm in the air to celebrate with his teammates, the final whistle had barely sounded.

Barcelona made the decision to activate the sprinklers at that time.

An attempt to annoy the Inter players and stop them from celebrating on the pitch? Possibly . It was irrelevant for Inter.

“It was the most beautiful defeat of my career”, said Mourinho.