Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid reign: Success or failure?

Jose Mourinho had just won the treble with Inter Milan. He had become the first coach to win it in Italian history.
Meanwhile, in Spain, Florentino Perez had won the presidency for Real back in 2009. It was going to be a Galactico era all over again. He signed one Galactico to manage his other Galacticos’, in the form of Jose Mourinho from Inter.

To begin with, Mourinho was bought to the Bernabeu to fulfil Real’s greatest ambition. He was appointed to deliver the “La-Decima” for Madrid, their tenth European crown, which has eluded them long since 2002.

A lot was expected from the self-proclaimed “Special one”. He got down to work right away by signing Khedira, Ozil, Carvalho and Di Maria. Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo had already arrived the previous season.

2010-11:
Mourinho’s first La Liga game resulted in a 0-0 draw against Mallorca. After that, Real got to an excellent start in the league remaining unbeaten in their first 18 games. Then came the encounter the entire globe had been waiting for, the El Classico. In his first Classico, the Catalans welcomed him with a 0-5 thrashing at Nou Camp. The Galacticos were simply unable to contain the home grown stars of the Blaugrana.

Mourinho could not win the league with Real in his first season but he did deliver them the Copa Del Rey. The Blancos did gain some revenge by beating their rivals’ in the final of the Copa Del Rey, with Ronaldo scoring from a header in extra time. This ended Real’s 17 years wait for the trophy.

However, Real were again knocked out of the UEFA Champions League semi-final by Barca, which saw much controversy. Pepe sent off for a tackle on Alves( which was never there) and Jose Mourinho handed a touchline ban for protesting the decision. Messi weaved his magic yet again and scored a brace. After the second leg which ended in a goal a piece, Real were knocked out of the tournament. The La Decima dream for Real had ended.

2011-12:

How can the Special One stay away from controversies. They come hand-in-hand for the Portuguese. In the second leg of the Spanish Supercopa, things went chaotic at the Nou Camp. Marcelo was red carded for his rash tackle on Cesc Fabregas, which provoked an unseemly confrontation between players and coaches from the two rival clubs. Mourinho poked the now Barca coach Tito Vilanova in his eye and was handed a two-match ban.

The second season saw Mourinho gained domestic success with Real. He delivered them the Primera Division title in record breaking fashion. Real became the first team to reach 100 points and score 121 goals in the La Liga. The Blancos’ took back the title from their rivals ending their 3-year reign as champions, but that was it. Real were dumped out of the Copa Del Rey, again by Barcelona.

Their La Decima dream ended again, after the defeat in the semi-final of the Champions League by the Bavarians. The match went into penalties after extra time, where Kaka, Cristiano and Ramos all failed to convert their spot kicks. Real crashed out of Europe yet again.

2012-13:

The start of the season saw the Los Blancos capture the Spanish Supercopa from their rivals on away goals, after the final score of 4-4 on aggregate.

This was only the piece of silverware Real managed to win this season.

They lost the league to Barcelona. Real were shaky in the first half of the season letting Barca open a gap of 16 points between them at the end of Feburary. Real though managed to be impressive in the second half, yet the gap was too large to be overcomed. Barca won the league with 3 games to go.

Real was still in the hunt for the Copa Del Rey and the Champions League.

They drew with Barca at the Bernabeu and beat their rivals 3-1 in their own backyard at the Camp. Real set up an inter-city derby clash with Atletico for the final.

During this time they also progressed to the semi-finals of the Champions League. This time, it was Robert Lewandowski who took Real to the cleaners. It was the first leg at Germany. Dortmund took the lead early on, before Ronaldo pulled one back for the visitors just before half time at Signal Iduna park. It was then the Pole unleashed his magic on a helpless Real defense scoring 4 goals, in a 4-1 victory for the Germans.In the second leg, Real played with all their heart, but, it was the will of the germans that held them back. Real scored twice but bowed out of the semis losing 3-4 on aggregate.

Jose Mourinho still had one more shot at redemption, the Copa Del Rey final. Madrid had hoped to salvage something from the final against local rivals Atletico, but they were beaten 2-1 at the Bernabeu, which saw Mourinho sent off yet again.
It was the worst season, of all for the Portuguese.

He stirred up even more controversy this season by benching club captain and icon Iker Casillas, after his return from injury. His also lashed his fury on Sergio Ramos and Pepe.

This earned him the ire and wrath of the fans.

So now the big question arises. Whether his stint at the Bernabeu was a success or can it be labelled as a failure?

His reign at the Bernabeu cannot be called a failure, but it cannot be called a success either.

If you look as a non-Madrista, Mourinho achieved every domestic title he could win with Real in Spain (also defeating Barcelona at the Camp). But for a Madrista, he failed to deliver their dream. He failed to deliver the La Decima. It was what Jose Mourinho was appointed to do.

Failure to deliver the tenth European Crown for Madrid will always leave his legacy in Spain as unaccomplished.