José Mourinho: Will We See More Magic Tomorrow Evening?

José Mourinho is a man that has experienced many of the pressures and consequences of club football in a relatively short period of time in an average top-flight managers career. However, Mourinho is far from being an average manager as we all know by now and even his hardest critics recognize that. But can the Portuguese master-mind and self-labeled "Special One" deliver us magic once again? He doesn't think so, but is that what he really thinks or just wants us to all believe ahead of tomorrow evenings clash at Nou Camp.

An image from so long ago.

Mourinho conceded rather immediately during the post-match press conference of the 1st leg that FC Barcelona have won and are through. Perhaps emotions were still running high in the 2-time winning Champions League manager, but his comments are also very realistic. 

With a 2-0 advantage from the 1st leg, Barcelona hold a 2 away goal lead which means Real Madrid would have to score twice in order to level and 3 to win. So that's rather simple, but how would expect Real Madrid to pull such a feat considering they've only scored 3 times against Barcelona in 4 matches in which they won 1, drew 1 and lost twice? You don't.

Barcelona scored 5 goals in their first meeting.

Barcelona have scored 8 times in 4 matches thus far and will most likely put one through if Madrid attempt to play more openly. Once they manage to score then the task becomes increasingly more complicated for Real Madrid as they would have to score twice as many goals. It just seems like a done deal for Real Madrid at the moment. They will be coming into a match without Sergio Ramos and Pepe, who are 2 of there best defensive players. Meanwhile, they do have Ricardo Carvalho coming back from suspension, but I'm not a math genius and still understand that 1 good player coming back doesn't make up for 2 especially when your back-ups aren't too special. 

Higuain: A man missed throughout the campaign.

So we'll have a full strength Barcelona side, which will include Iniesta who if we recall did not participate in the 1st leg through injury. Meanwhile, we have a Real Madrid side which will be without those 2 pivotal defenders. I suppose Albiol and Arbeloa will fill in for them. All in all, it doesn't seem like Real Madrid will pull off the come back. Perhaps if Mourinho throws out Ronaldo, Ozil, Kaká, Di Maria, Higuain, Benzema and Adebayor and suddenly you have Higuain playing like his 2009-2010 self and Kaká stretching it back to his AC Milan European Champions form. I highly doubt any of that will happen and if it did, it'd still be a long shot for Madrid. 

José Mourinho will have to watch it all play out from the stands (or suite I presume). The "Special One" pulled off a remarkable feat against the Catalan's in last season's edition, but that was coming off a 1st leg victory in his favor. Mourinho may be one of football's elite managers, but this obstacle seems one too big for him and his team. It's key to note that it has been a positive campaign for "Los Blancos" and that Mourinho has shown over the years to pack an even better and stronger punch during his 2nd season in command.