Special One for the Road?

Jose Mourinho is just 11/10 to be out the door at Real Madrid before the start of next season. The headline grabbing former Chelsea manager is still fuming following his side’s controversial elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Barcelona on Tuesday night. He was already banned from the dugout inside the Nou Camp having been sent off during the first leg at the Bernabeu where his side lost 2-0, having been reduced to 10 men.

The ‘Special One’s’ mood will not have improved after the away leg yesterday when Gonzalo Higuain had a goal controversially chalked off with the score standing at 0-0 on the night. Had it stood, then Madrid would have needed just one more to force an unlikely period of extra time. Instead, the Catalans soon found the net themselves through Pedro, before Marcelo levelled for an ultimately irrelevant equaliser.

Mourinho has now found himself under attack from his own club’s former president Ramon Calderon, for comments he made inbetween the two matches. The Portuguese manager appeared to call into question the integrity of matches involving Barcelona, insinuating that the Spanish champions receive special treatment.

“It’s clear that against Barcelona you have no chance,” he said. “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.”

Calderon told BBC Radio 5 live that “to talk like that has been harmful for us (Madrid). What he (Mourinho) did in terms of talking about UEFA and referees is not acceptable at all,” he added.

With Real seemingly destined to finish behind their great rivals in La Liga as well, Mourinho has plenty still to prove in Spain. Whether he cares to stick around, or whether the club will back him to the hilt, remains to be seen. VictorChandler still think that Mourinho is marginally more likely to stay in the short term, at odds of 4/6 to begin the 2011-12 season at the Bernabeu. Skybet have shortened the odds on Manchester United being the next English side managed by Mourinho to just 7/4, in from 7/2 a month ago.