Barcelona run amok on 'worst night of career' for Mourinho

Barcelona 5 Real Madrid

(GETTY IMAGES)

It was once said of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona that "they are so good they can play in the rain and not get wet". Last night it poured down on Jose Mourinho's first Clasico and "The Special One" got absolutely soaked.

He kept his calm on the touchline as Cristiano Ronaldo barged into Pep Guardiola, causing a 21-man free-for-all and a booking for the Real Madrid number nine. He stayed inside his technical area as Leo Messi took a dramatic tumble and was booked for trying to get Ricardo Carvalho sent off.

But he must have wanted the Nou Camp to swallow him up as 100,000 Barcelona fans celebrated one of their greatest nights – humiliating the "translator" and moving to the top of the league in the process.

Mourinho said: "It is the worst result of my career but it is not one that is difficult to explain because we had no chance of winning the game. There were no shots of ours against the post and there were no bad refereeing decision that went against us. We played badly and they played very well. It was a deserved defeat."

The Real Madrid coach was taunted by Barcelona fans who sang "Mourinho, sale del banquillo" ("Mourinho, come out of the dugout") as the Real Madrid coach stayed out of his technical area.

Asked about the second-half no-show, he said: "There was no tension in the second half. There is no feeling in that situation that you can change anything. When they scored the third goal it was game over."

With Mourinho's team knocked off the top of the league, the damage limitation work had began. "The difference is not 5-0, it is two points," he said. "I wish we were playing tomorrow because these players need to get this result out of their system. I expected more of them and they expected more of themselves."

A "we love Barça" crowd mosaic greeted the players as they came out and David Villa greeted Ronaldo with a "welcome to the Clasico" tackle that lifted the crowd. On six minutes Messi hit Iker Casillas's right-hand upright and it was a sign of things to come for the Spain keeper.

He was picking the ball out of his net after just nine minutes when Messi's pass found Iniesta who released Xavi to put the home side in front. Marcelo had slipped on the wet surface and he would be at fault for the second goal as this time Xavi started the move and Pedro finished it from Villa's cross.

Mourinho has made much of how he did not fancy Marcelo as a defender when he took over in the summer but had slowly had his mind changed. This was Marcelo's first big test and he was left wanting, allowing Pedro to ghost in ahead of him to double Barça's lead.

Frustrated at seeing his team being overwhelmed, Ronaldo knocked the ball out of Guardiola's hand on the touchline whilst barging into the Barça coach. "These are just things that happen," said Guardiola, playing down the incident afterwards.

The push kick-started a 21-man scrum of players led by Victor Valdes, who came charging out of his goal to protect his manager. Ronaldo joined the goalkeeper and Carles Puyol in the book and could easily have seen red when he took a tumble in the area just seven minutes before the break claiming a penalty.

Ronaldo was just about keeping his head as Madrid tried desperately to stay in the game and create an opening for themselves. Whenever they threatened, Puyol was the quickest and the strongest inside the Barça penalty area and a Messi shot from distance was the last meaningful chance of the first half as the home side kept up the domination.

Messi went close inside the first five minutes after the break and then had the ball in the net only to be flagged for offside before Xavi also went close, shooting into the side netting. But the near-misses soon became goals number three and four with the David Villa-Messi combination too much for Madrid. Twice the Argentine's slide-rule passes were run onto and dispatched by the Spain centre-forward.

Barcelona were now passing Real Madrid into the ground and Black Monday was complete for Madrid when Jeffren made it five and Sergio Ramos was sent off. Mourinho had long since taken cover from the rain – he must now take cover from the Madrid press who will question the coach after seeing their side lose more heavily than they did under his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini last season.

Pep Guardiola said: "It is not easy to play like that against a team like Real Madrid. The players were extraordinary." Asked if this served as a confirmation of Barça's place as one of the best sides in history, he added: "Only time will tell how good this side is."

Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdes; Alves, Pique, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi (Keita, 87), Busquets, Iniesta; Pedro (Jeffren, 87), Messi, Villa (Bojan, 76). Substitutes not used: Colorado, Maxwell, Adriano, Mascherano, Thiago.

Real Madrid (4-2-3-1): Casillas; Ramos, Pepe, Carvalho, Marcelo (Arbeloa, 60); Khedira, Xabi Alonso; Di Maria, Ozil (Diarra, h-t), Ronaldo; Benzema. Substitutes not used: Dudek, Tortajada, Leon, Molina, Higuain

Referee: I Gonzalez.