Mourino the Champion League's Serial Failure in 3-1 loss

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

All good things – or bad, depending on your tactical tastes – must come to an end and at Stamford Bridge Chelsea's defensive juggernaut was duly halted by an Atlético Madrid team too well-grooved, too canny and ultimately too vibrant in attack to be smothered for a second time. José Mourinho has now lost in a Champions League semi-final six times out of eight. It is a less telling statistic than it sounds: this is a very hard competition to win but there must still be concern at the enervated nature of this performance as a lopsided, strangely configured team ran out of steel, defending their way to a meek 3-1 home defeat.

There will be celebrations not just among Atlético's full-voiced support but also among the self-appointed pro-football lobby, those moved to raise a scented handkerchief to their nose at the spectacle of Chelsea's extreme defensive stitching in recent matches. Plus, of course, the rush will begin to cut Mourinho down to size, to claim that the magic dust has gone, the tactics are obsolete, the motivational superpowers decisively depleted.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...ampions-league


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