Special ones Sporting Gijón end the Jose Mourinho streak

Sporting Gijón end Mourinho's unbeaten home streak

Finally got around to making an entry this multi purpose sporting blog, which there will hopefully be some guest writers about differnt subjects of which my knowledge is shit or a lack of caring for them.

This entry is a bit late, but it's for a worthy cause hehe. La Liga has been a two horse race for so long between Barcelona and Real Madrid, there are many reasons for this. There needs to be a better TV rights deal for La Liga as a whole, even with a fairer revenue stream for the other clubs Barca and RM will still be dominant forces within Spain. The football product is excellent, though the organisation should be German run.

Sporting Gijón ended the outstanding streak from Jose Mourinho going 9 years and 150 matches undefeated at home with the teams he has managed Porto, Chelsea, Inter and now RM. It was a surprising result yet a great one with a few ironies which are never a bad thing. Earlier in the season Mourinho made comments about Preciado fielding a second string side against Barca, indicating they were lying down for the champions. Needless to say Preciado was far from amused and the second string team only lost 1-0 to Barca.

When RM went to El Molinon to play, there was a lot of tension and press naturally lapped it up. Preciado calling Mourinho "canalla", there are a few translations for this but scumbag is a personal favourite, then asking Jose to sit with the ultra. Cristiano Ronaldo "aka Portuguese Peacock" scored the late winner in a very hard fought match.

RM had many of their players out due to a combination of injuries and resting for their Champs League quarter final with Tottenham. They haven't been that impressive this season but there weren't any indications that Gijón were going to pull the upset. Sporting had Diego Castro who has clearly been their best player for the season out of this match, hopefully Sporting can hold onto him next season.

Understandably Sporting were nervous initially, but after 15 minutes or so they settled down and defended intelligently. It wasn't just 10-0-0 catenaccio and hope they don't score. Sure RM had many players out but being a big side they have squad depth to cover these losses, they weren't very threatening in attack lacked width and penetration and Sporting were comfortable at half time.

Second half started out more of the same with RM hitting hopeful balls to Adebayor. Di Maria has guaranteed a spot in the 2012 Argentine Olympic diving team with the amount of diving that he was performing, thought he was like "Sammy the Seal" at Seaworld with the theatrics. Sporting were more comfortable on the ball and were able to pass it around when they had the chance and went ahead with a brilliant team goal, which had 8 quick passes and former Atletico Madrid boy Miguel de las Cuevas hitting the target with a good finish as Casillas was off balance after being exposed by his defence.

The last 10 minutes were amusing for Sporting Gijón fans, as Higuain made his return to football after surgery and RM were throwing men forward attacking like there was free paella on offer and after 78 minutes of not doing very much. Sporting cleared the goal line twice and Mourinho had a rueful smile knowing that it wasn't going to be his day. There was quite a bit of "Fergie time" known as keep playing until Man U score, but nothing was going to deny a brave performance from Sporting Gijón getting the win at the Bernabeu. Arguably they should have drawn the first match at home.

Not sure if RM were that bad to be compared to Stoke as the wonderfully objective Marca stated. In this match their attack had as much idea as a 12 yr old boy trying to take off a bra. Especially when in trouble they couldn't use the whole pass it to the Portuguese Peacock and he'll create something or score. Yes, they miss Ronaldo but you'd think they'd have other dimensions to use to cover his absence.

As a Sporting Gijón fan, I didn't think they'd hold onto the 1-1. At the same time they have had an excellent record against the top sides this season. Draw at the Camp Nou and narrow loss to Barca, a draw with Villarreal at El Madrigal. When they were struggling, I said they would stay up and while this is a great result the job isn't done yet. They have been on a good run and need to beat the teams around them to secure their status in La Liga before the last day of the season. There are worse teams than them, though they can only look after their own results and not what goes on in other matches.

There were rumours about the Gijón old boy Luis Enrique coming to coach them. This would be a mistake as Preciado is popular with his players, even opposition fans appreciate his character and with the squad he has it would be very doubtful that Enrique would do better than Preciado. Getafe aka Real Madrid B are struggling at the moment and could in the market for a new trainer.

What it means for Real Madrid is that they now can concentrate on the Champs League and the Copa del Rey. The UK papers coming out and saying he and Valdano have a strained relationship. This is not a case of the horse has bolted, it has bolted been caught and back in the stable.

Preciado before the match and said positive things about Mourinho and it was good to hear that the "Special One"went into the Sporting dressing room and congratulated Preciado and the team for their win. Somewhere behind that funky moustasche Preciado had a warm glow inside and not just from the fine Asturian cider.