Nadal won again against Federer in the Australian Open semi-final this morning. The comparison between the psychological advantage Nadal has over Federer with how the Blaugrana consistently defeat the Merengue is an intriguing one.

In his past clubs Mourinho always had the solution to win the psychological game. Think about how he brilliantly did that while at Chelsea and even more at Inter. Now compare the quality of players he has at Madrid with those he had at Inter. Clearly in favor of Real right? However, Mourinho has lost it ever since the memorable 5 – 0 defeat in Camp Nou over a year ago. Mourinho, for the first time ever is not leading the tactics, it’s Guardiola who imposes his vision and style on the clasicos. Just like Nadal does with Federer since some years now. Mourinho is constantly trying to adapt, change, combine tactics in reaction to Barça’s game. He did that with much more vista in yesterday’s game but the final verdict was yet again a Barça qualification. Many commentators actually thought Real could have won in yesterday’s beautiful clasico but I don’t agree. Real had to gather tons of efforts to dominate the game while you could tell Barça’s offensive potential just needed sparks to take off. Look at Barça’s first goal for proof.

I think Mourinho, like Federer, should stop living in denial and should accept their inferiority more publicly and start thinking of a new approach to their game. Easier to do for Mourinho than for Federer who has most of his career past him and who also has to deal with another “Barça”, namely Djokovic!

Maracanazos like to make comparisons.