I'll see all you Madrid fans in the final. Oh wait you won't be going. Better luck next time. VISCA EL BARCA

moments of brilliance ? well try to watch other matches when players weren't frustrated with the referee's stupid decision that destroyed the match. messi couldn't even hold the ball for more than 5 seconds before taking pepe off his shoulders.. outnumbering a team with players like barelona within your hands is not that good situation, so playing three frustrated players who lost their will to play wasn't brilliant, it was sad, because it really went too far, just try to research how many players got sent out against barcelona with mourinho's teams then write an article..

One of the things always with Maurinho is that, while coaches like Ferguson are are always trying to give their players the credit of what they achieved, Maurinho always like to be at the center of discussion even in time of success. Eg running in to the field after defeating Barca at Camp Nou last season. Wonder where Fergie hides at Moscow when United are celebrating. You gotta let the players take the credit they deserve.

Jose's discipline is not good let change for the better.

This is right. Mourinho always arrange a very dangerous game. His teams foul barcelona a lot and finally barca will also start some play acting. If madrid plays just football, it will be another 5-0. This guy is a politician than a soccer coach.

Before the Barca vs Madrid match Jose Mourinho was all out there blamming Josep Guardiola by stating that Guardiola is the one found of complaining about match officials. Now those are another words from the same Mourinho. “Josep Guardiola is a fantastic football coach, but he has won one Champions League which would embarrass me after the scandalous goings on at Stamford Bridge and this year if he wins it again it will be after the scandalous goings on at the Bernabéu. I don’t know if it’s the UNICEF publicity or the friendship of Villar at UEFA, where he is vice president, I don’t know if it’s because they are so nice, but they have got great power. The rest of us have no chance”.

Is Mourinho really a coach? I don't think so.... I think this man is someone who came to create dislikes and confussions in the hearts of many of us who love the soccer game and the way Barca plays soccer.

I am waiting to see what measures will be taken by UEFA and if I was a boss at UNICEF, I will call Mourinho to order to explain further how have the United Nation been envolved in the scandads of Soccer as he claimed.

What a disrespect for the game, its officials, fellow coaches, teams, and other respected organizations.

very well said.

KEEP TA LINKING AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT HAPPENS ............................FULL MORINHIO HE RELAY THINK THAT ALL THE PLAYERS OF BARCELONA WILL GO TO MADRID'S HALF AND HE WILL USE THE COUNTER ATTACK .........................HAAAAAAAAAAAAA BARCELONA ARE NOE THAT STUPID REPEATING THE SAME MISTAKE ONCE AGAIN.......DO YOU KNOW WHAT PART OF THE GAME IS MY FAVORITES IT IS WHEN THE BARCELONA DEFENDERS PASS THE BALL AROUND AND MAKE RINALDO GO NUTS I LIKE THAT IS THE WAY PLAY SOCCER ......................................

Just look at aggregate..Barcelona is now 7 to 1 in the last three matches against Real Madrid. Let the numbers do the talking. Mourinho has once again led with his mouth. We all need a break from this man...He should be known as Coach EGO!

Dont worry.... He is not going further than semi finals...

messi could not hold the ball for 5 seconds,lol. d entire madrid team could not hold the ball for 1 second even before d red card. madrid played almost an entire match against tottenham 11vs10 yet ronaldo could produce the same moment of magic. i wonder why. pepe got sent off not d entire team so messi produced a moment of magic. if half d players dat mark messi mark ronaldo he wont even see d ball. when u send ur team out to stop people playing football instead of playin urself wat do u expect? dat d ref hands out sweets for ur effort to injure other players? lol u r funny. i suppose u d tell me the sergio ramos red card in d first clasico was wrong too.lol.clown

Barcelona's lose to Madris during the COPA DE REY was not the best response from star-studded Madrid afterall. They came out confident with the feelings that they are a match to Barça. The absence of Iniesta was another hope for Madrid who lost grip of the fact that Barça has a tradition of filling in easily for an injured player. Morinho is good, no doubt but then, not against a strong team like Barçalona. They were jubilant after a 6 goal during the league game with the feelings that it will be uhuru.

Real Madrid were robbed period!!! Where was Messi and his brilliance before the red card. you Guys at CNN are so biased.

Pep Guardiola is my hero and Mourinho is his antithesis; I think Madrid fans and even Real Madrid deserve someone who is known for plays on the field rather than the pre & post game bloviating he does.

The guy is simply not used to being outclassed.

I'm glad that Barca won. It shows that you can't just buy all the best players in the world, and expect to win trophies right away. Building a team that performs well consistently takes time and dedication. That's why I prefer Barca over Real and Man-U over Chelsea.

Mark my words: both Madrid and Chelsea will react by firing coaches and buying even more top players, again breaking down any hint of team bond that has been created in the last years. And it won't get them any closer to winning prices.

Messi was merciless that day. He is the best and must be respected.Real Madrid should try and play actual soccer than what they've been doing whenever they meet Barca. And @Chineedu, Real kacked character-they are just unwilling to play at their own stadium.

The difference between Real Madrid & Barca is very simple:
Barca have a team; while Madrid have players.
So it's always an uphill task for Madrid when it comes to playing against Barca.

mourinho is confuess.he shd no dat MESSI is more dan 3players on de pitch.he talks too much.

MOURINHO IS RIGHT YOU CANT WIN AGAINST BARCA
UEFA ALWAYS HELP BARCA,JUST LOOK BACK AT SOME OF
THERE OTHER GAMES AND THE HELP THEY GOT FROM UEFA
AND THE PAID FOR REFS

mourinho is the one that went far? its very obvious to any one that knows anything about footbal the uefa and fifa favour them for so called attractive footbal, yeh passing the ball back to the keeper 20 times and between the defenders to waste time and keep possession is beautiful footbal!! mourinho is right, this is the 3rd match this season madrid has lost a player in a barca match, not to mention the arsenal match, the chelsea match and the inter match where barca is always facing 10 players due to an odd and strange decision by the ref, this is obviously systematic rather than random.

Manchester United will crush Barcelona in the final anyway, so who cares.

Yes, Mourinho probably played too defensive but according to him, the second half was going to be different and we could even see Kaka warming up. Now he's known for being defensive against some sides but he does come through with results in the end. Messi's strikes were brilliant but then they were against a team that had lost the zeal to fight after a series of questionable referee decisions. Before Mourinho's crucified, closer look should be taken at the reason for his rants. Is it pure coincidence that Chelsea, Inter, Arsenal and Madrid all got red cards against Barca? I want to digress. Messi really was nowhere when Pepe was on him. He's so good, he should ply his trade in other teams or leagues and let's see just how good. A world player that didn't score in the world cup. Shameful.

CNN, your reporting is the saddest thing about this whole game. Why does everyone team have to play ten men against a fantastic side like Barca? What was Pepe's offense? I monitored the replay over and over and over. The red card was simply unwarranted. The same thing happened against Arsenal. It just seems like Barca always needs to win opponent's team.

Please tell me where was fantastic Messi before that lousy red card?

It seems Jose has finally met his match!!! The whole of the footballing world has to applaud the current Barca setup, the youth team, facilities, training methods, loyalty of players, team mentality etc., are just what the game needs, beautiful to watch and inspiring in equal measure.

And can people please check their spelling and grammar when ranting on here?! Pretty embarrassing......

Shows how much a CNN correspondent knows about "SOCCER'. DId you even watch the game? The red card was what changed the game not Messi's 'wonder' goal.... Mourinho should have been mad...it completely changed the game...especially when there has been a real player sent off every classico...even the commentators (on ten sports) said before the match : "the referee has apparently publicly announced that messi is his favorite player". UEFA should be ashamed at determining the outcome of this match.... and as far as so called negative tactics and negative football...negative tactics also means not letting the other team have any possession and gang tackling and fake injuring trying to get the opposition player sent off.

reading this i can conclude that the person who wrote the article either knows little about the game or is one of those wide eyes barca fans. the fact is possession and passes where 90 % of them are simple lateral passes made in barca's own half isn't domination, since most of that domination gives little chance of a goal. However isnt it strange that at least two of the last 3 stages that Barca has played were determined by the refs decision. Why does Barca always seem to get phatom penalties or the opposing team can make no contact with any barca player without getting carded. so you all continue to hail BARCA, But in reality they are a FARCE who needs the ref help to beat any team of substance.

mourinho's great.and his coaching skill is undoubtful the best..but he needs to master one more thing..its called sport ethics..stats show barca was better than madrid..the goals that brought them down were legible..even if pepe was not sent off..i dont see any difference..barca will still score..so whats with ranting?..come on..its really unethical for a great manager like him to do that..good thing Pep does not play like him..or else it can get very ugly considering the fact that the words mourinho said are very disrespectful...

Spicial 1 is the bestcoach in the world barca is always favour by the reffere but the 2 leg will be morinho day mark my word

The red card was fully deserved. If you take a moment to look at it again, it was a karate kick to the leg with no intention of going for the ball. Take a careful look. So, yes, the red card changed the momentum, but it takes a GOOD team to step up and overcome a change in momentum. I don't really like the way Barca played – it isn't a good style, but it was exactly effective against Real (particularly against Ronaldo and Mourinho).

Both sides can be taken to task for their diving, but all the cards and the fouls appeared to be correct. Just because your team didn't win doesn't mean they weren't correct.

In the end Barca was just better. Much better! Perhaps the next game, without Mourinho, Real will step up and play football!

Official match stats stated that possession was 50 50. I'm glad that Mourinho has exposed the fact that Barcelona are very well looked after by the officials.
I neither support Barcelona nor Madrid and I've noticed recently how quick Barcelona players are to fall down, grab their face, and go running over the officials. (Alves, Sergio)
There's no need for this sort of thing during Champion's League matches.

I THINK UEFA NEED TO START SENDING FOR SOME OF YOUR TO REF SOME OF THEIR'S CURS HAL MATCHES, SO WE CAN SEE FOR OURSELF OK.

@ kelvin: are you saying a non striker can never be a world player? Must Messi score a goal at the world cup before he could be a satr player? Hey, we are talking football here and that is a game that is played every blessed day. The world cup comes up only once in 4 years, so what happens to all those great players in the years without the competition? I dont think we should take this bias to the point where we cannot recognise talents. Messi is widely acclaimed and his present form confirms his rating as a world class player.

You don't believe Mou? Look for the "Punto Pelota" video on Youtube. Pepe did not even touch Alves in the red card play... its Ovrebo all over again!

One thing that comes to mind is this! UEFA: The Adjustment Bureau Part 2.

But howm many matches have been played with 10 against 11. Many even this season but not warranting the rant of Mourn-guy. He should grow up and stop disgacing football. Mourn-Guy should train wrestlers not footballers. Games must have rules and rules must be obeyed. UEFA should ban this Guy for the good of football.

Alex Thomas, I must register my disappointment at ur comments on yesterday's el-classico and on the "special one" jose. its obvious that u do not like his guts n style... well be it as it may, Real were robbed last night and its so obvious. You and your kind cant stand him repeat what he did with FC Porto and Intermilan and about to do with Real, so you chose to frustrate his efforts....too bad. But you know what? Jose remains the best coach there ever can be...he is indeed "the special one"

I am not a real or Berca fun and i think Berca have full of actors they are acting too much(for the purpose of other player get booked) whenever they get touch. And they always give the pressure on the referee for punishment on other team players. I admitted they play always very well but there is not beauty of mind set as they always want win only. Check it out last night semi-final pedro and daniel alves acting too much it is shame as a world class players in one of the greatest team in the world. And also check it out last year semi-final clashed Sergio Busquets Oscar acting made Thiago Motta got red card, that is what Berca player want. They may be the world's best players recently but i really don't like them. As i simple respect on fair players for me they are the best. I hate acting, diving over reacting like a lot of Berca players.

I used to be a Barca fan, after this match i am not anymore. CNN with regards to your opinion I would say that reporters don't watch that much football as we do in Europe. Its always the same thing with Barca, cards, diving and to be honest i've seen better football then theirs yes 73% possession but what does it matter for when u just pass around in your half sometime 4-5 passes between the same players. And I agree with most comments that messi was actually invisible till Pepe got sent off. Ronaldo is much better player in my opinion and has more class. Nevermind Man United will smash Barca in the final

Never seen so much cheating in a game.
Players from both teams rolling around on the ground, falling to the ground under the slightest contact, hounding the ref to make bookings, substitutes shouting at the linesman during the game.
I'm glad teams in England don't play like this.

The UEFA should ban Mourinho for life! He's a disgrace! Visca el Barca!!!

Especially Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Marcello are CRIMINALS!

Just I need to know, why the hell nobody said nothing when Real Madrid scored even in the liga game with an obvious fake penalty by marselo!!??? but the karate defenses of real must not be warned!!! Pepe should get red card in every game, Ramos also, its just that they don't have a sport ethics except the goal keeper and Kaka. by the way, Adebayor deserved a red card more than Pepe when he hit one of the barcelona's defense was like kick boxing!!

Barca players fooled the referee.If you look the way Marcherano fouled Pepe, its a foul that warrant a red card,but no red card was given.A set of circumstances could change the game and in this case, Pepe's unfortunate red card changed the game.Truth must be told and let not the blindness partisan exceed the reality of a given game.Fair play means Play fair and that includes referees and assistant referees.

I think its high time Mourino keeps quite since his complaint that the sending off Pepe changed everything, does not hold water. "We have seen teems with good mind set and tactics t win with ten men or less. If he believes is a is a good coach, why did n't he do it? Maybe is a bad coach who does not have good tactics and covers himself with alot of talking.

Let's speak about Christiano Ronaldo.
All he does is wait around for a decent pass to score a goal. Hasn't anyone told him what teamwork means?

both barca and Real played badly but the ref was good. barca with their play acting and diving while Real with diving and physical football. barca knew that Real would play like this and set Real up..

the biggest loser here was Jose would should have played more attacking in the 2nd half, why did he remove ozil? and bring in adebouyer. adebouer may be good in the air but that's it. he should have left ozil in and replaced de maria with kaka. ronaldo was upset with Jose's tactics. ronaldo was isolated.

am shocked the jose overplayed this card 2 cant play 4 defensive games against barca, this game which was at home, with barca's defensive injuries and iniesta injury should have been a gift 4 Real

on the bench we had higauin, benzema and more importantly kaka. kaka should have played in the 2nd half now it2 late 4 Real cuz they have 2 attack which will be a problem 4 them. i hope jose will stop be stuck up and rigged in his tactics we lost 5-0 but then we had some key players missing. he doesn't inspire his players 2 attack barca

Yeah, but he is really good looking.

Lots of laugh seeing comment of my fellow above. I do remember last year when we were beaten 3-1 at Milan,many of you thought mourinho can hold us forever hee? No guys,We at Barca deserve that win, not real saying Messi couldnt control the ball for 5 second? this is rubish! i can comply with efe and some fans above,Madrid knew it if can play their normal football.... a 5 NIL was their best defeat,but in order to stop this defeat that was their beter trick.......so they deserve!!

Realmadrid is the best,their player don't pretend like barca player before you touch them,they are on ground,they cheat with refree help.

Its funny when people say mourinho is the greatest coach. He is the only coach in the world that can play a home game and keep 10 players behind the half way line and when he looses the game he says it is because the world is against him. i feel he should GROW up and admit that barcelona is better than his Real madrid side.

You should have known this guy is a whinger,he plays negative football as evryone can see,every club he has being,you see good players who start playing dirty as soon as they work for this thing called Mourinho,he is rude,disrecpectful,mouthy and always want to win at all cost.
he knew if he plays clean football like the first classico,we might beat them 5 nil again,and playing dirty is the only way he can achieve that.
He has gone far this time and he will definitely be punished,moreover legal action should be taken against him for bringing institution of barcelona to disrepute.

JOSE MAU has not said anything different from what Arsene wenger said after Van persie was given a second yellow card for time waiting a foul that the whole world saw as scandalous (even BARC in their hearts), I love Barcelona but when they keep getting favoured not one, not two but three times in big games it brings disrepute to the beautiful Game

I love that CNN is finally covering some proper football; but, this was obviously written by someone who neither watched the event or Spanish football in general.

Barca always has disproportionate possession. They play keepaway for half the time.

And the time spent by Barca players diving was so disgusting I switched away a half-dozen times to watch the Fulham-Bolton match. Maybe not the world's highest-paid athletes; but, no diving in the match – just hard work.

That amount of diving doesn't happen unless the coach is complicit – and the referee doesn't care to confront the overpaid stars.

Mourinho is so full of himself...but then again its all mind games.

Mourinho is not giving is team a chance. He has so many good players in his team and he didn't use them. Mourinho and he defense lost it for Madrid. They just watched Messi on his second goal and couldn't do anything to stop him. They lost the game and in time we will all forget who got the red card. Who was sent to the stands. But history will simply say BARCELONA 2 MADRID 0.....and you cant change that....Mourinho can talk all he wants, but when he wakes up in the morning his team still lost 2-0 at HOME......!

I think the Madrid management will certainly look at Mourinho and should just let him go! They spend so much and they still lost!

I saw the match . I agree that the fakers won it .

Barca held the ball 75 % in the Cup Championship and lost the match . Passing the ball around in ones half is an old tactic that is used to annoy and trap the opponents into going for the tough approach . This probaly explain why 9 out of 10 team that face Barcelona get red cards .

One has to be very intelligent to detect Mourinhos cause of frustration .

And since Referees are now part of the modern professional game , no one should be punished for talking about their blunders .

That Ref of yesterday was obviously panicked into producing a red one . Pepe did nothing that Messi did not do when his shoe ended up high in somebody"s chest . Alves should have been given 5 yellow cards in this one match .

The only way for Real Madrid to beat the Barcelona is to kick them down! Barcelona and Lionel Messi have proven to be the greatest respectively. Jose Mourinho however has gone to far in questioning UEFA. He should infact question his own tactics and stop being a sour loser. But a lot of teams are going to begin 'hating' on Barcelona because they are the best and on top of the world in their discipline. So beware of a quest to even the balance through poor officiating against BARCA!

It will be interesting and fair if FIFA would hasten to quell the prejudice of refrees in a match of such magnitude,obviously soccer the most loving sport in the world is becoming and losing its credibility due to refrees partiality.very disgusting and hated to see soccer go down this way ,on behalf of all soccer loving men and women we urge the soccer governing body to take a crucial step in saving soccer game.Disgusted to see the sided refrees commonly in bias control of some games,spectators are tired of seeing such.it makes the game less interesting.
Morinho was right in his vocal speech,it is mandatory to spaek out the truth for the world to know that something wrong is happening in the most loved sport game.

Ok, let me break it down for people on this post who cannot put 2 and 2 together... Mourinho, being the tactical genius that he is, believes that the best way to stop a Barca side is to play physical, dirty, foul them and generally make sure that they do not manage to play their pasing game. So he instrcuts his players to do just that; break some legs. However, in order to cushion them in case their dirty tactics go too far, he plays up the media and 'premeditates' that his team will be reduced to 10 men, all the while knowing that is a very big possibility, what with his anti-football tactics.

Of course, it helps if some of the commentators are supporters of RM, because they will only see and commentate the game one-way. Seriously, did anyone notice the bias in commentatorship during last night's game? One of the commentators was pathetically biased towards RM, to say the least!

So the game begins and RM pull out their bag of dirty game tricks, only that some of the players go too far. Of course, the refs see right through this old Mourinho trick and justly punish the players. No whining, that was the kind of tackle that can end a players career in the blink of an eye. Remember Ramsey's broken leg some time back, anyone? How about Eduardo? To me, that kind of reckless challenge deserved a black card, leave alone a Red.

I seem to recall some intentional stamping by Marcello on Pedro's knee some time towards the end of the game, some unnoticed foul that immediately led to his sub, yet nobody can recall that now. Oh, as for the diving, Busquets and co were perfecting their diving acts as usual, that must be agreed. However, RM was not to be left behind in the diving department either. Recall Di-Maria's dives that earned Alves a yellow? How about Ronaldo's after the 'tackle' by Mascherano? Both teams were still diving and that must be admonished, period. However, this evening, RM lost to a better team, largely as a result of a breakdown in their dirty tactics. That is all that can be said about this game.
Pep, good tactical move by bringing in Affelay for Pedro. Many people just don't realise that yet.

i think it was about time someone expressed their true feelings about referees.they hold the game in their hands and after blunt mistakes,they are neither punished nor do they even apologise yet for a player a few foul words to a camera and they are banned for three games

What a lot of sanctimonius claptrap. If a coach isn't bitter when his team loses in questionable circumstances then he's no business coaching a club. Jose felt his team was cheated of the win and that Barca, for all their talent, have prospered in recent years from favorable decisions. That's his opinion and he should be entitled to give it. Last time I looked football is run by elected officials not the Taliban. Free speech is not a privilege it's a right. Pepe's red card was excessive. He was beaten to the ball by Alves but he was clearly going for the ball and merely clipped the defender's shin. A foul, certainly, though Alves rolling on the floor like he's been shot was an embarrassment - I mean shin guards are there for a reason aren't they? A yellow card – possibly in these days when football has become a non contact sport. A red? No way! As for Messi, he was anonymous until Real went down to 10 men. He may still have scored those two goals, but because of the over zealous refereeing we will never know. The fact is Barca have received some generous decisions in recent years. Yes, they're a great team, but, as Mourinho implies, it would be nice to see if their greatness would be rewarded with trophies unassisted

Mourinho is always the special one and will forever be the special one but sometimes he need to be cool and calm in order to win some marches.
Pep is a grate coach that have study Mourinho very well and knows what type of games or styles He can come up with...
Pep knew that He will be playing Mourinho four time in three weeks, so He place priority on those marches,

1. Laliga second leg march which He knew is very important so he have to play very well to make sure He have a good result which he did.
2. Kings Cup, Pep realise that Kngs cup is not that important to the club than the champions league, so He softpeddal in order not to wear all his players out before Champions league which later went in favour of Mourinho.
3. Champions League 1st leg: Pep have to come out with all His strength and power knowing that Mourinho is going to be more physical, so he also deploy another tack-ticks by passing the ball arround and making Madrid run for the ball just to frustrate them and reduce them to 10men or more, which work out for Him on the long run...

All this tact-ticks are all part of football, if any team can make a very good use of them they will surely succeed which Barcelona did very well.

Thanks to Messi brilliant performance.

Mourinho is good and better than Pep but he have to learn how to pass the ball around also, if he want to win more cup for Madrid.

why again is this nonsense on cnn's front page? Who cares about this? Real Who? And what is the other Barcawhat? What are they competing for anyways?

I like football, I like FC Barcelona. I don't like bad people, I don't like Jose Mourinho.

Only one team can beat Barcelona, and that is Spain. Barcelona is probably the best team I have ever seen. Unbelievable football at times. Messi is so humble whereas Ronaldo is super arrogant.

i just need some1 to please answer these questions. 1.was chelsea denied series of penalties when they played barca at the semi 2yrs ago? 2. sending off van persie at nou camp did it make any sense? 3.was pepe's red card not harsh? 4.are all of these coincidence or design????

@Ricardo
In fact you can see clearly that his leg was hit (granted not as hard as it would be made to seem), but even more clearly that Pepe turned his foot deliberately to hit his leg. That alone is worth the red card. He intended to hurt the other player.

Isn't it great when Real try to portray themselves as the mistreated underdog. That's another Mou favourite whether he's at Chelsea, Inter or RM. Even if you are the most favoured team in the league, it always pays to whine a bit. Fergie does the same thing with his bitching about referees. In the end, it costs very little (usually), and it may end up sticking in the back of the ref's head.

Jose did go too far this time. I am a huge fan of his, but he must respect the referees, its part of the game and the spirit of sportsmanship. His actions probably cost Real Madrid the final spot and tarnished his image after winning the Copa del Rey.

Come on Mourinho, they just didn't play well, accept it like a man!

If it were 1 nil with a penalty or something is fine, but 2 nil, it NOT the referees fault, its your fault.

Kael: Sometimes it is better to accept defeat and be honest. Can´t you read the the majority of the comments in this forum at least?
Don´t you see that everyone accepts that Mourinho is an imbecil?
I am a Barca fan but i really think that Real Madrid is not well represented by him. They are a very good team that has done great stuff and deserve a better coach.

The referee did not ousted Pepe, Pepe expeled himself from the game by doing something he should not have done. As simple as that.

I always will defend Mou as a coach but, if yesterday he tried to play defense playing as LOCAL he made a poor decision. He had warming-up Kaka for all the second half. Christinao Ronald is not a natural forward so he needed help from Adebayour, Higuain from the beginning.

He can scream all he wants but, you do not play local excepting on what your rival does in order to get action and try to win a game. He thinks without Pepe (only responsible for been sent-out) and with the same line-up and game tactics win in Barcelona NO WAY.

I like this last comment. Also, if you watch the match again, pay close attention to Mourinho's instructions to foul the player without the ball. This is how he is ending Barcelona's continuity, since fouling the man WITH the ball didn't work during the 5-0 defeat. This was happening a lot in the previous Clasicos and some players that normally don't complain were going to ground so they would at least get the call (not Alves and Busquets, they need to grow up). So it really made the match look terrible, a lot of diving from both sides. Nonetheless, Barcelona had 72% of the posession in this match.
As for the red card, it was brilliant refereeing and I'll explain it right here. Pepe has been playing to the limit every match, but with this foul he did something that the referee cannot forgive, he tried to break Alves' leg. Now, keep in mind, this is the same player that fouled a Getafe player, then kicked him twice, got a red card, went over to the player and pulled on his hair, etc. If you look at the replay, he actually NEVER touched Alves. Fact, Alves faked the pain. But, if you pay close attention, Pepe came in to touch the ball and then he rotated his body and heel and changed the trajectory of his leg. If he had made contact he surely would have ended the night for Alves if he was lucky. If he was even slight unlucky it's goodbye to the career (just like Keane did back in the day).
So when you have a player coming in to every challenge in the last second and that has been known to lose his mind blatantly try to break a leg, you have to send him home. There's no place for that in football.
If this had been an amature match, Alves would have stood up and punched Pepe square in the face, just for even trying to break his leg. All the players know that was the intention. But since it's CL, he has to roll around and pretend it hurts. Nonetheless, shame on Pepe for even trying that, shame on referees for not giving cards if players aren't in "last seconds of life" agony, shane on Alves for faking all the time, but at least Pepe didn't have to break someone's leg for us to learn our lesson!

Side note: I've seen legs break 3 times in the last year and all of the fouls were because of referees not sending off a player before the inevitable happened. I applaude Stark for this. Pepe has gone too long without a red card. He needs to concentrate on football, his talent is incredible.

Real Madrid fans are such sore losers...you can rant all you want, the thing is your team did not want to play football, even Cristiano was frustrated with his teammates.

Before we hang Mourinho, lets look at the reason for his rants. That Chelsea, Inter, and Madrid all got red cards against Barca is coincidence or design ? No matter how you look at it, it all transpired while Jose was coach. I want to disagree that its pure coincidence. .What of Arsenal game with Barca. immediately Van persie was sent off, Barca scored two goals to win. If Barca is good as people think, they should not rely on ref to win big games. the first semi final between ManU and schalke saw worst tackles than pepe's and yet no card was given and the match turned out more interesting.Messi really was nowhere when Pepe was on him and it would have ended like that had pepe remained. Its unfortunate refs should spoil such big games for Fans like us.

Mouriho will be GREAT in coaching American football where hacking people down is an admirable skill not soccer.

you can't say what you think anymore? he can saw whatever he pleases and has titles to back that up. btw, not many coaches win with different teams. I wonder what pep would be like outside catalonia. I would love to see him take porto to cl final and win it. FAT chance. I could coach barca. Simple just tell them to keep passing the ball and if the opposition breathes on you, you go down holding your face screaming and in between give the ball to Messi

Don't say anything you cannot prove it, Mourinho! You insulted not only Barcelona but the whole football. Do you mean everyone in football is dirty with Barca but you and Real Madrid?Come on! There are usually controvercies in football, but why don't you blame your defeats for yourself, not for controvercies?

Xinedu and Kael,

I'm so sorry but neither of you know much about football after reading your comments. You can't say that Messi's performance was short of brilliant when in his second goal the man took out 4 of Madrid's defenders, and scored the goal with his weak foot, with little or no angle against the top goal keeper in the world. Although I admit that Pepe's send off was a defining moment that turned the page on the match, Madrid didn't offer any football in this game. All they did was sit on their side of the field and wait. When you play the waiting game against Barca, you can't help but foul the Barca players because they are unstoppable with ball possesion.

What was witnessed yesterday was truly UNFORTUNATE for all of us true football fans. The game was dirty and filled with controversy. All of this was due to the arrogance of Jose Mourinho. It's unfortunate that Madrid allows its organization, always deemed to be top class and internationally respected, to be represented by this man.

Loved seeing Mouriho cry.... little girl!! Real got owned, next time losers. Love the pathetic comments and excuses Mourinho's coming out with now.

Spoil the game you say? It was an ugly match from the start. And the red card was justified, that was dangerous game from Pepe, regardless he hit Alves or not, but I agree Alves should've been penalized too for acting.

so what happened during barca's 5-0 trashing of madrid? was someone sent off?

Barca have never been good against mourinho one on one. mourinho's side is always good. but one on zero Barca takes it. copa, interfinal, 1:1. mourinho is good

The reason a player is sent off with a red card every time a team plays against Barcelona is very simple – it's not biased referees or Barca's political connections- it's the fact that Barcelona plays so well and keeps the ball for 70+% of the time. They frustrate the other team leaving them with no choice but committing fouls and taking chances of being booked. Unfortunatly, Jose brought with him the boring defensive Italian way of playing soccer. This is NOT the Serie A!

Real Madrid were robbed!

Why is it that Mourinho always fight with the media and Football Authorities (FAs) in every country he has been to. So it was in London, he exported same nonchalance to Italy and now in Spain? He always creat divisions between happy fans and football lovers in opposing teams, hardly give credit to his team for doing well, rather rush for press conference to brush his ego. Honestly he is just lucky, not that he is a good coach. With all the players with him right from Chelsea to Inter and Madrid, anybody call coach can extra results from them. If he is a good coach, let him do what Wenger, Sir Alex and Pep is going in their respective teams. They build teams and not scrambling for any made name in the game of football. Fans should be happy and enjoy the sweetness of the game and not to allow the devide and rule tactis od Mourinho to create enemies when the name of the game is Unity

Would you tell me that without Pepe the other 5 players running after the Argentinian and neither Iker was able to stop him? Its unjustified cry!

Would you tell me that Real Madrid history is to defense their selves as if they were an amateur non adult team against professional soccer players? Its just a shame!

Would you tell me that Cristiano is a team player? He only wants to be the center of the universe as Mourinho... and they both have corrupted the entire teammates, well some of them were already non sense and bad people as Pepe or Ramos.

Mourinho is a trouble maker, everywhere he goes he wants to create chaos or play antifootball, specially against Barcelona which he obviously knows is superior than any team he had managed before.

With Oporto he was a sensation, with great unknown portuguese players as Deco, Maniche, Carvalho or Ferreira. But after that everywhere he goes the club owners give him whatever he wants to win. Not all of the directors can actually have that kind of back up. Obviously he will win if they create a huge star team. But Barcelona is his wall. He always plays to Barcelona as if they wanted to kill us or like if it was a war. And thats why his teams always get red cards against Barcelona, and for sure not as many as they deserve.

On the other hand you can see and hear very humble people which remarks the good actions and qualities of the rivals. They do an amazing passing game while executing a great pressure under the others when having the ball. But they dont defend with 10 players willing to counterattack. They go ahead playing for their fans and for the club, while the others play first for them, then for the money then for club vitrines living behind the unconditional fans that are also blinded by the fog speeches they do everyday.

Conclusion is that both of them are big clubs. Real Madrid cant come to say honestly all the helps that Barsa receives while they having in their history many leagues and champions won because of having a ruling dictator which denied players to sign for Barsa and even killing one of Barsa's presidents!

Nowadays they still receive a lot of permissions from the spanish referees.

Guardiola is a very inteligent man that applies good sense in speech and applies the best tactics for the team wellness. And Messi is a mirror of this behavior even been the best in the world. As well as Xavi, Iniesta or Puyol in their respective positions.

Im glad to represent Blaugrana colors!!!

Vizca Barca

If you actually know the rules of the game, then you would know that was a clear card foul , because of how dangerous the challenge was, although a red might have seemed harsh, the referee had already carded a few, barca and madrid players for rough plays, hinting that he was not gonna tolarate any more of such plays, there is a poll in spanish news papers in which 70% support the red card and 25% think he deserved a yellow, only 5% think he did'nt deserve a card at all, and believe me the spanish know football, and theres a higher following of madrid, than of barca. With that said pepe's sending off was predictable... they were warned not to play such a rough game, it's not rugby u know... And the main reason teams are getting a player sent off during barca matches is simple, teams tend to play very defensive football against Barca and the play style includes heavy contact, which means theres a high risk of card fouls. Also Di maria's sending off in the Copa del Rey does'nt even count, it was a few minutes before the end and it was a second yellow for timewasting which is also in the rules.

Teams that play barca should'nt rely on heavy fouling and high physical play if they dont want to risk an early red card...

I have never liked Morinho one bit. He is a great coach no doubt but the way he goes about abusing percieved weaker coaches in all the leagues he has worked is cautionable at this point in time. The fans of the teams he has handled love him but he talks too much. I can remember at several instances he has insulted Arsene Wenger but thanks goodness, Arsene is not his type. He does insult coaches anyhow and anywhere. At some point or another, decisons go against teams but he will never take his with dignity. Lets even watch and see what UEFA will do because this guy needs to be cautioned so that he will not bring the beatiful sport to disrepute. Real Madrid is a better team at the moment, maybe it will Jose's Real tomorrow but for today, he should just admit and prepare for next meeting

REAL MADRID WERE ROBBED PERIOD.WHERE WAS MESSI AND HIS BRILLIANCE BEFORE THE RED CARD.YOU GUYS AT CNN ARE SO BIASED.

Mou only spreads vicious rumours

Players and coaches should give an example to youngsters and they definitely have a important "social" role to fulfill.
Obviously, it is not always like this and soccer can get very nasty.
Players from Real and Barca alike are loosing control in "the fire" of emotions, tensions and a lots of adrenaline.
After the game, players, coaches and supporters can make an analysis with pros and contras. So far, everybody is entitled to have an opinion.
But what Mou stated after the game is very embarressing. He lacks any erthics as a human being and is absolutely a shame for Real Madrid and the values and (social) projects they pretend to promote and implement.
Shame on you, Mou. Although your achievements, as human being you are very "petit".

Mr. Alex Thomas, you've got this one dead wrong!
First, Messe made 2 goals after the referee's "harsh penality" (CNN) destroyed Real Madrid's defense (Pepe's explusion): is this what makes a game exciting? It must be since another referee sentenced another Champions League game when an English team got the same treatment. Do you remember the name of the English team, Mr. Thomas, or has it skipped your mind, too?
As far as the Spanish media go, nobody pays any attention to them unless they are Spaniards who can't read English or are foreign correspondents who can't read Spanish.
Mr. Thomas, you must have also seen that Mourinho's explusion was due to his applauding the referee. Can that be a basis for explusion? Real's legal department will surely look into this one, as well Mr. Thomas.
Conclusion, after reviewing Barcelona's league games? UEFA's blantant favoritism of Barcelona has blighted UEFA's reputation and clothed football with an indelible stigma. It would have been much better to have seen Barcelona win in the Champions League without any help from a ref. It´s too late to hope not to see a repeat performance: Pepe and Alex are already out of it.
What happened to the English sense of fair play? It never penetrated Barcelona's influence in UEFA.

@ CARLITO mourinho is the one that went far? its very obvious to any one that knows anything about footbal the uefa and fifa favour them for so called attractive footbal, yeh passing the ball back to the keeper 20 times and between the defenders to waste time and keep possession is beautiful footbal!! mourinho is right, this is the 3rd match this season madrid has lost a player in a barca match
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Did it ever occur to you why Real Madrid always plays 10 players against Barca ? In case you have not..its because they are playing dirty and they will get red card and thats just.Did Tottenham ever cry about the fact the Crouch was red-cared and make it as an excuse ?...You are lame and so is Mourinho

Alex, I strongly disagree with the referee's decision and your smile when reporting on CNN. Has soccer become WWE wrestling? Soccer is about fairness and if mistakes are consistently repeated in favour of one team, it spoils the game. Mourinho is right and innocent unless the referees are acting according to UEFA's instructions.

UEFA, M. PLATINI ARE CORRUPT, REMEMBER HE IS A BARCA FAN, WHENEVER ANY GAME IS DIFFICULT FOR BARCA TO WIN, REFEREE WILL ISSUE A RED CARD TO AID BARCA, TIMES ARE COMING WHEN PLATINI AND HIS MEN WILL GOING ALONE TO THE TO WATCH BALL, THE INJUSTICE IS TOO MUCH. PLATINI IS ALWAYS AFRAID MOURINHO, WEHTER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT JESE IS THE BEST COACH. WHEN PEPE WAS IN THE PITCH, DID YOU SEE MESSI. THIS WAS A WELL PLANNED STRATEGY FOR BARCA TO WIN' THEY DID NOT WANT WHAT HAPPEN DURING COPA DE REL FINAL TO REPEAT ITSELF. CNN SPORT IS A BIAS UMPIRE. I REST MY CASE.

Mouirinho is a sore loser, no more no less. Even with 11 on the pitch, Messi still would have finished Real. When he has the momentum, no team can beat Barca. It's that simpel.

I think African referees are now doing far better than their counterparts in Europe who only destroy the game with outrageous decisions.
This referee might be a relative of Ovrebo.

If anyone can come back from 2 down to Barca at Camp Nou then it's Jose.
But, expect Barca to either get a pen or an offside goal in the opening 10 minutes and for them to then get another Real player sent off.

Barcelona – the best? No.
When they won the CL a couple of years ago they should never have been there – Chelsea were much the better side and were blatantly robbed of another Final against Man Utd. I think deep down even the most ardent Barca fan knows in their heart that the decision for them to be in the final was made before a whistle was even blown. This was obvious by the choice of referee that was installed; UEFA knew that Chelsea/Barca is one of the big grudge matches and should have placed a more experience referee in charge, but knew an inexperienced one would bottle it and be able to take the blame for his "mistakes". Oh, and how many games in the CL has he refereed since ? Exactly....
UEFA must take us for mugs.

Expect Barca in the final next year too. I'm sure it will be controversial AGAIN.

How about that 19 year old Ibrahim what's his name kid... he came in instead of Pedro....impressive...very fast....and I think he assisted the first goal...great tallent....I haven't seen him before...who is he?

Mou argued that his is tired to play, each time, with only 10 players
against Barca. Let s see what can he do next match in Camp Nou,
his team will be 11 players,

they said if you can´t beat them, then go with them, Jose Mourinho is very very stupid, he want´s to bring confusion but it would not work, because we all know football, master Barca beat you hans down accept and continue your work that´s all, but bringing all this article will not help, your players has accepted why not you Mr Mourinho? before Madrid can achieve what they want unles they buy the lord of football, that is Lionel Messi, so Mourinho should tell Florentino to get him Messi,because C Ronaldo can´t deliver the message.

say what you want but nobody can shutdown the whites see you next week at camp nou you will see hell

Jose should be sent back to the classroom to learn what the spirit of sportsmanship means. I know if he is offered the opportunity of being the coach of barcelona today, he will be proud to let the world know that barcelona is the best club in the universe. If he is honest to himself, he would admit that barcelona was far superior to real madrid on wednesday on all departments of the game.

Mourinho should not complain about Pepes red card, Alves is a smart player otherwise he would have been injured seriouly by Pepe. Its the same foul Ronaldinho did during the 2002 world cup (Brazil vs Englan)d and he was shown the red card straight.

Mourinho is very bad for football. He is killing the game. He never played football yesterday with 10 of 11 men in defence. It is shocking how he has turned the players into monster. Even adebayor who was much deciplined when he was with arsenal has gone the same wasy as the others. Shame on Mourinho.

Oh, all counter arguers against JM conveniently avoid the "robbery" at the bridge, 2009 – that will go down as one of (if at all) great match robbery in football history. The Barcas, how was that sweet victory you call it, despite being subdued until you almost played 15 ( when ref is on your side is plenty of players into one)

indigenous

is it really a co-incidence that Barca always wins in the champion league on the back of dubious decisions?
Forget Jose's Stamford bridge scandal tirade, but Barca won against Arsenal in 2005 final after a red card to Arsenal which was leading 1-0...
In the quarter final this year Arsenal won the home game and lost the away game to Barca after a red card to Van-persie????
FISHY!!!!!

Uefa shd not look at jose only!luk at hs claims n investigate b4 u cm out with a verdict.

Jose is such a sorry loser. Last i remember, Barca scored 5 goals before Ramos was sent off and still he complained about the sending off, what could that have changed? I studied the replay on youtube and i'm 100% certain it was a RED a card (intent was clear and karate is not football).

Although i do wish Barca would win key games without a send off, it gives their wins a bit of a salty taste.

I can't believe a respected paper/media can allow this kind of football analysis to be written on its site. The red card changed the game. Messi and Co. could not threaten Madrid when it was 11vs 11. the kind of decisions that go Barca way are appalling to say the least. Remember van Persie being send of for kinking the ball one second after the referee had blown his whistle? Madrid should of been playing arsenal in the semis and not the cry babies barca?

no matter what is being said or played on the field of football...the unsuspecting spectators both at homeand in the stadium will never understand the politics of the game. besides the game of football very much like the officiating is dynamic. and need i state that the standard of play,coaching and indeed officiating in europe is well above other leagues in asia,africa and the americas. through the power the marketing and media europe have choose to show the rest of the world it standards and preference. who are we to judge? we only should be entertained! in spite of the business, it's just a game. lets be objective.

Mr journalist i disagree with you entirely that Mourinho went too far.I see your analises from another point of view.To begin with Mourihno is a free man and has the right to express his mind and thoughts on any subject he wishes and at anytime he wants.That there was some UEFA conspiracy as an institution i'm not sure,that there has always been some sympathy and support for barcelona by referees that i'm completely convienced:So if uefa doesn't purnish the bad referees then they are part of the game or there is some body in the uefa who exerts his influence on the referees and protect them.When England missed the chance to host the world cup british media said it was a conspiracy from inside Fifa.Chealsea was cheated in 2009,arsenal same and now real madrid.Iniesta was not purnished for antisports behaviour Dani Alves deserved a red card.I'm so saddened by your analises.Take time and do a good analises that reflects CNN.

mourinho complain a lot,whenever he lost he will say the refree was against them but when he wins then his team is the best,bercelona outclass madrid and what they are playing is not football cos this game is all about entartainment ,,,he is more of a poltician than a coach.........i wish madrid will sack him because he spoiling the partern of thier play

Mourinho is a really bad loser.

Mourinho is a brave man!
For the first time someone talks the truth on football!
He doesn't have nothing to prove.
He is the best football coach ever.
I'll love to listen to all the coaches from European Teams who will give their testimonials in favor of Mourinho...

i didnt like the way both teams played. i loved the 2 goals messi netted!

both played unattractive football. i liked messi 2 goals. he is talented!!

This is not the first time Jose claims there is a conspiracy against the team he coaches. Last season he was in war with Italian football association as well. Whenever things are not running smoothly for his team – blame others.
RM vs Barca was utterly bitter to watch. However, Jose should point his finger toward himself, and the wrong strategy he created for his team. I still cannot believe that it was the same team that wiped away Valencia just a few days ago on Mestalla. Was it so hard to start the game with at least two attackers, instead of having a bunch of midfielders suffocating in the middle endlessly trying to get possession of the ball – and rarely succeeding? When you lead a team like RM, then by all means you should make a formation that would create at least a dozen goal chances, and possibly score, especially when you are hosting the game.
This way, you got what you deserved – a shameful defeat.
Barca was way better – face it.

Alex you are a joke to soccer.your analises saddened my day.

CNN why ask us to write if you will post our comments??????????????????

Madrid was not even able to hold the ball throughout the match. Pepe and Adebeyor and Maria ... all these played the match with full of fouls as if they were asked to act like that. The foul tricks by madrid was nothing but Jose's political tactics. The way madrid defended, they deserve the loss. If you watch reply again and again, you can see, ronaldo was just walking in the middle most of the time other than 4 times he went close to Barca's goal post. Pepe was totally blocking Messi not with his technical tactics but doing fouls .. it was not only once he did in the match .... he has done many times in the match and got caught at last... may be the red card incident was not supposed to warrant the red card,,, but he should have got it earlier in the previous foul ... so un-ethical and non-sportsmanship ...

From the Barca end ... players doing simple un-intended fouls are quite common in the normal games and that it was a semi-final and we expect the heat ... but barca side was too bad to always act like they were badly hit by even un-intentional fouls.... which shows that Barca can fight only against a team with 10 people onlyl ..... atleast in the finals against ManU, they should not show such an attitude and play full sportsman ship game ....
Jose once again went too far and shown the soccer world that he is one of the good theatrical politician .... his activities and comments has to be severely warned and if possible he has to be banned for some years

Jose has never lost a semi-final and accepted. He lost to Liverpool and said the goal never was. He lost to Barca and blamed the additional time added, he has now lost again and we have tauntrums.

I have never been a fan of Jose mainly because he is destroying the game with a view to win trophies. On Wednesday, he was at home and was playing for a draw in a Champions League Semi-Final. He packed the midfield and surely cards were going to be produced. Lass was lucky not to get a single card, he was all over the place. Alex is spot on, he has taken it too far and I hope UEFA punishes him.

On the red card issues against Madrid, in the 5-0 at Camp Nou, Ramos was red carded deservedly after 90 mins when they were 5-0 down. Against Real in the King Cup, Di Maria was red carded in extra time deservedly again. In the 1-1 at Raul Albiol was red carded again deservedly. In Wednesday match, although this is the only one that is debatable it sure had intent all over it. So the red card issue is a non-starter, he simply cant come up with a way of beating Pep and this is hurting him.

Its good for football, Barca deserved to win the game on the day and all this side shows should be ignored.

Indeed Mourinho ,the self styled ,Special One has crossed the rubicon by making reckless statements after that bitter 0-2 loss to Barca in the UCL.UEFA shld now reign in hard & sanction him accordingly.Mourinho is the Portuguese Napoleon who wants to win at all costs in order to enhance his CV & satisfy his selfish ego.Mou like Fergie is an arrogant one eyed badloser hypocrite bent on cold cynicism.I take my hat off & salute LIONEL MESSI 4 his brilliance ,humility ,dignity & sportsmanship .The human race is actually honoured & privileged to watch the genious of Messi in full flow.The two time BALLON D`OR is such a joy & a marvel to watch. Messi is brilliant ,peerless ,imperious destined 4 the upper echelons of world football.Tribute & nuff respect to King LIONEL MESSI who continues to reign & is coming to the hallowed Wembley turf on May 28th to conquer & not to bow.Mighty ,mighty Barca are certainly destined 4 their 4th European crown enroute they simply put the lethargic Man UTD to the sword just like in the 2009 UCL Final in ROME.Mighty Barca will simply outclass,outplay ,outfox ,outgun & outmanoeuvre the Red Devils Mancs !

Any football lover that watched the game with open eyes knows the red card changed the game. Honestly I love the way Messi, Xavi and Inesta plays the game they play football on the most beautiful way. But the ever master mind I have seen in the game is non other than Jose Mourinho. And If any one says Pepe deserves a red card I do not even think you watch the game in a balanced point of view. The master mind of Mourinho and his stars equaled the lovely football side Barcelona. Red card changed the whole beauty of the game. And reacting to that because of heart break he had all this time going through the same situation made him react. Just do not criticize Jose Mourinho just because he is Jose Mourinho. Remember he is also human who has feelings like you and me.

My advise to fans is that before you comment on issues of this magnitude try as much as possible to trace the history behind the team you support. Lets check the history of barca for the last 3 seasons now on eufa league.
2008/2009 chelsea were robbed by Ovbro (Ref) in favour of barca, 2009/2010 inter were red carded just 20 minutes into the play, 2010/2011 arsenal were red carded to favour barca; now real madrid with another red card. Yet we still dont see that something is wrong somewhere.

My question is why barca always want to play a team 1 man down before they are able to win the match.

Imagine a ref coming out to the public and declare his love over a team and yet eufa went ahead and give him the match to officiate what a shame. You give a player red card at the same time give the coach red card without initial warning because you know if jose is there he will rearange the team and still hold unto barca as he usual do. (is this not a tactical plan to give barca age?)

If Guardiola is a great coach, let him go to portigual and concer europe, go to england and rule as well as italy. Is only then we will agree that he is good.

oh my gosh, why? why? why can`t uefa allow video replay for red , yellow card and penaty only? because these are what spoil games. but they do use the replay video for them- selves? replay will save time of argument on the pitch. shit like this will keep on happening and uefa will never listen. uefa are the problem of football. I now call on protest against eufa till uefa change their wrong mind

I used to think African referees were very bad compared to their European counterparts, but after watching Barca's games for sometime especially their champions League exploits, i've really changed my view and now believe that African referees are far far better than those in Europe.
Just too many outrageous decisions. Starting from "THE GREAT OVREBO".

I strongly believe that every well meaning humanbeing should understand that mourinho is just being envious of barcelona and pep, he came to spain with the idea of taking madrid high above barcelona and when he fail to archiev his aim he became aggresive and frustrated thereby lost his manner and start voicing out the nagative thoughts they have against barcelona but they can not curse whom God has blessed or destroy what God has built it is not possible no matter the extent they go. the ealier they admit that barcelona is the best for now, the better for them and it will help them stop fighting and chassing after the shadow. they wanted to scare barcelona players by going rough and hard on them, until the red card emerge. there are somany hard tackles on pedro, messi dani alves, keita and puyol and many more but greedy mourinho and his supporters have not said anything about it even when marcelo purposely and wickedly climb on braca player they did not see it as an offence but wether they like it or not barcelona is their superior. visca barca

The only good thing i know too well about Mourinho of madrid and most of madrid players is that they brag too much and like to be noticed thereby drawing attentions to them selves. Mourinho knows exactly what he is doing, knowing quite well he can not make it to the final of the champions league he came up with all those baselless accusations to draw attention to himself and creating avenue for problems among football lovers and fans i think it is high he (mourinho) be sanctioned and punished by the europe football authority. i hope that the displinary wing of UEFA should handle this case wisely and maturedly and give football here in EUROPE its original sweet flavour by cautioning mourinho and his likes. long live barcelona, long live UEFA and long live all the lovers of football.

TO ALL THOSE WHO SAY THE RED CARD CHANGED THE GAME: Yes the red card changed the game, but that's not the issue here cos anyone would take advantage of an incomplete opponent.

Was the RED card warranted or not? I think YES. And i repeat, Karate is not Football.

well, how do u call someone who is always defensive master mind. all we want to see is goals, it's quite clear that Jose plays defensive even on his home game. would this kind of coach be able to coach guys like Zidane, Raul at that time? There is nothing impressive with defensive football. he has all the attacking plays but he is not using them right. check Kaka ...

Thank you CNN. I'm not a Barca or Madrid fan but I've just seen your clip of Pepe's "tackle" on Alves that got the Real man the red card. Alves wasn't even touched! No contact whatsoever. If that's not bringing the game into disrepute by the Barca man I don't know what is. And hIs intent to get Pepe sent off was even endorsed by the smirk when he came back on, uninjured, just moments later. He should get a retrospective red card and be out of the semi-final return leg and the Final if Barca make it because that was shameful!

ManU will lose agian to Barça.........you can bet on it!

What he said is true. Put on your earmuffs if you don't like it. UEFA is a f'n joke of an organization. They are just like Barca. They are so sensitive that even if you don't touch them, they fall to the ground like Alves', crying.

Jose Mourinho attacking Pep Guardiola really showed how classless he is, the first Leg first knock out round against Arsenal, Messi's goal was wrongly ruled offside.. Last season Milito scored a clear offside goal but it was allowed The reaction from Marcello when Crouch was sent off in the quarter final makes me laugh so hard now that Madrid are feeling hard done they got a masterclass lesson in why they shoud not play dirty tactics and negative football cause it back fired on them!!!! we can go on and on with this real madrid hand coach have to stop playing dirty football they try to disrupt Barcelona game by playing dirty who say barcelona cant play dirty

Barcelona is a fantastic team in terms of faking/acting play. Leo Messi should be ashamed playing in a team such as that. Barcelona's glorious days are over. He should just leave Barcelona now.
I wonder where are Dani Alves, Pedro and Sergio to defend their play acting? They are quiet because they know they are wrong.
If Pep Guardiola was truly a good manager, he should be angry at his own players who did play acting. I did not see that happening...
Messi, we love you, you should quit Barcelona to save your reputation.

As a human being, it is our behavior to defend our personal opinion however our opinion sometimes can be right and sometimes and go the other way round. Yesterday match between two of the best football clubs in the world was very very frustating. I am a huge Barca fan and I admit that sometimes Barca players pretended to have been injured by the tackles of RM players however I strongly believe that pepe dismissal was a right decision as it is a dangerous challenge that could end one's career forever. Real Madrid is a marvelous club that is manage by one of the greatest manager of all time, however we should be able to accept defeat and aim for a better future. Defeat is just part of us which will encourage us to aim on a better result in the future. We have to grow from a boy to a man that respect the organization and not blaming others for defeat. Congrats RM for the copa winner, and for Barca for a great season you have been playing so far. Mourinho has done nothing wrong so far , the latest post match interview showed just how disappointed he was towards the referee decision, however I have to say that indeed he has gone way too far this time by involving uefa and unicef in his topics. C'mon my friends stop the arguments between who's wrong and who's right, Both team also made mistakes ; am I right ? Good luck for both Real and Barca in the future.

It is a joke. Barcelona, you are always the BEST because you always have the 12th player, ref. But I wonder why you couldn't win the Champions League in few years straight? As It should be very easy for you.

But I feel sick with you.

Yes, was van persie red card against Barca deserved? yes mourihno may be talking but let check the statistics...chelsea, Arsenal, real madrid......and we need coaches that we challenge authority and ref alike....otherwise it will be a zombie world.....no body talk of collina in bad light...let refrees up thier standard......

FC Barcelona plays and has played better than Real for the last five years. The fact that Real's coach does not admit this is irrelevant. I enjoy Barcelona's game very much and could not care less about this clown. The more noise he makes, the worst for Real's institution. He is damaging the aura that formerly surrounded this great team, while Barca plays the best football in the world.

mou5inho is a great coach,but has no caracter and morale at all,he just can't support barça,if he lost a match against some other team he wouldnt do what he did the other day,I guess mourinhos worst nightmare is guardiola and barça.
And he's ruining real madrids reputation,pellegrini and schuster both lost matches against barça but they both were courageus to say that barça played better.
Real can buy the best players but can not buy trophies,not with "the 5pecial one" in charge.

Alex Thomas are you kidding me. What a joke and you also a hypocrite because for you to post this article and only blame Jose Mourinho and not mention Barcelona play acting, rushing to referees to influence their decision then you are not a real sport journalist but a dishonest one for that matter, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
Once Barcelona know the passing football won't break you down they always try to find something else that will put the game in their favor, and most often they start cheating.

why is everybody trying to crucify Jose? He had raised serious allegation against uefa to the effect that Barca enjoys favoritism them at the detriment of their opponents during crucial matches. you guys at cnn should remember that just as some are born rich some are born with the gene of success and do not have to work for eternity to be successful and that is Jose for me and you.

i really don't think the editor sat down to write this after watching the match cos it would be unreasonable. Being neutral in this matter, it would be fair to say that the Barcelona players were over dramatic and the referee in need of more tutoring.

Who wrote this? Clearly he/she has not seen the game that lead to the drama that was off the pitch.

If you examine the match carefully, none of these outbursts against UEFA would have happened if it wasn't for the unjustified red card that changed the whole course of the game.

EVERYONE here is human (obviously) - the ref, the coaches, the players. But what I don't understand is how this piece was written, it's a blog but it's still supposed to be responsible and ethical.

I wasted my time reading and commenting on this totally biased blog. Shame on you CNN.

Alex Thomas himself had his own outbursts against Jose Mourinho in his article. Is he an A1 card-bearing Barcelona fan?

i think fifa and uefa have to review their policy on refrees.in addition,i think jose and other coaches have the right to speak because uefa never does any reasonable solution to good or bad officiating.

Dutchman Ibrahim Afellay's cross from the right and Messi's stunning hits brought joy to lovers of good football.

Messi is the most fabulous football player of this generation alonside with Pele and Diego Maradona.They are greatest players of the modern football.I don't think if C. Ronaldo and Mourinho are great,they just shadows the beauty of football.Football is not a war,it is just a friendship meeting, if one team is better than the other the counterpart must acknowledge his weakness ,and there is no need to cross the limits of cultural behavior with unnecessary words ,and there is no need to blame UNICEF for their failure .May be It will be better to send Mourinho to a disciplinary school.One day he can win with Madrid also but not yet now .Any way nothing is impossibil to a willing heart.

Ah! now you can see CNN Logo in Barca Jersey Next Year.

Oscars For: Pedro (Excellent Acting On Field), Sergio Busquets for his outstanding Acting this year and last Year, Alves: Most Stupid Actor you will see. Man you need to stay in the Strecher for atleast 150 Seconds before starting Sprint when you are fowled.
Barca XI – Cry Babies

nightmare!!

Im not a couch,but i think that with 5or 6 best attachers like Ronaldo,Benzema,Adebaior,Kaka ,DiMaria,etc I cant do a footboll in diffence.

I dont know why people complain too much. The point is what was pepe thinking of making a challenge like that when his team wasn't in danger? He completely missed the ball and his studs were high towards Alves knee. Refrees do send people off cos of intent. Should the game's rules be changed cos of mourihno?
Do people even sit and think had that stud made real contact with Alves he would have been seriously injured. Is that what we call football? When Paul Scholes goal was wrongly ruled out, mourinho didn't complain. When refree made mistake to favour inter last season in the seria A he kept quiet but wenever things go badly against him he rants. May be he should ask Rubin Kazan, fc copehegan, hercules, numancia, these are the teams that have got results from barca and dey didnt have to break legs or play rugby to achieve.

I'm really upset by the biased judgement here on Mourinho and Real Madrid as a whole. Yes, Mourinho brags, and is a bit to outspoken a lot of the time but in this case rightly so. By now the world should have seen the video of Alves' Golden Globe winning dive.
This behavior is only the latest by Barcelona FC.
Mourinho should not be hated and criticized for only voicing out the truth we've all tried to overlook. The Refs have been bias in their judgement this has also been displayed in the Barcelona vs. Arsenal second leg.
Barcelona are an extremely gifted team, but they shouldn't need to be assisted by refs.
Mourinho's delivery of the message may have been very rash, Nevertheless, the truth is a bitter pill to swallow.

Lets be honest guys,I will agree wit Mourinho and say that Barcelona has a huge influence over UEFA.They really biased towards Barcelona.The referees barely called any fouls against Barcelona.Of course in turn the Real Madrid player will get and play rough,then thats when they pull out the cards.Just look at the ratio of cards being given between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the classicos.You will see that Madrid has most of them n thats what UEFA wants.Biased game

I LOVE TO SEE GOOD FOOTBALL GAME BUT NOT WHEN EVERYONE TAKING A SIDE.LET US ENJOY THE GAME.WE ALL KNOW REAL MADRID WAS TREATED WRONGLY.THE FOOTBALL GOVERNING BODY KNOWS THAT. REAL IS A BETTER CLUB
JOSE GOOD LUCK TO YOU AND THE PLAYER

I really liked the article, and the very cool blog