As I stated before in my previous blog, I believe that tomorrow’s El Clasico match will likely directly affect whichever team wins La Liga this season considering the winner of the league will likely be victorious by less then 3 total points this season. But funny enough neither coach would agree with that statement and both in fact believe that due to the grueling ten month long season that tomorrow is not a decisive day for either club.
Real Madrid’s Jose Mourinho explained why he thinks tomorrow’s match is no different then any other and how he hopes that winning or losing the team will leave the match with a level head:
Every game is important. Every point that you lose could be key at the end, but after tomorrow`s game there will be 25 matches left and there are a lot of points in play and so many factors.
It’s an important game but not decisive. If we win, the following morning will be Tuesday, and if we lose, it will also be Tuesday. I hope that if my team loses, it won’t change either their confidence of self-esteem and, if they win, they will continue with their feet on the ground. I will continue to be calm after the game whatever the result.
And similar to Mourinho, Pep Guardiola stressed that it was a very important match and agreed that it was not “decisive” due to “injuries and changes in form” over the course of the rest of the season:
It’s important, very important, but I don’t think it’s decisive. There’s more than half the season left. There could be injuries, changes in form, there are months like January and February where there are a huge amount of matches and many things can happen.
They arrive here as leaders and we want to win, but I don’t think the result is going to be decisive. Whoever wins tomorrow will not be champions next week.
And the psychology of a coach is a fascinating thing. Both coaches want to stress this idea of running a marathon rather then a sprint to the finish and three points is nice in November, but even more critical in the Spring time of the season. Both clubs are similar in many ways and apparently both side’s coaches have a similar approach to the huge match set to be played tomorrow.
But regardless of who wins and who loses their is a lot of football left to be played as both coach’s stressed.