Real Madrid did not play dirty for "some fraction" of the game.
Plenty of great defensive teams don't play dirty. The current Juventus team, for one. Sure you had Vidal making reckless tackles but that was more of a case of one player losing his cool rather than a team systematically playing dirty.
And I didn't say they didn't.
Thing is over the years I learned to respect many players who went down as downright "dirty" players in history of the game. Dudes like Keane, Gattuso, Vieira, Materazzi. Had these kinds of guys still been around, the game probably wouldn't degrade itself into breeding more and more pussy behaviour on the pitch displayed by today's greats like Cristiano, Neymar, Alexis, Di Maria, Busquets.. So many people hate Keane for intentional injury-inducing fouls, but you wouldn't want to play against the fucker. EVER. I mean I hated Gattuso so much I don't think I hated any other player more in the 2000s when Milan was a top tier team. That's what made them great. And if you did play against him and beat him it tasted much sweeter. Beating the ultimate villain. Isn't this why you guys drooled every time you beat Mou's Madrid? Playing dirty is sometimes just another element of the game. I'm not playing an advocate to the style, but I do kind of like the fact that it didn't disappear. It's only natural to have hero-villain rivalries. I love it every time Madrid brings a win from that scum stadium in Bilbao.
Plenty of great defensive teams don't play dirty... You named one so far and it is questionable.
Fact is, no matter which player you ask, if they knew their inferior team had a bigger chance to win a game vs Barcelona or Madrid by playing "dirty" or intimidating football, and only a fraction when they didn't stick their legs everywhere, 9/11 players and their coach WOULD indeed make them play "dirty". Players want to win and when the stakes are high, they will very often do whatever it takes. Humans are opportunistic by nature and players are always more inclined to play to survive.
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Razor said:
Even today I am grateful for what he has achieved with Inter, doesn't mean I actually have to like the guy. Because before he joined Inter he was like on top of my shitlist for all the crap he has pulled during and after that Chelsea-Barcelona tie which the whole Chelsea team went into thug mode and Del Horno tried to injure Lionel Messi, and Mourinho had the guts to call Messi an "actor" and stir shit up in the media against him and Barca merely because his pathetic strategies failed.
There are many coaches and players who arrive at your favorite club. None of us have any say on who arrives and who leaves, and barely any of us like every employee who play a role at your favorite club. I didn't care about Mourinho at Inter. Only how he does as the coach. After he won the treble with Inter I found a bit of liking for him because of all those emotional scenes he he had with the team. But after he went to Madrid and in 6 months went back to his old pathetic character my hatred came back for him as strong as before. He's the demonstration of a mercenary who live and act as long as it suits his agenda and it's quite disappointing people find a liking for these type of mercenaries.
Lol, this is pretty much the attitude of 60-70% of the sensible fanbase (not the Chelsea scum who thrive on racism on the Tube) of any team Mourinho has managed. "He was a thug, I quite liked him winning stuff with our team even though I didn't care for him as a coach too much, I'm kinda glad he fucked off, less hassle. Thanks for winning but piss off."
It's great that even such a thug of a manager can in the end bring you joy and then, almost ungratefully so, you end up giving him a nod.
