Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports
Andreas Iniesta believes that Jose Mourinho‘s two-year spell in the La Liga has damaged Spanish football.
The 2012 European Player of the Year stated in an interview with ‘El Pais’ that Mourinho’s era had a negative impact on the game, and he strongly showed that he wasn’t keen on talking about Mourinho.
The Barcelona midfielder stated:
“I don’t feel like talking about him. Mourinho has damaged Spanish football. We won the league and that is always a good thing. I am proud of what we achieved because it was a complicated season so it was very special. It got more complicated day by day but we tried to get through it the best way possible.”
Mourinho certainly brought his slightly controversial and perhaps more negative footballing styles to Real Madrid and with that, he also brought a lot of drama, especially with the incidents during the El Classico fixtures. Like a lot of Barcelona followers and employees, Iniesta were strongly aggravated by Mourinho’s time in Spain.
I don’t think Mourinho ruined the football in Spain, but he did perhaps lower the respect shown to Real Madrid by outsiders. Football in Spain lowered in standards this season due to a drop-off in form and ability from the players, not because of Mourinho’s actions.
However, as Iniesta also stated, this seems a bit more of a blip than an end of an era. It seems a lot of people in Spain are happy to see the back of Mourinho as he did perhaps take the focus away from the football and instead moved the spotlight onto off-the-pitch matters, but I don’t think he is the sole culprit.
Stowe Gregory is an English featured Soccer and Sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him or tweet on Twitter @stowegregory. Or add to circles on Google +
