Guess Who's Back, Back Again

The scrappy win on Saturday via a brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo goal has maintained Real Madrid 10-points lead in La Liga. With merely 14 games to go, another domestic title is awaiting to be added to the already-comprehensive resume of the Special One.

Having already netted league titles in Portugal, England and Italy, Jose Mourinho arrived in Madrid in 2010, with an obvious mission impossible --- stop the invincible Barcelona.

Mourinho has balanced a squad full of talents and flair with some much-needed work rate and discipline by bringing in Mesut Özil, Sami Khedira, Angel Di Maria and Fábio Coentrão. The German pairs, together with Xabi Alonso, form a solid midfield to support the goal feast Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as the blossoming Benzema and Higuain, who both are enjoying a career-best season.

The Special one has not been enjoying the spotlight in Spain he usually would have attracted. The first thing that would come to one's mind about La Liga must be Barcelona. This is the team Jose Mourinho has still been struggling to resolve, despite his past success against the Catalans. In ten attempts, Mourinho earned four draws, five losses and one victory, an extra time winner that brought him the Copa Del Rey, his first and only title with Real Madrid.

Barcelona 2011-12 season has been slowed down by various factors. Iniesta missed the start of the season while David Villa suffers a season-ending knee injury; Alexis and Fabregas display wonderful potential but are still adapting to Barca's attacking system; Xavi and Puyol are aging and Barca's bench is weakened by several leaving players.

But this does not mean Real Madrid can gain an upper hand in El Clasico. In fact, Barcelona's dominance in recent years have already gained a mental advantage over Real Madrid, which is why we saw Pepe, Alonso and Sergio Ramos lost their cool, and ridiculous scenes such as four players chasing Messi without a ball.

The only thing people remember of Mourinho in El Clasicos might be his finger attack at Barcelona's assistant coach Tito Vilanova during a fight in 2011 Super Cup. He excused himself by claiming he didn't know who Tito is and also humiliating him in Spanish.

Although Madrid’s defence may appear catastrophic against Barca, it has rarely let them down, or cost them points to be specific. The consistency and superiority shown by the Los Blancos look unbeatable, even Pep Guardiola expressed sign of surrender in the title race.

However, will the Portuguese settle with the La Liga champion?

'Anything else bigger?' <The SUN>

He led Porto to dominate in both domestic and European competitions during his two year regime; the success was encored in Italy with Inter Milan, enjoying a treble in 2009-10; His outspoken character and winner's attitude had reignited the determination of Sir Alex Ferguson. Before coming to Spain, he has never failed to bring at least two trophies to the club he managed every year.

Yet with nearly a hand on the league trophy and in hunt for the Champions League, Mourinho remains adamant to quit the Bernabeu in summer. Rumour has it he is looking for a new place to live in Chelsea, further fuelling speculation of his much-awaited-by-Chelsea-fans return to the Bridge as AVB also recently admitted his fear of the Russian axe. Nonetheless, is Chelsea the team he is looking for to defeat Barcelona before a new era of the Catalans arises? Or is he actually looking at the England National Team to kick-start his national team management (and to wait for the decline of Barca)?

Captivating.