Atypical Barcelona

Mourinho was an atypical Barcelona head coach.

Why was that?

Looking back over the past few years, all of Barcelona's head coaches had a very obvious imprint. Whether they came from within the club or were Dutch coaches like Van Gaal and Rijkaard, they all shared natural similarities or close genetic ties with Barcelona.

But Mourinho was different. His coaching style could even be said to be the complete opposite of Barcelona's.

It was easy to see from his time coaching Porto and Chelsea that Mourinho simply did not value possession.

Emphasizing team unity and defense was Mourinho's coaching characteristic, whereas Barcelona emphasized possession for the sake of attack.

That was why, when Mourinho first took charge, almost all of Barcelona's traditional figures, including Cruyff, strongly disapproved of him. They believed Mourinho would find it difficult to succeed at Barcelona.

But the result was somewhat unexpected.

Mourinho indeed had not produced Barcelona's traditional style of football. His possession rate had dropped noticeably compared with the Rijkaard era. However, Mourinho's team had succeeded!

They had won both La Liga and the Copa del Rey!

If they could even win the Champions League, it would be Barcelona's—and La Liga's—second treble in history!

Mourinho could be said to have answered everyone with his results.

Of course, the controversy remained. Cruyff and many other Barcelona figures still did not approve of Mourinho's football, and similar disputes even existed inside Barcelona's dressing room. But there was no denying that Mourinho had established a firm foothold at Barcelona, while Rosell and Bartomeu had also stood firmly on his side.

That had secured Mourinho's position.

Looking at Barcelona under Mourinho, it could not be said that it had completely lost Barcelona's characteristics. It had merely diluted them considerably by comparison.

The double-pivot midfield formed by Xavi