Monday, April 2, 2012

2 April 2011 - All Good Things Come To An End, Even For Mourinho

On 2 April 2011, Sporting de Gijon ended José Mourinho's remarkable home league unbeaten streak after nine years and 150 matches.

The last time a Mourinho-managed team lost a league match at home was on 23 February 2002 when Beira Mar beat Mourinho's Porto side 2-3 at the Estádio das Antas. Since then, he had gone undefeated at home in the league with both Chelsea (2004-08) and Inter (2008-10).

After joining Real Madrid in May 2010, his streak continued through most of his first season. Few people suspected it would end at the hands of Sporting de Gijon, who were sitting in the table's fifteenth spot and had won only one away game all season before arriving at the Bernabéu to face second-place Real Madrid.

But the hosts were missing two key strikers in Cristiano Ronaldo, then the league's joint-top scorer, and Karim Benzema, as well as defender Marcelo, all of whom were injured. After a scoreless 78 minutes, the visitors broke the deadlock with a 79th-minute goal from midfielder Miguel de las Cuevas (pictured) and the hosts were unable to find an equalizer. Afterward, Mourinho went into the visitors' dressing room to congratulate the team on their win.

Having gone for so long without losing a league game at home, Mourinho's next home loss came quickly, as Real Madrid lost to Real Zaragoza four weeks later.

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