When Jose Mourinho joined Real Madrid in 2010 after the World Cup, he signed World Cup standout performers like Sami Khedira from VfB Stuttgart, Mesut Ozil from Werder Bremen, Angel Dimaria from Benfica to a star-studded Madrid side already having Kaka, and Cristiano Ronaldo. He went to add Ricardo Carvalho from Chelsea, but during his first game against FC Barcelona, they were annihilated by Barca at the Camp Nou on 29th November 2010. During that 2010/2011 season, the only trophy Madrid won was the Copa Del Rey, and Barca won the Laliga and Champions League. Any Barca fan who has followed the club for close to twenty years will never be intimidated by Madrid signings because we have our style of play that makes it difficult for them against us. Just recently, bolstered their Champions League-winning team with Kylian Mbappe, but still humiliated them. We are never scared of Real Madrid.
๐จ๐ฃ Jamie Carragher blasts Real Madrid's "Barcelona obsession" after Bernardo Silva and Cucurella signings
๐ฃ๏ธ: "At some point, people have to stop pretending this is a coincidence. Every time Barcelona identify a player, Real Madrid suddenly become interested too.
Barcelona wanted Bernardo Silva, and now Real Madrid have signed Bernardo Silva. Barcelona looked at Dumfries, and Madrid rushed to give a 30-year-old a long-term contract. Hansi Flick reportedly prefers Gvardiol, and suddenly Madrid are pushing for Gvardiol. Barcelona worked on Julian Alvarez, and Madrid responded with a ridiculous โฌ150 million bid that they made sure the whole world knew about. Now Marc Cucurella has become another target the moment Barcelona showed interest.
This is not strategy; this is obsession.
The biggest clubs create their own path. They don't spend every summer looking over their shoulder to see what their rivals are doing. If your transfer policy is 'Whatever Barcelona want, we want too,' then maybe you don't have a real project at all.
I have seen rivalries all my life, but this goes beyond rivalry. It feels like some people in Madrid are more concerned about blocking Barcelona than building Real Madrid.
When a club starts defining itself through its rival, it has already forgotten what made it great in the first place."
๐จ ๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: The 2026 World Cup begins TODAY. ๐๐
The opening match will be played tonight at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City between Mexico and South Africa. ๐ฒ๐ฝโ๏ธ๐ฟ๐ฆ
๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก: Which country will win the tournament?