The Indepdent’s Pete Jensen has noticed that Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho and star striker Cristiano Ronaldo areunloved Spain. Last week, when the La Liga awards for 2011/2012 were handed out, Mourinho finished second to former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and Ronaldo finished third inthe striker category, despite Real winning the La Liga title with the biggest points tally in league history.
Even more baffling, however, is the pair’s frosty treatment in Madrid.How can one not like a coach who registered 100 wins faster than any other coach in the league’s history, or a player who has reached 100 goals faster than any other striker in the club’shistory? And yet, Mourinho received jeers during the 5-1 home win against Athletic Bilbao, while contract talks between Ronaldo and the club have stalled.
Mourinho has even lamentedpublicly that the jeers and whistles didn’t happen while he was at Chelsea or Inter, but his real beef is with Real’s directors. Ronaldo, meanwhile, will end up costing Real a lot moremoney than he does now, as the so called Beckham Law, which meant that big foreign signings would only be subject to 24.75 percent tax, has now expired. The new tax rate will be a whopping 52 percent.