As Lionel Messi set yet another record, scoring in his 19th
successive league match for Barcelona, Jose Mourinho was left reflecting
on the reasons why his Real Madrid team have been also-rans in La Liga
this season.
"We are not scoring many
goals, that is the truth. Perhaps one of the differences compared to
last season," Mourinho told reporters after Saturday's 1-1 draw with
Zaragoza left his side 13 points behind Barca.
"In four chances we'd
score three; in six, four, etc. We scored goals with great ease and the
only player that has kept a similar average is Cristiano, all the others
have dropped in terms of the number of goals scored and obviously the
team suffers because of that."
Cristiano Ronaldo has
netted 28 of Real's 72 goals from 29 Spanish league games -- the second
highest behind Barca's 90, of which 43 have come from Messi including 29
in this 19-match streak.
Last season Real posted a
record 121 from 38 matches, earning an unprecedented 100 points on the
way to winning the title, but like Barcelona suffered heartbreak in
European football's biggest competition with a semifinal exit in the
Champions League.
Mourinho said Real's
realistic goals for this season are now the Spanish Cup and an attempt
to win the club's first European title since 2002, and 10th overall.
His players have scored 18 times in eight games in the tournament this season, edging past Manchester United in the last 16.
"The goals will come. If
they don't come on Wednesday we hope that they come in the next match,"
he said ahead of the first leg of the quarterfinal clash with Turkish
club Galatasaray in Madrid.
Mourinho said that
goalkeeper Iker Casillas was unlikely to be in the squad despite Spain's
World Cup-winning captain having recovered from injury.
"I don't think he'll be
there on Wednesday. One more week. I think he'll be in the squad for the
match against Levante," Mourinho said.
"I can never say that a
player is going to be in the starting XI from now until the end of the
season. Diego Lopez has played an important role, he has helped the team
because he has saved goals.
"And playing as he has
been since joining our side, in difficult matches such as that against
Manchester or Barcelona, in football we have to be honest with ourselves
and our players, and following that line, it is very hard to take him
out of goal."
Barcelona will be
boosted for Tuesday's Champions League trip to Paris Saint-Germain by
the return to fitness of key midfielder Xavi and attacking fullback
Jordi Alba.
Both trained alongside coach Tito Vilanova, who ran just his second session since returning from cancer treatment in New York.
Vilanova missed
Saturday's 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo, in which Messi became the first
player to score against every team in the league in successive matches.
Eric Abidal, who was
named in the squad against Celta for the first time since his liver
transplant, is also traveling to France on Monday.
Meanwhile, Real stayed second in La Liga after city rival Atletico drew 1-1 with Valencia on Sunday.
Visiting Valencia took
the lead in the first half through Jonas, but Atletico's top scorer
Radamel Falcao immediately replied with his 22nd in La Liga this season
from Arda Turan's cross.
Fourth-placed Real
Sociedad also drew, 2-2 at Espanyol -- whose defender Javi Lopez
conceded an own-goal for the equalizer with 14 minutes left
SOURCE : CNN
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