Thread by @Iconic_Mourinho

In 2010, Barcelona were ruling football, with Pep leading that young Barça dream team.

Barça 3peated La Liga, won the sextuple, won 2 UCLs in 3 years and didn't show any signs of stopping.

Two years later, Pep had left Barça and it was all over. Why?

It started here.

[Thread]

Before this huge and infamous ball of crap that gave us the most intense rivalry that modern football has had, the Mourinho/Pep question was first put in 2008.

Quick note: Barcelona were deciding on who their next coach would be, Mourinho and Pep were the final 2 candidates.

Mourinho had worked at Barça previously as Bobby Robson and Van Gaal's assistant. After leaving Chelsea in 2007, it was known he would have liked a return to Barça.

Pep was the former Barça legend and was coaching in La Masia.

Barça went for Pep, so Mourinho went to Inter.

Mourinho kept winning and Inter won the Serie A.

Pep picks up that very young and talented Barça team and in his debut season wins the sextuple: every trophy possible.

This was Real Madrid's nightmare. They lost 6-2 to Barça, went trophyless and this is where the story begins.

So Real Madrid make the desperate move of trying to revive the Galacticos.

Cristiano - 94m€
Kaká - 67m€
Benzema - 35m€
Xabi Alonso - 34m€

Overall, 8 new signings, 250m€ spent.

It didn't work, they went trophyless again. Barça were that good and Real were humiliated again.

Barça won La Liga, broke the points record (99) and won the Copa del Rey.

The main theme: Barcelona were about to win the Champions League at the Santiago Bernabeu.

But in the semi-finals draw, Barcelona meet Inter Milan... it's the first big match-up between José and Pep.

Mourinho begins his mind games by saying that 'Inter's dream' is more pure than 'Barcelona's obsession'.

To sum it up:

1st leg: Inter win 3-1.
2nd leg: Motta gets sent off. Inter park the bus for the whole game, keeping 14% of the ball.

Inter win and Mourinho runs Camp Nou.

Mourinho was now established as the Barça antidote, the anti-tikitaka coach.

Inter complete their treble in 2010 and, as expected, Mourinho was unveiled as the Real Madrid coach days later.

It was clear that Real had to stop Barça's dominance first in order to start their own project.

Mourinho: "If I am hated in Barcelona, that's their problem." (2010)

Now, how exactly did Mourinho end Barcelona's dominance in 2 years?

Things didn't start well, as in the first season Barça won La Liga again, 4 points ahead of Madrid, and won the first El Classico 5-0.

Then, Mourinho's ideas started to take shape, on and off the pitch.

Off the pitch, Mourinho would exhaust Barça and Pep in search of a response:

"Guardiola is a fantastic coach. He wins a few matches and people think he is a philosopher, but I have won two Champions Leagues and I am no philosopher, just a normal guy who works hard." (2010)

Or:

"Sometimes you see beautiful things in the pitch, but you win nothing. For me, football is about winning, and not just about playing beautifully." (2011)

Finally, the big clash came when Pep finally replied, ahead of the UCL El Classico of 2011.

Barça won La Liga, Real won the Copa del Rey.

Real's tactics in El Classico now consisted in clogging Barça's tiki-taka (often through fouls) and playing on the counter. Real were now playing hard, the games were brutal.

Messi was practically nullified.

By Mourinho's 2nd season, Barça were weaker, Real were stronger and the tension in the El Classico was at an all time high.

Straight away in the Supercopa (2011), the players clashed, the benches clashed and the technical teams clashed.

You know things have gone too far when Mourinho pokes Vilanova in the eye.

Still, the point wasn't the instant impact of the constant 'mind games', it was its importance to Real Madrid's long term project and the end of Barça's reign.

And it was working.

Mourinho also had a strong say in the intemporal Ronaldo vs Messi debate.

Mourinho kept the tension up all season.

"I can't coach 10 players against Barcelona's 12, it's impossible." (2011)

"I hope one day Pep has the chance of winning a clean championship, with no scandals." (2011)

During the season, both clubs played at an absurdly good level.

Matchday 34: Barcelona vs Real, separated by 4 points. A Real Madrid win would practically make them champions.

This would be the first BIG step to fulfill Mourinho's BIG mission, as said by himself: to end Barça's dominance and bring Real Madrid back.

This game epitomises everything the Mourinho vs Pep rivalry was.

Barça have the ball, but a Cristiano goal on the break kills the game and Real Madrid 'win' the league at the Camp Nou.

The mission that seemed impossible was now succeeding, 2 years later.

Real Madrid win the league and break Barça's points record.

100 points
32 wins
121 goals
+89 goal difference

The best ever La Liga campaign, Real Madrid were back.

On the other side, Barcelona were exhausted.

Pep: "I'm drained, I need to fill up. Four years is enough." (2012)

Pep, the big leader of the peak Barcelona domination, left at the end of the season.

He justified his exit to the Barcelona board as a "mental fatigue issue" and took a 1 year break from football.

Here is Piqué relating Pep's exit to Mourinho's arrival.

Pep, as Piqué said, needs to be in control, as does Messi, Xavi and all of Barça in general.

Mourinho took all the control away and added to all the chaos and pressure around Barça, which accelerated Pep's exit.

Real Madrid got back to the top and Barça's golden era was over.

The Real Madrid project was now on track, and it kept evolving from there.

Real Madrid won 5 Champions Leagues in the following 10 years.

In contrast, Barcelona's project stagnated and they have won 1 more Champions League since.

Admire or hate Mourinho, but he got it done. Yes, maybe it went too far at times, but he did what was needed to bring back Real Madrid.

Mourinho's mission was to create a winning project for Real Madrid and end Barcelona's world wide dominance.

And that's exactly what he did.

@Frenkiesmo_Gone I mentioned it right in the beggining of the thread. I also mentioned the 5-0, the 2011 La Liga, the Vilanova polemic and that many times this dispute went too far. The facts are there.

However, Real Madrid was back to winning in 2012 and kept on winning in the long term.