Jose Mourinho Is The Smartest Person In This Champions League Tie? Duh

Does anyone really believe that yesterday's training is what convinced Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho that Cristiano Ronaldo would be fit to play in today's UEFA Champions League quarterfinal against Tottenham Hotspur? Of course not. Ronaldo may have never trained. He may have trained. He might be really hurting or he may not have been hurting at all. The training staff may have actually told Mourinho that Ronaldo was medically cleared to play or they may never have. Let's be serious about this. Mourinho was always going to say that Ronaldo was not cleared to play, indicate that there was a chance just before the match and then include him in the team.

Mourinho is famous for his mind games. He plays mind games regularly and why shouldn't he? He is smarter than everyone else and will win the mind games. Won't you always play a game that you're good at and always win at? Mourinho's mind games also happen to help his club win matches and trophies so damn straight he should play them. Harry Redknapp has also been smart leading up to this tie, refusing to get involved in these games. Why should he? He knows as well as any of us that Mourinho is smarter than him.

Do Mourinho's mind games really matter? It depends how you look at them. If you are Redknapp or anyone associated with Spurs and can acknowledge Mourinho's brilliance then just ignore him, you're fine. His mind games don't matter if you ignore it. You knew from day one that Ronaldo was going to play in the match and if you prepared as such then Mourinho's wish washing on the subject are irrelevant.

Of course ignoring Mourinho for that reason is also acknowledging that you're starting at a disadvantage because the team you are playing has the smartest person involved in the tie. Hmmm. Tottenham are massive underdogs to Madrid? Well isn't that shocking.