Mourinho plays down ‘clasico’ match importance

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has played down the importance of the first ‘clasico’ of the season between his side and arch-rivals Barcelona next week, saying it is just “another match”.

While the clash at Barcelona’s Camp Nou will be the first between the sides since Mourinho arrived at Real in May, he has already faced Barca in the Champions League while at Chelsea and Inter Milan.

“It will be another league match. It will lack the spice that only the ‘knock out’ matches (of the Champions League) have,” he told sports daily Marca.

“With the matches between Barca and Chelsea or between Barca and Inter it was head or tails. This match will be one of 38 in the Spanish league, so it will not be decisive.”

Real go into the fixture one point ahead of Barcelona, but Barcelona’s double victory in the fixture last year was crucial in determining the outcome of La Liga, which Barcelona retained by the margin of one point.

Both teams head into the November 29 ‘clasico’ after demolishing opponents in their respective weekend league matches.

Real thrashed Athletic Bilbao 5-1 on Saturday to maintain their perfect winning home form so far this season while Barcelona routed minnows Almeria 8-0 to equal the biggest ever away win in La Liga.

The return ‘clasico’ of the season is scheduled for April 17.