Patrick Barclay: Early end to title race won’t be Mourinho's fault — we’re all culpable

 
Pragmatic: Jose Mourinho
Patrick Barclay23 April 2014

If, after 24 years, the red bunting has disintegrated, they will have to order some more for the weekend.

For Liverpool are to be champions. That much became clear as Jose Mourinho prioritised in chillingly clear terms.

The most exciting Premier League season is in danger of concluding early at its highest level and to blame Mourinho, who, after Chelsea’s draw in Madrid, said he might field a weakened team at Anfield on Sunday, would be to miss the very good point he reiterated.

Naturally the fans — and not just those of Chelsea — would love him to keep the title race alive, to see if he could frustrate Liverpool, hitherto rampant on their own turf, like he did Atletico at Spain’s Anfield equivalent by the Manzanares river. But Mourinho is not paid to please the national audience. He judges the Champions League a more realistic target and plans to conserve his resources for a march to the final next Wednesday. He implies it would be different if, as soon as Chelsea had reached the semis, their Sunday fixture had been switched with, say, Southampton versus Everton at lunchtime on Saturday.

That could not happen because Sky has the Merseyside clash and BT the St Mary’s match. So there it is — television has bought the Premier League. But we cannot just blame big bad media moguls. They have bought it because we want to watch it. It is our greed, as well as theirs and the clubs’, that threatens to bring the title race to a premature close and leave the stage to Europe.

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Atletico have a reverse problem. They must play on Sunday but, as Liga leaders, can hardly afford to rotate in Valencia. Which conspires with Mourinho’s strategy. He will be watching as Madrid’s football festival continues with the visit of Bayern to a nicely rested Real tonight. From these teams will Chelsea’s next true opponents come. The English game has eaten itself.

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