There's someone sitting there mate. Oh it's you Jose! Mourinho plays it cool as he prepares for Barcelona v Real Madrid

THE GAME IN SPAIN

By Sportsmail Reporter

Jose Mourinho will be sitting with his own supporters tomorrow night as Real Madrid play their final match before they visit the Camp Nou in 10 days' time.



He serves the second game of his two-match touchline ban and, parking himself so near to the dug-out as to make the punishment almost completely meaningless, he will occupy the place of Señor Gabriel Ruiz Almansa, a season ticket holder of 29 years who is giving up his seat for the cause.



In a fair world Sñr Ruiz would take Mourinho's place on the Madrid bench alongside assistant coach Aitor Karanka but instead Real Madrid club member no. 16,603 says he and his wife Ramona will be honored to relocate to just in front of the director's box for the visit of Athletic Bilbao allowing Mourinho to remain in shouting distance of his players.



Fan-tastic: Madrid boss Mourinho (bottom right) sits among supporters after being sent off against Real Murcia

Ruiz said: 'I hear the players from there. It's the same level as the bench and just three metres from the technical area.'

The experience will set Mourinho up nicely for what awaits him at the Camp Nou when he leads Real Madrid against Barcelona.



Former Barca boss Charly Rexach has predicted a worse reception than Luis Figo received in 2002.

And if the prospect of being thrown two pigs' heads is not enough, Barcelona fan and professional pitch invader Jimmy Jump has also threatened to target the Real Madrid coach as he takes charge of his first clasico.



With the touchline ban meaning no post or pre-match press conferences Mourinho will not break his silence until the eve of Madrid's Champions League game against Ajax in Amsterdam on Tuesday.



Then he will have the chance to respond to remarks made by boss Pep Guardiola's No 2 at Barca Tito Vilanova this week.

'It's not good that coaches want to be the protagonists,' he said. 'I can only understand that a coach wants to be the centre of attention because he has not lived that sensation as a player. That he would like to be a footballer but never was.'

It was perhaps the first time this season a stone had been thrown back from the other side of the fence.



Mourinho has implied at various times that Barcelona are favoured by referees who reduce opponents to 10 men or by coaches who pick weakened sides against them.



Guardiola's standard response is: 'Does he name me or the club? Well then I don't need to respond.'

Perhaps Mourinho will refuse to answer Vilanova on the same grounds. And then maybe pigs' heads will fly.

Pig sick: Figo is bombarded with missiles on his return to Barcelona as a Real Madrid player back in 2002

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Sir Alex Ferguson had the opportunity to take a chance on a baby-faced, long streak of nothing but raw potential back in 2007… but Fernando Torres ended up going to Liverpool.



Now 20-year-old David De Gea presents the Manchester United manager with a second chance and no-one at Atletico Madrid will be surprised if, despite the acquisition of Anders Lindegaard, he takes it at the end of the season.



Losing De Gea would cause the same unrest at Atletico Madrid as the decision to sell Torres three years ago.



He has replaced the Liverpool striker in the hearts of the supporters but those responsible for the decision will point to the struggle to make the Champions League this season, the money spent on keeping striker Sergio Aguero and the ready-made replacement between the posts that is 21-year-old Sergio Asenjo.

Highest new entry - straight in at No 1: De Gea could be heading to Old Trafford to replace Edwin ven der Sar

When Asenjo arrived for £4m in the summer of 2009, hailed as the new Iker Casillas, it pushed De Gea down the pecking order and Roberto Martinez tried to take him to Wigan on loan.



The move was blocked and the homegrown keeper stayed and, after the calamitous start made by Asenjo, he was promoted to the first team.



'He is as cold as a wolf,' the Atletico's youth team goalkeeper coach, Angel Mejías eulogises poetically.



'He has composure and a nerve about him that makes him stand out.'

In just 35 matches for Atletico, De Gea has repaid the faith put in him by boss Quique Sanchez Flores and Mourinho's recent assessment of him was that he had everything going for him, except one thing – he has the same passport as Iker Casillas.



That could mean for the next four years he will not be playing too many international matches – hardly likely to sour the deal for Fergie.

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While 85,494 England fans were suffering the national team at Wembley on Wednesday, the World and European Champions Spain were playing Portugal in Estadio da Luz in front of just 28,000.



From the wide open spaces in front of England's defence to the wide open spaces in the stands of Benfica's wonderful stadium.

It was an excellent idea for the joint-candidates to play each other just two weeks before FIFA decide who will stage the 2018 World Cup finals, they just forgot to fill the stadium.



Is there anybody out there? Plenty of empty seats in the stadium as Portugal crushed Spain 4-0 on Wednesday

During England's defeat to France – also being screened live in Spain – the commentator mentioned that England would have to 'play better than this if they wanted the finals'.



Thankfully, potential hosts' form is not among FIFA criteria. It will not affect England's chances anymore than those big red armchairs Sir Alex Ferguson and Zinedine Zidane were seated in at Doha's Khalifa stadium to watch the Argentina v Brazil clash help Qatar get the for vote 2022.



Portugal's inability to fill a stadium for such a prestigious friendly might be taken more seriously.



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Brazilliant: Barcelona star Alves is linked with City

Manchester City are offering Dani Alves more money than Barcelona. Just as they were offering Yaya Toure more money than Barca last summer.

All that remains now is for Alves to decide if he wants to stay at a club that frequents the latter stages of the Champions League or one that has yet to qualify for it.



Alves' agent Joaquin Macanas met with club officials on Tuesday where the details of an extension until 2015 that stops short of the desired parity with Xavi and Andres Iniesta was discussed.



There is plenty of brinkmanship to be had yet before any final decision is made but Alves' personality may yet play a big part.

Toure was at times important on the pitch for Barca but never in the dressing room and his decision was an easy one.



Alves is the heart and soul at the Camp Nou and if he gave it all up for a few dollars more that would be far more surprising.



