It was autumn when, mincing his words a little, the manager began to complain
about decisions taken by people working above his head. “The sports
directors create the squad, my job is simply to coach,” he muttered, knowing
it would be reported as a row.
The previous summer, the club’s most talented central defender had felt let
down for not being offered new terms. He would respond by joining the club’s
chief local rival.
By mid-November, injuries had left the squad short of cover, games were drawn
or lost where once they would have been routinely won. A gaping rift had
opened between the popular, charismatic head coach and executives loyal to
the chairman.
Guess where? Chelsea? It might sound like it, but the answer here is Valencia,
where poisonous political intrigue has become a given. The charismatic
coach? Not Jose Mourinho but 42-year-old Quique Sanchez Flores, a sort of
Special-One-in-the-making, with a bit of stardust about him.
He is the nephew of one of Iberia’s most loved entertainers, the boughs of his
family tree a genuine Spanish celebritocracy of flamenco stars, footballers,
film-makers. The want-away centre-half? Not William Gallas but the
formidable Roberto Fabian Ayala, who, unfortunately for Chelsea, whom
Valencia meet in the last eight of the Champions League, is not quitting
Valencia to take up his more lavish contract with Villarreal until July.
Sanchez Flores’ initial response to hearing the quarter-final draw was to
stress resemblances: “It’s a hard one because they are so like us in the way
they play,” he says.
Meanwhile Amadeo Carboni, the Valencia director of football, who seldom sings
the same tune as his head coach, pointed out a key distinction: “Millions.
But millions don’t win matches, strong teams do.”
You could overwork the likenesses of Mourinho and Sanchez Flores, the tensions
they express about their working conditions, but you would struggle to find
a club so expert as Valencia in combining consistent success with such a
fraught environment.
Like Chelsea, Valencia have muscled their way between the established masters
of La Liga over the last few years; like Chelsea they spend far more money
than they can generate as a going concern of a business. The difference is
they owe various banks, where Chelsea thank a billionaire.
Like Chelsea, Valencia have often had to hear their domestic rivals sneer at
the minimalist way they play football. More than Chelsea, they can answer in
silver.
Since the turn of the millennium Valencia have won as many Spanish league
titles as Real Madrid or Barcelona, as many European titles as Madrid and
appeared in three times as many European finals as Barça.
Overcoming Internazionale, who have turned unbeatable in Serie A, was an
emphatic way into the last eight of this Champions League, though casual
watchers are forgiven for being distracted from the status of that
achievement - Valencia came back from 2-0 down in Milan to draw 2-2 and take
the tie on way goals with a 0-0 in Spain - by events after the 180 minutes
had elapsed.
It was the sort of sustained melee that tends to reach European screens from
South America rather than from the world’s premier club competition. The
brawl had bits of slapstick, from the substitute, David Navarro, who joined
in his tracksuit top to land a nose-breaker of a punch and then sprint away
from the repercussions like a greyhound-track hare.
As further details of the brawl continue to emerge it may be unsurprising to
discover that in addition to the bans Uefa will hand out on Wednesday to the
Valencia players Navarro and Carlos Marchena, and perhaps to Inter’s South
American trio Nicolas Burdisso, Ivan Cordoba and Maicon, the grapevine leads
the aggro around the fixture back to Marco Materazzi, the Inter defender.
Materazzi, who has some infamy in this area, had apparently been insulting
Valencia players - in Spanish, too - from the first leg, much as he
chattered to France’s Zinedine Zidane in the World Cup final.
The joke in Valencia has it that the wierdest aspect of the melee was that it
had not involved Valencia men fighting other Valencia men. This is not a
point about the team, who have a core of players who go back a long way and
exercise a defiant sort of collective leadership. The point is the club,
which seems to seethe with personal resentments and is not terribly good at
keeping them secret. Earlier this season, the continual differences of
opinion between Carboni and Sanchez Flores were expressed with raised voices
through the corridors of the club’s training headquarters at Paterna.
Carboni played for Valencia until two years ago, when, nearing 40, he was
still one of the finest left-backs in Europe. So he was a populist choice to
take charge of the club’s recruitment strategy, although his record is so
far mixed.
Expensive signings like the winger Joaquin have not been regularly to the
coach’s taste; the pricey striker Francesco Tavano, from Italy, was a total
failure. Much of Valencia’s strength is the same as it was under Rafa
Benitez, who left in 2004 for Liverpool, having won two leagues and the Uefa
Cup and carrying some pent-up bile against Carboni’s predecessor, Jesus
Garcia Pitarch.
The players from the Benitez era are still important: The veteran Santiago
Canizares in goal; Ayala at the back; the hard, cunning David Albelda in the
centre of midfield; Miguel Angel Angulo’s versatility and stamina in wide
positions; and the fragile Vicente’s brilliant left foot, at least on the
odd occasion the rest of his limbs are healthy.
Sanchez Flores’s team will concede the majority of possession if needs be but
they will attack with pace and width. They may not have Chelsea’s spending
power, but they have footballers Mourinho would envy.
The right-back Miguel, a Portuguese, is his compatriot Paulo Ferreira’s
superior in most respects and Ayala has not become Argentina’s most-capped
footballer for nothing. As for potency, it is a certainty that a series of
David Villa-to-Chelsea transfer stories will reappear in English and Spanish
newspapers over the next three weeks. Villa is quick, nimble and capable of
goals from most distances. Fernando Morientes has become a finisher again,
since he returned to Spain from Liverpool.
Others may have personal points to prove. Asier Del Horno used to be Chelsea’s
left-back and has just reached enough fitness to try and establish himself
as an asset to Valencia in that position.
There is shared history elsewhere and an interesting game for Claudio Ranieri
to watch: when he left Chelsea he took over, for a second time, as head
coach of Valencia, lasting less than a season. Frank Arnesen, Chelsea’s
equivalent to Carboni, used to play for Valencia. And one of Benitez’s
former Valencia colleagues, Juan Cruz Sol, is now a Chelsea scout, based in
Spain. “They are two very similar sides,” Sol concludes, “especially in
their style of play.”
Mourinho v Sanchez Flores
As the two most urbane managers in Europe go head-to-head, they have more in
common than they perhaps realise
Background
Jose Mario dos Santo Mourinho Felix (age 44)
The son of a goalkeeper good enough to have played a few minutes for Portugal.
He grew up on the estate of a wealthy uncle. His father, Felix Mourinho,
went on to become a coach with a solid reputation in Portuguese football
Enrique ‘Quique’ Sanchez Flores (age 42)
His father was a former Real Madrid player and his mother an actress and
singer. He is also the nephew of Lola Flores - the most celebrated
actress-dancer-singer-entertainer from Spain in the last 50 years
Playing career
Mourinho
An undistinguished player, he soon showed a flair for coaching. Assistant to
Bobby Robson at Sporting, Porto and Barcelona before joining Benfica briefly
and then Leiria
Sanchez Flores
Made Spain’s World Cup finals squad at Italia 90, won a league title with Real
Madrid and had a distinguished career as a full-back for Valencia, Madrid
and Real Zaragoza.
Managerial Honours
Mourinho
Took Porto to two league titles, a Uefa Cup and the Champions League within
two seasons. Won successive Premiership title with Chelsea
Sanchez Flores
As a coach established Getafe as a first division club and has maintained
Valencia as a top-three team in his 20 months there
Valencia v the Premiership in the Champions League since 2000
2000-2001 2nd group phase Man Utd 0-0, 1-1 (both qualify).
Quarterfinals: Arsenal, 1-2, 1-0 (Valencia through on away goals).
Semifinals: Leeds Utd, 0-0, 3-0 (Valencia lose final on penalties to
Bayern Munich)
2002-03: 1st group phase Liverpool 2-0, 1-0 (Valencia top group,
Liverpool third).
2nd group phase Arsenal 0-0, 2-1 (Valencia top, Arsenal third)
Euro pedigree
Chelsea: League position 2nd
European Cup best: Semifinal
Champions League 2006-7 P8 W5 D2 L1 F13 A6
Top Scorer Didier Drogba 5
Valencia: League Position 3rd
European Cups best: Final (2)
Champions League 2006-7 P10 W5 D3 L2 F17 A9
Top scorer Fernando Morientes 5
