Real Madrid Coach Jose Mourinho a.k.a The Special One has identified factors which gave his team victory last night at Old Trafford and eliminated English Premiership leaders Manchester United from this year’s European Champions League.

Mourinho in his analysis of the match paid glowing tribute to United and disagreed with Turkish referee cakir’s decision to send off Nani for an unintentional foul, which reduced the hosts to ten men from the 56^th minute and dramatically saw Madrid scoring two quick goals to end the match 2-1 and qualify 3-2 for the quarter-finals following the one-all first leg draw. Below is his full analysis of the match in a story entitled Mourinho: “Modric was crucial because he changed he match” published on Real Madrid’s website, www.realmadrid.com:

After Real Madrid’s victory at Old Trafford, Mourinho was pleased to go through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but did not hesitate to demand more from his players: “We are happy to go through, but I expected more from my team. The first half was a nil-nil between two teams that knew they were on the limit. The sending-off changed the match a bit, because it changed the flow. But then Manchester United, with ten, were better and created us problems. We were able to score two goals and hold on until the end". He also spoke about one of the deciding factors of the match: "Modric was crucial because he changed the match and the sending-off also changed the match because they were left a man down".

Goals from Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo brought home the win at Old Trafford for the Whites, who had to fight until the end. “I know this stadium, the mentality and the culture and I knew that we would suffer until the end. Knowing Ferguson's style of leadership I knew that they were going to attempt the comeback late in the match. We wanted to control the match, but they won the midfield. Diego Lopez, like De Gea in the first leg for them, was our best player and got us the win”, said the Whites’ coach.

Mourinho went on to highlight the Galician goalkeeper’s performance: “Diego Lopez was great, the best player of the match. If your goalie is the best player, and even more playing with eleven against ten, it means with that you didn’t control the match like you should have, and there were players like Xabi, Khedira, Modric, Kaka ... What frustrates me is that Diego Lopez should not be the best player playing against 10. We made changes to give more stability and hoped to have control of the match, but Diego still had to stop what he stopped”.

Modric replaced Arbeloa in the second half and changed the match. “Manchester United had a great match in defense, were very well organised tactically and created us a lot of difficulties. Modric changed the match. He gave us creativity and movement. He was thinking about rapid, vertical movement and changed the flow of the match", said Mourinho, who also spoke about Cristiano’s return to Old Trafford: “It is never easy to return to a place where you used to play. I’ve felt that with my previous teams. Going back is never easy”.

The Real Madrid coach continued his analysis of the match: “They defended very well with 11 players, they took control in the first half. In the second half, I put on Modric and, when the equaliser came, was going to put on Benzema for Higuain. I was going to risk everything. I’m not saying that if it was 11 against 11 I would have done the same, but the reality of things is that against 10 there were moments of doubt and we helped them moments come about. We were also to blame for the difficulties that they caused us. History is full of teams who have got results with 10 men”.

The Whites’ coach spoke about Nani’s sending off: “I think Ferguson was like I was a couple of years ago about Pepe’s sending off against Barcelona. Pepe’s was worse because it was for simulation and this was for a hard contact that maybe could have been a yellow. The referee decided it was red. We played our match and Real Madrid cannot do anything about what happened. It is easy for me to say that today the best team lost. The first half today was a tactical battle. They began the second half by scoring and with the sending off and a player down they were like it was for us two years ago when we were killed off by Barcelona with one less”.

Mourinho spoke about Manchester United’s complaints about being down to ten players: “I am the first to shout, cry and complain. But we played with 10 in the semi-finals, not in the round of 16 or the quarters. I would say that the best team lost tonight. These things happen in football. We played well for ten minutes after Kaka and Modric came on. They couldn’t deal with them and we clearly dominated the midfield. But then things changed and they made us suffer with ten men”.

•Photo: Jose Mourinho a.k.a The Special One.

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