Barcelona vice-president Carles Vilarrubi has welcomed the news Jose Mourinho is leaving Real Madrid, describing the Portuguese as a 'scourge' on Spanish football.
It was announced on Monday night that Mourinho would be parting company with Madrid at the end of the current Primera Division season, bringing to an end a turbulent three-year spell in charge of the club.
During that time, Mourinho has had several high-profile run-ins with Madrid’s arch rivals Barca, including poking Tito Vilanova in the eye during a Spanish Supercopa match and claiming UEFA favoured the Catalan club following an ill-tempered Champions League semi-final.
And Vilarrubi, vice-president of Barca’s Institutional Area, is glad to see the back of him.
He told Catalunya Radio: 'Now I can say it, Mourinho has been a scourge.
'Seeing him leave is a positive for Spanish football because he had created a negative atmosphere.'
And Real's Portugal stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe did not seem too concerned, going to a restaurant just hours after the announcement on Monday night.
Madrid president Florentino Perez waived the £12million compensation clause in Mourinho's contract, paving the way for him to re-join Chelsea.
Perez announced that Mourinho’s troubled and chaotic three-year stint at the Bernabeu will end next month after holding talks with the Portuguese coach over the weekend.
Mourinho had four years left on his contract. He will take charge of Sunday’s clash at Real Sociedad and then bow out at home against Osasuna on June 1.
Out of order: Mourinho poked Barcelona's then assistant Tito Vilanova in the eyePerez, who hopes to appoint Paris Saint-Germain’s title-winning coach Carlo Ancelotti, said: ‘The club and manager agree the timing is right to bring our relationship to an end. We would like to thank Jose for all his hard work. The team have improved in his three years and we wish him all the best.’
The self-styled Special One will officially leave his position at the Bernabeu on June 3 and Chelsea are hoping to unveil him at a Stamford Bridge press conference the following week.
The parting was billed, diplomatically, as ‘mutual consent’, but anyone with more than a passing interest in Mourinho’s career in Spain will know he has exhausted the patience of this famous club — particularly with his failure to win the Champions League.
Perez added: ‘We have made a big jump in terms of competitiveness. Now we are back where we belong. Before we were being knocked out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage and now we are always group seeds.
Stern words: Mourinho has been allowed to leave Real Madrid and is expected to re-join Chelsea‘We played some spectacular football last season. In the world of mere mortals reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League and the final of the Copa del Rey would be enough but for us it is not enough.
‘Overall, the balance is positive. It has just not been sufficiently good; neither for us nor for Mourinho. But it has not been a bad season.
‘Mourinho is the longest-serving coach in the first division. It is not easy to last three seasons — and even more so at this club.
‘If we had won a European Cup then we would not be talking about this. In England a match lasts the two hours before a game, the two hours of the game, and then the two hours afterwards. Here it is seven days a week and the pressure tells. We would have liked him to continue but the pressure was just not sustainable and went beyond the limits of normality, with insults unbecoming civilised people.’
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