THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID, Spain — Manager Jose Mourinho sat through a Real Madrid news conference in complete silence on Friday, refusing to answer questions ahead of his team’s Spanish league match against Barcelona.
Mourinho sat stone-faced beside assistant Aitor Karanka, who answered questions. Mourinho’s refusal to speak, apparently driven by a desire to avoiding increasing the tension surrounding the game, led to a number of journalists walking out of the news conference in protest.
The Portuguese coach certainly wrote himself into derby history with the stunt. Mourinho is already a part of recent Barcelona folklore after heated Champions League series between the Catalan club and the Chelsea and Inter Milan teams he coached.
"Whenever the coach talks everything gets blown out of proportion. He doesn’t want to be responsible for stoking tensions ahead of the match," Karanka said. "It’s a way of working. It’s not unusual that sometimes I come out. It’s not a lack of respect toward anyone."
Karanka has taken questions instead of Mourinho 11 times this season but this was the second straight league game where the Portuguese coach did not speak in the buildup.
Barcelona will almost certainly clinch its third straight Spanish league title if it wins the match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium with Madrid trailing by eight points with six games to play after this round. Barcelona is unbeaten for 29 games and has won five in a row against its biggest rival.
"Every (coach) does what he thinks is best for the team," Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said in reaction from Barcelona. "It’s not the first time his assistant speaks at the news conference. I just follow habits and do as I always do."
The pair are meeting four times inside 18 days, including Wednesday’s Copa del Rey final in Valencia and a two-legged Champions League semifinal series.
Barcelona won the last Spanish league meeting 5-0 in November to hand Mourinho the worst defeat of a career that includes two Champions League victories and domestic league titles in England, Italy and Portugal.
"Everyone know the importance of the game," Karanka said. "The team has grown and matured a lot since the season’s first clasico."
Madrid is without injured midfielders Lassana Diarra and Fernando Gago to injury and Esteban Granero to suspension. Mourinho left midfielders Pedro Leon and Sergio Canales out for technical reasons.