THE WAITER SHAKES his head before explaining there are no tables.

This isn’t one of Madrid’s high-end restaurants; this is just a bar.

And we’re not in a trendy spot in an area like Goya or Huertas, but a regular bar, in a regular neighbourhood, with regular prices.

But El Clasico is on and once again friends, family and enemies throng the bars. With the recession bursting the Spanish property bubble and the smoking ban in place there is still one prime piece of real estate in Spain: bar terraces.

All across Spain, bars will drag TVs on to the street in an attempt to attract punters. They won’t need to try hard as some bars even take bookings and with another three El Clasicos to go, bar owners are laughing all the way to the bank. In Madrid, Barça and Real fans will sit side by side and will enjoy the banter.

Shouts of refs being biased to Barça and the media being biased to Real will go hand-in-hand with canas y tapa. With ticket prices at sky-high prices, most fans can’t affords to attend the games between the two rivals now.

What is more, given recent results, would Real fans want to take a risk on a €500 ticket to see their team hammered again?

The league is just within Barça’s grasp now and Real fans will want to try to keep it out of reach as long as possible. After the 5-0 mauling in Camp Nou, Real were playing for pride. The manita is used to describe a game where a team wins by five goals. Barça wanted to redefine that by making it five wins.

Build-up

There was no surprises from the media beforehand. Marca cried foul over what they saw as Barça arrogance over various acts from their players. Mourinho refused to speak to the press saying earlier in the week that he would stay at Real ‘as long as the press doesn’t sack me’.

The press walked out, only for his second in command Karanka to say that it would be him taking the questions. Some felt insulted.  Rumours circulated on whether the Special One would speak after the match. Not all Real fans are happy with Mou (As he is known by the Spanish press).

Some feel he has failed to act like a gentlemen, something that is expected from all Real managers. Others point out to Manuel Pellergrini’s record, pointing out that the club were in a better position under him last year. But judgement day is descending on Mourinho.

Saturday saw Real play for pride. Both teams will face off in the Copa and the Champions but anyone thinking that they were just going to go through the motions was given an early wakeup call with some very early tackling.

Whether the league was won or lost Real were not going to lie down and hand it over. But for all the tough tackling the game seemed to lack drive. A 1-1 result with both goals from penalties but the big question still was on whether Mou would attend the press conference.

He did! And he had a go. First he had a go at those who had left early on Friday. Next up was Barça. He questioned how was it that Real always ended up with 10 men failing to see the fact that those sent off always seem to deserve it.

The fact of the matter is that Real lost the league and some are questioning whether Mourinho has bottled it. The next coming weeks will see how he enters the history of Real.