Madrid: Real Madrid President Florentino Perez's confounded expression upon hearing that veteran goalkeeper Iker Casillas had been dropped for Saturday's game against Malaga showed just how far coach Jose Mourinho has gone in his quest to exert control over the club.
And it may be that Mourinho has finally gone too far.
After waves of criticism from fans and players alike as Real slumped to a 3-2 loss in the game, the question arises whether Perez has reached the limits of his support for the often successful, yet equally abrasive, Mourinho.
"Mourinho has his particular way of dealing with his squad," said former Real player and coach Jorge Valdano. "But this was him doubling down. It was an exhibition of power. It was him imposing his decision on a club legend."
Mourinho did not announce his decision to drop Casillas, highly respected both in Spain and abroad for his decade of quality service in Real's net, for the little-used Adan Garrido until minutes before the game.
The move backfired in the second half when Malaga scored on the inexperienced Adan three times to deal Real another loss that left them flagging 16 points adrift of Spanish leaders Barcelona and their league title defense hopes shattered.
Mourinho said that he had picked Adan because he was "in better form" than Casillas.
That argument was far from convincing to fans and players past and present.
A fan poll published on Monday by Spanish sports daily Marca indicates that most of Real's fans want Mourinho out. Eighty-two percent of the almost 100,000 participants in the online poll voted yes to the question "Should Real Madrid fire Mourinho?"
"Iker doesn't need to be punished to play better," said former Real goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez, an old teammate of Casillas. "This only brings to a boil the atmosphere of conflict that Real already have."
Real defender Sergio Ramos said after the match that he was "surprised" by the decision.
Casillas told La Sexta television on Sunday that he felt fine and that Mourinho hadn't told him why he had been benched.
"I'm not used to being a backup," Casillas said. "But the team is above any player. I have to keep training and try to win back my place in the starting lineup."
Since arriving at Real three seasons ago, Mourinho has won a Spanish league title in 2012 and a Copa del Rey a year earlier.
But he has also ruffled the feathers of more than one of Real's purist fans, as well as dispatching several perceived enemies within the club.
Casillas, the captain of Real and Spain's world and two-time European championship national team, was always seen as untouchable.
The 31-year-old goalkeeper is the most revered member of Real's current squad. Many fans see him as the last link to the winning days of the "Galaticos" of David Beckham, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane and to the prior golden era of beloved forward Raul Gonzalez and Vicente del Bosque, the club's ultimate "gentleman" coach.
Two weeks ago, Perez called Casillas "a legendary captain of Real Madrid."
"He is one of the great captains in the history of this club," Perez said. "He shows that above and beyond winning titles, he knows how to interpret this institution."
And therein lies the potential problem for Mourinho.
Perez had not been informed of Casillas' exclusion when a journalist for Canal Plus television showed him the lineup minutes before the game. The 65-year-old club president, who in his 10 years has made Real one of the world's richest teams, raised his glasses as if to get a better look at the player list and then, apparently stunned, just turned away.
Perez has been Mourinho's biggest backer.
He has defended the Portuguese coach every time he has been questioned by the sector of Real's fans who interpret that his aggressive style goes against the club's proud tradition of always behaving in a "noble" manner. Perez didn't flinch even when Mourinho poked Barcelona's then assistant and now head coach, Tito Vilanova, in the eye during a melee between the archrivals.
Last week, with Mourinho under increasing pressure to turn things around in the league, Perez told a meeting of club members that Mourinho had his "confidence" and "affection."
Mourinho is known for wanting to control how much information from his dressing room reaches the media, and he has had no problem taking on other personalities within the club.
In 2011, Valdano, then the club's spokesman, left after his conflict with Mourinho went public with the coach openly discrediting him.
Mourinho belittled player Pedro Leon before he was shipped back to Getafe. He has even ostracized former Ballon d'Or winner Kaka, for whom Real paid €65 million (then $92 million) in 2009, to an almost permanent role on the substitutes' bench.
This season, he benched defender Ramos after a supposed dispute, and he has used various press conferences to criticize the running of Real's B-team by coach Alberto Toril.
And through all of this Perez has been there to grant him his wishes, including a contract extension last summer that ties Mourinho to Real until the end of the 2016 season.
Mourinho, a former Chelsea, Inter Milan and FC Porto manager, has enjoyed the unquestioning support of Real's most radical fans, which even applauded his eyepoke of Vilanova with a large sign at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium that read: "Your finger points the way forward."
But that could all change after the Casillas benching. And if Mourinho losses Real's die-hard fans it may be only a question of time before his last defender also abandons him.
Columnist Tomas Roncero, who writes for sports daily AS and represents the most vehement section of Real's fans, wrote on Sunday that "Mou threw down the gauntlet without weighing the consequences."
"(Casillas) is the triumphant symbol of Spain that has dominated the European and World Cups since 2008. Mou can't understand this sensibility because it's not his national team, but he should be able to evaluate it," he said. "For a decade now, 70 percent of the children who are Real Madrid fans wear the Iker shirt. He is an idol, a mirror, a hope, a hero."
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