I've played the game but to my real shame, you've left me to grieve all alone

So, I owe Young Ben an apology, or rather, I think Jose Mourinho owes Young Ben an apology. Yesterday I was chatting to the youngster (that's Ben not Jose) and I told him to make sure his mum let him stay up last night to watch El Clasico. For those of you who are not familiar with the term this is the name given to games between Real Madrid and Barcelona, arguably the best club match in the world between two of the most famous sides ever

When I was young Real Madrid were the best side in the world. In 1960 at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Real beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in what many people believe was the finest football match ever seen. Puskas scored 4 goals and Di Stefano scored 3. This was the way football was supposed to be played. This was what everyone else aspired to. In those early years they won the European Cup 6 times.

In 1967 just two weeks after Celtic won the European Cup they played Real in Madrid in the Alfredo Di Stefano Testimonial. Celtic won 1-0 and the performance of Jimmy Johnstone brought applause from the home crowd, who knew and appreciated a great player when they saw one

After this Real did not win the European Cup again until the late 90's and then came the era of Los Galacticos. They signed players like Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo (the Brazilian one) Raul, Roberto Carlos and David Beckham.

In 2002 they once again won the European Cup (or Champions League as it is now) at Hampden and once again it was special. Zinedine Zidane, probably the finest player I have ever seen play live, scored arguably the best goal ever in a European Final, an exquisite volley which he made look easy and worthy of such a great occasion

I have mentioned before my sons and I saw Real beat Barca 4-2 in 2005 in the best game I have ever seen as a neutral. All of the players mentioned above were involved in that Real team along with Michael Owen

So, fast forward to 2011 and the the first of four El Clasicos last night. In a style alien to all that Real Madrid stand for Mr Mourinho plays a centre half as an extra holding midfielder in a game which he has to win to have any chance of catching Barca in the league. In the end the game finishes 1-1, a result which suits Barca far more than Real and Real's equaliser comes from an extremely dubious penalty

With regards to the forthcoming Champions League semi-finals between the sides, Jose stated in a press conference (in one he actually spoke at) that Real would practice playing with 10 men as his teams always have a man sent off in Barcelona. He failed to mention that in last year's semi-final when he was manager of Inter Milan, Inter scored a goal in the first leg which was suspiciously offside and Barca had a goal disallowed for offside in the second leg which was almost definitely not

I appreciate that Mr Mourinho is an excellent manager but his win at all costs tactics seen previously at Porto and Chelsea do nothing for me. There is an expectation at Madrid to play "The Beautiful Game". For the good of the game and Young Ben I sincerely hope Barca come out on top in the forthcoming matches

ps Special mention and congratulations to friends of our family Ross and Laura on the birth of their baby daughter Gracie earlier this week. If Gracie takes her looks, charm, brains and personality from her mum and her bad chat from her dad she will go far in the world and break a few hearts along the way, just as long as Young Ben is not one of them