Schuster slams Mourinho tactics

Bernd Schuster has criticised Jose Mourinho for his team selection in the first leg of Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey loss to Barcelona.

A former Madrid player and coach, Schuster feels Mourinho made costly mistakes by including Ricardo Carvalho in his starting line-up, and using Pepe in midfield for the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Real gave up a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 at home on January 18, and bowed out 4-3 on aggregate after a 2-2 draw in the return at Camp Nou a week later.

“I could hardly believe it when I saw the team selection,” Schuster told Onda Cero.

“No one knows what happened there. I’d really like to know what he (Mourinho) was thinking there.”

“Giving a player (Carvalho) the nod who hadn’t played a long time, and using Pepe in midfield. It was weird.”

“I think that we all agree that it was a mess that particular day. No disrespect to anybody, but it really was horrible, or whatever you want to call it.”

“It’s a real shame that this happened, because Madrid could have eliminated Barcelona there.”