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Former player and coach Johan Cruyff responded to the complaints of Madrid's strategist about the schedule of the Spanish championship and player fatigue.
Jose Mourinho's players played a 0-0 draw with La Coruna's "Deportivo" team over the weekend and allowed the Catalan club to gain a 7-point advantage in the tournament table again. Meanwhile, "Barca" defeated "Mallorca" 3-0 away.
After the match, Mourinho did not hide his frustration with what he considered an unfairly arranged schedule of the Spanish championship and the fatigue of the Real players.
In his column, published in the newspaper "El Periodico," Cruyff admitted the impact of fatigue on results but also explained why Real players have less energy than, for example, Barcelona players.
"The reason for the fatigue is the difference in playing styles between the teams. Real often takes over the ball while being far from the opponent's goal. They need to build an attack and cover the distance to the opponent's penalty area. This means they run much more. Barcelona usually dominates the matches, controls the ball more often, and spends more time closer to the opponent's goal," explained the Dutchman.
"Real could have easily beaten 'Deportivo' because they have excellent executors of Mourinho's plans, but there came a decisive moment when the players simply got tired. So, they had to pay with lost points for their style of play," noted Cruyff.
