Jose Mourinho’s nine-year, 150-game home unbeaten streak ends as Real Madrid is upset

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Like all good things, Real Madrid Coach Jose Mourinho’s astonishing unbeaten run came to an end Saturday.

It did so at the feet of Sporting Gijon midfielder Miguel Angel de las Cuevas, who scored the only goal at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium to give his team a 1-0 upset victory over Real Madrid.

The loss not only put a sizable dent in Real’s chances of winning the Spanish league title but also ended Mourinho’s nine-year, 150-game home unbeaten streak in league play.

The Portuguese coach had carried the remarkable record through four teams in four leagues in four countries, starting with FC Porto in Portugal, continuing with Chelsea in England, then with Inter Milan in Italy and finally to Real Madrid in Spain.

Along the way, Mourinho won European Champions League titles with Porto and Inter, but those accomplishments had nothing to do with his home unbeaten streak in league play.

The 79th-minute goal by Cuevas also ended another run. Real Madrid had won all 14 of its previous home matches this season.

Afterward, Mourinho, whose last league defeat in front of his own fans came on Feb. 23, 2002, was philosophical.

“That’s football and tomorrow’s another day,” he said.

“They had one chance and they scored one goal. I praised them because they fought a lot and they fought to try to have luck on their side. We had four, five, six chances to score and we couldn’t.”

Real Madrid is now eight points behind defending Spanish champion Barcelona, which defeated Villarreal, 1-0, on Saturday, with eight games to play. Real plays host to Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

--Grahame L. Jones