It only seems a week ago that Real Madrid so famously outfoxed Barcelona at the Mestalla stadium to win the Copa del Rey. And it only feels like a week ago that Sergio Ramos whilst celebrating on the team bus dropped the monster of a trophy underneath it.
Of course it was just a week ago - but a week is seems is a lifetime in football.
Last night at the Bernabeu the pendulum had swung back into Barcelona's favour after a 2-0 Champions League first leg victory. The score was the perfect away result in European football, the same could not be said of the game.
I had commented that the first half of that Copa del Rey final felt like a meeting between Argentina 1990 and Holland 2006 - after an improved second half and extra time, that was soon forgotten.
Here, we had that scenario for almost the entire ninety minutes. The tone of the game was set with less than sixty seconds gone. Here we had to endure players falling, players Diving, players influencing the referee, influencing the crowd to react, players feigning injury, punches thrown, players being kicked and even a strangulation - all from the supposed best two teams in Europe, if not the world.
Last night, apart from a few glorious seconds from Lionel Messi, football took a battering.
Jose Mourinho admitted afterwards that he had set up his team to draw 0-0 at home. In one way you could see his point that conceding an away goal in Europe is suicide.
But how about trying to take a lead to a stadium where he has never won as an opposing manager?
Mourinho would be sent to the stands after clapping the officials who in keeping in line with El Clasico's sent off Pepe for a high foot studs first challenge.
The Portugal international did not connect but in my opinion the intent was there. For all of Pepe's shortcomings one wonders if it had been Xavi or Messi, or indeed Cristiano Ronaldo, would the same colour card have been applied?
It was a turning point in the match though - that could not be denied. With Mourinho's newly appointed midfield general out of the picture, Barcelona found more gaps to plug the balls into, though they were getting increasingly dangerous before Pepe's sending off.
And what of Barcelona?
Time and again hailed as the best club side of a generation, with a few excitables even claiming that they are the best club side of all time. On the face of it they played as they usually do, keeping possession. At one point Barcelona had a 72% possession advantage but the ugly side to their game was undeniable.
Pedro and Sergio Busquets led that shameful line; both players feigning injury clutching their faces after challenges that had happened elsewhere.
Unless these players have an allergy to air then in an ideal world they should have seen red too. Carles Puyol too followed suit. The constant bantering and surrounding of the referee every time a challenge went in was awful viewing. Perhaps in a weeks time at the Camp Nou, UEFA can roll out Chuck Norris who in the same situation could roundhouse and kick them all to the ground.
At least Pedro and Busquets would finally know how it felt to be hit in the face.
Real Madrid of course were hardly innocent bystanders, with perhaps their player of the season Angel Di Maria happy to spend half the game lying on the pitch flapping his arms around - all in order to get Barcelona defender Dani Alves sent off.
He finally got a yellow card but while Alves may play a physical game there is a fine line between that and running into your opponent, as Di Maria quite clearly did.
As for the games highlights it's like trying to pick out the meat from a roast that has been devoured by a family of four - where do you start?
Though once Barcelona who were clearly rattled by Real's tactics, last week put the respect aside they started to believe in their game again. Maybe the time of the first goal was inevitable (given the first goal times of the previous two matches the average was about right that someone was going to open the scoring on the 76th minute) and so it proved.
Who else but Lionel Messi, who scored his first open goal against a Mourinho side with a neat quick finish through the legs of Iker Casillas.
With the away goal achieved Barcelona started to look confident, whilst Real Madrid suddenly looked like the team from last November who took a 5-0 thrashing at Camp Nou. Mourinho, now sat behind metal bars after his dismissal, sat glumly as if the whole footballing establishment were against him. An establishment that oversaw a Mourinho team winning the Champions League last season, defeating Barcelona in the semi finals it should be noted.
Ten minutes after Messi's first goal the Argentinian found the switch to light the show up with a quite stunning goal. Evading five challenges, Messi weaved his way to goal slotting past Casillas for 0-2. It was a fine goal and in such a match as a semi final against Real Madrid it will rightly be remembered for some time.
In contrast, Cristiano Ronaldo had a quiet game.
And so the end result is that we are heading for a repeat of the 2009 final Barcelona v Manchester United. Mourinho may have no complaints. Afterall there was at least £100m of player talent on the bench. It is in some ways astonishing that Karim Benzema, Gonzalo Higuain and Kaka got no playing time in the most important of games.
How that would have translated to the attack minded owner Florentino Perez is anyones guess. Perhaps because Real ended up with ten men Perez will stand by his man for the time being. One thing is clear though that one or two of those benched superstars will be moving on from the club if Mourinho remains for a second season.
The last thoughts should be for Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, who after his choice words in the pre match press conference has come out smelling of roses. He will be content to lose all games off the Field if his side are to win on it. One word of caution for Guardiola though: if Barcelona are to dominate world football for the next few years, make sure the team do it with grace and - whisper it - fair play.
Of course it was just a week ago - but a week is seems is a lifetime in football.
Last night at the Bernabeu the pendulum had swung back into Barcelona's favour after a 2-0 Champions League first leg victory. The score was the perfect away result in European football, the same could not be said of the game.
I had commented that the first half of that Copa del Rey final felt like a meeting between Argentina 1990 and Holland 2006 - after an improved second half and extra time, that was soon forgotten.
Here, we had that scenario for almost the entire ninety minutes. The tone of the game was set with less than sixty seconds gone. Here we had to endure players falling, players Diving, players influencing the referee, influencing the crowd to react, players feigning injury, punches thrown, players being kicked and even a strangulation - all from the supposed best two teams in Europe, if not the world.
Last night, apart from a few glorious seconds from Lionel Messi, football took a battering.
Jose Mourinho admitted afterwards that he had set up his team to draw 0-0 at home. In one way you could see his point that conceding an away goal in Europe is suicide.
But how about trying to take a lead to a stadium where he has never won as an opposing manager?
Mourinho would be sent to the stands after clapping the officials who in keeping in line with El Clasico's sent off Pepe for a high foot studs first challenge.
The Portugal international did not connect but in my opinion the intent was there. For all of Pepe's shortcomings one wonders if it had been Xavi or Messi, or indeed Cristiano Ronaldo, would the same colour card have been applied?
It was a turning point in the match though - that could not be denied. With Mourinho's newly appointed midfield general out of the picture, Barcelona found more gaps to plug the balls into, though they were getting increasingly dangerous before Pepe's sending off.
And what of Barcelona?
Time and again hailed as the best club side of a generation, with a few excitables even claiming that they are the best club side of all time. On the face of it they played as they usually do, keeping possession. At one point Barcelona had a 72% possession advantage but the ugly side to their game was undeniable.
Pedro and Sergio Busquets led that shameful line; both players feigning injury clutching their faces after challenges that had happened elsewhere.
Unless these players have an allergy to air then in an ideal world they should have seen red too. Carles Puyol too followed suit. The constant bantering and surrounding of the referee every time a challenge went in was awful viewing. Perhaps in a weeks time at the Camp Nou, UEFA can roll out Chuck Norris who in the same situation could roundhouse and kick them all to the ground.
At least Pedro and Busquets would finally know how it felt to be hit in the face.
Real Madrid of course were hardly innocent bystanders, with perhaps their player of the season Angel Di Maria happy to spend half the game lying on the pitch flapping his arms around - all in order to get Barcelona defender Dani Alves sent off.
He finally got a yellow card but while Alves may play a physical game there is a fine line between that and running into your opponent, as Di Maria quite clearly did.
As for the games highlights it's like trying to pick out the meat from a roast that has been devoured by a family of four - where do you start?
Though once Barcelona who were clearly rattled by Real's tactics, last week put the respect aside they started to believe in their game again. Maybe the time of the first goal was inevitable (given the first goal times of the previous two matches the average was about right that someone was going to open the scoring on the 76th minute) and so it proved.
Who else but Lionel Messi, who scored his first open goal against a Mourinho side with a neat quick finish through the legs of Iker Casillas.
With the away goal achieved Barcelona started to look confident, whilst Real Madrid suddenly looked like the team from last November who took a 5-0 thrashing at Camp Nou. Mourinho, now sat behind metal bars after his dismissal, sat glumly as if the whole footballing establishment were against him. An establishment that oversaw a Mourinho team winning the Champions League last season, defeating Barcelona in the semi finals it should be noted.
Ten minutes after Messi's first goal the Argentinian found the switch to light the show up with a quite stunning goal. Evading five challenges, Messi weaved his way to goal slotting past Casillas for 0-2. It was a fine goal and in such a match as a semi final against Real Madrid it will rightly be remembered for some time.
In contrast, Cristiano Ronaldo had a quiet game.
And so the end result is that we are heading for a repeat of the 2009 final Barcelona v Manchester United. Mourinho may have no complaints. Afterall there was at least £100m of player talent on the bench. It is in some ways astonishing that Karim Benzema, Gonzalo Higuain and Kaka got no playing time in the most important of games.
How that would have translated to the attack minded owner Florentino Perez is anyones guess. Perhaps because Real ended up with ten men Perez will stand by his man for the time being. One thing is clear though that one or two of those benched superstars will be moving on from the club if Mourinho remains for a second season.
The last thoughts should be for Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, who after his choice words in the pre match press conference has come out smelling of roses. He will be content to lose all games off the Field if his side are to win on it. One word of caution for Guardiola though: if Barcelona are to dominate world football for the next few years, make sure the team do it with grace and - whisper it - fair play.
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