Real Madrid

The Portuguese boss is positive about La Liga’s move to try and capture a greater audience share in Asia and can reflect on his experiences at Chelsea, when lunchtime starts were not uncommon.

“If I get to choose between 12pm and 10pm, I prefer 12,” he said.

But will his expensively-assembled group of players react well to the 6am wake-up calls and the indignity of pasta for breakfast?

Wayne Rooney became the latest top player to voice his opposition to early starts just last week as he went back to former club Everton with Manchester United.

“Just have to say 12 o’clock kick off is no good for players. Trying to force pasta down at 9 in the morning is not nice,” he said on Twitter.

And there is some evidence to suggest that top-level footballers do not always produce their best when their body clocks are messed around with.

In nine Premier League matches to have kicked off before 1pm on a Saturday so far this season, there have been 22 goals scored – an average of  2.44 per game – which is significantly lower than the overall average for the English top-flight of 2.98 goals per game.

Of these matches, seven have produced fewer than 2.5 goals, with only Wolves’ second half comeback to draw 2-2 with Swansea and Blackburn’s 4-3 humbling of Arsenal really offering more than five out of 10 for entertainment.

And the first halves of these nine matches have almost all been disappointing with only eight goals scored before the break.

The Spanish situation is remarkably similar, but possibly less significant when you consider that neither Real or Barcelona have played at the early kick-off slot yet – while Manchester United, City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have all contributed to the early English boredom.

However, the statistics are startling. In eight matches played so far at 12pm (Spanish time) on the eight Sundays there have been only 13 goals. That is an average of 1.63 and compares unfavourably to the Primera Division’s overall average of 2.52 goals per game.

And the Liga lads clearly don’t have much success in hitting the back of the net when some of them would normally just be hitting the hay as only four goals have been scored in the first halves of those eight matches.

So, will Mourinho’s free-scoring Real buck the trend against the Pamplona club this Sunday?

Currently averaging 4.25 goals per game at home and with 14 of their 32 strikes having come in the first half, there won’t be many people taking Totesport’s 20/1 on a 0-0 draw.

But maybe a halftime stalemate followed by a second half Real Madrid win looks tempting at 9/2.

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