La Liga: Barcelona VP welcomes Jose Mourinho's impending exit
Jose Mourinho led Real Madrid in training on Tuesday as Barcelona's vice-president welcomed his impending exit.
Last Updated: 21/05/13 9:35pm
Nothing more has been said by Madrid in the wake of Monday night's press conference with Florentino Perez in which the president confirmed the Portuguese boss - tipped to return to Chelsea - would depart the Bernabeu by mutual agreement at the end of the season.
Instead, it was business as usual on the training ground, with Mourinho preparing his players for Sunday's match against Champions League-chasing Real Sociedad.
But while Madrid were saying nothing, there were celebratory noises coming from all directions outside the club on Tuesday.
The Spanish press - led by the pro-Madrid Marca and AS - applauded the news, while rivals Barcelona also welcomed confirmation of something which had long been anticipated.
Barca vice-president Carles Vilarrubi told Catalunya Radio: "Now I can say it, Mourinho has been a scourge.
"Seeing him leave is a positive for Spanish football because he had created a negative atmosphere."
During his three years in charge, Mourinho has had several high-profile run-ins with Barca, including poking their then assistant and now head coach Tito Vilanova in the eye during a Spanish Supercopa match and claiming UEFA favoured the Catalan club following an ill-tempered Champions League semi-final.
Although Mourinho led Madrid to the Primera Division title last year, he was unable during his turbulent three-year spell to end Barca's current dominance of La Liga and his side trail the champions by 13 points with two games remaining.
Above all though, Mourinho's time has been marked by fall-outs and divisions within the squad.
After last week's Copa del Rey final defeat by Atletico, Mourinho declared: "This season has been the worst of my life."
Speculation will now surround not just Mourinho's eventual destination, with the 50-year-old widely expected to succeed Stamford Bridge interim manager Rafael Benitez, but also his replacement in Madrid.
Paris Saint-Germain's Carlos Ancelotti is the favourite to become the new coach of Madrid and admitted on Sunday he had met with his current club's president Nasser Al Khelaifi and director of football Leonardo to inform them of his desire to leave the Ligue 1 champions for the Spanish giants.
Al Khelaifi confirmed that but reiterated the club wanted the Italian to see out his contract in France, which expires in 2014.
Perez said: "A few days ago the president of PSG spoke to one of our directors about the possibility of Carlo Ancelotti leaving the club to join Madrid.
"They told us it was not possible and we respect that."
