Tommy Mooney: Family time is fine but it's all about the matchday for me

Champions League / Tommy Mooney / 12 December 2008 / Leave a Comment

Our man in Marbella talks fatherly pride, winter-breaks and why he expects a Barcelona triumph in this weekend's El Classico...

It's my twin girls' birthday tomorrow so I've been preparing this article between wrapping presents for them.

I'm 37 and they're 11 - it's not a massive age gap and there's very little they don't know by now. It's frightening; I have to mentally prepare myself for conversations with them!

They've grown up so quickly. I'm particularly proud of them as to how they've adapted to the lifestyle here. They loved the house we lived in back in England but never once have they said they didn't want to come over here and give it a try.

As far as I'm concerned, they're just about fluent in Spanish now. What's great is that when they don't know I'm listening, they're speaking Spanish to each other. They've just been to a birthday party for one of the Spanish girls at their school and they had no problems at all.

It's been a bit of a family time of late. My parents came out here at the weekend and they haven't seen a cloud in the sky. Coming home in the car from my lad's training session, it was about 10 or 11˚ celsius and Dad was shivering! We're still getting 18s and 19s out here in the day - and yes, I know how cold it is back in England.

The temperatures back there always get people talking about a winter break. Our last game is on December 21st then we break for a clean two weeks and start back on January 4th. In Spain, it's considered a rest period, not a 'winter break' as such because you're likely to lose games to the weather.

I've always been a lover of the Christmas period in England, so this'll be my first Christmas Day off in 18 years. I've always been used to go in training but not this time. You're playing more games than you have days' training during that time and I used to love it. There's nothing better than matchdays for me. The importance of the results of this period shapes how the league table looks into the New Year.

To find time for the eight extra games Football League sides play over European Leagues or the Premier League would be almost impossible to fit in so I don't think it'll ever happen in England.

I've got to have a look at the big one this weekend: Barcelona v Real Madrid.
It kicks off at 10pm local time over here in Spain and, as I've mentioned before, that's prime time for restaurant bookings over here - everyone comes alive at that sort of time. You've got no chance of getting anywhere near a place with a television.

I have to say, in the last couple of Madrid games I watched they've been absolutely shocking. And having seen the way Juande Ramos set things up at Spurs, I can't see them getting anywhere near Barca.

Ramos has got to shake it, perhaps even leave established players out. I read the AS newspaper today, a proper Real Madrid paper with about 10-12 pages solely on the club.
They are getting stuck into the long-serving keeper Iker Casillas. He's been getting the brunt of the stick and, having seen him play recently, it's like he's not actually putting his hands in his gloves, so many routine shots have gone in.

So with Madrid in disarray, Barca will make absolutely no mistake. It's 3-0 to Barcelona for me and that's looking quite good at [16.5]. I'm in no doubt Barca will be ahead at Half-Time as well. The Half-Time/Full-Time market shows Barca at [2.5] to be leading at both half and full-time. I think that's a good backing opportunity.