Jose Mourinho has cut an increasingly paranoid figure during his first season at Real Madrid. Convinced that match officials are always biased against his side, the Portuguese has also seen daggers hidden beneath cloaks in the corridors of the Bernabeu. Much like Kenneth Williams in "Carry on Cleo," Mourinho has conducted his business this season with overwrought theater: "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me …"

Mourinho, of course, has gained his own notoriety during his career as a fierce protector of his charges, and a wily customer who absorbs all external pressure to leave his players to play.

So it was little surprise that the Real coach sought to blame his team's latest league setback, Saturday's shutout at miserly Deportivo, on the whim of the Liga schedulers. Deportivo, the league's lowest-scoring side, has one tactic to remain in the top division -- conceding as few as possible -- and Mourinho observed not without reason that playing Miguel Ángel Lotina's team is akin to facing "a keeper and 10 defenders."

The Portuguese schemer, though, does have a point about the fixture list.

"In the big European leagues, other teams have more time to prepare for Champions League matches because they can play on Friday," Mourinho said ahead of the Riazor clash Saturday. "It seems that some teams choose when and at what time they play. We don't have that privilege."

Drawn on which team or teams he was referring to, Mourinho obliquely replied: "The friends of those that decide [fixtures]. And we are not among them."

Let's assume he means Barcelona, the only side that genuinely worries the Portuguese coach. The Catalan club has had four breaks of five days or more between Champions League ties and Liga fixtures, compared to Real's two. The club from the capital has played four away matches after European ties to Barca's three. In all, Pep Guardiola's side has had two more rest days between continental and domestic matches during the season. The only advantage Real has enjoyed was a six-day break between a Champions League match against Ajax and a Monday night clasico at Camp Nou. That fixture was dictated by regional elections in Catalonia, but it made little tangible difference to Real's performance even though Barca had had a day less to recover from its trip to Panathinaikos.

Is there a conspiracy against Real Madrid, as Mourinho has claimed on several occasions this season?

Jaume Roures, the president of Mediapro, the company responsible for slating the vast majority of television rights, doesn't entertain the notion. "He says, 'They are laughing behind my back,' and the truth is when I hear him making all these excuses, I do laugh because it amazes me that someone can talk such nonsense and make up such excuses," the Barcelona-born Roures told El Mati de Catalunya radio.

"To look for conspiracies to justify bad results is bad sportsmanship," Roures said. "He thinks the world is against him, but it wasn't me that left Di Maria on the bench the other day."

Mourinho may not care to look too closely at his upcoming schedule, either. After home games against Malaga and Hercules, he faces Atletico, his bugbear Sporting, and then Athletic, Barcelona and Valencia between April 9-24.

On the same weekend Real lines up against Sporting, April 2-3, Barcelona will have completed its final testing period of the domestic season: away trips to Valencia, Sevilla and Villarreal.

If both sides reach the quarterfinals and semifinals of the Champions League, matches on April 5-6, 12-13 and 26-27 will be added to the calendar. Barca and Real might even face each other three times in 10 days, depending on results and the draw.

During the same period, Real must also play the King's Cup final against its Catalan tormenter. That match is slated for April 20, four days after the Bernabeu clasico.

Paranoia? Or conspiracy? Either way, the Special One is going to have to pull something magical out of his hat to make it through this challenging period.