A tight, tactical, tense encounter was expected, but both coaches set out to win the game with attacking verve. Barcelona showed, as it did against Arsenal in last year's Champions League, that playing Pep Guardiola's team at its own game is a hazardous strategy. But Mourinho can take some comfort from the worst defeat of his managerial career. If nothing else, there is no coach in the world who could possibly do a better job at Real at this moment, and no tactician more suited to the intense pressure that the task carries.
The Portuguese may not win La Liga this year, but as he was at pains to point out in his postmatch press conference, Barca is the finished article and Real is a recently assembled work in progress. The season is only a third of the way through and Mourinho has a chance to avenge last night's defeat on home soil in April.
In the meantime, he has plenty of food for thought:
What does the loss mean for Karim Benzema?
Last night's absence of Gonzalo Higuain, Real's top scorer in the two seasons before the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, and the effect this had on Mourinho's attacking options cannot be underestimated. Higuain scores goals, of course; he is one half of La Liga's most prolific partnership with Ronaldo on 22 goals, with David Villa's brace in Camp Nou bringing his combination with Lionel Messi to 21. But Higuain's movement is also key, as he drags defenders away from Ronaldo and allows the Portuguese to burst into open space.
With Karim Benzema deputizing for the Argentinean on Monday, Ronaldo was ushered down so many fruitless alleys in Catalonia it is little wonder he was blind with rage and shoved Guardiola in his technical area with scant provocation on the half-hour.
For all his talent, Benzema has failed spectacularly to live up to his promise at Real. The Frenchman was so anonymous against Barca that at times the visitors seemed to be playing with 10 men. Mourinho's decision to field Benzema was a combination of two factors: a laudable effort to remain true to the attacking principle he has instilled in his new team by not altering his formation, and a chance for Benzema to prove his mettle in a massive game.
Benzema's inability to live up to the occasion only strengthened Higuain's status as first-choice foil to Ronaldo. It may well serve to firm up Mourinho's stated interest in employing a traditional number 9, hastening the Frenchman's exit from the Bernabeu -- possibly as early as January. Any intimation from the lions of the north, Athletic Bilbao, that it is willing to cash in on Fernando Llorente will compel Mourinho to send Benzema packing.
What does it mean for the Liga title?
Last season, Real would have won the title had it managed two ties against Barcelona. And although the chasm between the two on the field at Camp Nou was of Grand Canyon-esque proportion, Barca leads the table by just two points after last night's encounter. Mourinho may set out his play more defensively in the return fixture at the Bernabeu in April, but he has bigger short-term concerns. Starting on Saturday, Real faces a potentially decisive run of three consecutive home matches against Valencia, Sevilla and Villarreal, interspersed with a local derby at Getafe.
Barcelona, meanwhile, has an easier run. It hosts Real Sociedad and Levante and travels to Osasuna, Espanyol and Deportivo. The Catalan derby in the 2008-09 season dealt Guardiola his first league defeat at Camp Nou as Barca boss, and the form of Mauricio Pochettino's team this campaign does not preclude a similar outcome at the Cornella-El Prat stadium in two weekends' time. But Real can ill-afford to slip up against Valencia or Sevilla in the hope that Espanyol can repeat such a result.
Barcelona has already played the fifth-, eighth- and third-placed sides in La Liga at Camp Nou with a maximum return of nine points and an aggregate score of 10-2. Its victory over Real embellished its goal differential to an advantage of eight and struck the first blow in the head-to-head stakes -- criterions by which the title will be decided if Mourinho's and Guardiola's sides should finish level on points in May.
What does Real's defeat mean a day later?
There is a marked difference between a heavy defeat and a demoralizing one. Jeffren's 90th-minute goal provided the latter. Mourinho had never lost by such a margin before, a 4-1 defeat to Manchester United while at Chelsea being the only comparable result.
That burden will not sit lightly on Mourinho's shoulders. Real was unbeaten in 19 games in all competitions until last night, and there will be little cheer at the club's Valdebebas training complex this week. Plus, the Merengues' next opponent, Valencia, is buoyant after beating Turkish champion Bursaspor to secure progress to the knock-out rounds of the Champions League and is on a five-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
As meaningful as the Clasico may ultimately prove, Mourinho is not afforded the luxury of a soft match to rediscover his team's momentum.