AHEAD OF THE SPANISH SUPER CUP IN AUGUST, BARCELONA AND REAL MADRID RENEW HOSTILITIES.

Barcelona FC have lashed out at the Spanish Football Federation's decision not to punish Jose Mourinho next month when the two teams meet at the Camp Nou for the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup. You will recall the ill tempered Super Cup second leg match between the two sides last year in Barcelona went sour towards the end of the encounter which the Catalans won 3-2 and 5-4 on aggregate to retain the cup. Real Madrid are the Spanish La Liga champions while their arch rivals FCB clinched the Copa Del Rey trophy to set up another mouth watering Super Cup encounter which serves as the curtain raiser of the Spanish league. The winner is usually determined on a home and away basis.

In the fixture last year, tensions boiled over on the touchline towards the end of the game: Marcelo scythed down Fabregas and an unseemly melee ensued. Amid the chaos, Mourinho extended his right arm and gouged Barca assistant coach Vilanova in the eye. The drama was captured on camera and in the press conference in the bowels of Europe's largest stadium, once Jose's home, the Portuguese pleaded ignorance. "I don't who this 'Tito' Vilanova is," he claimed. Few believed him. And Pep Guardiola later replied: "How can he not know who he is? I know who [Madrid assistant Aitor] Karanka is ..."

Barcelona And Real Madrid Players Involved In A Match Brawl.

For that unsportsmanly action, Jose Mourinho was handed a two Spanish Super Cup match ban while Tito was suspended for one game following his retaliation as he slapped  Mourinho at the back of the neck.  Following the Spanish Football Federation ruling, Barcelona spokesman, Toni Freixa said, "We are angry, we do not agree with the Spanish Federation's decision," "We believe that an aggression like Mourinho's should not go unpunished," Freixa added.

Madrid, meanwhile, say Barca have got away with plenty of infractions in the past. The Catalans claim in turn that they have never committed comparable crimes or such sins as the one perpetrated by Mourinho. Thus, the die is cast once again as the Spanish league season is about to begin, the two clubs are already at each other's throat almost one month to the kick off. The drama just doesn't end for the two biggest clubs in Spain, who knows what drama lies in the encounter come august.