El Clasico woes

I don’t really like to give opinions or comments on controversial issues on football and my opinion probably doesn’t mean much as I’m not an expert but as a fan, but I’m very disappointed on how things progressed with the whole Barca-Real conflict.  It has reached a point where the focus is no longer about the game.  If you win, then be a humble winner, if you lost, be a gracious loser. 

Tempers were probably a little frayed as they were halfway thru the el clasico series.  We can all assume that both teams were already feeling the pressure to win.  Mourinho fired the 1^st shot as he criticized Pep Guardiola as a coach said prior to the 3^rd el clasico (click here to read what Mourinho said).  The Barca coach who was usually diplomatic respond to Mourinho’s “statements” had responded with expletives (click here to read Guardiola’s response), Guardiola shouldn’t have lost his cool (although this article suggests that it was actually “a cool, calculated and carefully planned strategy – a premeditated message: “We won’t be bullied any longer.””)

Then there were allegations from Real Madrid on unsporting behavior/diving of certain Barca players and the infamous Pepe red card.  I can’t really tell most of the time if a player dived or not but to claim that it was only Barca who is guilty of it?  What about Di Maria and CRonaldo? How many free kicks were given from Di Maria’s “fall”? And if Barca is notorious for diving and play acting more than any other team normally does, shouldn’t they also have a history of finishing matches with opponents having 10 men left? (correct me if I’m wrong as I haven’t been following football that much until this year and I haven’t really researched this much).

And did Dani Alves really “dive”?  I don’t really know.  Here’s a video of the tackle, you decide:

But some are claiming that Pepe never really touched Alves at all, here’s a video that from a certain angle, shows that there wasn’t any actual contact between the Alves and Pepe (of course, Barca fans are questioning its authenticity):

Whether there was contact or not, isn’t there a FIFA rule about tackles with studs up and off the ground (plus Alves touched the ball 1^st) are considered a serious foul play?  And if you look closely at the video, wouldn’t be very difficult for Alves’ leg to go on one direction (kicking the ball forward) to suddenly change course to the other direction and continue doing so until his whole body rotates/flips 360 degrees and land on the ground and all with only one foot on the ground as balance?  The force that made Alves flip/turn 360 degrees is very difficult to do with just one foot on the ground, there has to be some other force (like a kick from Pepe) that made him turn/flip before landing on the ground.  Just sayin’.  And the fact that Real Madrid (and Mourinho) seemed to have a bit of “history” of ending matches with only 10 men says a lot about how they play (click here to read an article listing Morunho’s experiences of ending a match with 10 men).  In this particular match, Pepe was already warned a couple of times prior to the red card.  And his tackle in the Copa del Rey? Some are saying it should have been a red card. My point is Pepe has “history” with bad tackles, maybe this is one of those instances?  And while I was trying to find the video of the Pepe-Alves tackle, I found this instead: 

skip to 0:38

I know, I know, this has nothing to do with the match and trying to use this as “proof” that Pepe does bad tackles is a stretch, but this is just one crazy ass video that I just had to share.  Pepe’s scary!  But he’s kinda hot in bad-ass kind of way… hihihihi :P

Going back to the topic now…. And lastly, Mourinho’s post game rant was way out of line, especially when he said (click here to read all what he said):

"[Wednesday] once again showed that you don't stand a chance against Barcelona. Uefa doesn't allow any team to really do something against them. I really don't know what's behind all this. Maybe it's their ties with Unicef or maybe it's because they just find Barcelona a sympathetic club. I've been wondering about this all my life and I'll get an answer one day."

He should really need to think before saying anything.  If he makes claims, he should be able to back them up.  To imply that Barca and Pep Guardiola have only achieved what they have on an alleged connection with UEFA or Unicef and alleged referee favors without offering any proof, it seems like he just wants to make trouble.  You cannot deny that Barca is a great team.  They could not have won 32 domestic games (losing only two) if you’re not a great team.  If they are as bad as Mourinho claimed, other coaches and teams should have complained by now.  If you want to prove you’re the better team and the better coach, then show it on the field, not off it.  And even former Chelsea Manager, Guus Hiddink, called out Mourinho on his post-game rant (read the whole article here).  He said:

“Before I knew it, he [Mourinho] got me involved. Jose compared the Real - Barca game with the Chelsea – Barca semi-final in 2009 when I was manager at Stamford Bridge. We missed out on the final, too.  But the big difference is that we did not moan about conspiracies. I don’t agree with Mourinho at all on this. It is right that Chelsea was badly disadvantaged then, especially with the handball penalty we were denied in injury time. That was a clear mistake from the referee.  A couple of days later, when all the emotions had gone, we realised we had been robbed of a Champions League final. But never, ever, did anybody at Chelsea claim there was a conspiracy. You just don’t say things like that. The thought would not even enter my mind.”

I found an interesting article that states that Mourinho could be guilty of what he is accusing Guardiola of (click here to read it).  And oh yeah, apparently, this isn’t the first time that Mourinho was involved in a controversy, click here for the list of controversies he has involved himself in, he really needs to think before he speaks.

I tried to be very objective in this post (I really did), as obviously I’m a Barca fan.  I tried to find articles listing Guardiola’s past misbehaviors but I just couldn’t find any (if you find one, please share it).  At this point, what I can says is, what happened to Real Madrid?  I used to like this team (especially during their pre-galacticos era where it they had Fernando Morientes, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Fernando Hierro and a young Iker Casillas).  I’m still a big fan of Casillas and I think Ozil is pretty great, too.  I don’t really care much for Kaka and I think CRonaldo is an ass.  But Mourinho is something else.  No question he’s a great coach in terms of winning trophies, but he should prove it only on the pitch and keep his mouth shut.  Let the awards and wins speak for itself.

Here’s what others have to say about this:

Champions League Semis: Real Madrid vs Barcelona Recap (1st Leg)

0 – 2

Real Madrid vs Barcelona

Barcelona was back with a vengeance scoring two away goals in the 1^st leg of the Champions League Semifinals.  So here’s the update on the el clasico series (click here for recap, stats, etc on the 1^st two el clasico matches):

el clasico I – La Liga (Apr 16): Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid

el clasico II – Copa del Rey (Apr 20): Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid

el clasico III – Champions League Semis leg 1 (Apr 27): Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona

All the CRonaldo vs Messi debates? Well, Messi shows them who’s boss as he scores the two goals of the match (scoring 11 goals in 11 Champions League matches and scoring on each of his last four visits to the Bernabeu).   “Another Messi master class,” according to the commentator.  His 1^st goal breaks the 67 minutes of deadlock when he converted a brilliant cross from Ibrahim Afellay.  His 2^nd goal was from a 20-30(?)-yard run, eluding four Real Madrid players then beating Iker Casillas with a right-footed shot to score.  As the commentator said, it was “Delightful!”  Can I just say that Messi is well marked man?  Whenever he has the ball 2-4 Real Madrid players flock to him. 

cute cartoon showing who won the Messi-CRonaldo debate in this match
from goal.com

Messi master class
photo from eufa.com

It was another enjoyable tiki-taka football from Barca with them ending the match with a 72% ball possession and 482 passes completed while Real Madrid only had 127.   All the passing frustrated CRonaldo during the 1^st half, as he ran around in a circle trying to dispossess the ball from Barca, eventually throwing his hands up in defeat.

tempers flare in this very intense match
photo courtesy of ibtimes.com

The game was full of the tension and you can feel the pressure as tempers flared causing the game to stall twice in the 1^st half as a brawl was about to erupt between the two teams on the field.  Then during half-time, both teams went at it again as they made their way to their locker rooms.  I couldn’t tell how it started as the camera only started to capture it when there was already a lot of pushing and shoving but apparently it started from a confrontation between Seydou Keita and Alvaro Arbeloa they left the field, Barca's substitute keeper Jose Pinto ended up with red card from the scuffle.  During the 2^nd half, things started to get ugly again when Pepe got sent off from challenging Dani Alves.  This makes it the 4^th consecutive time a Real player gets a red card in a game against Barca, I guess Real kept their “practice” of ending a match with 10 men.  Jose Mourinho got so heated up about this and Carles Puyol was seen trying to calm him down.  But Mourinho ultimately sent off to the stands after he sarcastically clapped and showed a thumbs up to the fourth official.  The look on his face when he was made to sit on the stands… priceless! Btw, they that challenge on Dani Alves looked like it hurt like hell, he was stretcher off the field.  I hope he doesn’t end up with an injury from this match, he got battered in this game, taking a lot of knocks.

the look on Mourinho face
photo courtesy of Getty Images

Mourinho sent off to the stands
photo courtesy of totalfootballmadness.com

Real Madrid played a very aggressive game (in the physical sense), there was Marcelo stepping (or was it more of a stomp?) on the leg of Pedro, Adebayor hitting Busquets on the face, hard tackles and challenges, etc.

Pepe sent off

Trivia: Pep Guardiola never lost a match at the Santiago Bernabeu, amazing right?

Jersey Watch: nobody asked for Messi’s jersey after the game.  I’d ask for it if I was there :P

After the match: sighting, Puyol walking around with a ball on his belly, inside his jersey.  He had an outstanding performance in this match. He seemed to be playing across the whole defence, helping out whenever his colleagues at the back made a mess of things.  I’m glad he was fit enough to play, Barca really needed his presence in this game.

Champions League QF: Barcelona vs Shakhtar Recap (1st Leg)

5 – 1

Barcelona vs Shakhtar

Again, another amazing attacking football from Barca.  It was an example of Barca’s tiki-taka style of play that is just entertaining to watch.  Imagine, Barca had 671 passes completed compared to Shakhtar’s 286.  I love their quick one-two passes, building up the play, the ball zigzagging within Messi, David Villa, Iniesta and Alves, and out of nowhere a shot (mostly) on target surprising Shakhtar’s goalie and defence. 

The first goal was a pass from Messi to David Villa where there was some sort of deflection and Iniesta was just in the right spot to beat the goalkeeper.  Second goal was a long pass from Iniesta and Alves, out of nowhere, slotted the ball in.  I think Shakhtar’s defense was caught flat footed.  I mean, who was marking Alves?  Third goal was from set play corner.  Alves providing the cross and the player marking Pique didn’t notice him slip away and make the shot.  Fourth goal was right after Shakhtar scored their only goal (from a free kick) where Barca countered right away (probably within a minute after). It was Keita scoring from “a beautiful pass” (according to the commentator) from Messi.  And just when you thought Barca was finished with their attack, an unmarked Xavi converted the excellent cross from Alves to score the last goal of the match.

Shakhtar had some quick-counter attack moves, where Barca’s defense was caught off guard a couple of times.  They infiltrated the holes of Barca defense, capitalizing on the defensive mistakes of Barca.  Good thing they had some “awful finishing” (according tot the commentator) sometimes firing the shots too wide or hitting the post.  There were also great saves by Valdez.  In those instances, you would really feel the absence of Puyol and Abidal at the back.

Messi might not have scored in this match but he did make his presence felt.  He had some pretty close chances with his shots.  But more than anything, he has set up some of Barca’s goals and attempts, so his attacking creativity is not just for finding the back of the net but for creating chances for the team as well.  Can I say he can be a good playmaker as well?  Football experts out there, please enlighten me J

On a different note, Srna (I think) asked for Messi’s jersey during end of the 1^st half.  I could just imagine that there are probably many players who ask for his jersey during games.  Messi must, like, stock lots of jerseys in their dressing room.  Does it happen where he’d run out of jerseys to give?  Is there, like, a record for the most jerseys requested from a player?  What does Messi do with all the jerseys he received?  What do other players do with the jerseys they swapped from other teams?   Do they hang it somewhere?  Frame it? 

*sigh* If I only lived in Europe, I’d be stalking my favourite players, and ask for autographed jerseys from them J

Aggregate Score:

Barcelona: 5

Shakhtar: 1

Here are numbers: