At least it was a football match not another acting competition. At least the better side won. And at least it finished with 22 players on the pitch, which is a rarity these days when Barcelona meet Real Madrid.
The bad news is that “El Classico 4 – Mission Impossible” finished with simmering hostility on both sides: Madrid resentful in defeat, Barcelona ungracious in victory.
I’m not into conspiracy theories, least of all conspiracies against Real Madrid but once again they didn’t get the rub of the green with decisions last night. It’s a bit of a mystery exactly why the referee disallowed their second-half goal. That said they plainly weren’t good enough. They look like what they are - an assemblage of expensive talent - whereas Barcelona are a team. A team that have grown up together and have an almost telepathic understanding of each other's movement and passing, as well as the world’s greatest player.
Lionel Messi didn’t decide this match as he did the first leg but everything he did underpinned Barcelona’s game, whereas Cristiano Ronaldo was again marginal, apart from that one moment that led to the disallowed goal.
The game’s most telling stat is that Ronaldo didn’t manage one shot on target – the first time that has happened this season. Once again he was overshadowed by the smallest man on the pitch, but in fairness he once again lacked the support in attack to make an impact. Madrid did try a more attacking approach, but Kaka is a sad shadow of the player he was at Milan; Gonzalo Higuain is still on his way back to full fitness after back surgery and all Emmanuel Adebayor seems able to do at present is throw his weight about.
Shorn of key defenders by suspension and injury Madrid were hanging on the ropes at times and the referee showed some mercy in not booking Ricardo Carvalho more than once. As it was Iker Casillas again demonstrated why he is currently the world’s number one goalkeeper, even if Manuel Neuer has also been staking his claim.
The divisions caused by this four-match series could take some time to heal. Serious conflicts in the past have tended to focus on individual players. This one is more generalised. Spain manager Vicente del Bosque is sufficiently perturbed to have warned about the dangers of disunity within the national team.
No one is ever going to see eye-to-eye over matches with the history of this one, that’s part of their fascination. But the venom in the conflict is unusually virulent at present. Perhaps the judicial aftermath and consequent UEFA bans and fines will calm people down. It would be pleasant to think some firm action might now also be taken against players who deliberately try and con the match officials.
As for Mourinho, there are plenty of voices urging his dismissal. The anti-faction at Madrid is definitely louder, spearheaded by Marca’s polemical columnist Roberto Palomar who describes Mourinho as “charlatan”.
Paradoxically some of the clamour may in fact strengthen the manager’s position, as the most strident voices against him are of course to be heard from the citadel of the enemy in Catalonia.
The unpalatable fact for Florentino Perez and his fellow-directors is that there are no obvious short-cuts to challenging Barcelona’s supremacy. They need to be patient and patience is always in short supply at the Bernabeu.
On a slightly lighter note, Mourinho’s former club Porto could be in a bit of hot water over allegations about wining and dining a match official after last week’s Europa League semi-final against Villarreal, which the Portuguese won 5-1.
The scene was the elegant Marisqueira do Matosinhos down by the docks and the Porto people doing the entertaining were two of those caught up in the notorious Golden Whistle corruption scandal some years back which ended with the club being deducted points for various ‘irregularities’.
Guest for the evening at this top seafood establishment was the Dutch referee, by name Bjorn Kuipers. Rather a fishy story altogether...
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/HooeZ_teA3g/post.aspx
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