By Austin Hammond
After the turbulent match between Real Madrid and Barcelona last Wednesday in the semifinals of the Champions League, Barcelona fans, rather than bragging about their victory as they are accustomed lately, seem to be observing an awkward silence that speaks for itself: playing important games against Barcelona is becoming synonymous of playing with one player less. And this is an irrefutable fact. It is true that during a soccer match, a large number of plays will occur and the referees do not always get to see them all. Making the right call is not always as easy as it seems on television. Yet, one thing is to miss a penalty or a foul, and quite a different one is to see it where it has not happened. That kind of calls speaks a lot about one referee’s attitude. Drastic decisions such as calling a penalty or red carding a player in such relevant games as Wednesday’s should always be backed by the certainty of what’s been seen. Otherwise, these decisions will always lead to suspicions, especially when they always benefit the same team. Whether the action of Pepe deserved to be punished with a red card or not, would the referee have called the same if the action was committed by a Barcelona player? Some would say “Of course he would have!” but the reality is that that never happens.
Regardless of what might be called conspiracy theories, we (the TV cameras and us) have also witnessed for too long the shameful attitude of a club which, leaving aside the purely sport tactics –and allow me to stress that offensive and defensive approaches are equally respectable when it is about winning- is consistently practicing the shameful art of deceit openly and without any resentment. Many respected names of soccer have already echoed the miserable “performance” -pun intended- of the Catalan club, more likely to be found in B movies characters than in the members of a team that is contending in Europe’s top soccer competition. Fans around the world feel ashamed that grown men act that way while they are getting paid millions, aside from constantly and annoyingly proclaiming themselves role models for all the children around the world. It’s even possible that many Barcelona fans would have rather lost as Madrid did than to win in such a regrettable way.
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Finally somebody with balls big enough to tell the story as it is.. I hate those Barca pricks!! Crying-babies please pull your head off your ass!!!
For all I care, they can leave their heads there 😛
What happens with the avatars Soci? Or it´s just me?
nontiendoná, sosio
desde cai er saludito a toa la gente güena y halamadrí
Una duda ¿por qué escribís artículos en inglés? Si aquí todos los lectores hablan español, los 4 que habéis escrito encima mío tenéis el español como lengua nativa ¿entonces?
It’s for an entirely different market. There’s more people out there, you know.
There is a different market out there, but I am afraid it is highly corrupted by the kind of people you would not want trolling on your site. I would be glad to spread the word about this place to English speaking Madridistas, but the signal to noise ratio might be unacceptable. Most English speaking football sites that I visit have a 5 to 1 or higher proportion of Barcelona fans. If English speaking Madridistas are invited in, you will have a house full of unpleasant guests.