Football in contrasts


Barca were on form and did well on Saturday  to beat  Villareal-in my view the third best team in La Liga at present, and not just in points. Real Madrid seemed to have lost their spark on Sunday  playing  scrappily against the near demotion but brave and resilient Sporting, and didn’t deserve their belated winning goal. Guardiola showed his usual respect towards his players, his fans, and the opponent while former FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta ,watched the game at the Nou Camp,  like any other ordinary member- that is to say , away from the presidential box. Up in Gijon, Mourinho culminated a week of gratuitous insults and provocation by seeing out the first of a two-match ban, staring at the world through presumably shatter-proof glass.

A study in contrasts in one paragraph which forms part of an ongoing narrative of rivalry and tension, of brilliance and mediocrity, stardom, teamwork and disfunctionality in a football league dominated  by Spain’s two clubs which are gearing up like metaphysical warriors to the next ‘Classico.’ It would be good to see Casillas, Xavi Alonso and Sergio Ramos embracing their national team colleagues in the Nou Camp tunnel just as the Villareal World Cup veterans did on Saturday. It would be a noble gesture which should not affect the quality of the football match that follows.

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