Category Archives: Football
Vicente Del Bosque: A Spaniard for all seasons
It was the poet Antonio Machado who many years ago, meditating on the events surrounding the Spanish Civil War, talked of the propensity of Spaniards to fight each other in word and deed. It was his country’s tragedy-this lack of a common narrative, of mutual respect- what he called the ‘two Spains’. I’ve been between Barcelona and Madrid in recent days, following the rivalry between the country’s two biggest clubs descend to one of its most aggressive and abusive periods in its history. In part both sides share some of …
A Clasico without Mourinho
A technical hitch so this updated blog I wrote from Madrid has arrived somewhat belatedly. I watched the second leg of the Champions Leaguue semi-final tie in a bar in Mostoles, a sprawling satellite town south west of Madrid.I was not the only journalist here. A crew from Spanish TV had beaten me to it- and I could see why they had chosen this godForsaken neighbourhood, of all places, to find ‘atmosphere’. The bar has a reputation as a rather convivial lion´s den. It is shared by a local FC …
Football’s Agent Provocateur
This was a drama of violence and beauty, played on and off the pitch. The machine-gunned post-match allegations that scattered from the Mourinho’s mouth were not just the latest in an enduring campaign of assault on FC Barcelona’s integrity; it was a rallying call for hooligans. This is a man that from his days at Chelsea has dismissed every victory against him by Barca as the result of play acting and weak refereeing. But last night Mourinho’s surpassed himself by questioning Barca’s achievements under Pep Guardiola and implying that it’s …
Classical encounters Round 2 (Part 2)
Five months is evidently a long-time in La Liga. Those of us who watched FC Barcelona’s 5-0 victory over Real Madrid last November could be forgiven for wondering last night at the Mestalla whether it had really just been an illusion. Let’s be blunt. The Barca that played the first half of the King’s Cup put on probably one of the worst exhibitions under Pep Guardiola’s governance since his infamous first league match as boss when they lost against Hercules. This was a team that seemed to have lost the …
Classicals encounters:Round 2 (Part One)
I went to bed with two competing chants ringing in my ear – one “Asi Asi gana el Madrid”,the other “Madrid, Madrid, Madrid.” From a radical Barca perspective, FC Barcelona was robbed of victory at the Bernabeu by two failed referee decisions: a refusal to give a penalty when Villa was taken down early on in the match, and his willingness to give one when Marcelo dived. From a radical Madridista perspective, the penalty scored by Ronaldo was not only justified (if unfairly lacking a red card) but just recompense …
I am against the culture of abuse
As FC Barcelona and Real Madrid limber up for the first of their serial four epic encounters, the usual abuse has began to fly across the netwaves between some fans. Does this hysteria really benefit anyone other than the pent-up hormonal levels of the main abusers? I think I am not alone among thousands of universal football lovers who, regardless of their particular loyalties, would like to see some mutual respect being shown by supporters of the two greatest clubs in the world. Ok there is a historical rivalry here but …
Tales of the Imagination
As Barca limbers up for its serial encounters with its arch rival, I thought it worth commenting on the rather worrying urban myth that has been fuelled in recent times by Real Madrid fanatics. Out of respect to both sporting institutions, and weary of falling foul of libel laws, I will have to phrase this as delicately as I can-but suffice it to say that the quite unsubstantiated and untrue suggestion is that Barca has only managed to have got to where it has got to-record results across three major …
The rivalry that defies Logic
A long-term friend in Barcelona and wise cule thinks that Pep Guardiola, having assured himself of qualification tomorrow for the semi-finals of the Champions League , should go on to the Bernabeu with his reserve team. His reasoning? Beating Mourinho that way would make an even bolder statement about the philosophy of La Cantera – and even if Barca loses, it would not mean losing La Liga, while strengthening the first squad for the other challenges left in the season-the Copa del Rey and the road to Wembley. Of …
The ghost of Olivares
Let’s be honest- watching Mourinho and Real Madrid thumping Spurs last night would have been an unsettling feeling for most cules. Not only has the wishful thinking that Barca might face Redknapp’s boys in the semi-finals evaporated (what a pity for us Londoners) , but its biggest rival looks like a tight army unit that has identified the main target and will relentlessly pursue it. Mourinho has clearly given up on winning La Liga and is hoping to pull off something of a record by taking yet another club to …
Bad losers & Good Lovers
There is nothing worse in life but a bad loser, but then there is nothing better than a productive love match. Wenger continues to cry foul over the match at the Nou Camp, thus in denial about the extent to which Arsenal were systematically out played on all fronts. Not only were they pressed successfully by Barca everytime they tried to hold the ball, but struggled throughout the game to contain every avalanche of attack from the opposing side, not to mention their inability to destroy a skilled game …
