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by Philipina A. Marcelo
And they did it!
They bundled Real Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions leg semi-final tie in the latter's own backyard - out there, right in front of the thousands of screaming Madridistas who were clamoring for the repeat of the Copa del Rey victory in Mestalla only a week ago! They did it! They beat Real Madrid, 0-2 in Bernabéu!
Lionel Messi rose to the occasion, gifting Barcelona a high-caliber brace - a thick enough cushion on their return to Camp Nou for the second leg of the tie. His goal #1, which was a completion of a nice cross from Ibrahim Afellay in a play orchestrated by Xavi Hernandez, was a beauty - a breath of fresh air in the mostly nauseating poor display by both teams. His goal #2 was a perfection. Period.
***
How did it go?
Whew! The win must be a relief for Barҫa after that uncharacteristics slip in the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid only a week ago. But, no, no, no... and NO, it wasn't an enjoyable match. It was a disappointment, to say the very least. It didn't have the fast-pace and high-quality playmaking that defined both legs of Barҫa's quarter-final tie with Shakhtar Donetsk FC. It was all ugly and silly - ugly tackles by Real Madrid, which were awkwardly matched with uncharacteristic shoves from Barcelona,
and silly theatrics and dives from both sides. Very little serious football - mostly from Barҫa. What a truly, seriously, completely frustrating match it was! The match stats says it all... fouls committed: 21 Real Madrid, 25 Barcelona! There. So, what did we just see, almost a foul per two minutes in the 90-minute match? Silly, I tell ya! The referee was stretched to his limits - his was the most terrible of all jobs right there. I can imagine how he had to go through the football handbook page-by-page in his head to render a reasonable decision for all the exasperating ugliness and silliness that players from both squads seemed to have contested for, rather than serious football. The Catalans' patience and focus on the game were pushed to the
limit by Real Madrid, via José Mourinho's negative tactics where kicking the ball was less than 30% and kicking opponents was close to 80%. But Pep Guardiola's men tried to contain their disgust and held on. The referee's patience was tested by Real Madrid as well - to some terrible stretch. So, was he wrong if Pepe's 61st minute send-off seemed rather "harsh"? I say no! While replays weren't clearly showing the extent of the contact, the fact that Dani Alves's body rotated 180 degrees while airborne suggests that he was hit by a terrible force while up in the air. Like a ball of constant weight and volume, when airborne, the only thing that could change the course of its flight at an instant is an external force, right? Unless the ball burst or loses air, which was hardly the case for Alves. Just a little Physics there... Real Madrid should know... after all, didn't Mourinho himself lectured them on Einstein before the match? :) Besides, how many times did that "anti-football" Mourinho disciple, Pepe, tried to sneak more than just a poke in the pitch? Twice, thrice? No, it was countless times! He should've picked up a yellow card already when he first roughly pushed Dani Alves before even minding the ball when they were both chasing it at the corner. That brought down Alves, too.
If he wasn't diving, Pepe was kicking and pushing whoever was in red and blue at will - very, very exasperating!
And he was not the only one... Diarra, Marcelo, Arbeloa, Albiol, di Maria and Ramos, and even Adebayor who just came on in the second half but equaled his team-mates's pushes already, were all in their "anti-football" elements out there on the pitch! It was a complete shame because Marcelo, Ramos, di Maria, and even Adebayor are excellent football players - when they are playing football, that is! What was Mourinho's plan again? Frustrate the Catalans, and then when they were all derailed in their game out of frustration, he'd bring on the
strikers? It worked in the Copa del Rey, didn't it? At extension time, that is! Well, bad news, his brilliant frustrate-'em plan backfired even before frustration sat in! Hah! There is justice in this world after all! Clearly, Mourinho didn't get it right. Therefore, he and his camp should stop making excuses, using the utterly indefensible case of the king of unethical practice on the pitch, Pepe, as a scapegoat, and admit that they got things wrong. Seriously! Their desperation was hilarious from the very beginning - assigning the little Lionel Messi to Green Goblin Pepe... and three other marksmen? So, what was that again? Mourinho hinged his side's hopes for a UEFA Champions League semi-final win to Pepe? Tsk, tsk... very "Special" tactic, indeed! Bravo!As for the Blaugranas, because Sergio Busquets and Pedro Rodriguez were too busy with their terrible acting stints on the pitch, competing with the pathetic Ángel di Maria's "Best Actor of the Match" bid, aided by
their "stage dad", Carles Puyol (*sigh*, why did you have to go with this, Mr. Puyol?), Dani Alves and Javier Mascherano were pressed to be "the men" for the Barcelona side to stand up against those Mourinho-tutored deranged Los Blancos! Both received yellow cards! That of Mascherano was via a challenge on Pepe himself, who dove and was supposedly writhing in pain, and he was like 1 foot taller than Mascherano and several kilos more massive! The next thing you know, he, Pepe, was bringing down Dani Alves! Ugh! Dani Alves's yellow was via a frustratingly bad look-look-I-fell-and-it's-awful acting complete with pathetic arm fledgling plea to the referee to take notice by di Maria! Cristiano Ronaldo tried a few acting, too, and they were so bad, everyone, including the Madridistas themselves, seemed ready to scream at him. *sigh* And it was all exasperating like that in most of the match as the Catalans tried and tried again, and again (and again) to play football. Until, of course, the Tom Cruise among the Catalans (Alves) crossed path with the Green Goblin among the Merengues (Pepe) for the nth time in the second half of the match where the Green Goblin finally received a well-deserved straight red card, which drew a "Special" sarcastic
reaction from you know who that resulted in a puto-esque throw out to the stands of you know who! *sigh* What a day for poor Mr. Wolfgang Stark!! But he tried to implement rules! The referee had to send a message to every single one of them in the field, including the squad bleachers, that discipline, mutual respect and fair play had to be observed accordingly on the pitch - and in the sidelines, too! No superstars, no prized players, no "special" coaches! So, yeah, sending Pepe, Pinto, and even Mourinho off? Good on you, Mr. Wolfgang Stark!
***
Who's to blame?
There is no one else to blame but the "One" who is "Special". José Mourinho ought to be ashamed of himself! He reduced Real Madrid to a bunch of stupid footballers who didn't have enough talents to match those
of Barҫa's (and maybe, it's true, too?), and therefore, must resort to the use of their more massive muscles to mute them purist footballers of Catalonia - yes, them who play beautiful, breathtaking football! And how did Pep Guardiola respond? He allowed his men to resort to theatrics and horrendous diving on the pitch - matching those of Los Blancos. "They touch you, you roll around on the field and whine like two-year olds whose lollipops were snatched away from them until the referee takes notice." It's a hideous thought, I know... especially seeing Dani Alves running like a panther on a hunt after being carried on a stretcher to the sidelines following Pepe's ouster and Mourinho's throw-out! *sigh* (Gosh, Dani, you made all the protests against that dirty Green Goblin comical, dude! You've already won the battle, why did you have to give your prize away like that?) But, yeah, Pep... HOW? How on earth do you actually counter "anti-football" without risking your men losing their limbs or your men appearing like a bunch of annoying cry babies on the pitch, especially if what you're aiming for is simply to play beautiful, breathtaking football as a world-class football squad, which yours is, should? Looking at the all-of-sudden deep lines on Guardiola's face and the waves of very dark circles under his eyes, it's easy to tell that he tried to do his best to find a "happy compromise". Sorry, Pep, but I have bad news for you: happiness was absent during the first 76 minutes of the match. But, hey, thanks for trying. We know you did. But you know what, it wasn't enough! But, for whatever it's worth, we - football fans - felt your pain.
End result: 76 minutes of embarrassing display of lack of chivalry and disinterest in football. It was just a contest of who was the f-, er, man in the
Bernabéu house, and who among the Galacticos will be sent off first - they knew, too, that if they played that way, one of them will be sent off... it was only a matter of time. To be fair, Barҫa tried very hard to play football - they did. It was very frustrating that all Real Madrid did was to prevent them from playing football though, just so the Merengues could complete the match with a 0 - 0 result against the visitors. Imagine??? How pathetic was that??? And there were some in the Real Madrid side who tried valiantly to deviate from the "Special Plan" to try and play football, too... most notably, Cristiano Ronaldo (hey, I'm serious) who looked lost in the wilderness of his side's "anti-football" tactic and failing miserably to complete a couple of free kick opportunities, and Sergio Ramos (yeah, I'm serious, too) who, to be fair, looked uncertain whether he would like to continue with this "anti-football" campaign in that match, especially everytime he seemed to realize how great it was to actually play football blocking Messi's shots rather than Messi himself... and even Marcelo, everytime he slipped, forgetting Mourinho's pre-match notes, that is - "anti-football", baby! *sigh*Shortly, after Pepe was removed from the pitch and without the other Mourinho conman, Carvalho, around... and with Mourinho himself far enough to effectively spit venom to his men to revive the devil in them, most of the Los Blancos wavered in carrying out their coach's "anti-football" campaign. And the match started to feel like a real football match!
***
Who's the man?
Lionel Messi is the man, of course!
The little Argentinian did contribute one foul in the "foul fiesta" in Bernabéu. It was the funniest moment, too... he went full throttle to
catch a long pass going to the left wing and jumped with all his might for a supposed header. The Real Madrid penalty area was deserted, if he caught the ball, he could slot it in the goal with only Iker Casillas to worry about. He could have caught it, too, but an unsuspecting Raul Albiol, who went ahead of Messi, was aiming for the ball as well. Both were looking up, and Messi collided with the massive back of Albiol... with Messi airborne, they were the same height! :) So, it looked like, he went to jump on Albiol! :) Turning and seeing that that was an opportunity to fish a yellow card - for Messi! sweeeet! - Albiol allowed himself to drop bottom-flat on the grass, a full second after the collision. And it looked rather silly, like a GMC Yukon was toppled to its side by a Mini Cooper! :) The referee blew his whistle. Mourinho held his breath. It was a foul... no yellow card. Messi apologized and acknowledged the referee's decision by giving him thumbs-up. Mourinho squirmed in the stands. :) And then, the Messi magic dazzled at Bernabéu - a welcome respite. Aaaah.... He finally opened up the scoring doors at the 76th minute of play, and reminded the men in the pitch that they were playing football, not wrestling. Sent through and backed up by his army of Blaugranas midfielders led by Xavi Hernandez, who caught the ball from Messi himself who was trapped in a makeshift enclosure of four men, including Sergio Ramos. Xavi moved the ball swiftly to safety, looked around quickly and spotted Pedro Rodriguez's substitute, Ibrahim Afellay,
on the right wing and made a pointed pass to him. Fresh from the bench, Affellay received the ball and burst to a sprint towards the goal in the same quick breath, with Marcelo matching his steps, alerting Iker Casillas. Ramos heard Casillas call for defenders and turned to sprint for his defending duties, putting a gap on Messi's enclosure. Messi brilliantly managed to escape his other markers and sprinted towards the center of the goal, matching Affellay's speed, and beating Sergio Ramos to get one step ahead. Afellay saw Messi just in time and kicked a low cross towards Messi before Marcelo could steal the ball from him. Casillas sprang to stop Affelay's charge, underestimating Messi's speed. Messi caught the ball nicely ahead of Ramos and sneaked in his 51st goal for the season at short range against Spain's #1 goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who was rendered powerless to stop him. It was an exciting and beautiful goal that came after 76 minutes of ugliness in Bernabéu. It was worth celebrating, of course! I was clapping noisily over my head in the darkness of my living room some minutes after 4 o'clock in the morning to join the Barҫa celebration! :) With just a little more than three minutes before the final whistle, Leo received a pass from Sergio Busquets somewhere around the midfield. With the clock ticking away towards end game, the exhausted Blaugranas and the despirited 10-man Merengues were scattered in the field. Messi, as always, playing like a gleeful little boy that finally took
possession of the ball, set his sight past Iker Casillas as soon as the ball reached his foot. He then dashed to the goal purposely. Realizing that the rocket of a little man had locked his target on the goal, the Merengue defenders snapped out of their sleepwalk to hound Messi all at once. He zigzagged between two towering Merengues and then swerved swiftly to his right to avoid a collision with the speeding Marcelo in the right wing and to lose Albiol at his heel. Iker Casillas made his move to meet the little man's kick towards the right side of his goal, advancing, closing the gate there. Sergio Ramos was at full throttle, speeding towards the right wing from the center to block Messi's shot before the little man could even launch it, Marcelo and Albiol changed direction to help counter Messi's strike and Arbeloa ran to the center of the goal to defend. Having been beaten earlier by Messi by one step, Ramos refused to be beaten again, and so, he lept from his run and flew with one leg 
outstretched. But as Ramos was airborne, Messi, with his weaker right foot, guided the ball beautifully underneath Ramos's outstretched leg in flight, towards the left gate, past Iker Casillas's right foot, in front of Marcelo and Albiol behind him. Arbeloa wheeled with all his might to chase the ball, but the ball was well on its way into Iker Casillas's goal to hit the left net from the inside. And then, it did - hit the net! Messi's unprecedented 52nd goal for the season just registered in the books of football records, leaving five Merengues open-mouthed in disbelief! There was an incredible second of awed silence in Bernabéu - including the Barҫa bleachers. The moment took everybody's breath away! And then, Bernabéu erupted to wild cheers for the sheer awesomeness of Lionel Messi! You have got to hate football with all the lustful hatred there is
in your core and in the fibers of your being to not appreciate that moment! All the 87 minutes of nasty football dissolved and forgotten in the unbelievable beauty by which Lionel Messi moved the ball across the field with incredible speed, dribbling grace, quick thinking and certainty of movements even against the towering figures in his way. After that breathless second, the Blaugranas encased Messi in a wall of appreciative embrace rather than the usual celebratory group hug. Even the Barҫa bench reserves couldn't help themselves, they ran to Messi to show appreciation! Bernabéu applauded in appreciation, too. The dejected Merengues all looked to where Mourinho sat in the stands... he, too, seemed mesmerized - blank expression.It took me more than a second to react... I was still wide-eyed, mouth opened in amazement, until that moment when the usually very reserved Xavi Hernandez lifted Lionel Messi to his waist after the group celebration to show his appreciation for the little man's single handed efforts to put Barcelona in the "safety zone" as they take the second leg of their Champions League semi-final back to Camp Nou on Tuesday.
And so, thank goodness for the incredible La Pulga, the first leg of that Champions League semi-final tie can still be considered a football match!
***
How did it/will this end?
In the next three minutes towards the final whistle, the broken Merengues had no reply for Messi's magic. They ambled aimlessly in their own backyard, still digesting what had just took place there. And the
Madridistas in Bernabéu was as silent as if 10 Galacticos - inflated by incredible ego via that recent Copa del Rey victory and those Mourinho-orchestrated press rooms invincibility image boosts - were falling on them... about to crush them to a painful death! They looked to their "Special One" for salvation... but he, too, was choking in his own venomous "anti-football" vomit - relegated shamefully to the stands, and guarded by security like a common criminal... like a true puto amo! Why, oh, why? Why didn't Mou use his attacking trio of Kaka, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain who combined beautifully in their joyful 3-6 win over Valencia CF in the Mestalla last weekend? It would have been fun
to have seen Xavi Hernandez, Lionel Messi and David Villa go up against those three in Bernabéu, and challenge the Barҫa defenders against strikes rather than in fist fight. It would have been a fantastic display of speed, quick decisions, lyrical moves and teamwork that would've brought out the best of those incredibly talented men from both sides... it would've been a contest of awesome playmaking and breathtaking shotmaking worthy of a UEFA Champions League semi-final. Why, oh, why, Mou? Why do you have to be a "puto amo" rather than a true "Special One"? Shame! And Pep Guardiola was vindicated! Always an idealist and a purist football coach who view football with so much romanticism, he may not have the trained sophisticated sarcasm to win the "word war" against Mourinho (dang, Pep, but why the "f word", though? You realized your kids were watching, right?), but he won the MATCH - the FOOTBALL
MATCH!! The match that matters. He may have unwillingly compromised some of his personal principles, matching El Puto Amo's "anti-football" tactic by allowing his men's silly theatrics in the field (but please don't do that again, Pep), but he remained faithful to the beautiful game of football with which Barҫa thrives as an excellent team! He insisted to play football on the pitch no matter how much Mourinho and his men pushed him and his men to abandon the game for a brawn match. After Pepe's ouster, when the most loyal to Mourinho's "anti-football" philosophy was out of the game and Mourinho himself was far enough not to be able to cast his negative spell, and those who remained on the pitch were true-to-heart football players, both Blaugranas and Merengues... the romanticism for the game shone forth once more - echoing Guardiola's true
devotion to the game. It's hard for Mourinho to accept that Guardiola is truly a brilliant coach/manager, too. And his brilliance will die hard, because it roots from his heart, and those who truly love the sport would gravitate to him whose heart beats for the sport they love. In that aspect, Mourinho will never outshine Guardiola. Mourinho is just too proud to acknowledge this, he just have to help create a situation that leads to, in his own word, "scandal", and then spin it as if Guardiola's side benefited from such a "scandal"! And he, Mourinho, wonders why Pep couldn't win a title without "scandal"? It's because he wouldn't let him! Whether Guardiola and his men win or lose, Mourinho wants the world's attention to himself! Aaargh... Hey, jealousy! Shame, shame!
So, how would this semi-final end?
One option, Mou could change tactics and allow his charges to play football with Barҫa in the second leg, and for the world to see who, indeed, between these two clubs are superior in football - on the pitch. As the world has always suspected, Barcelona would probably get the upperhand. Otherwise, why else does Mourinho insist on his "anti-football" tactic if he truly believed that he had an unbeatable football team? Obviously, he fears that when it goes down to just football, his big and expensive men would be hammered by the brilliant Catalans who are mostly of diminutive physical stature and with comparably very modest monetary value. While it's true that the Merengues may lose, but the world would see the beautiful football the they are actually capable of, too. Los Blancos deserve to be given a chance to play football in this all-important tournament, and Barҫa deserves as much, too. With the pained and
frustrated expressions on their faces, it was obvious that many of Real Madrid's talents, most notably Cristiano Ronaldo, and even Iker Casillas, Kaka, Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos, who are all world-class award-winning footballers, are dying to play the Catalans on a "leveled" playing field where true footballing grit can be accurately measured! Which competitive and truly talented sportsman wouldn't want that? But as Cristiano Ronaldo admitted, while he doesn't prefer the defensive tactic adapted by his team, he could only do what the team (translation: Mourinho) asks of him to do. *sigh* But then, it's Cristiano Ronaldo... so, you'd never really know. :) Seriously though, what would stop Mou from unleashing the talents of Los Blancos? The risk of another embarrassment of losing to Guardiola... so, mostly he is protecting his own ego. Shame!The other option is Mou may stay selfish and stubborn. He could continue using Real Madrid as his own weapon to gain personal glory and reiterate a personal philosophy of winning rather than the Real Madrid philosophy with blatant disregard to the wonderful talents in his squad, and continue his "anti-football" campaign against the Blaugranas.
In that case, the world will endure another painful 90 minutes of ugliness and silliness - maybe even worse next time - depending on how soon Lionel Messi burst to his genius self again. But the football fans around the world deserve to see breathtaking football, which these two sides could very well deliver, being two of the best (if not the best) in the world today! They owe it to their followers and the football loyalists in the world, more so, out of respect for their colleagues in the football world who have spent their lives elevating this wonderful sport to the apex of admirable skills, personal discipline and sportsmanship on and off the pitch. Sadly, however, much of this depend on how Mourinho decides to play his card next time - on and off the pitch. ***
Photo credits: All photos were grabbed from Zimbio - thanks.
