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by Philipina A. Marcelo
It's extremely annoying - it is!
Yes, it is annoying that none of the FOUR sports channels in my local cable TV subscription covers the Spanish La Liga and the Copa del Rey! Sure, between the four of them, they cover the UEFA Champions League, the Barclays Premier League and the FA Cup, and even the AFC Premier League, but why they wouldn't cover La Liga or some
of Bundesliga and the Italian Serie A is beyond me! While one channel covers all those boring(est) golf tournaments in the most(est) remote(st) places on the face of the earth, it wouldn't cover the matches of among the BIGGEST football clubs with the BIGGEST and BRIGHTEST football superstars on the planet... and in the whole universe! Where is justice in that? Please tell me 'cause I don't see it! Do they even realize that football is the MOST WATCHED sport on planet earth and that La Liga's giants - FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF - are two of the BIGGEST clubs that are playing football today??? And here we are in Manila so deprived of the juiciest of all matches eversince football was played in this universe - El Clásico!! Aaaarrrgh....Anyway, I'm "too poor" to keep paying to watch the live streaming of the matches on internet, so I have been relying on BBC's and guardian.com.uk's "as it happened" blog coverage and on YouTube, of course, to follow La Liga's El Clásico last April 16 (the 17th here in Manila, actually) and the Copa del Rey finals just a few hours back, also between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona - the second of the El Clásico quartet within three weeks.
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El Clásico Uno
The April 16 El Clásico in Estadio Santiago Bernabéu for La Liga, I gathered, was a bomb constantly ticking from the opening whistle to the final whistle. Of course, the whole world now knows that it ended in a draw, 1-1,
with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo providing a goal each for the Catalans and Los Blancos, respectively - via penalty kick. With the divided opinions among experts and former greats from the two clubs, it seems that the Catalans had the upperhand all throughout the match, with more than 70% of ball possession... and the Merengues resorted to rough play, with even the usually venerable San Iker Casillas bringing down David Villa on one occasion, which was "missed" by the referee. In the second-half of the duel, Raul Albiol brought down David Villa, earning the Catalans a penalty kick and Albiol a red card. Lionel Messi's spot kick on 53' sent the ball to the ceiling of the net, which Iker Casillas couldn't stop, putting Barҫa in front. It all looked like Barcelona are on their way back to Camp Nou with a 1-0 win, but Dani Alves chased a speeding Marcelo towards the goal, Alves flew with an outstretched leg, Marcelo fell - penalty kick for Real Madrid! CR7 took the kick on the 82' 
successfully, not giving Victor Valdes a chance to have a hold on the ball, rekindling hope in Bernabéu. The Merengues held on to the draw with 10 men until the final whistle. The duel closed with the 10-man Real Madrid squad feeling like the winner, leaving the Catalans wondering about what just happened in Bernabéu.Now, here's what happened... Pep Guardiola chose to stick to their beautiful tiki-taka-based attacking game plan that powered them to success against the Merengues in their previous five meetings - the last of which ending in a sweet 5-0 win for the Catalans. The "Special One" countered with a solid-as-a-rock defense at the back and hardened defensive midfield. Mou's approach left a scoring impaired midfield - impotent in launching attacks that will allow its strikers to penetrate the Catalan goal - making Los Blancos resort to long passes on their few attacks. While Mou's plan left Real Madrid making very few chances to score, it also almost "killed" the Barҫa offense, preventing them from doing another 5-0 massacre. Clearly, Mou forced the Catalans out of their comfort zone, and made them play in Real Madrid's terms... actually, Mourinho's terms! Who says that can't be done anyway? Who says that all clubs that play Barҫa should play the Catalan game? "Not my Club - no way," was what Mou seemed to have drawled in his usual self-assured tone between pursed lips. If that didn't stop Guardiola on his tracks to frown at the Special One's "special treatment" for Barҫa, then he isn't as sharp as I thought he was. It's either that, or he is in denial... that Mourinho actually has just managed to transform the three-year-win-comatose Real Madrid into a mightily monstrous force! No, that wasn't meant to flatter Real Madrid! What is clear, however, is that Mou's success with Inter in the previous term in dismantling Barҫa's game in the Champions League semi-final was no hoax.
Obviously, Mou is in it to win it! No frills, no "beautiful football", no entertaining football dances in the field... dang, he even grew the grass
taller and left the field dry to make sure no Barҫa dances took place in Bernabéu! No spectacular goals from a spectacular playmaking - thus, the preference for Xabi Alonso over the playmaking rising superstar Mesut Özil in the starting 11. He planned to use muscle and height over the Catalans's quick but of diminutive stature frontline and midfield. He wanted to scare them off... he wanted to destroy their usual courage as they penetrate even the tightest of all defensive walls via speed and tiki-taka. He wanted to give them something to think about: get a goal, lose a limb. He wanted to render tiki-taka useless and obsolete by using what he had - physically dominant players who could lord over Barҫa's brilliant "midgets" who joyfully fire at will when tied together in a hunt-in-pack formation. He wanted to scatter that formation. He wanted to feed the Madridistas' thirst for Barcelona blood and crazed obssession to see a silverware in their three-year empty shelves. Mou just wanted to win the freaking League title, and any title that's there for the taking for that matter, that's all! The "Special One" doesn't care about entertaining football. He is a business man... he was hired by Madrid to take care of business - to put silverwares in the
Bernabéu shelves. He is only doing what he was hired for. Those who are expecting football of classical beauty, they should just go get a DVD of old Clásicos and soak themselves in 'em 'cause that's not what Mourinho signed up for! As Mou's mouth foamed whenever a flash of silver caught his peripheral vision, Pep Guardiola should take heed... he has a silverware-obssessed man opposite him. If he dared to donate one, it wouldn't stop Mou - he'd want 'em all! Therefore, Guardiola should proceed with caution. This is no time for playing sentimental and romantic football. Clearly, Mourinho has no respect for the El Clásico tradition that old greats like Alfredo di Stefano and Johan Cruyff are keen of preserving. He has no respect for any football tradition for that matter! He just wants to win! Period. That's all the football tradition he cared about. And, he has managed to turn his Real Madrid charge and most Madridistas to silverware-crazed lot, too. Now, they rally behind him! But is that bad? I'd say it's a legitimate cause - no matter how frustratingly cheap! After all, it's football - it's still a sport, where winning is still the simplest acceptable measure of greatness. And the "Special One", for all his self-declared "specialness" is of "simple mind" - the "win-it mind". Now, the rest of the Merengues are most willing to follow him to the pits of hell for HIS quest for silverwares! Ask Sergio Ramos... and even San Iker! Mou has effectively used their hunger for winning to resurrect them from their winless coma and fired them up with his nothing-else-matters-but-winning venom!So, what to do, Pep?
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El Clásico Dos
Hala, Madrid! 1-0, finally a silverware for Los Blancos! They won the Copa del Rey title after... uhmmm, what, 2,354 years? =) I can imagine how the Madridistas are spitting in front of any Barҫa fan in sight now! And why not? They just found their mojo, and it's pretty "Special", too! But yeah,
after that three-year title drought, they deserve a great celebration - I'll give that to them. Never mind that it was a lame tournament and that the officiating was absolutely horrific! That's all they can afford right now... so, I'll let them be happy. The winning goal - an admittedly teriffic bullet header at 103rd minute during extra time - came from CR7... of all muscles, er, people! :) Yeah, that Marcelo and Ángel di Maria's beautiful 1-2 pass that got the ball to Ronaldo, which he finished beautifully as well - I give that to him, was indeed wonderful playmaking! Perfect timing, wondeful height, accurate as a laser - beautiful! I have been wishing to see the coverage of this match while reading the blow-by-blow account on-line as it happened! I wanted to see how Mou did it. As I read news stories on-line minutes after the match, it made me wonder how even the supercool Lionel Messi got really "frustrated" that his talents were rendered nearly insignificant in the match, if that was at all possible. Thanks to Sky Sports and their analyses of the match, I got to see the highlights - via YouTube, of course! :) Thanks, thanks! Needless to say, my heart was pumping like mad... and what I saw left me breathless. Yeah, I can totally see how Mou's tactic was so effective in derailing the mostly incredible purist footballers of Catalonia! The Azulgranas were so spread out, with lots of big white figures all around them that won't allow them to gel into a cohesive force - effective defensive strategy there by Real Madrid. They took it to the Catalans in the midfield. While Los Blancos were also spread out to block the Catalans from forming into a pack, their very long strides easily
allow them to gel into a massive spear on attack when the Catalans defense falter a bit, always ready to pounce - so menacing! Well, at least, in the first half.So that's how Leo Messi got totally frustrated - they actually built a massive wall around him, he could barely move more than a few meters. Here, you see Mou proving Harry Redknapp (Tottenham Hotspurs manager) wrong when HR said that Messi is so amazing, he's almost "unplayable". I can imagine that Mou assigned the little man to about six of his towering men with clear instructions, "when he moves, all six of you move! He is not to play beautiful football! And, he is not to get anywhere close to the goal - by ALL means. Track him. I don't care if it's 'til the pits of Timbuktu. Track him... or I'd track you!" =) Seriously, if you were of Messi's physical stature, how do you deal with a makeshift wall composed of the scary and terribly unethical player Pepe, the physically able but lame head who should know better Xabi Alonso and the the very-willing-to-engage-because-Mou-said-so Sami Khedira, with the menacing and
horrible as the devil himself Sergio Ramos together with his evil brother Alvaro Arbeola and, uhm, Armani model Cristiano Ronaldo waiting in the offing to join in? How do you escape when they gang up on you when you're dribbling to complete a play, especially when your pack are so far spread out and everyone seemingly trapped like that? How do you deal with rough players like these who are bent to break your leg and refuse to play football? I can almost hear Mourinho saying, "let Pep Guardiola figure it out... if he can! Mmwah-hahahaha (lightning, thurderbolts...)!" There you go, Harry - that's how you play Lionel Messi! While it's frustrating, I have to say it's fair enough! Once again, it's all about winning - Mourinho style!That's Mou for you... he is not shy about doing "whetever it takes", pushing it even to the grey areas of football rules, if it meant securing a silverware for his team, and him being hailed as the "Most(est) Special One" - by himself. Perhaps, to him, Messi is just this "unspecial" little (non)man who kept stealing his thunder in those Awards Gala! :) Messi, in Mou's little black book, should be stopped by all means! While Cristiano Ronaldo would love very much to be in Messi's little shoes during those gala, he wouldn't risk getting scathed - so, no chance there. And, if Xabi Alonso is too soft to bear seeing the little phenomenon writhing in pain, Mou would get the deranged and devil-possessed Sergio Ramos to do the job. If Ramos was unavailable due to red card, he knew he could always rely on Pepe, Arbeola and Carvalho... and even Khedira. But yeah, seriously, why is Sergio Ramos so keen on hurting Messi physically, he'd elbow him or
gets in front of him and then steps on the brakes all of a sudden so Messi's face collides with his elbow or massive shoulder - so subtle that the referee wouldn't notice it? Sure he's a defender... but shouldn't he be defending the Los Blancos goal by stopping the ball, and not the striker dead on his tracks or with a broken bone? Even the ever patient Leo appeared to have had it with the devil in Ramos, even showing Ramos "the fist" at some point, like he was 6 feet tall! Very cute! :) Seriously, what's up with Ramos? Has he gone mad? And why is he so "kissy-kissy" with Mou? Did Mou used his voodoo doll on him? Okay, I should really stop, I'm being silly! :) But, yeah... oh, Pep, how do you solve a "Special Problem" like Mourinho? Should you turn yourself into a "Special Someone" now? No? Not your cup of tea? That's fine, being "Special" doesn't always equate to being "Beloved", anyway... especially if one was a self-declared "special"! Aw, gosh, do I sound bitter!! :)
See, this is why I've resisted for the longest time to write a sports blog - I could be really horrible and biased! =D
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Photo credits: All photos were grabbed from Zimbio - thanks!
