Too much of this, not enough football

Did anyone watch the latest ‘El Classico’ yesterday between the two sides in two-team-Spanish-football that win anything? The tikki-takki-tappy-toe provayors of poessions football and the two yard pass, Barcelona, and their jealous bad-guy rivals lead by Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid? If I’m honest I’ll admit I didn’t even know it was on until I read someone talking about an incident during the game on Twitter and later in the evening I glanced up from my iPad to see the goals when the highlights came on TV, but otherwise I just couldn’t find myself being drawn to it because, as was proven against last night, the football is secondary to the nonsense.

All the talk from those that did watch the game is the actions of Real Madrid goon, Pepe. The Portugese international was seen diving and rolling around from phantom contact to the extent that even his team-mate Christiano Ronaldo was probably ashamed and later stamping on the hand of Lionel Messi after the Barcelona wizkid had been kicked to the ground and not for the first time. It was pathetic really though I wouldn’t expect the retrospective punishment to fit the crime once the Spanish FA gets a hold of it.

And you remember my piece on hypocrites the other day featuring that pillar of on field moral upstanding, Wayne Rooney? “Pepe. What an idiot,” he Tweeted during the game. The same Wayne Rooney who was sent off from an England friendly last year for lashing out with a wild boot to an opponent.

If it isn’t eye gouging, handbags at ten paces, diving, simulation or acts of cowardess, then it’s bickering in the media about being hard done by from a referee. The game itself, regardless of the qaulity of football, often takes a back step and it’s caused me to care less about the fixture. Which is a shame because the quality that both sides possess is clearly evident and there is of course at times some beautiful football. Don’t get me wrong, there’s enough room to spice up that rivalry through hard tackles, but given how that has disappeared out of the continental game, both sides prefer to resort to the underhanded stuff that seems to appeal to the wider media because of the headlines it generates.

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Quote of the day

“Alcoholic drinks are part of the World Cup, so we’re going to have them. Excuse me if I sound a bit arrogant but that’s something we won’t negotiate.” – No, these aren’t the words of some drunken fan on the eve of the tournament, but rather Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke who of course isn’t as much concerned about how drunk you get, but rather how much money you spend on one of the tournaments chief sponsors’ product.

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Other guff

Sticking with Barca and Madrid, it would seem that Uefa’s love in for Spain’s big two sides is as great as ever this week after they annoucned their team of 2011. Only three players not based in Spain’s two team league made the cut and only one from the Premier League got into the side. You couldn’t argue much with the forward line or the centre midfielders, but as for the rest? Well… Anyway, here it is: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid); Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Thiago Silva (Milan), Marcelo (Real Madrid); Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich), Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Gareth Bale (Tottenham); Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid). Coach: Pep Guardiola (Barcelona).

A report in the Guardian today suggests that Aston Villa may be investigating the possibility of bringing back terraces to English football via the safe standing setup in Germany.

And Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea is putting the reasons for his shaky first season down to his eyesight. It is believed the young goalie may need laser eye surgery to fix the problem. Rumours that Sir Alex Ferguson would also like to send several Premier League referees along for the same surgery remain unfounded at the time of going to press.

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