Spanish football is a peculiar beast when placed under a microscope, rather like a petri dish teeming with all the bacteria Fifa is currently trying to scrape from its gilded Zurich halls. There is no fit-and-proper-persons test in La Liga, as Racing Santander is currently being left to rue. Match-fixing was made a criminal offence just six months ago. Clubs are traditionally controlled by wildly unreliable clans like the Gil family at Atlético Madrid and the Ruiz-Mateos' at Rayo Vallecano – currently busily covering their own backsides as their Nueva Rumasa congolmerate goes under for the second time, leaving thousands of investors, and Rayo's players, on the bread line. If your club … [Read more...] about Real Madrid’s ‘señor’ status at play as Mourinho takes control
Spanish soccer
Depor’s glory a distant memory as team slides out of Liga
The only real drama during Saturday’s conclusion of the Liga season was at the bottom of the table, where Deportivo la Coruña were relegated after losing 2-0 at home to Valencia. After a see-sawing 90 minutes which could possibly have seen Mallorca, Real Sociedad, Osasuna, Getafe or Zaragoza drop instead, once-proud Depor followed Almería and Hércules down to next year’s La Segunda. Although they became the first side to be relegated with more than 42 points in a 20 team league, you could not really say Deportivo were unlucky. Their failure to score on Saturday was telling, and familiar. Under the restrained tactics of coach Miguel Ángel Lotina, the Galicians have been poor in front of … [Read more...] about Depor’s glory a distant memory as team slides out of Liga
Porto’s trophy-hungry boss insists he’s no Mourinho clone
The comparisons have been as predictable as they have been widespread. In Britain, the Guardian called him "Mourinho’s apprentice", while the Daily Mail anointed him as "Mourinho Mark II". The Spanish press followed a similar line - El Correo named him Mourinho’s pupil and even El País joined in, headlining their profile "Mourinho’s spy". The potential mini-Mou in question is FC Porto boss André Villas-Boas, whose achievements in his first full season in football management have been spectacular. Last month Villas-Boas's side secured the Portuguese title with five games in hand and this week he leads his team into the Europa League and Portuguese Cup finals. Records have tumbled along … [Read more...] about Porto’s trophy-hungry boss insists he’s no Mourinho clone
Where do Mourinho and Guardiola go from here?
La Liga and the Champions League are still to be decided but already pundits and the general public are talking about what will happen when the season comes to an end after the recent series of Barcelona and Real Madrid matches. At the start of April, there was speculation that if things went badly wrong for Real coach José Mourinho, he might leave at the end of the season. Well, apart from lifting the Copa del Rey on April 20, things could hardly have gone worse. The 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabéu on April 16 effectively handed the league title to Barcelona and the Catalans could close the issue with a draw in this week's game against Levante or if Real drop points against … [Read more...] about Where do Mourinho and Guardiola go from here?
Barça must cut theatrics if they want to go down in history
There are plenty of skills young players learn at Barcelona’s La Masia youth centre, and which are then refined at senior level at the club. Tight, triangular passing; quick movement off the ball into space; keeping possession of the ball; respect for the great institution they are a part of. And, you might add, after Wednesday’s Champions League semifinal first leg against Real Madrid: writhing on the floor like a hammy actor when tackled by an opponent; clutching their face when a rival’s hand goes anywhere near their upper body; and generally doing everything possible to get the other team’s players booked or sent off. This is the contradiction that Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side … [Read more...] about Barça must cut theatrics if they want to go down in history
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Orwell and the evil conspiracy
Let’s forget, for the moment, the fact that Real Madrid and Barcelona had an absorbing 1-1 draw in their liga meeting on Saturday. Instead, let’s look inside the heads of two of the night’s protagonists: Barça midfielder Xavi Hernández and Real Madrid coach José Mourinho. “Everyone could see that Barça were the better team, that we totally dominated. Although that’s not so great given that it was them that gave us the ball and them that shut down at the back in their own stadium.” This was the verdict of Xavi after the game. He had a point in that Barcelona did dominate possession, during one phase enjoying 79 percent of it (according La Sexta television’s onslaught of statistics). … [Read more...] about Real Madrid, Barcelona, Orwell and the evil conspiracy
Everything’s at stake in Real Madrid and Barcelona’s quadruple clásico
Eighteen days, four games and the spoils of almost an entire season to be fought over. Barcelona and Real Madrid usually play each other twice over the course of a season, in their home and away liga fixtures. But due to a combination of luck and their own good form, the biggest rivalry in European football, with all its sporting, cultural and political undercurrents, will be played out four times in just over two weeks, between April 16 and May 3. There’s so much at stake and yet each encounter is loaded with slightly different significance. Of the three titles that these four games – a league match, the King’s Cup final and a two-legged Champions League semifinal – represent, the league … [Read more...] about Everything’s at stake in Real Madrid and Barcelona’s quadruple clásico
Torres’ patchy form hints at world champions’ decline
Whisper it quietly, but not all is fresh in the state of Spain. When Vicente del Bosque's team lifted the World Cup in 2010 –adding to the European Championship title La Roja won in 2008 under Luis Aragonés– the world prostrated itself at the feet of the slickest passing side in history. Among Spain's players, there was a consensus that the tournament in Austria and Switzerland had proved an epiphany. Aragonés had largely removed the cult of idolatry by removing Raúl from the squad; he had, as Xavi put it recently, taken a gamble by betting on the bajitos –himself, Andrés Iniesta, Cesc Fàbregas, Davids Villa and Silva, for example– and Spain finally beat its bête noire, Italy, and the … [Read more...] about Torres’ patchy form hints at world champions’ decline
What, another reason to hate Cristiano Ronaldo?
For the neutral football fan, it seems it’s increasingly hard not to dislike Cristiano Ronaldo. Just witness the abuse he receives at virtually every stadium in Spain apart from Real Madrid’s Bernabéu. There are indeed some compelling motives to feel this way. How about his huffy indignation when a teammate fails to pass him the ball when he is in space, or those carefully rehearsed poses he strikes after scoring (or even after missing). Or the reckless use of hair gel. Or, rather more damningly, an insistence on putting his own glory ahead of that of his team (such as when he refused to celebrate a Karim Benzema goal last season, after the Frenchman followed up to sweep in Ronaldo’s own … [Read more...] about What, another reason to hate Cristiano Ronaldo?
Athletic Bilbao’s local lions belie football’s global trend
Athletic Bilbao’s selection policy is both its strength and an obvious demographic weakness: only players born in the area known as the “historic” Basque Country, encompassing Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa, Álava, Navarre and three French regions –or who were schooled in its youth ranks– are strictly eligible to pull on the red-and-white shirt. While this policy has been relaxed just slightly in recent years, the only sides in Spain to operate a policy anywhere near as defined by region are fellow Basques Real Sociedad and Barcelona, which currently fields a number of Catalans but also has players brought into the fold at an early age, such as Andrés Iniesta and Leo Messi. But Barça also has a … [Read more...] about Athletic Bilbao’s local lions belie football’s global trend