The Aftermath From El Clásico.

A week has passed since Barça crushed Real Madrid 0-4 at the Santiago Bernabéu. The lasting effect from that outcome has rejuvenated Barça while Madrid are still in a state of unpleasantness.

Barça’s domination of Real Madrid in their own Santiago Bernabéu was one for the ages for Blaugrana fans, and one that will haunt Madrid fans for a long time. El Clásico is usually a hard fought battle between two arch enemies regardless of form and league position in the standings. Yet, Barça’s 0-4 win seemed pedestrian without any bad blood. It was one sided from the opening whistle to the final whistle.

Barça have had a few great victories of such magnitude against Real Madrid in the Bernabéu in the last few decades. There is the 0-5 “Manita” in Cruyff’s first Clásico in the 70’s, perhaps the 2-3 win during the 97-98 season, the Ronaldinho inspired 0-3 performance and the legendary 2-6 win during the 2008-2009 season that felt like a separate trophy in itself during the treble season and now, the 0-4 victory will go down as another successful triumph on enemy ground.

Following that victory, Barça routed Roma 6-1 and Real Sociedad 4-0 in successive matches this week. Confidence is at an all-time high and praise was being bestowed on many of the players, including the magnificent trident of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez. All the players performed well and made their manager, Luis Enrique, very proud. The only sour note was Barça not getting the fifth goal to add another “Manita” to the history pages of this rivalry. Nonetheless, for me, this felt like a “Manita” even though only four goals were scored, the fact that this took place in the Santiago Bernabéu can be considered as the fifth goal.

Meanwhile, this loss just magnified the issues that continue to plague Real Madrid this season. Is this a team built to win or a team built to make money? Does the manager have the final say on who plays or the president? It was surprising to see Casemiro on the bench and not in the starting eleven and the end result was Iniesta running rampant and earning applause from the Madrid fans after he was substituted in the second half. While everyone is praising the harmony between Barça manager and players, the opposite was being discussed about the state of discord facing Real Madrid. Is Ronaldo unhappy and planning on leaving? Is Benzema’s mind distracted because of his involvement of a sex tape blackmail scandal? Do players like Rafa Benítez? Can Ronaldo and Bale co-exist? Is Rafa going to get sacked?

Madrid’s drama increased when their four goal lead against Shakhtar Donetsk was reduced to one as the Ukrainian side scored three unanswered goals to lose 3-4. They also looked sluggish during their 2-0 away win to Eibar. All is not well in Madrid while Barça and their fans are in a state of Euphoria. However, last season showed us that it’s not how you start, but how you finish. Madrid won the first clash last season and were on top of the world before their season burned into the ground with a trophyless season. What’s to say history won’t repeat itself and see Barça finish empty handed down the stretch?

Nevertheless, one feels that Barça can weather the storm if the wheels start coming off based on their style that they have learned over the years coupled with the new tweaks from Luis Enrique. The manager and the players have been on the same page since that infamous Sociedad loss back in January. The same cannot be said about Real Madrid. If the wheels start coming off, expect more drama from the Madrid press and discord between the players, the manager and the club president. There is a great expression we use in the US that applies to Madrid; “Winning is a great deodorant.” A few wins and perhaps everything will be fine in Madrid and this loss will be forgotten. But the attitude right now is that Barça got their mojo and Madrid is in search of an identity before they can get their mojo.

Neymar and Suárez shining in Messi’s absence.

With El Clásico a day away, all eyes will be on the Spanish capital for tomorrow’s game. Messi has been cleared to return but the spotlight right now is shining on Neymar and Luis Suárez.

Many believed Barça would be in trouble when Messi went down with an injury back in September. Messi was the man who made things happen for the Blaugrana last season. He either scored, assisted or provided the superb pass that lead to the assist for Barça. His absence was going to be missed as he truly is irreplaceable.

Nevertheless, Barça managed to get by without the amazing player. Neymar took on the role as the man who had to pull the strings on the pitch and impressed as he tried his best to fill the void left by Messi’s absence. Not many can play like Messi but Neymar admirably played the role of goal scorer and playmaker in his own way that helped Barça. His partner in crime, Luis Suárez, also benefited from Neymar’s new role and both have carried the team on their backs which now sees them in first place in the league standings. Both have scored ten goals in Messi’s absence. Moreover, Neymar and Suárez are currently first and second in the Pichichi race as league top scorers with 11 and 9 goals respectively.

Of course, the world will be looking at Messi tomorrow. Yet, the spotlight will be on Neymar and Suárez if Messi starts the match from the bench. Messi’s inclusion for the Madrid trip might be mind tricks by Luis Enrique but then again, Messi is not the type to sit out a match, regardless of the match’s importance. I would prefer Luis Enrique to play it safe and have Messi come in the final half hour of the match against a tired Madrid side and cause havoc. With the lone exception of the Sevilla match, the team has done well with the Brazilian and Uruguay superstars and should be entrusted with our faith against their arch rivals if Messi does not feature. They have earned that truth.

The game tomorrow will not be won or lost if Messi plays or not. It will come down to mistakes. The outcome will be based on which counter attacking side will present the fewer scoring chances to their opponents and not squander their scoring chances. Also, this outcome will not decide the league title. We are still in November and last season showed us that the winner of the first Clásico did not fare too well down the stretch. A setback tomorrow will not be catastrophic towards to league title aspirations. It will only bring justified and unjustified heat from the media and fans but there’s still a lot of football left to be played.

What is certain is that if Barça win and both Neymar and Suárez perform well, then expect their names to surface as potential Ballon d’Or finalists with Messi. Both have had a magnificent 2015 thus far. The second half of the 2014-2015 season saw the duo score big goals in big games down the stretch that saw Barça capture a historic second treble. The first half of 2015-2016 has also seen them perform remarkably, especially during Messi’s absence. The results and performances speak for themselves. Tomorrow will be their final opportunity to shine in the spotlight before sharing it back with Messi. Do they have one last dynamic performance to give?

How Will The Spanish Referee Controversy Play Out?

The recent scandal about a linesman being pressured to make calls in favor of Real Madrid in the upcoming Clásico raised more than just a few eyebrows. The big question now is how will it play out?

A few days ago, Spanish football was caught off guard when the media reported a story that an unidentified linesman was informed to make decisions in favor of Real Madrid in the upcoming Clásico in November. The unnamed referee is now being represented by Jacinto Vicente, a sports law attorney from Barcelona, who helped file a formal complaint and the legal authorities are now investigating these claims.

Allegedly, this unnamed referee was contacted by José Ángel Jiménez Muñoz, a member of the Comité Técnico de Árbitros, the league’s referees’ committee, who informed him to make calls in favor of Madrid in the upcoming Clásico. The reasoning behind this approach was this less vilifies the referee in charge of the game and instead, makes the linesman the scapegoat. This accusation also mentioned that this tactic had been used in previous matches. Somehow, this would absolve the referee of any suspicious actions since the blame would be directed at the linesman instead. Of course, Mr. Jiménez Muñoz denied this accusation and compared it to something straight out of a Kafka novel.

As expected, the reactions were predictable. Barça fans either shrugged since there has always been this view that referees favored Madrid anyways or rejoiced that this story provided some sort of validation that their long held conspiracy theory might finally have finally be proven true. It is now being investigated and has not yet been swept under the rug. Miguel Cardenal, Spain’s CSD Higher Sports Council, wanted the Spanish football officials to investigate this matter and take it seriously. Whether this matter will be treated seriously or not is up for debate.

It’s not as if Spanish football authorities have not let us down before. Spanish football dragged its feet back in 2004 following the racist abuse of England’s black players from the fans during a friendly against Spain in Madrid. This is a league that still has trouble scheduling matches properly while keeping their fans in the dark as to kickoff times. This could be Spanish Football’s Serpico whistleblowing moment if such manipulation of referees to favor Real Madrid is true. It’s not that farfetched either seeing as Comité Técnico de Árbitros has a history of being led by men who had ties to Real Madrid as either former players or as club members.

What will the ramifications be though if this allegation turns out to be true? What would the fallout be? Obviously heads will roll, but which heads? Those from the the Comité Técnico de Árbitros who contacted the referees would be the first to face the music. Referees who also obeyed those instructions should also face lifetime bars. If somehow ties are proven that someone from Madrid was behind this, then don’t be surprised if that person turns out to be the fall guy and was acting on his own without the club’s knowledge. Unless someone from the Comité Técnico de Árbitros points the finger to directly implicate Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez with some sort of concrete evidence, it is highly unlikely he will step down. Nevertheless, the club should face punishment if it is directly involved.

Perhaps this will be a lie, just like the false claims of “Villarato” that was created by Madrid media whenever Barça got a favorable call. Perhaps this was just some bogus claim to stir things up in the media to make Madrid look bad by those with ties to Madrid who have grown tired of Florentino Perez’s rule. Perhaps it’s an evil plot by those with ties to Barça who want payback for Real Madrid allegedly being the ones who contacted FIFA which led to the FIFA transfer ban. Or just maybe, it’s the truth and one referee finally had found the strength to blow the whistle on this scandal. For now, it’s just mere speculation but it will be interesting how this plays out the rest of the way.