Copa del Rey needs a makeover.

Yet another Copa del Rey final will be upon us that will feature El Clásico rivals, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. However, this will not be about these teams going at it again. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 25 years, everyone knows more than enough about this rivalry. Yet, it seems that the RFEF still manages the Copa del Rey without caring for its domestic and international audience. It is such a shame that a historic competition is still run in such an incompetent manner.

Some of the biggest problems plaguing this competition are on display in the stands where attendance keeps dwindling. The interest in this competition seems to be decreasing because of the late kick offs and the minute chance that a small club will win this competition, let alone reach the final. Furthermore, the Copa needs to solve the issue of organizing the final with a venue and date already set in place.

The lack of fans in the stands this year was very discouraging. Copa del Rey is a historic cup for Barça, who are the all-time winning side of this competition, yet, the Camp Nou was hardly packed. It sure didn’t help that kick off was on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings at 10 PM. Other teams had late night kick offs too which is never a great idea for a midweek game. It’s pretty obvious what will happen when fans have the option of watching the game from the comfort of their home, or from the comfort of their bed with some of these late kick offs, or going to the game. They are most likely going to stay home and watch the game. Hence, RFEF needs to ensure the games kick off at a reasonable time of day since they will not pre-empt weekends for it or change to the format to a single leg competition like the FA Cup.

Speaking of the FA Cup, perhaps RFEF should look at the FA Cup’s blueprint and change the rules regarding the pairings for each round. Currently, Copa del Rey has starts off with random draws for each round until the competition goes down to 32 teams. The draw then allows us to know which teams will face each other all the way to the final. That basically can let fans know whether their club has a chance to make it to the final. RFEF should follow the FA Cup’s blueprint and have random draws for each round without any seedings to stop protecting the big clubs from facing one another early on. That would generate more interest for the fans and keep it unpredictable. Sure, the Clásico cup final would attract huge ratings but think of the long term health of this cup too if domestic interest diminishes.

The other big issue hurting this competition is that, unlike most countries, Spain does not have a “national stadium” to host a cup final. England has Wembley stadium in London to host the FA Cup, Germany has the Olympiastadion in Berlin as the venue for the German cup/DFB-Pokal final. Yet, RFEF opts to wait till the finalists have been decided before choosing a venue for the final. Clearly, a national stadium will never be built and I can imagine the outrage if the Santiago Bernabéu was appointed as such.

Perhaps RFEF should take a page out of NFL‘s book and select the venue years in advance. You don’t see the NFL deciding a few weeks before the Super Bowl on where it should take place. Heck, UEFA already have their venues selected for this season and next season’s Champions League finals. Sadly, the RFEF opts to just keep dragging its feet on decisions that any well run organization would already have figured out from the get go. However, this is La Liga and we have grown accustomed to where going forward is hindered by the league doing things backwards.

La Roja’s Exploitation Must Stop.

 Without a doubt, we have been fortunate to watch a team such as Spain these past six years. They have been wowing the world with their performances and results in Spain and in other countries. However, the Spanish Football Federation is turned their national team into a cash cow by taking advantage of their team’s success by turning them into a touring road show. It’s time for La Roja’s exploitation must stop.

Ever since Spain won the 2010 World Cup, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF) has been scheduling games for Spain all over the world. Spain have played friendlies in Mexico, Argentina, Portugal, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Panama, Qatar, USA, and Ecuador. Sometimes, these friendlies take place during the summer and sometimes they take place while the Spanish League is in session.

 The RFEF recently announced that Spain would be participating in two friendlies next month. Once again, the RFEF is blatantly disregarding the well being of their players by cashing in on these unnecessary friendlies. Next month sees them play Russia in Dubai and in South Africa to face the 2010 World Cup hosts. Currently, the country’s players are representing their clubs both domestically and in European competitions in a congested fixture list because of the upcoming World Cup. Wouldn’t it be considerate of the RFEF to give these players a break? 

 Now FIFA is not blameless in all of this. They too have yet to figure out how to prepare a proper calendar without it interfering with club football. However, FIFA does not mandate countries to play in every international break. These matches in November are for upcoming World Cup qualifying playoffs, so basically this break serves as friendlies scheduling for Spain. However, the RFEF could have opted to not schedule any friendlies and just given their players a break for some much needed down time.

This most recent Clásico showed us how fatigued some players looked. Why pile on their wear and tear and not afford them some rest. I am surprised the big two, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, have not made a big fuss about these friendlies and the distances their players have traveled as the RFEF keeps globetrotting them at every available opportunity. These players have to prepare for the league, Spanish cup and UEFA Champions League. They did their job and qualified for the World Cup so shouldn’t they deserve a break?

Del Bosque could always rest the usual players and opt to call up the young players or fringe players instead, to see who make the cut. Yet, there probably is a clause that requires the presence of the stars in these distant countries. Nevertheless, the time has come for the big clubs, or the players through FIFPRO, to put their foot down and ask for an end to this exhausting traveling. 

 Clearly these players are not up for it as evident with some of the drubbings they received in Argentina and Portugal. However, if no one speaks up, then the RFEF will continue to schedule these cash grabbing events and exploit the cash cow that is La Roja? Is it worth it when the team’s performance might suffer and ultimately cost them a shot at a successive World Cup crown? It’s high time someone put their foot down and end this globetrotting money making bonanza.

Blame the Federations and not FIFA.

Another unnecessary and poorly timed international fixture break was bestowed upon a few days ago. It was sandwiched in between league games. Of course, some of the matches were important such as the Asian World Cup Qualifiers but the rest were meaningless friendlies with a few memorable performances and inexcusable trips across the globe. Of course, FIFA picked this date but they should not bear the brunt of the blame. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the respective country’s federation.

The FIFA Virus reared its ugly head again a few days ago. Barça players had to play in meaningless friendlies which required them to play on a few days rest and training with their national teams coupled with flights across the Atlantic Ocean. Alexis Sanchez was the biggest FIFA Virus casualty when he suffered yet another injury that will keep him out up to four weeks. Barça players representing Spain flew all the way to Panama for a friendly while Dani Alves traveled to New York with Brazil to face Colombia. Messi traveled to Saudi Arabia to represent Argentina.

All the Barça players had to return and get ready for a match today.  Today! Not tomorrow, but today! So Barça players, and other club players too, had to return and get ready for another match on two day’s rest. I am sure that is exactly in the best interests of the players and the game. Many would love to spew venom at FIFA for such a meaningless decision to have International games played in such a manner but I don’t think they should bear the brunt of the blame.

They are not blameless either but I wouldn’t have objected if this window was used solely for Asian World Cup Qualifiers. However, since these games were scheduled on a Wednesday and not over a weekend, why did the rest of the world decide to schedule friendlies? This is why I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the country’s federation. RFEF, Royal Spanish Football Federation, and other country’s federations decided to schedule the games. RFEF has been cashing on Spain’s success by scheduling them to play in friendlies in Argentina, Puerto Rico, and just recently Panama the past few years.

Countries do not have an obligation to schedule a friendly. FIFA only provides the window but the final decision lies with the Federations. Mexico, a side that is well known for playing way too many friendlies, did not participate in the glutton of friendlies on Wednesday. Obviously, the Mexican league playoffs played a part in that decision but they could have scheduled a friendly and fielded C team too. They did not! Therefore, it is possible to not see your country play a friendly on a day set aside for friendlies. So, the next time you complain about countries playing meaningless friendlies; don’t blame FIFA, but blame the Federation head honchos who decided to cash in and schedule the friendly.

Time for Rosell to Act.

Enough is Enough! Enough of turning the other cheek! Enough of playing the nice guy! Enough of the diplomatic approach! It's time for Rosell to raise his voice and make the Cule's voices heard as the RFEF continues to make life difficult for Barça. 

Just when we thought the Spanish league and its cronies could not get any lower, they decided to go ahead and apply the rules as they saw fit. The Spanish league's Refereeing Technical Committee were outraged by Pique's comments following Barça’s 3-1 victory over Sporting Gijon. Pique was not too pleased with referee Carlos Velasco Carballo's decision to send him off so early into the second half. Pique voiced his displeasure to the media by saying "At half-time I told the referee it was a penalty on Keita and he kept that [in his head], I have a feeling of premeditation". It would later be reported that Carballo did threaten Pique with “You, shut up, you'll get a red card", when Pique approached the referee as they walked off the pitch and into the tunnels after the halftime whistle blew.

The following day, the Refereeing Technical Committee head honcho, Victoriano Arminio, condemned Pique for his comments that questioned Carballo's integrity and planned on making a formal complaint against the defender. Arminio seemed outraged and told Radio Nacional, "Pique's comments are unfortunate and very serious”. "They make your blood boil, sportsmen must respect each other. His comments affect the state of refereeing and we will obviously report him."

Say what? This makes his blood boil? Of course, when the spokesperson of the Refereeing Technical Committee, José Ángel Jiménez Muñoz was asked about Mourinho's actions by waiting for the referee next to his car at the Camp Nou parking lot, he shrugged it off and said whatever Mourinho did or said to the referee was not published by the media the same way Pique's were. By the way, it was revealed that Mr. Muñoz is member of Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista, which is General Franco's fascist anti-Catalan party so make what you want of that. So, yes, it does not come down to the action but whether or not it was published. Oddly enough, those comments were published in the papers for all to read but as we have seen this season, there appears to be double standards when it comes to Barça and when it comes to Real Madrid.

Back in January, Mourinho waited in the Camp Nou parking garage and had words with referee Teixeira Vitienes following their elimination from the Copa del Rey. Mourinho shouted at Vitienes, “¡Artista, cómo te gusta joder a los profesionales!” which loosely translated means “You screw over those who are working" before adding, “You don’t respect serious professionals, now you'll smoke a cigar and go off laughing, it’s a disgrace.” Prior to that outburst from Mourinho, Casillas approached Teixeira and said: “¡Vete de fiesta con ellos a celebrarlo, tanta polla y tanta mierda!” which loosely translated means “Teixeira, now you can go out and party with Barça!” along with some fine expletives at the end that I won't bother translating.

Funny how the media had those comments yet were ignored by the committee. Ironically, those two were not disciplined for their disrespectful actions because it was not in the referee's final report. That was always the standard when it came to action on and off the pitch. Grounds for punishment had to come from anything reported in the referee's final report. Pique's comments weren't in any final report but Mr. Arminio decided to take action now? Just this past weekend, Mourinho called the 4th referee the most arrogant referee he had ever met. So what exactly does it take for the league to come down on Real Madrid when their manager and players step out of line with comments?

One Madridista argued that there is a difference between insulting a referee and questioning his integrity. Really? So I guess those comments by Mourinho and Casillas were not calling into question the referee's integrity; just merely insulting him. If you buy that argument, then I have a broom for you to go sweep the desert with (old Lebanese proverb). So what are the standards exactly and that is what the FC Barcelona Board of Directors spokesman Toni Freixa said today a few hours ago as the club responded to Mr. Arminio's comments. 

We have already witnessed the double standards of the league when it comes to awarding Real Madrid penalties and not awarding Barça penalties along what is considered a penalty offense and a red card offense. Look, I am a firm believer that big clubs do get calls go in their favor more times than the smaller clubs and that Barcelona's away form has been poor. With that said, it's been rather fishy how Madrid keep getting the break in their away games in the New Year against Mallorca, Getafe and Rayo Vallecano that has Pep even fighting hard to bite his tongue.However, Mr. Arminio's actions of seeking to lodge a formal complaint against Pique was the last straw and this is where Mr. Rosell needs to step forward and voice our displeasure and expose the hypocrisy that has bothered all Cules. The decision of the board to not attend tomorrow's RFEF meeting is the wrong approach.

I can understand Pep's decision not to criticize the referees and Rosell’s decision to sit back and follow suit was admirable. However, I believe he dropped the ball when the club failed to go after Mourinho for assaulting assistant coach, Tito Vilanova, in the second leg of the Super Copa. He left that decision to the powers that be and their final decision was a one match ban for the next Super Copa game. If that decision was not a slap in the face, then their lack action on disciplining Pepe after he deliberately stepped on Messi's hand was a sucker punch. Yet again, the club opted to play the nice guy role and opted not to file a complaint against Pepe and left that decision to the powers that be. Low and behold, Pepe was not punished and was playing in the second leg where he almost pulled off another despicable act of stepping on Dani Alves's hand.

So enough is enough! Enough of turning the other cheek! Enough of playing the nice guy! Enough of the diplomatic approach! It's time for Rosell to raise his voice and make the Cule's voices heard. It's time he went after the RFEF the same he way he went after Laporta. For too long he has held off going after Real Madrid after all their dirty tactics since the arrival of Mourinho that has seen our club's name and image dragged through the mud. Rosell needs to stand up and act now. Guardiola is upset, the players are upset and the Cules are fed up and upset. It’s time to stop being reactive and become proactive. There has been some speculation that Rosell is being quiet to avoid the recent bad press coming out of Brazil about his alleged dealings with Ricardo Teixeira, the current president of Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) who is under investigation for fraud and corruption. If so, then remaining silent only hurts him and the club when he should come out and quash those rumors.

Additionally, he was recently accused by, Albert Perrin, a former Vice-President of the club during the Laporta era, that Rosell and the current board were disrespecting the RFEF by not appearing at meeting. Mr. Perrin said,

"In our time we also had a good relationship with the Federation, because Laporta was always at the meetings. These are things that make you well liked. Back then, it was always Madrid who weren't there. Now, it is Barça who are not there. The Barça president is doing very little. For the re-election of Villar [RFEF president], he was not there."

If that is true, then it was a mistake by the club that can be rectified by the board members and the president appearing at future meetings. In conclusion, now is not the time for Rosell to have others come out and speak on his behalf when it's his duty to speak out on our behalf. It's time he acted as a president with a less of a businesslike approach and be more of a politician.

I can understand Pep's decision not to criticize the referees and Rosell’s decision to sit back and follow suit was admirable. However, I believe he dropped the ball when the club failed to go after Mourinho for assaulting assistant coach, Tito Vilanova, in the second leg of the Super Copa. He left that decision to the powers that be and their final decision was a one match ban for the next Super Copa game. If that decision was not a slap in the face, then their lack action on disciplining Pepe after he deliberately stepped on Messi's hand was a sucker punch. Yet again, the club opted to play the nice guy role and opted not to file a complaint against Pepe and left that decision to the powers that be. Low and behold, Pepe was not punished and was playing in the second leg where he almost pulled off another despicable act of stepping on Dani Alves's hand.

So enough is enough! Enough of turning the other cheek! Enough of playing the nice guy! Enough of the diplomatic approach! It's time for Rosell to raise his voice and make the Cule's voices heard. It's time he went after the RFEF the same he way he went after Laporta. For too long he has held off going after Real Madrid after all their dirty tactics since the arrival of Mourinho that has seen our club's name and image dragged through the mud. Rosell needs to stand up and act now. Guardiola is upset, the players are upset and the Cules are fed up and upset. It’s time to stop being reactive and become proactive. There has been some speculation that Rosell is being quiet to avoid the recent bad press coming out of Brazil about his alleged dealings with Ricardo Teixeira, the current president of Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) who is under investigation for fraud and corruption. If so, then remaining silent only hurts him and the club when he should come out and quash those rumors.

Additionally, he was recently accused by, Albert Perrin, a former Vice-President of the club during the Laporta era, that Rosell and the current board were disrespecting the RFEF by not appearing at meeting. Mr. Perrin said,

"In our time we also had a good relationship with the Federation, because Laporta was always at the meetings. These are things that make you well liked. Back then, it was always Madrid who weren't there. Now, it is Barça who are not there. The Barça president is doing very little. For the re-election of Villar [RFEF president], he was not there."

If that is true, then it was a mistake by the club that can be rectified by the board members and the president appearing at future meetings. In conclusion, now is not the time for Rosell to have others come out and speak on his behalf when it's his duty to speak out on our behalf. It's time he acted as a president with a less of a businesslike approach and be more of a politician.

* Thanks to @Barcastuff with some of the links and translations.

 

RFEF dragging their feet again regarding the Copa Final venue.

The current predicament plaguing the Spanish league is not about which clubs are able to pay their players’ salaries or the possibility of another strike from the league players. No, the current quandary that has once again put the RFEF in the spotlight again is the uncertainty of where the Copa del Rey final will be played. Madrid’s rejection of hosting the final has put the RFEF in a negative light regarding how inept they are which is a clear contrast of their neighboring countries’ leagues.

The Santiago Bernabéu was the preferred venue for the Copa del Rey final by both FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. Unfortunately, Real Madrid opted to refuse to host the final because they have bathrooms to renovate, a Bruce Springsteen concert to plan for and that they might be celebrating Champions League title should they win it on May 20. Some thought their refusal was a sign of fear that they didn’t want Barça celebrating a title in their own stadium. Now, if that was the sole reason for Madrid not wanting to host the final, then shame on them for thinking it was a foregone conclusion that Athletic had no chance of winning the cup against Barça.

However, the problem here falls squarely on the RFEF and their lack of planning ahead. Unlike most countries, Spain does not have a “national stadium” to host a cup final. England has Wembley stadium in London to host the FA Cup and also used the Millennium Stadium, in Wales as the temporary home of the FA Cup final. France has the Stade de France in Paris that hosts the Coupe de France. Germany has the Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium) in Berlin as the venue for the German cup/DFB-Pokal final. Italy has the Stadio Olimpico, home to both Lazio and Roma, in Rome as the venue for the Coppa Italia final. Even Spain’s Iberian neighbor, Portugal, has a national stadium, Estádio Nacional/Estádio do Jamor located in Jamor that hosts the Portuguese Cup/ Taça de Portugal final.

All those venues have been hosting their respective domestic cup finals for a long time. Yet, Spain opts to wait till the Semi-finalists, or the finalists in this case, have been decided before deciding on a venue for the final. Supposedly, Madrid’s indirect refusal is the first time that a club has rejected hosting a Copa final. So what can the RFEF do? Put their foot down and remind Madrid who’s the boss? Highly doubt it especially with their laid back approach in punishing Mourinho for attempting to poke Tito Vilanova’s eye or their failure to discipline Pepe after what appeared to be an intentional stamp on Messi’s hand.

The RFEF have three options. The first option is to build a national stadium so they can have their own version of Wembley for Cup finals and for big international matches. We know that won’t happen and they sometimes use the Bernabéu for the big international matches. The second option is to go ahead and pick a stadium to be their national stadium which would probably be the Bernabéu since it hosted the 1962 Euro Cup Final and the 1982 World Cup Final. We know the Camp Nou would never get it and can’t imagine the reaction of the Madridistas if the national stadium was located in Catalan country. The problem is would Real Madrid throw a fit if the final would feature Barcelona in it? RFEF doesn’t need more headaches so it won’t happen. Estadio de La Cartuja in Sevilla probably could be a worthy candidate as a Cup Final venue since it’s not being used but its capacity of slightly over 57,000 would not make it a suitable venue. La Cartuja would allow over 28,000 fans from each of the finalist to witness the final which is not bad based on the average attendance of the Spanish league, which was over 29,000. However, if the finalists are from the big clubs, such as this year’s finalists, then that venue would be deemed too small.

Before I address the third option, it should be noted that FC Barcelona never rejected hosting the Copa final back in 2004. Guti tweeted that Barça pulled the same stunt back then but El País and Marca have come out and said it never happened.  The story that Barça didn’t want Real Madrid playing in their stadium is false. All the semi-finalists back then decided that Espanyol’s old stadium, Montjuic, should be the venue for the final.

So that leaves us with the third option, and that is picking the venue a year in advance. You don’t see the NFL waiting till the last minute to decide where the next Super Bowl will be. You already know where the next UEFA Champions League final will be this year and next year. Munich will be hosting it this year and Wembley will be hosting it again next year. Sadly, we all know the RFEF is going to do nothing. They are going to just sit back and pretend that this never happened and go on with to portray the “mañana attitude” that continues to plague Spanish football. One has to cringe when we see how the Premier League gets things done in terms of disciplinary action; TV revenue; scheduling; and marketability while RFEF is content just not care. Villar was just re-elected as FA president but don’t expect any changes anytime soon.

One Title Lost But Two More Left.

Barça’s loss over the weekend to Osasuna probably all but ended their hopes of winning their fourth consecutive league title. We can blame it on many things and complain as much as we want but, barring some unexpected collapse from Real Madrid, it’s time for the club and fans to focus on the two other cups and expect a cup double. However, there still some blame to pass around about how the league seemed lost in February and that’s aimed at Guardiola and all the way up to club President Sandro Rosell.

A 10 point gap is a lot to overcome although Real Madrid did squander a big lead back during Laporta’s first year as club president that saw Valencia win the league title. However, many, including myself cannot see Mourinho squandering that lead unless he rests his starters for the Champions League and as a result, somehow drop points. I suggested in my last blog that Pep had to rest his players by rotating them with the backups and Barça B players after Barça fell 7 points behind Real Madrid. Well, neither I nor others expected him to rest Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc from the starting lineup. Nevertheless, he did and on that cold freezing night, Barça tried hard but not overcome consecutive two goal leads.

Now many were upset by that decision but I thought it was a safe bet with Iniesta back from injury and Xavi and Cesc exhausted from playing in so many games. FourFourTwo’s Tim Stannard said it best in his column today,

"Wouldn’t Guardiola have received even more criticism had Iniesta and Xavi played for example and knackered themselves again, missing the Champions League games which Barcelona could then have lost?"

So the bottom line now is for the club to go ahead and capture the cup double by winning the Copa Del Rey and the club’s fifth Champions League title.

With Madridistas already celebrating the league title, the cup double would put a damper on their celebrations. What Mourinho will be accomplishing is a personal impressive statistic but Valdano, Capello and Schuster also won the league title managing Real Madrid. The thing is; they at least managed to defeat Barça on their way on claiming the league crown. Madrid will be coming to the Camp Nou in May, which coincidentally would be around the same time as the UEFA Champions League Semi-Finals. The best way to really dampen the mood over in the Spanish capital would be if both teams end up meeting in the Champions League Quarter-Finals with Barça yet again getting the best of Madrid.

That early elimination would leave Madrid with just league football to look forward to for the rest of the season while Barça continue their quest to win titles. Of course it still is disappointing to see the league be determined so early but it was inevitable. Many fans thought the club should have made more signings during the summer and the winter break. I am not a fan of buying players during the winter break but I think picking up some players on loan would have been a great idea during the winter transfer window. However, I blame Pep on relying too much on having a small squad. That works in seasons where the schedule is more relaxed than and not as condensed as seasons such as this year that because an upcoming international summer tournament.

In hindsight, perhaps signing the likes of Kanouté, Botía, and José Ángel along with Alexis and Cesc would have benefitted the club in the long run. But alas, Pep trusted his players a bit too much and didn’t expect tons of hamstring injuries. It’s February and we can already see players are suffering from playing in too many games. Being champions took a toll on their bodies with trips to Monaco, Japan along with friendlies in numerous countries over the summer. Hopefully Pep learned from this season and will plan better for next season in having a slightly deeper squad. Additionally, maybe it’s best if club president Sandro Rosell doesn’t plan any upcoming summer tours that will see the team fly halfway across the globe.

This upcoming summer will see half the squad participating in Euro 2012. Thus, any ideas from Rosell about traveling to North America or Asia as part of their summer preseason/tour should be scrapped. These players have been through a lot these first four seasons under Pep and deserve some rest this summer. How about participating in European summer tournaments such as the Amsterdam Tournament, Emirates Cup, or the Wembley cup while also participating in domestic tournaments such as Trofeo Naranja or the one cup Pep has yet to win, Copa Catalunya. As much as I would love to see Barça come back to America this summer, I believe it’s time for Rosell and the club to ignore the dollar signs and let the players rest and adjust to one time zone for at least one summer.

I might as well vent some more since I’m mentioning Rosell since part of the reason why the club has fallen back 10 points behind Real Madrid also falls on his shoulders. We can’t ignore the obvious in that Madrid’s tactics of intimidating the referees has worked to their advantage. I mentioned it before that we need instant replay since referees are missing the obvious calls while Madrid seem to be getting the benefit of the calls. 11 consecutive penalties awarded without any given against them? I am not saying they don’t deserve getting penalties. I am more upset at how the referees seem to swallow the whistle if there is call against Madrid. Madrid’s away form hasn’t been that impressive either as evidenced by their recent struggles against Mallorca and Getafe where they benefitted from some bad decisions.

Of course this is mere speculation but it’s not that difficult to see that Madrid gained a lot from going after the referees via the club, manager, media and the fans. Meanwhile, Mr. Rosell opted to play the nice guy. Maybe it was worth going forward and filing complaints with the league against Mourinho after eye gouging Tito Vilanova and against Pepe after what did to Messi. Instead, Rosell put his faith in the league and in return, the league walked over him like Pepe did when he stepped on Messi’s hand. Perhaps then the league would have finally grown a pair and came down on both clubs and made it easier on their referees to make calls without fear of repercussions or backlash from either club. Nice guys don’t fare well when they are in a dirty fight and Rosell is being nice to a club that is trying its best to destroy our club by any shady means necessary. Madrid’s Allegations of doping, allegations of gaining favors from referees, allegations of favoritism, along with dirty cheap shots on Barça players from the Merengues makes this a dirty fight that requires a club president to fight back and not rely on the better judgment of league and its officials.

The club resumes its quest to win their fifth Champions League title tomorrow.  Now, for those who are upset or doubt this team can win the Champions League because of their poor showing in the league. Let me give you this bit of sports trivia. When AC Milan became the last team to win back to back Champions Cup under Sacchi, they did so without ever winning the league title during those two seasons.  Even Real Madrid won their 8th Champions League title while finishing fifth in the league table. So it is possible for Barça to win another Champions League title and here’s hoping that Pep and the players bring back El Quinto so we can celebrate a special brand of Manita Champions League success along with another Copa Del Rey triumph in May.

The Double Standards of RFEF towards Barça is pathetic.

Another Clásico came and went and once again, we got to encounter another controversy regarding Mourinho’s Real Madrid. Everyone saw Pepe’s intentional act of stepping on Messi’s hand and although no swift action was taken, it was expected that the RFEF would use video evidence to go after Pepe. Unfortunately, RFEF failed to punish Pepe and he was back in the starting lineup. This was just another example of how the RFEF have double standards and quite frankly it is getting to be pathetic.

With Madridistas whining about Barça getting calls in their favor and calling for Villarato, this past week gave us another fine example of how it truly is Barça against Spanish football figureheads. The recent Copa Clásicos presented viewers a unique chance to see every angle imaginable thanks to the 28 cameras available at the Santiago Bernabéu. Well, we have all grown accustomed to the Madrid players’ dirty and pathetic cheap shots on Barça players, especially when they are down.  Nevertheless, it still surprised us all that Pepe intentionally stepped on Messi’s hand. He got away it on the pitch but we were certain that the RFEF would sure that he would get disciplined for that act.

Yet, there was Pepe starting in the starting lineup in yesterday’s game. The RFEF opted not to lay a finger on a man who stepped on another player’s hands. How could this be? It was another obvious sign of double standards from the RFEF and a shining example of how inept they truly are. Their competitive neighbors, the Premier League, wasted no time in making sure Mario Balotelli would get suspended for his actions on Sunday. Replays showed Balotelli stamping on Scott Parker during Sunday’s league encounter between Manchester City and Tottenham. The FA charged him two days later with violent conduct and he is awaiting his punishment.

Meanwhile over in Spain, we all waited and waited yet nothing seemed to happen. No word on any action against Pepe came during the weekend. So we all expected a final decision to be made yesterday, on the day of the second leg. Unfortunately, the RFEF and its Competition Committee decided not to punish Pepe because there was no mention of Pepe’s incident in the referee’s report. The decision in not punishing Pepe was an insult to not just all Cules, but to all football fans across world.

However, Barça fans had to be aggrieved. How could they not punish Pepe? Why is it that the RFEF has different standards when it comes to punishing Barcelona players and punishing Real Madrid players? Back in the 1999-2000 season, the RFEF had no problem punishing Barça player Patrick Kluivert for punching Rayo Vallecano’s Cota by banning him for five matches. That was a league match and the incident was missed by the officials but caught by the cameras. So why was Kluivert banned while Pepe walked?

Speaking of Pepe; it was also ironic that the RFEF failed to punish him last season too for his Butifarra gestures after celebrating Ronaldo’s goal in the Copa Del Rey Final. When these two sides last met in the Copa Del Rey back in the 96-97 season, Brazilian striker Giovanni scored what turned out to be the game winning goal in Madrid. He is famously remembered by Barça fans for celebrating that goal with his Butifarra gestures in front of the Madrid crowd. However, the RFEF was not too pleased and he was banned for two games. Now fast-forward to last season’s Copa Del Rey Final. Pepe committed the same act and yet, he escaped punishment from the RFEF. Even UEFA punished former Barça player Mark van Bommel with a fine a few years ago when he committed the same gesture after scoring against Real Madrid in the Bernabéu for Bayern Munich.

 

Yet, the RFEF and its Competition Committee failed to punish Pepe twice now when they punished Barça player for similar conduct and actions in the past. Madrid may cry Villarato as much as they want, but the RFEF’s cowardly decision not to punish Pepe at all just shows that perhaps the Spanish capital club is the club that is getting the favors after all. We know he won't get punished for attempting to step on Dani Alves too yesterday.