Where do we start? Fingers can be pointed all over the place regarding the most contentious match in memory. You knew the game was doing to be ugly from Pep Guardiola’s expletive-laced pregame press conference response to José Mourinho’s sarcastic jab that Guardiola whines when officials make correct calls. Having failed to breakdown Real Madrid in two matches, Guardiola looked like he had lost the plot. Usually the epitome of class and dignity in the public eye, this seemed his unraveling. His moment of madness. Not so…

Was Pep Guardiola playing Hamlet?

Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with too much Shakespeare in this column. All you need to know is that in the play, Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius. Although Hamlet suffers from genuine madness in the play, he also feigns madness in order to execute his vengeful plot. If we examine Guardiola’s remarks we see that he was acutely hurt by Mourinho’s mind games, tactics, antics, press manipulation, and particularly how Mourinho refers to Guardiola in public because they worked together from 1996-2000 while Pep was a player and Mourinho was an assistant coach. The uncle and nephew analogy is not that far off. Pep felt he has deserved more (at least some) respect form Mourinho the past few years.

Is this Barca vs. Madrid or Guardiola vs. Mourinho?

It is an absolute shame that these Clásicos are more about Mourinho and Guardiola than about Real Madrid and Barcelona. Two weeks ago, I wrote about how I believed that Mourinho used systematic fouling as a major component of their strategy to stop Barca in El Clásico Act I. Well, what comes around, goes around, right? Not only do I think Guardiola decided to add a dash of fouling to Barca’s plan, but also simulation, surrounding officials, and taking ticky-tacky to a literal form of keep-away. Sergio Busquets, Pedro and Dani Alves all go down easy, but doing down holding their heads on any collision was taking acting to another level.

But, can you blame Barcelona for going to the ground, head in hands?

If you are going to get fouled every time you beat your opponent “fair and square” what are you left to do? Further, simulation would infuriate Mourinho and thus Madrid. And it did. This brings us back to our Hamlet acting analogy. The video that Real Madrid released on their website about Pedro and Busquets going down, writhing in pain, holding their heads that weren’t hit, misses the point that they WERE fouled.

So which is the worse crime, simulation or incessant fouling?

The right answer is neither. If you have one, you are going to have the other. When you have a ton of both, you better surround the officials or you are going to miss out on any calls. Hence, we have the mess we witnessed Wednesday night. Mourinho said Madrid practiced with 10 men because someone would get sent off. Why not have a game plan that would ensure you’re players stay on the field. Fouling is conceding your adversary is better than you. The true shame in it, is both Real Madrid and Barcelona did not do this the majority of each of their seasons this year.

What about all that ticky-tacky?

Something was awry when the camera panned the players during the Champions League anthem. Busquets was grinning cheek to cheek. He was to be the center piece of a ticky-tacky game designed to frustrate and enrage Madrid. It was comical how many passes he exchanged back and forth the Barca’s backline. It was almost like a recess keep away game with a stooge in the middle, only Ronaldo is not a stooge. Most of the first half was pretty much a possession training session. Was this fun to watch? No. It was downright annoying to a fan of the game. Was it necessary and effective? Yes. I wondered why they didn’t do it the first two Clásicos when Madrid was content to sit back and not build much creatively. The oles  were merited as a strategy and reaction to Madrid in the first two matches and they worked in opening up the game.

Is Lionel Messi better than Ronaldo?

After his game, this is beyond a shadow of a doubt. The second goal slicing through a handful of defenders is an all time great. Remarkably, Messi has overtaken Josep Samitier as the #3 scorer at Barcelona only behind Ladislao Kubala (194) and Cesar Rodriguez (235). Messi is only 23 years old. This is staggering. Messi’s goals were two of a few redeeming aspects of the game.

Is Barcelona involved in a conspiracy with UEFA to win the Champions League?

I couldn’t believe that Mourinho and Ronaldo brought this up after the game. Simply put as before, if you want 11 players the whole game, don’t have them go out and foul like fighters from a Cobra Kai dojo. Did Mourinho forget that his Intermilan got through the semi’s in the Champions League last year due to a controversial offside call? Mourinho can dish it out, but can’t take it on the chin. Not only is he ruining his own creditability, but he is doing the same with Madrid. As of the this writing, Madrid is being investigated on five accounts related to UEFA Disciplinary Regulations for throwing of missiles, a pitch invasion, Pepe’s red card, José Mourinho’s dismissal, and Mourinho’s statements to the media after the game, while Barca’s José Pinto’s is being investigated for fighting at half time.

Did Pep Guardiola rub it in by subbing in Sergi Roberto with a minute to go?

Don’t know who is Sergi Roberto? Don’t worry, you shouldn’t. The youngster from Barca’s youth academy has only played 25 minutes in the cup against Ceuta. On the surface, this was a statement that Barcelona develops its own players compared to Florentino Perez’s Madrid buying them. Barca started seven players that were developed at La Masia, Victor Valdés, Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Busquets, Xavi, Pedro, and Messi. And four of their seven substitutes came the same route, Jeffrén Suárez, Thiago ,Antonio Fontás, and Roberto. Roberto’s substitution, however, meant something deeper between Guardiola and Mourinho. Roberto’s entrance in the game was a message to Mourinho that he was once part of the Barca family and never will be again. Roberto’s youth and innocence could not be more contrary to Mourinho’s Machavellian mind games

Stephen Kuzner is a Baltimore-based Blogger for WorldFootballDaily.com who specializes in La Liga. You can reach him on Facebook at facebook.com/BarcaBlogger or Twitter at @twitter.com/BarcaBlogger.