“Asi, asi, asi gana Madrid!” is a throwback phrase of “That's how Madrid wins” alluding to the belief in the Franco years that Real Madrid could always count on an intimidated official granting them penalty shots to ensure a win or avoid a loss. It gained popularity in the 1960’s and may or may not have represented the truth, but did reflect the sentiment of a large portion of Spain. It was hard not to think of this phrase during this past El Clásico after Madrid was granted a penalty when Dani Alves tackled Marcelo in the box while getting the ball and Barcelona was not awarded a penalty when David Villa was taken down by Iker Casillas in box while not getting the ball. Asi, asi, asi gana Madrid? I think not. That’s more a relic of the past and, more practically speaking, an official and his linesmen can’t see everything…unless they have reviews for goals, penalties, and red cards, but I’m not going there in this piece.
Although Mourinho had nothing to say before the match, snubbing the media and thus making himself some more unnecessary enemies, he had plenty to say afterwards about the officiating not being ‘consistent’ and thus being sick and tired of having to face FC Barçalona with 10 men. He is correct in that Alves should have received a second yellow for his tackle on Marcelo since it was in the box, but on the other hand, Villa should have been awarded a penalty on the aforementioned collision with Casillas.
Mourinho needs to be more concerned about his choice of using systematic fouling as part of his strategy. I have watched every (yes every) Madrid game in La Liga this season and the level of fouling that occurred in El Clásico has been rare this season for Los Blancos. I believe they were instructed by Mourinho to foul whenever they lost possession and in other circumstances and that this fouling was well coordinated. This sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it felt as if you were watching Spain and the Netherlands in the World Cup finals again with so much fouling by Madrid particularly in the 2nd half. Every time Madrid lost possession it seemed a Barça player was pulled down somewhere off the ball. Barça played a bunch of their counterattacks essentially a man down. The number of uncalled fouls off the ball was staggering. The officials couldn’t keep up.
If Mourinho wants Madrid to play with 11 players, don’t systematically foul.
The Madrid players before the game looked uncomfortable in their warm-ups, at least in my eyes, and that would be natural for an El Clásico. But something looked a bit off…uneasy. My guess is that they were not comfortable knowing that they would be called upon to systematically foul. A player had to be worried about getting caught if forced to foul. In my mind’s eye, the feeling was that in the Karate Kid when the Cobra Kai sensei instructs pupil John (Johnny) Lawrence to use the ‘frontal sweep’, a tactic against the rules, on Daniel LaRusso. At first, Johnny looks at his sensei with a look of frustration as if he thinks he can win without it and finally with a look of guilt knowing what he is being forced to do to win: break the rules or what some people would call (dramatic pause)…cheat. This was the look I saw on faces of Madrid’s players before the game. Or maybe, I just watch too much of The Karate Kid?
Is systematic fouling a form of cheating or sign of cleverness? Probably both. Fouling is against the rules and it gains an advantage. An official also can’t call every single one of them or too many games will finish with less than 11 players. People like to use phrases like anti-football, defensive, or counter-attacking to disguise the fact that their team systematically fouls. Cheating is a word not used often with systematic fouling as if it was another C-word. The shame in this is that you can use physicality to intimidate a team without fouling. Just outmuscle them. It’s not like Barça are a team of juggernauts. You would have to catch them though. Is fouling the only way to catch them? Madrid is fast. They should be able to do it. Fouling as a strategy most importantly undermines your team’s confidence. It sends a message to players that they are not believed in.
Being forced to foul is being told you are good enough to win within the rules.
Wow, I constructed a mighty high soapbox there. It needed to be said though because as was pointed out by WFD Regular and Deity of South American Soccer Knowledge, Tim Vickery, systematic fouling is probably the worst blight in football today. It saps all the joy, beauty, and fun out of the game.
But, Barça weren’t angels either.
To be fair, Barça had their fair share of rough-housing and low moments as well. The boiling point was Lionel Messi kicking the ball full strength at point blank range into the crowd. This looked like a sign of frustration taken out on the Madrid faithful. A shower of garbage was then thrown onto and near the part of the pitch from where Messi had kicked the ball. Such a powerful boot of the ball was not necessary. I feel bad, but obliged to mention this incident because in postgame write-ups, it didn’t seem to be mentioned. I’m sorry, but Messi losing his cool is front page news to me. This may have been the most morbo-filled moment of the game.
So where does this leave us in our four El Clásicos? Mourinho may have shown too many of his cards with Pepe in the midfield and the defensive foul-laden strategy he employed. However, this strategy worked well. It kept Barça from gaining momentum and a psychological advantage. Barça must now feel beatable to the Madrid players. The only caveat is that officials will be on heightened alert for fouls. But, maybe that piece of the plan will disappear for a game or two and then reemerge at the Camp Nou in the return leg of the Champions League with Madrid defending a lead? That would be exciting. So what will happen next at La Mestalla on Wednesday for the final of the Copa del Ray? I think we’ll see the same sort of game minus the amount of fouls. Then again, more of the same would bring the game to penalty shots.
Some other things did happen in La Liga. My favorite moment of the week was Getafe’s Miku goal celebration where he took the corner flag and parodied talking into it like a microphone while the press in the corner jammed microphones his way at the same time. Clever indeed. Here’s what happened with a comment-filled table and comment-filled top scorer’s list.
Scores
Getafe 1-0 Sevilla | Miku (76')
Málaga 3-0 Mallorca | Sebastián Fernández (26'), Júlio Baptista (40') & (57')
Almeria 0-3 Valencia | Soldado (51'), Stankevicius (67'), Alba (81')
Real Madrid 1-1 Barcelona | Lionel Messi (p53'), Cristiano Ronaldo (p82')
Levante 2-1 Hercules | Estrada (5'), Juanlu (43'), Trezeguet (82')
Deportivo 2-0 Racing | Lassad Nouioui (45'), Xisco (49')
Real Sociedad 2-1 Sporting Gijon | Griezmann (32') & (79'), de las Cuevas (69')
Osasuna 1-2 Athletic Bilbao | Kike Sola (51'), Llorente (69'), Munianin (90')
Espanyol 2-2 Atlético | Koke (2'), Osvaldo (38') & (58'), Sergio Agüero (49')
Villarreal vs. R Zaragoza | Monday night game.
Table
1. Barcelona (85) The draw in El Clásico felt like a loss.
2. Real Madrid (77) The draw in El Clásico probably insured 2nd place.
3. Valencia (63) On fantastic run of form after being ousted from UCL.
4. Villarreal (54) Should bounce back on Monday hosting Real Zaragoza.
5. Athletic (48) Could they catch Villarreal? Nawh. Hmm?
6. Sevilla (46) Getafe loss means no UCL next year & Europa League battle instead.
7. Atlético (46) In the fight for a Europa League spot.
8. Espanyol (45) Osvaldo is back! Can the slipping stop?
9. Levante (42) They still astound me. Win ensured La Liga next year.
10. Mallorca (39) Was loss at Málaga cruise control? Only 6 points from relegation.
11. Sporting (38) Real Sociedad simply needed it more this week.
12. R Sociedad (38) Big win over Gijon gets them closer to safety.
13. Deportivo (38) Vital win over Racing this week. Same as above for Sociedad.
14. Getafe (37) Unexpected and critical win given the tightness in relegation battle.
15. Racing (37) The loss to Deportivo saw them leap-frogged.
16. Osasuna (35) This week’s loss to Bilbao was expected. Not relegation-bound.
17. R Zaragoza (33) Need Monday night win at Villarreal, but won’t.
18. Málaga (33) Big win. Will Júlio Baptista’s return propel them out of relegation?
19. Hercules (30) Trezeguet scores and they lose. The season’s theme.
20. Almeria (26) They ran ads asking for supporters help. It won’t be enough.
Top 20 Goals Scored
Being a nerdy stat guy, I’ve found these types of lists handy if they are some side notes. So, here is the top 20 scorers in La Liga this year.
1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) Best player in the world. (30)
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) Pichichi is coin flip tween him and Messi. (29)
3. David Villa (Barcelona) Spain’s #9, but Barca’s 2nd leading scorer. (17)
4. Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao) The giant “Lion King” can do it all. (16)
5. Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal) Villarreal will sell him for a king’s ransom. (15)
6. Sergio Agüero (Atlético Madrid) Recent form coincided with Atlético’s rise. (14)
7. Roberto Soldado (Valencia) Seven goals in last 3 games. Yikes! (13)
7. Pedro (Barcelona) He runs everywhere including to the bathroom. (13)
9. Álvaro Negredo (Sevilla FC) Double digit goals the past four years. (12)
9. Rondon (Málaga) Great 1st season in top flight for the 21 year Venezuelan. (12)
11. Nilmar (Villarreal) Injury slowed the Brazilian’s trajectory off 20 goals. (11)
11. Felipe Caicedo (Levante) 22 Year Ecuadorian flourishing in 1st full season. (11)
11. David Trezeguet (Hercules) Aging all-time great from Juventus & France (11)
14. Luis Fabiano (Sevilla FC) Playing in Brazil now for Sao Paulo. (10)
14. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) After a slow start, has proved valuable. (10)
14. Osvaldo (Espanyol) The Argentine had career turn-around season. (10)
17. Frederic Kanouté (Sevilla FC) Tall ‘King Kanouté’is best as a set-up man. (9)
17. Aritz Aduriz (Valencia) Reliable journeyman striker. (9)
17. Manu (Getafe) Speedy winger/striker that scores about 9 goals a year. (9)
17. Diego Castro (Sporting Gijon) Crafty left winger. (9)
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.
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