In the aftermath of the Real Madrid vs Barcelona Champions League Semi-Final, much debate about the antics of Barcelona players has been aired from the media and by Real Madrid themselves. However, do Mourinho’s side really have the right to complain?
The Spanish club have gone so far as to display a video on their official website, compiling incidents during the match which suggest Barcelona cheated during the match.
The video show Pedro and Busquets both clutching their face after fairly innocuous challenges from Arbeloa and Marcello respectively, while the real focal point is the incident which led to Pepe’s sending off.
According to Madrid the video provides ‘proof’ that Pepe’s challenge didn’t touch Alves, who tumbled to the ground and was stretchered off the field before eventually jumping to his feet and rejoining play.
Pedro’s antics during the match particularly infuriated me. When I see replays of Alves going to ground and rolling around for a couple of minutes it sickens me. He clearly wasn’t injured, he was hardly even touched and Pepe should have only received a yellow card.
While there were many incidents in the match of playacting and simulation, the fact Real Madrid are complaining about such antics is laughable.
They have two men who love a tumble, being Marcello and Ronaldo, and you could also argue that most of the free kicks won by Di Maria on the right hand side against Alves were equally akin to simulation.
The real lesson from the match was how not to play football.
Yes, Barcelona attack and play attractive football, yet the conduct of their players (and Real Madrid’s) was an absolute disgrace.
More concerning than the simulation for me was the way players rushed out of position to surround the referee during the break-up of play. It’s ugly, it’s unnecessary, and it gives the game a bad name.
For a player to harass the referee to take action in the shape of cards is unsporting and embarrassing. Hand waving is the lowest a player can fall and one of the greatest and most respected defenders of the last 10 years, Carlos Puyol, was the biggest culprit.
However, can Real Madrid and Mourinho really complain about such tactics? Mourinho is the man who took Porto to Champions League glory with similar antics, while at Chelsea he brought in players such as Drogba and Robben.
Further more, his favourite Inter player was no more than Marco Materrazi, one of the dirtiest players to exist.
Meanwhile his current playing roster includes Ronaldo, Marcello and Di Maria.
So while there is cause for Real Madrid to feel aggrieved about the actions of Barcelona players, they are probably the last side, and Mourinho the last manager, who deserve to complain so vehemently and publicly.
Barcelona gave as good as they got in my eyes, which just so happened to be a disgraceful disciplinary and unsporting performance.
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