When Cristiano Ronaldo scored his wonder-thwack against Osasuna on
Saturday and revealed a shapely thigh, it was enough to send Josep María
Casanovas off the edge, with the Sport writer claiming on Monday
that this was yet more evidence of the moral superiority of Leo Messi
over what he considers to be a comparitively vulgar Portuguese prole.
“He couldn’t think of any other celebration than to lift up his shorts
leg, show off the muscle and tell his team-mates: ‘what a great leg I
have, it’s a cannon’”.
In actual fact, Ronaldo was making a
private joke with Madrid’s back-up keeper Antonio Adán, who had mocked
the forward for only working on his upper body in the gym, but why let a
wee fact get in the way of another body blow in the endless Clásico
wars.
This led LLL to think that surely the culé crazies had bigger
fish to fry this week, and sure enough by Tuesday morning Casanovas was
finally focussed on a matter considerably more important than Ronaldo’s
manly thighs - AC Milan coming to the Camp Nou in the second leg of
their Champions League semi-final.
The writer continues a
theme in the Catalan capital ahead of the game, that the Milan meeting
is a final that isn’t a final but in actual fact is a final. “It’s the
most important match of the season. Spectacle won’t be enough, no other
result that a win for Barça will do.” The paper is once again calling
for the fans to play their part in the match - usually a definite sign
of panic - by clapping occasionally and making making the odd whoop of
encouragement. “With this support, with this team, today we’ll go to the
semis!” yells the cheerleading front cover.
There are few outward signs of nerves, with Francesc Aguilar over at Mundo Deportivo
getting rather excited about a “night of champions, superstars, some of
those of Barça who are the best in the world and will want to confirm
this.”
This bravado designed to ease the bone-clattering of the
culé collective expresses genuine nail-biting stress that this is a
clash where Barcelona may not win out and that it will be the dastardly
Italians and their defensive ways going through to the semi-finals.
Barça battle through as Mourinho rubbishes rumours
Whenever supporters of Real Madrid and Barcelona whine, bleat and stomp
their feet about how they are so, so, so hard done by when it comes to
referees, La Liga Loca always reminds such complainants of the notion of
'swings and roundabouts' in football and how everything tends to even
itself up at the end of the season.
But the philosophy came into play in Barcelona’s double header with AC
Milan. Alexis Sanchez was denied a decent penalty shout in the first
leg, but the Catalan club got a favourable decision in the second.
Alessandro Nesta’s naughty tug on Sergio Busquets, a player who doesn’t
need much encouragement to go to ground, was spotted by the referee, who
(eventually) pointed to the spot.
The happy-go-lucky Zlatan Ibrahimovic was not impressed. “I now know
what Mourinho meant about coming to the Camp Nou” the Swede grumbled.
Meanwhile, the Madrid manager’s ‘spokesman’ Eladio Paramés tweeted
“after the first 45 minutes we now know who is going to win the
Champions League.”
LLL says simply "them’s the breaks."
“Barcelona are officially the best team of the 21st century. Three
titles and five consecutive semi-finals show this,” boasts Lluís
Mascaró, who is already looking forward to a Clásico-themed final and
what could be a major, major back pedal should Barcelona eventually come
out second best. “The winner of this ‘mother of all finals’ would be
the ‘champion of champions’. The loser would suffer a difficult to
overcome sporting and psychological reverse.”
The may be a
distinct lack of similar tension in Wednesday night’s Champions League
clash between Real Madrid and APOEL, with the Spanish side 3-0 up from
the first leg and hosting their Cypriot rivals in the Santiago Bernabeu,
where the home team only tend to lose to sides rhyming with
‘Carcelona’.
Valencia are on the brink of oblivion, with poor Unai Emery facing a
game in an angry Mestalla against AZ Alkmaar, who have a 2-1 lead from
the first leg. Meanwhile, European heroes Athletic Bilbao will be
defending a 4-2 advantage in San Mamés against Schalke, with Marca predicting a giant tribute from the home fans for the former Real Madrid man, Raúl. LLL has a feeling that this may be a dream that won’t be coming true.
MTM> Btw, Valencia only won 3 in their last 18! games. And are visiting the Santiago Bernabeu on the weekend. G'luck with that.
Re: Spanish La Liga Thread
