Maria Alyssa Blogs?

Around 2003, the young and then slightly unknown Cristiano Ronaldo had a try-out at Arsenal before Sir Alex Ferguson took notice of him (SAF noticed him after his then club Sporting Lisbon defeated Manchester United by 3-1 and the Red Devils’ players was so impressed by Cristiano that they urged SAF to sign him up to them) and around that time too, Cristiano was offered by his agent to FC Barcelona but in the end, obviously, he ended up in Manchester United because Barcelona couldn’t top Manchester’s offer after already spending a lot of money to other players. While Lionel Messi, despite already in the youth academy of Barcelona, his agent with the suggestion of his father to sell Messi to another club because he felt that his son wasn’t or will not earn huge amount of money if he stayed in Barcelona. So the young Messi was offered in Real Madrid but the treacherous move did not happen, probably Messi doesn’t want to anyway, but also because Florentino Perez (as the president of Real Madrid first time around) believes investing in big names namely, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo, who speaking of, was from Barcelona and caused a lot of criticism from moving so Perez also felt that getting the then unknown yet talented Messi might cause another huge conflict with Barcelona.

This week, there will be two Clasicos and I wonder, what if those events happened the opposite and Ronaldo is Barca’s star while Messi a Madridista? Just wondering.

footyblog:

If UEFA sanction Iker Casillas and don’t sanction any of the Barcelona players, then everything Jose Mourinho said about the organization will be the truth. So then, ironically, they’ll be penalizing Mourinho and Iker, both of whom did nothing wrong while a Barcelona player called Marcelo a fucking monkey and their players rolled around like Oscar winning actors. It’s pathetic to me. Absolutely pathetic. My team was so respectful and professional throughout all of this and THEY ARE ALREADY ELIMINATED SO ALL THAT’S COMING OUT OF THIS IS MORE UNDESERVED DRAMA. Wow, I am so upset right now it’s not even remotely funny.

Maria-Alyssa: El Clasico is over, semi-finals is over, Finals will soon be over but the DRAMA continues.

(Source: missoldbooty, via iker-casillas)

Just this morning as a habit, I am checking new posts here in Tumblr and one post got my attention. It is a photo of a news paper article titled: “The World’s Greatest Whiners” with a caption “amen” posted/ reblogged by Boomshakalaka-

I was curious which newspaper printed that article so I searched it in Google. And look at the results that showed up! So far it has 222,000s in 0.37 seconds.

There are a lot of websites and blogs to choose. But I don’t have to search for it any longer, the first link in Google was the one that I am looking for. The newspaper which printed that article was Wall Street Journal written by Jonathan Clegg and Matthew Futterman.

The first paragraph says:

Even if you can’t tell one European soccer club from another, it’s not difficult to see what’s exceptional about FC Barcelona. This team plays with a dizzying combination of talent and artistry that you don’t have to be a soccer snob to recognize.

And it gets more thrilling when you keep reading. This phrase from their second paragraph is my… Let’s just say favorite because it is unforgeable:

Not only that, they also categorized the Barca player’s methods:

 

The problem stems from the comportment of its players lately, which falls into three distinct subcategories:

1) The sort of crying, whining and petulant foot-stomping one might expect from a toddler.

2) Frequent appeals to a righteous God to be spared persecution by infidel referees.

3) A tendency to react to any impact with opposing players by writhing around like Desdemona on her deathbed in the final act of Verdi’s Otello.

This crescendo of complaining, which dominated headlines across Europe last week after Barca’s 2-0 win over Madrid, seems to be part of a calculated campaign to get better calls—or to speed the process of getting opposing players tossed. Some observers say it has conveniently come at a time when Barca’s potent offense has slowed a bit and the team has become increasingly dependent on scoring from free kicks and set plays.

I agree so much to their phrase saying: “flopping, diving and pressuring officials have long been an integral part of the culture of the world’s favorite sport.” Because after I watched the very first football match I’ve seen, ever since then I always see those things and it’s pissing me off. I think I learn to curse in English through watching football. As young as 7 or 8 years old, I already shout “Sh**!” or “Bullsh**!” when I’m piss off.

Also in the article there are comments from respectable people in Football like:

Giorgio Chinaglia (Former football striker from Italy):

But Barca may be the first team to employ this strategy so effectively that it could win a European club championship. “It’s this attitude of ‘We’re the best in the world, so how dare you take us on,’ ” said Giorgio Chinaglia, the former Italian star whose country for years set the standard for on-field theatrics. “Alves is the one who should have been sent off. You’re a professional soccer player. What are you doing going down like that?”

And Harry Redknapp (current manager of Tottenham Hotspur, the London club that made it to the UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals): 

said Barcelona’s theatrics and its habit of mobbing the referee with a posse of players waving imaginary cards and exaggerating the impact of tackles, has grown tiresome. “Every time a decision was made, there were 10 players around the referee trying to get someone sent off,” Redknapp said of last week’s match against Madrid. “It’s not the way you play football.”

It is also mentioned in the article that FC Barcelona Spokesman did not respond to a request for comment Monday. (O-oh! We all know silence means “yes”) After a week’s match Gerard Pique said his team deserved to win followed by Xavi’s infamous words everytime they loose to a match that makes every fans of other clubs (like the Gunners and Madristas) “”We were the only team that wants to play football.”

The last phrase that I agree on in the article.

Wall Street Journal is an American English-Language international daily newspaper. Actually one of the world’s largest newspaper. It has a circulation of 2.1 million copies (including 400,000 online paid subscriptions), as of March 2010 compared to it’s rivals like USA Today and London-based Financial Times. To be featured in this newspaper negatively is very embarrassing and will surely damage your reputation big time. That’s why today, here in Tumblr, also in my Facebook and Twitter accounts I posted my realization, which is: “It’s better to loose than win without your dignity.”

To read the full article “The World’s Greatest Whiners” in Wall Street Journal Online click here.

*Articles and photos aren’t mine. Sources are mentioned and linked.

umakoo:

It wasn’t the dream ending that many of us Madridistas had hoped for. But it wasn’t a catastrophe: Real Madrid drew 1-1 at the Nou Camp in the second leg of the Champions League, a result that allowed Barcelona to advance to the final against Manchester United.

While the aggregate score of the two legs favored Barca, 3-1, there is a lot more than that to take away from this tie: for Madrid, there is a sense of injustice, and in my mind, a vindication of Mourinho’s strategy. Had los blancos escaped the Barnabéu with a 0-0 draw—which looked like the correct result after 60 minutes of play (that is, until CDM/CB Pepe was unjustly ejected)—today’s 1-1 draw would have seen them through to the final.

But we’re not here to talk about last week’s game: we rehashed that in our last post, and don’t feel like reliving it. Today’s game was much more indicative of where these two teams stand—when the cards are on the metaphorical table, and when Madrid manages to finally end a match with 11 men on the pitch, these two teams are very very even. Despite the possession and shot statistics (Barcelona dominated both), the final score, the thing that counts, was 1-1. Madrid defended well, protected the goal, and executed one perfect, lethal, counter-attack.

While there was some controversy today, especially when referee Fran De Bleeckere unfairly disallowed a fair goal by Higuaín for a non-existant “foul” (and by that I mean Cristiano Ronaldo getting tripped and accidentally clipping Mascherano’s back heel with his back), this isn’t what we should take away from the match. What we as Madridistas should see is a team that knows how to fight, a team that can play with this so highly-lauded and FIFA-beloved Barcelona team.

So as we approach the tail end of our season, there are a lot of things to be happy about, and a lot of things to be hopeful about. We can be happy that this young, exciting team has begun to gel; that Kaká is finally looking like the player we wanted to see all along; that Karim Benzema has had such a good year; that Mesut Özil and Angel di María may have been some of the best signings the front office has made in years; that Mourinho motivated this team to fight in every match; and that the youngest team in the league fought tooth and nail with the best Barcelona side of all time, and won the Copa del Rey.

Sure, we can feel angry that this tie was heavily influenced by the referees, that Dani Alves should get nominated for Best Supporting Actor, that out of the five games Madrid has played against Barcelona, they ended the game with 11 men only once. But that’s not the point. This is the time of year for reflection, for looking to the positives, and to the things we need to improve.

In the coming days I’ll do a piece or two on the season as a whole, and probably on what talent we should bring in in the off season. For now, let’s all take a moment to reflect on this season, to see the good with the bad, where we went right next to where we went wrong. And let’s look to the future with excitement and hope for this young team.

(http://www.managingmadrid.blogspot.com/)

nadazmeili:

yangyx:

 

This is all exaggerating the topic to the rule

(via realwindy)

chillingandshit:

So tomorrow’s match, i am not even sure it will be classified as one after the 90 minutes are over, but more than anything i hope that a football match is all we end up getting (and i hope it is not one sided). It is what we as fans deserve and what the entire football community hopes for, and IMO Real madrid and Barcelona are probably the only two teams in the entire world right that can provide just that.

So this week has been a tumoltuous one for Mourinho and Real Madrid club. Straight after the match all anyone was talking about was Mou’s press conference, the less than exemplary display of “fair play” by barcelona players throughout the match and ofcourse the refereeing. For the majority the balance seemed to be swinging Reals way, a lot of people complained about Pepe’s red card and the influence it had on the match.

Today however it seems like the balance is back to swinging Barcas way (one day prior to the return game!) coaches/players blaming Mourinho’s defensive tactics for Real losing the match and condoning his antics in his press conference. On the latter i guess it depends on whether or not his conference was well within the limits of freedom of speech or if he did in some way cross a limit. As for his tactics it seems like the criticism is highly dependant on the final result of the match; nobody seemed to complain about the exact same tactics when RM ended up winning the Copa del Rey (or managed a draw in the liga matchup with on man down). I honestly don’t think anyone would have had anything to say about Mourinho’s defensive tactics had both teams managed to finish the game with 11 players and the final result was anything but what we got. As i said in my analysis of Wedensday’s match Barcelona’s ball possession may have earned them a win, but their football display was not at its best and they certainly did not deserve a win with a two goal difference. I think Di Stefano said it best when he said that Pepe’s sending off was unjust and had the ripple effect of giving Messi the space he needed to, well “be Messi”.

People are claiming that Mourinho is planning on ditching his trivote and is going to play with a much more attacking formation for tomorrow’s clash; if it is so i think CR7 and Di Maria are a given, who ever joins them is anyones guess right now. Following his comments after Wednesdays match about hating when his team plays a much more defensive role, Cristiano has no other option but to deliver. IMO the most disappointing player in all of the RM-Barca clashes played so far has been CR7, and if the reason for that was Mou’s defensive tactics then technically he has to be at his best tomorrow assuming the team goes back to the more customary 4-2-3-1 formation.

I personally don’t know how i feel about going the possible change in Madrids tactics for tomorrow, i mean this was the formation we used when we lost 5-0 at the Camp Nou back in November so it doesn’t exactly bring back good memories (and Barca have done nothing but grow as a team ever since). Whereas the trivote has allowed us to draw a match, win another one and lose one but with a man down and with a 2-0 final result; so all in all the trivote has brought us much better results against Barcelona. Having said that RM are yet to try the 4-2-3-1 formation against Barcelona ever since, and back then we were a recently formed team and hadn’t played with each other for a long time so i guess as hard as that loss was it was understandable. However to go through that again tomorrow well lets just say that will be nothing less than a fckn disaster.

Finally i have got to ask is Mourinho really tainting the image of Real Madrid? He is an amazing coach but do his off-pitch antics really ruin what the club stands for? I mean i haven’t been really involved in the culture that is RM to know so maybe someone out there who has been a Madridista for much longer can reply!!

“I’m worried about the quarrels between my players during these clasicos, which I hope don’t find their way into my locker room,” Del Bosque is quoted as saying in Wednesday’s Marca newspaper. “Good relations inside the locker room are the basis for our future success.”

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foreveryoungandreckless:

ifuckingloverealmadrid:

HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKERS WERE GONNE GET OUR REVENGE.

(Source: kirkimegastar, via drunken-duckie)

footballkicksass:

umakoo:

But it’s not like we’re innocent…

and the winner of this years academy award for best actor goes to sergio busquets!

I didn’t knew the Catalans are these talented! They’re not only footballers, but they are also divers and actors! :)

(via drunken-duckie)

realcristianoholic:

L’Equipe: “The biggest mistake in the game was Pepe’s send-off”

Realmadrid.com

The world press coincides in deeming the red card Pepe saw against Barcelona as unfair and decisive in the outcome of the game.

Pete Jenson, The Independent (UK)
“Pepe was shown a red card for a challenge on Dani Alves after the break with the theatrical reaction to the foul ensuring the card was red and not yellow, as it should have been.”

Daily Mirror (UK)
“Real defender Pepe went on 62 minutes for a studs-up challenge on Dani Alves. It was a yellow card at worst. But the Barcelona players surrounded Stark like a pack of wolves to demand action. The official panicked and produced red.”

Jacopo Gerna, Gazzeta dello Sport (Italy)
“Harsh send-off. Without Pepe’s questionable red card on the 61-minute mark the match couldn’t have ended the way it did.”

L’Equipe (France)
“In a match plagued by errors and confrontations, the most noteworthy was Pepe’s send-off.”

Marca (Spain)
“An excessive red card for Pepe left Real Madrid with ten men a fourth time against Barcelona.”

AS (Spain)
“Stark’s mistake was to call a red card when it should have been yellow, but his greatest sin was to deprive us of football.”

El Mundo (Spain)
“Once again, Real Madrid ended the match with ten men against Barcelona following Pepe’s challenge on Alves, interpreted by the referee as violent when a yellow card would have probably sufficed.”

ABC (Spain)
“Stark arrived and made a mess of things by booking Pepe with a red card when it should have been yellow at worst. He killed the tie with one blow. He destroyed Real Madrid and gave wings to a Barcelona side that had begun to give way.”

La Gaceta (Spain)
“Germany’s worst referee unfairly sent Pepe off and killed the semifinals.”

El Pais (Spain)
“Pepe tackled Alves on the right leg. The red card could have been yellow, but referee Wolfgang Stark sent the Madridista off.”

(Source: realmadrid.com, via ricardoizecson)