The Craziness Begins

Round 24 of La Liga was played this weekend and it seems as though we have entered bizarro world. The environment right now reminds me of the days after Barça defeated Madrid at Nou Camp 2-0 where somebody that didn’t have idea about the classification would have thought that Madrid had already won the title. Right now that is the atmosphere in Spain; but the only difference is that right now Madrid has arguments valid for being that way because they have been adding 3 points every weekend whereas Barça have given away a couple of them. This is the situation: 3 weeks ago Barça was 12 points away from Madrid; today they are only 7.

The Crap-o-meter is activated: this imaginary device symbolizes what Barcelona fans are about. If after losing against Numancia on the first round somebody would have said to us that today, February 22nd, we would be with an advantage of seven points we would have been more than happy. However, now everybody doubts of this team, of the coach and everything. This team has shown that in attitude alone it can win matches that are key for winning any championship. So what would put an end to all these fears and worries? Winning in France against Lyon and in Madrid against Atletico next weekend; right now starts the key part of the season. It is believed that La Liga is won in the last 10 rounds and that is, to certain extends, true. But Pep doesn’t want to wait until the last 10 rounds. The idea is to enter them with the at least 10 points of difference.

Injuries and Ref doesn’t help. Yesterday we lost Abidal for at least 2 months due to an injury. During the week we also lost Iniesta but in his case is nothing that bad and he will be out for only 15 days. In fact, I’m almost sure that he will be ready before and will play against Atletico the next weekend. Right now all we can do is pray that Injuries finally respect us a little bit. Until now there hasn’t been many but one can only hope that we don’t see them again. Since 2005 we have seen Edmilson, Messi, Xavi, Motta, Larsson, Eto’o, and Iniesta missing big chunks of the seasons. Let’s hope Abidal is the last one to suffer one of these big curses. Add to that the fact that we have incompetent referees nowadays that try to be the highlight of the game. One referee was even suspended for 3 rounds after he clearly benefited Madrid against Osasuna. Yesterday, the referee did something that you never do as a ref; he listened to the petitions of one team and shows a straight red card that was worth of only a yellow. He conditioned the game and in the end he made everything easy for Espanyol to win at Nou Camp after 27 years.

Eto’o has matured. We all remember that shameful episode at Villafranca in 2007 when he publicly criticized Rijkaard and Ronaldinho after a misunderstanding. That time everybody questioned his professionalism after he drop such a bomb to the media who just couldn’t be happier after getting that many controversies in such a short period of time. We all doubted that he would change or he would stay. However, Eto’o has finally grown up as a person and thinks before he talks. This year he’s been very prudent with the media and what he says. In the last couple of weeks there was a lot of talk about his future and many in the media believed that he would be leaving the team after this season. To add more wood to the fire he said in an interview that he knew his future already but would not say anything to anybody. The media, hungry for controversy, dedicated the whole week to comment on this and making up all these theories about where he was leaving etc. But yesterday Samu was very mature and revealed his plans so the speculations would stop. He also asked the media to please comment on things about the game and leave the rest (rumours) to the end of the season. A tip of my hat to you Samu