Barca and Atletico are both worthy of winning La Liga
article by Graham Hunter for ESPNFC
http://www.espnfc.com/blog/_/name/la...d/1869?cc=5739
They say that by the end of the season, the league table never lies. But in Spain it appears as if it might be about to be guilty of a wee fib.
My guess is that should Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid on Saturday afternoon at the Camp Nou, there will be very few outside Catalunya who will be happy to say firmly: "Barça deserve to be champions."
In fact, I suspect that as a backlash to all the praise lavished on Barça under Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova, there would be a general outbreak of sneering and damning with faint praise around the world if the reigning champions defend their crown. Even within the hardcore Blaugrana support I suspect there will be a large percentage happy to celebrate a win, but nevertheless convinced that this is their least "deserved" title since ... well, when?
Of course this whole concept must be false.
Barça can only win the league by beating Atletico. Nothing else will suffice. If they achieve that then the two sides will have won, drawn and lost the identical number of games but Barcelona will have outscored Atletico, will have a superior goal difference and will have won on Spain's "head-to-head" rule due to a draw at the Calderon and a victory on home turf.
They will deserve to be champions. Absolutely no question about that. But where will the merit lie? And which club would be the more meritorious winner?
It's there that the answer changes.
During the aforementioned "golden" age of Barcelona football, when Guardiola's and Vilanova's teams rampaged across Spanish and European football, the media garlanding their greatness meant that some football fans assumed, falsely, that those in the media who praised them must be Barça fans -- Culés with computers.
With the exception of some Catalan reporters, that idea was misguided. But now is the time for the difference between appreciative analysts and fans/players to become much more distinct.
AP Photo, Getty Images
Tata Martino's and Diego Simeone's sides are both worthy of the La Liga title, but only one of them can bring it home on Saturday.
For example, Andres Iniesta spoke passionately on Monday about what this title would mean to him and his fellow players. "We'd all be the happiest guys in the world if we could win it," said the 30-year-old, upon whom so much of the responsibility to open Atletico up will rest.
"If we win it we'll deserve to be champions. You bet we'd celebrate it. It's an almost unique opportunity to play a 'final' on the last day of the season, at home against the current league leaders. The fans will be 200 percent with us, and we are hungry to lift yet another league championship."
Iniesta's voice speaks for the players who, as he pointed out, have travelled the same miles as Madrid and Atletico, put in the same degree of effort in tricky away games, dragged tired bodies and minds through the grinder of this immensely testing season, have left Madrid behind and who can now vault Atleti with just one more home win.
With football being as tribal and territorial as it is, there may even be some Barcelona fans who'll actually enjoy this "Who'd have believed it?" title even more than the runaway championships -- if Tata Martino's side pull it off.
Who knows?
Those who hold a club's colours dear to their hearts must be allowed, and any objective analyst must beg to differ from the Camp Nou fans and players.
I confess that since the weird results of the last couple of Spanish jornadas -- which have seen Atletico drop five out of six points, Real Madrid seven out of nine and Barcelona blow two decent chances at victories that would have left them one point ahead of Atletico and only requiring a draw on Saturday -- I've been trying to figure out my nagging impression that Barcelona wouldn't "deserve" to be champions.
Which is where I believe the idea of "merit" is dominant.
Personally, I'm reconciled now to the idea that should Atletico droop and Lionel Messi, Iniesta et al. find an extra gear, then Barcelona will deserve their title. The numbers prove it, and the table doesn't lie.
But here's the argument that Los Colchoneros actually merit it. It's very rare now to see a club at which the manager, players and fans are in total harmony. Unified. Not only are there no squabbles about attitude, style of play, expenditure, wages, ticket prices or effort -- they are an entire red and white army of supporters, footballers and coach pulling in precisely the same direction.
In my experience, I swear this gives every fan who buys a ticket about 1,000 times more value for his or her expenditure.
Evrim Aydin/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Atletico's unity and strength of spirit is to be admired in the modern era.
Last summer Atleti continued their recent trend of absolutely excellent transfer-market planning and execution. Given how Falcao is owned they had no say in his retention, but were ready with the promotion of Diego Costa, the hugely cheap purchase of David Villa and the strength to maintain the rest of the squad, including the on-loan Thibaut Courtois.
Oliver Torres needed game time -- they loaned him out to Villarreal and he got it. Leo Baptistao: ditto. Jose Sosa and Diego were added at Christmas -- each man has contributed important goals and assists.
Senior players have been renewed -- Raul Garcia, Diego Godin, Gabi, Costa, Koke, Oliver, Manquillo and Adrian -- while Atleti's judicious scouting means that when they've cashed their significant profit on Costa this summer (much though the striker would have preferred to stay!), they'll be able to reinvest healthily and bank some money.
They've been the model of how to research, forecast and apply a transfer-market philosophy. Merit.
In comparison, Barcelona have dithered and equivocated. Neymar is one hell of a talent but he wasn't the specific player required, and both his price and the operation to secure him have been beyond embarrassing.
Regardless of the fact that they'll soon announce they've repaired the damage, Barca manage to undermine and tick off their prize asset, Messi. Mismanagement of a monumental scale by the ex-president and his board. The club's transfer planners misjudged which positions needed reinforcing, which players needed replacing and how robust the club was to withstand a bit of bad luck with injuries.
That's planning. How about performance?
Take a look at Diego Simeone's squad. You could successfully argue that several players -- Costa, Arda, Gabi, Godin, Courtois, Filipe Luis, Miranda and Koke -- have never consistently played better football than this season.
Notwithstanding football's team ethic, it's vital that a coach can draw personal excellence and a commitment to self-improvement from his key players. Svengali Simeone has inspired this culture in his men. Merit again.
About which Barcelona player can the same be argued?
Jaime Reina/AFP/Getty Images
Despite a difficult season, Barca could win the league on Saturday. And if they do, they'd be as deserving as any other club.
My view was that Victor Valdés and Gerard Piqué were both producing seasons of high merit, and Sergio Busquets has vastly increased his level from last season. I also firmly believe that had Valdés and Piqué stayed fit, the Catalans would have had this title wrapped up already. Iniesta and Jordi Alba have given all they had. But would any of them, or the remainder of the squad, be performing at their very best? I'd say no.
What about manager versus manager?
Simeone has added value to the entire Spanish season. Following the Copa win last season his team earned back-to-back wins at the Bernabeu for just about the first time since since cars were invented -- and Atletico's first Liga win over Madrid since 1999.
His tactics, his substitutions, his man management and his public persona -- all of them would gain him A-plus marks if this were his end-of-season report card. Major merit. Though his work hasn't necessarily been perfection, given that his best XI and Barcelona's XI still show an imbalance of world-class talent in favour of the Blaugrana, there's evidence that he's dramatically outperformed Martino.
Barca's Argentinian produced a first half of the season which was meritorious and statistically bore comparison with the open half of most of Guardiola's and Vilanova's seasons.
He is an honest, articulate and likable man. To come to the last day of the season having been to the Champions League quarterfinal, the Copa del Rey final and with the Spanish Super Cup plus two Clasico wins and to have a chance of lifting the title could only be declared an outright failure by fanatics.
Where Martino has failed, however, is crucial and stands separately from the idiocy of the board.
Time and again he has misread games, particularly hostile games away from him, both in the build-up and during the match. Who to play, what tactics to employ, what formation to use, how to react to adversity, when and how to close a game off, which substitutions to make and when to make them -- in almost all of those categories he merits something like a B-minus.
At best.
Secondly -- and this is what is driving the board towards Luis Enrique -- there has not been a culture of intensity. I don't believe that anyone at FC Barcelona has "put their feet up" this season, giving half-measures and taking a comfort break from the battle.
Instead, Martino's reign has felt like the reverse of Sir Dave Brailsford and British cycling. Brailsford made effective the philosophy of incremental gain -- doing every single thing slightly better day in, day out; month in, month out. At Barcelona under Martino, it has felt like there have been minimal drop-offs in intensity with each passing week of 2014.
The defeats are a partial indication, but still more is the inability to make crisp, intelligent instantaneous decisions that break deadlocks and win games. This season, scoring machine Barcelona failed to hit the net in eight games and drew 0-0 five times.
Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
If this were a title fight, Atletico would be ahead on points, but it's anyone's game (and title) to win on Saturday.
Finally, there is distinction. Under Guardiola and Vilanova there was a distinct philosophy. They played a certain way and would defend that concept to the death. Winning was vital, but only winning with intelligence, flair, technique and the "right" way of playing brought satisfaction.
To lose is not, and never has been, a sin. It can be a source of learning, of renewal, a necessary alarm call. Where merit has been reduced this season is that the champions have lost games without learning, without renewing -- the equivalent of reaching for the snooze button rather than leaping out of bed.
Barcelona lost six and drew four of their last 23 games -- the period of the season in which Guardiola used to say that it's no longer OK to say "Well done, you did your best." He made it "obligatory" to win in March, April and May. That became a credo, not just a demand from on high.
Atleti? When they were thumped out of the Copa del Rey by Madrid in February, they responded with one defeat (Levante) in their next 20 matches.
There you have it. If this were a title fight going into the last round, I'd argue that the judges would have Atleti ahead on points. Both boxers on their feet and each having won their share of rounds, but the red and white corner having landed more scoring blows, shown better technique and taken fewer hits to the jaw.
However, football, like the fight game, allows for a knockout blow. Should Barcelona deliver it on Saturday afternoon, then having gone the distance, they'll "deserve" their title and the attendant celebrations. They'll deserve our respect.
But if this were a title fight the challenger would, unquestionably, "merit" an immediate rematch.
Seconds away. Round 38.
Week 38 , Fixtures (Final Weekend )
Sat , May 17 , 2014
12:30am IST Malaga v Levante
07:30pm IST Real Madrid v Espanyol , Live on Star Sports 1 & HD1
09:30pm IST Barcelona v Atletico Madrid , Live on Star Sports 1 & HD1
Sun , May 18 , 2014
01:30am IST Valencia v Celta Vigo , Live on Star Sports 1 & HD1
03:30pm IST Sociedad v Villarreal
09:30pm IST Almeria v Athletic Bilbao
09:30pm IST Osasuna v Betis
09:30pm IST Vallecano v Getafe
09:30pm IST Valladolid v Granada
Mon , May 19 , 2014
12:30am IST Sevilla v Elche
Atletico Madrid's record at Nou Camp in La Liga since 2007
Played 6
Won 0
Drawn 0
Lost 6
Scored 4
Conceded 26
Barca leads with an unstoppable strike from Alexis.
Atletico
kali nerathe thodangiyaaa... i thought 10.30 was the time.... damnnnnnnnnnnOriginally Posted by moovybuf
Barca leads with an unstoppable strike from Alexis.
Atletico
1-1 now...........
shit........
2nd halfil yevanmaaru boost kudichittu erangeennu thonnunnu............
Barca Oru Goal Adikoo!!
Is love just a never ending dream....?
Avaru Mudinja Kaliyanalo? SPECIaly
Secnd Half
Is love just a never ending dream....?
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