Barcelona stars Gerard Pique and Xavi aren't hiding their feelings when it comes to Real Madrid and its coach Jose Mourinho.
In the aftermath of Wednesday's SuperCopa second leg, Mourinho took a lot of heat from Barcelona players for his tactics and actions during a melee following a harsh challenge by Madrid fullback Marcelo. Mourinho himself got involved by going after Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova's face.
"Mourinho is destroying Spanish football," Pique said according to the Associated Press.
Added Xavi: "Real Madrid should be concerned about the image it is giving, it's very damaging. Marcelo's tackle has no place in football. Totally shameless, a real shame for football in general this image generated by Real Madrid."
Here are a few more stories from around the soccer world:
RONALDINHO RECALLED BY BRAZIL
As it turns out, Ronaldinhno's international career isn't through after all.
The former World Player of the Year was called into Brazil's national team by coach Mano Menezes for a friendly against Ghana on Sept. 5 in London.
Ronaldinho, who has resurrected his club career with a strong showing at Flamengo, last played for Brazil last Novemeber, but he was excluded from the 2010 World Cup and 2011 Copa America squads.
CHELSEA LOSES CECH
Chelsea will be without starting goalkeeper Peter Cech for up to a month after he suffered a knee ligament injury in training.
The Blues will turn to either Ross Turnbull or Hilario to stem the tide while Cech recovers. They face West Brom in their home opener this weekend.
ETO'O MOVE HITS SNAG
Talks between Inter Milan and Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala over a transfer for Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o have hit a snag.
It appeared the clubs were set for Eto'o to make the unusual yet lucrative move, but reports suggest that it might not be such a certainty any more, although talks between the two clubs will continue. Anzhi reportedly offered a €25 million transfer fee to Inter on top of a three-year deal with €15 million per season to Eto'o.
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What do you think of the comments on Mourinho? Is he good or bad for the Spanish game? Happy to see Ronaldinho back with Brazil? How do you see Chelsea faring without Cech? Can you see Eto'o playing in Russia?
Share your thoughts below.
Yeah, that’s exactly what Barca players do in their free time- f**k their kittens, because that’s the only thing small enough to feel on their tiny d***s. That’s thuggery, isn’t it? Underage bes****ity?
I agree with you. But saying that FIFA needs to do something is funny- remember France Ireland for the ‘last WC spot’? that Ireland had already clinched? Yeah. Corrupt. Not going to fix anything. I say that a completely new organization should be built from scratch, with no single person in power. UEFA is obviously corrupt- No way anyone can say that Barca have not been favored by UEFA for the past 3 years running. Handball against Chelsea? Red card vs/ Arsenal? Higuain disallowed goal? And those are only the 3 biggest ones. Either that, or there needs to be a new, revamped referee system implemented. Allow the use of replay for fouls where cards are shown, and pk’s. We have the technology and financial resources to weed out these bad decisions, but for some reason they are against it. Saying it will no longer be football. But what is football? Is is a game where the players allowed to cheat? Or is it a game that players should abide by the rules, and play fairly? It’s grown worse since Messi has become very popular, the Jordan rule is dwarfed by the Messi Rule now. It’s even worse than the Rooney Rule in England, because with Messi, it is international. I honestly do not like Messi, he is a tremendous player with no passion for the game, only winning. He cares little for how he wins, just that he wins, an attitude that has been adopted by Barca as a whole. It is somewhat different from Real’s win at all costs mentality, as Real will use any footballing tactic possible to win, whereas Barca will use any tactic possible to win. If you can’t tell the difference between the two, it means that barca will not hesitate to use the ref to win, whereas Real will not hesitate to foul you to win. Thing is, fouls are part of the game, have been since it started, but playing the ref is something that is new and should be punished. It’s appalling to see Barca players putting their hands on the ref, spitting into his face, and not getting anything for it. The rules clearly state that if you go out of your way and touch the ref, it’s an automatic yellow card. Any sort of threatening or intimidating gesture, which the ref has the right to decide, is an automatic red. It’s, to use Xavi’s words, ‘pathetic’. I have never seen a team as bad as this Barca in terms of playing the ref, they are a master of every aspect in the game- positive and negative.
Completely agree with you, and for those of you saying the way Barca act about fouls is what every team does is wrong. What other team cleared their benches for a foul? What other team flocks all 10 players around the ref after every foul? What other team fakes injuries after a foul to get the player a card? None that I can think of. Were Real more physical than need be? Yes, but then leave it to the referee to judge if they over step their boundaries, and don’t try to influence him. Play the game, not the refs. If the ref decides it’s not worthy of a card, it’s not, and as a player, it’s shameful and pathetic to try to sway his decision.
And while Mourinho was classless, what was so wrong about Marcelo’s tackle that everyone is bashing him now? He’s getting more hate than Martin Taylor and Ryan Shawcross, and his tackle was no where near as bad. Yes, it was deserving of at least the second yellow, I didn’t get a good angle on the tackle(TV), so I can’t comment on whether the red was deserved or not. And Messi getting ‘kicked’? Karma. Remember Friedrich? How he got away with that is mind boggling. Besides, watching the replays, it was only a graze, no where near the full stomp by Messi. It’s amazing how Messi gets away with infinitely more than anyone else in the world; from here on out, I’d like to suggest changing the name of the Jordan Rule to the Messi Rule. I honestly hope that no one is blind enough to contest that Messi gets away with things. Such as time wasting.
When people point out Barça’s diving, they always go back to Busquets vs Inter.
When you talk about Pepe being a rough player, you don’t always go back to the time when he kicked that Getafe player on the back. You can count multiple incidents where tries to break people in half.
Marcelo, not so much but he got two memorable moments on Wednesday.
Villa didn’t slap Ozil. Valdes did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB2O7iH9bVE
And here is the whole fight with some close-ups…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI7VYGUKL5E
In the Champions League 2 seasons back. Busquets faked an entire slap to the face by motta. he rolled on the ground and then looked up from his “injury” to see motta get a red card. Pathetic.