FC Barcelona News: 28th January 2012: Cuenca to sign extension, Xavi attacks Real Madrid

“Xavi is a manager in the making” — If you haven’t guessed it, I think the exact thing, which is why I’m considerably harsher on him than if, say, Messi said something like this.

The problem—wrong word, I know—with this generation of Barcelona players (and, for that matter, Real Madrid players, too) is that they’ve grown up in an era where the rivalry is not only larger than the actual game itself but that it’s pitted as good vs. evil, a moral contest between opponents who think they are always suffering injustices in both defeat and victory. Particularly for the Blaugrana, it’s seen as battle of playing football the “right way,” which is not to say that Guardiola isn’t a devotee of Cruyff’s football theology but that he’s less seduced by its “moral flavor” because he’s been around it so long.

I’m totally without about the Lass foul (although, in all fairness, the referee was compelled by perhaps a similar restraint with Messi’s foul on Alonso in the December fixture) and I think something has to be discussed because referee’s are swallowing their whistle and cards (again, how is not a straight red card when a team is deliberately fouling Messi like this — we could also argue that with two defenders to beat Messi has more of a “goal-scoring” opportunity denies than Ronaldo being fouled with just a goalie to beat — haha) because they actually don’t want Mourinho’s narrative to continue.