FC Barcelona News: 12 February 2012; Players Make No Excuses After Loss, Mascherano and Alves Suspended For Valencia Game
by Bostjan Cernensek on Feb 12, 2012 1:43 PM CET
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Barca dealt title blow at Osasuna - Yahoo! Eurosport
Barcelona's defence of their La Liga title appears to be in its death throes following a 3-2 loss to Osasuna in Pamplona. The reigning champions' dismal away form - with just four wins in 11 away from Camp Nou - has hindered their league campaign all season and Real Madrid will now open up a likely insurmountable 10-point lead if they defeat Levante at home on Sunday.
Players take responsibility for the loss, refuse to make excuses | FC Barcelona
Goalkeeper, Victor Valdes talked about the difficulty of cutting into Madrid’s possible 10 point lead, but he also said that the team will fight until the end. "Being realistic, it will be very difficult. We didn’t perform today and the Liga just got a bit more complicated. It’s not definitive but it is more difficult," he said.
Guardiola: "It's a painful loss" | FC Barcelona
After losing to Osasuna, Pep Guardiola said that "distancing ourselves from Madrid is painful ... the reality is that we were already at an important distance and I imagine it will increase [tomorrow]." However, this team never gives up and neither does its coach. "We have to keep on going until the end," said Guardiola, "we don’t really have many perspectives to work from, we can only play the next game as best we can to do well."
Mascherano sent off inside tunnel following Barcelona's defeat to Osasuna - Goal.com
Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano was sent off in the tunnel following a heated confrontation with the referee after his side's 3-2 loss to Osasuna on Saturday. Romero also added in his post-match report that coach Pep Guardiola was penalised on the grounds of protesting in the latter stages of the encounter.
Barcelona's Iniesta defiant after 'painful loss' to Osasuna - Goal.com
"It’s a painful loss," the Spain international confessed to his club's official website after the match. "We reacted [in the second half] but it wasn’t enough. "We have to keep on fighting until the end [but] now we have to prepare for the Champions League match."
Real Madrid's Carvalho and Khedira return to the squad for game against Levante - Goal.com
Real Madrid's Sami Khedira and Ricardo Carvalho have been included in Jose Mourinho's 20-man squad to face Levante on Sunday. Angel Di Maria and Marcelo are still nursing injuries and did not make the cut and will join Hamit Altintop and Lassana Diarra on the sidelines.
Late Betis strike beats Bilbao - Yahoo! Eurosport
Athletic Bilbao missed the chance to move into a Champions League place in La Liga when losing Javi Martinez to a red card and being defeated 2-1 at Real Betis.M arcelo Bielsa's side had won seven of their previous nine games in all competitions, including a Copa del Rey tie against Mirandes in midweek that secured them a final date with Barcelona, but were outplayed by a Betis side battling against relegation.
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...and Levante score v Madrid
Why am I not surprised?
And why am I not even happy?
by Sebanovic on Feb 12, 2012 9:42 PM CET via mobile reply actions
Called it.
Iborra is sent off, Real win a penalty, Ronaldo scores. 11v10. Game over. Feel like I’ve read this script before…
by Sebanovic on Feb 12, 2012 10:21 PM CET via mobile up reply actions
In the Classicos? Maybe.
But Barcelona has never had the level of “red card treatment” that Madrid has gotten this year against smaller opponents. Not that it really matters, as Madrid fully deserve to win the league regardless.
by Jeremy Seyfried Clemmons on Feb 13, 2012 1:29 AM CET up reply actions
I couldn’t tell you about you guys getting “red card treatment” because I don’t watch all of your matches….but i’m pretty sure you can hop on youtube and you can watch all the help Barca get. I mean when was the last time a Cule saw a red card?
by MychalShannon1 on Feb 13, 2012 5:57 AM CET up reply actions
...
Not too many off barca’s players are known to kick their opponents…especially when they’re down…
Anyway doesn’t matter cause in the end we havent played to expectations..so don’t deserve the league..that said..if the refs were consistent..or atleast weren’t totally blind..the table would show different…
Nonetheless,congratulations to Madrid and ill leave it at that
Follow me on Twitter @InderMethil
by Inder Methil on Feb 13, 2012 7:29 AM CET up reply actions
sigh.....
Listen I can go back to when Busquets went in high on Xabi Alonso twice in one game and no card was given….or when Messi tried to pick a fight with Coentrao in the Supercopa….Both of our clubs are guilty of wrong doing so don’t act like Barcelona have a team full of saints.
Refs make mistakes and as many calls that go our way also go against us. When our team under performs we look for someone to blame and Refs are always an easy target….We did it last year and you guy’s are doing it this year. Which was the original point I was trying to make.
I’m entering into Troll territory so i’m gonna cut off my point here.
by MychalShannon1 on Feb 13, 2012 8:04 AM CET up reply actions
agreed but thats the thing aint it?
this is a Barca based blog, this is where we vent…and just like I or any other Cule isnt welcome to MM to try and reason with people there stating something supporting barca.
fact is difference of opinion….Sure there could be instances of busquets doing something but in my Barca biased mind it is beyond my ability to comprehend how a madrid fan can state that barca are just as violent as madrid…impossible to say….
then the next argument you and im sure most of the club’s fans will bring up the diving….well in my mind and all Barca’s fans would agree…that diving although bad is not a counter argument to violence…worse…diving in the clasico’s is a reaction to the diving….and now there are madrid players who dive and try to break legs…
but yes, you are entering troll territory but thats just a perspective aint it? i am right cause i write this message here on BB…on MM id be the troll:)…
these arguments go on and on…one will never agree with the other…but then i dont/wont go to MM and state things that you guys dont want to hear…works both ways eh?
Follow me on Twitter @InderMethil
by Inder Methil on Feb 13, 2012 9:30 AM CET up reply actions
I nominate this comment to win something!
by Sebanovic on Feb 13, 2012 1:11 PM CET via mobile up reply actions
heheheh
thank you, thank you no applause please;) fake humility long ass speech thanking everyone including my dog:)
Follow me on Twitter @InderMethil
by Inder Methil on Feb 13, 2012 1:38 PM CET up reply actions
Great African cup final.
Zambia put up a brave performance, well done to them.
by meadow on Feb 13, 2012 12:21 AM CET via mobile reply actions
Agreed. Very exciting match and shootout
Congrats to Zambia
by Sebanovic on Feb 13, 2012 1:39 AM CET via mobile up reply actions
Barca gets more cards for "talking" then for playing dirty
If you want to address referee issue, just do what Mou does, after the match during a press conference create conspiracy theories, UFO’s affecting their performance or some other scifi nuisance. But please, keep your feelings to yourself when ref is around and can hear you
It doesn’t get on the match report because it is AFTER the match, and he can’t be penalized for that reason
loll...
would be interesting if someone did that just once…if the RFEF takes retrospective action against that player, then its confirmation that there are double standards for Barca and Madrid… if not…then people will get the message: “In Spain, people can talk/threaten referees after matches and nothing will be done” thus undermining the RFEF and referees and forcing them to get strict on everybody and hopefully follow in the footsteps of the English FA.
It would definitely be an interesting experiment….and hopefully, refs from Spain will start feeling the pressure to improve their performances rather than screwing up consistently on a weekly basis….consistency being the main point…
Follow me on Twitter @InderMethil
by Inder Methil on Feb 13, 2012 4:35 AM CET up reply actions
To be completely fair...
I’ve been a barca fan for a really long time but this years team just doesn’t cut it for me. I know R.M are a physical opponent but that is what this sport is all about. However, I will say that it is not about what Pepe did to Messi. Furthermore both RM and Barca are huge divers which is just embarrassing to see. Although this is sad to say we are probably the biggest divers in Spain. Its disappointing to see this type of culture in our team. Alexis Sanchez was such a respectable player last year in Series A but now when I see him dive in Barca uniform I am ashamed. This is not the type of culture we need in our team. We don’t want to sink to the levels of our opponents. We want to rise above them. In Europe we are seen as cheats and all of our titles have been marked with unfairness.
In respect to Mourinho, I feel most of his complaints are actually legit. Some aren’t but most are. Like last year’s CL when he talked about the cards that were given to teams that play Barca and what happened with Chelsea and Arsenal. Those games were fishy and something was going on that goes beyond here. Its sad to see those clips on youtube. The conspiracy theories Mourinho comes up with have evidence to back them up and its blind not to see that some our titles are biased and unfairly won.
Fair, but...
I agree that all the incidents that Mou raised were legit, but just like Arsene Wenger commented later on, the moment he believes there’s corruption at such grand scale as conspiring to get one designated team to win UCL, he would quit football. My theory is that all favorable incidents are equally distributed among teams of more or less equal calibre, and so are all unfavorable ones.
We can argue that Barca was treated unfairly in the semi-final against Inter in 2010: first we were forced to take a long and exhausting bus ride to play Inter as scheduled due to the Iceland volcano eruption, which clearly cost us in the second half. Second, Yaya Toure’s magnificient goal late in the second leg was incorrectly ruled out due to hand ball. Had the goal been allowed, or Bojan could head in the simple ball from close range, Mou would have complained about our fans not allowing them to sleep at night, and that the referree was complicit in Busi’s embellishments. With Inter eventually won the UCL, by Mou’s conspiracy argument, I could say that their title was tainted, but not many people would buy that because Inter put up a brilliant display and people usually don’t see favorable treatments towards the underdogs as unfair but those towards the favorite are.
All that said, I don’t believe our players are saints and I don’t want them to be, nor do I want the fans or the management to paint them to be. It’s just limiting the options we can choose. Already we have a high profile as the best team on earth, we don’t need to seize any moral high ground to get people to expect us to play nicely. The dilemma arises when the other team realizes that only violence will stop us and it actually works with the referee’s tacit approval. You can see the evolution of this tactics from the first Clasico last season (the little hand) to the third (Copa’s final). When losing with bitterness from being kicked all over is not the answer, I would choose the lesser of the two crimes to respond: embellishment over violence, since violence against violence is not only ugly but it can spill over to the fans, which is the ugliest thing that football can offer.
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