An essential part of my weekend is to watch Barcelona on Sky Sports against whoever they are playing. It may well be the ultimate glory hunting on my behalf, but I couldn’t care less. Unlike much of the dross that Rupert Murdoch’s near monopoly sports channels present in the Premier League, Barcelona nearly always provide world class football from world class footballers. And yesterday, the football was as good as, if not better, than any football I had ever seen. But not everyone is happy.
After a close first half against a highly competitive Celta Vigo, Barcelona switched on the afterburners following the break and were irresistible. The front three, Suarez, Neymar and Messi are a joy to watch. Behind them, Iniesta remains at the peak of his powers, Busquets is the finest pivot in world football and in the enduring Alves and Alba they have two of the best attacking full backs on the planet. They could not get near Messi and it was the little man who caused the controversy late on when Barca were awarded a penalty. Messi ran up to take it only to flick the ball to his right, whereupon Suarez dashed in and tucked the ball past a started Celta keeper. It was a selfless gesture by Messi because although it would have been his 300th goal in La Liga, it gave Suarez his hat trick and how he deserved it.
But today I read that what Messi and Suarez did was ‘disrespectful’. I simply can’t see that. They broke no laws of the game, they did absolutely nothing wrong and they still scored a goal. If two players in your team did that, you’d be cheering them to the rafters, marvelling at their respective brass necks, confidence and brilliance. Barca boss Luis Enrique at first stood up as Messi tapped the ball to right, not smiling at all, wondering, like we all were, what the little man was doing. Then, as Suarez side-footed the ball home, he too was smiling and shaking his head in disbelief. The manager obviously wasn’t in on it.
Are we all such stuffed shirts that we cannot allow for the occasionally outrageous, the inspired and the spontaneous? That’s been a huge issue in English football for years, rejecting the artists and loving the hod-carriers. The likes of Stan Bowles, Tony Currie, Alan Hudson, Matt Le Tissier and even Glenn Hoddle, not always trusted by England managers because they were thought to be an extravagance. Much better to have someone who will run all day, give ‘110%’ (how do you do that?) and stop the opposition playing. The players I name above could all play but they were regarded by the hard men of the day as ‘fanny merchants’, luxury players.
Messi’s cheeky pass to Suarez was breathtakingly exciting. No one cheated, it didn’t affect the result of the game and no one died. It was in the free spirit of the game and it happened because the greatest player of this generation had the confidence and ability to do it. Disrespectful it wasn’t and in the context of a game where Barcelona were playing near a peak even they have rarely reached it was perfect.
