Like Pep Guardiola, LLL is taking a lie down, a deep breath and thanking our all-powerful lizard leaders that the fiesta of four Clásicos is over. ItâÂÂs been nearly three weeks of squabbles and suspensions, fouls and fakes, conspiracies and codswallop, with 11 minutes of semi-decent football over the four games thrown in as an extra Brucie bonus.
After the 1-1 draw that sends Barcelona through to the Champions League final, the scores on the doors are one win for Barcelona, one for Real Madrid, a couple of one-all draws and a group of international team-mates who for the foreseeable future may only be speaking to each other by passing notes or through third parties.
HOW IT HAPPENEDHow Tim and FFT covered it live
Those culés picking their way through the debris and damage in the downtown Catalan capital after an evening of rioting from Barça fans to buy their morning newspaper will have seen Mundo Deportivo answering José MourinhoâÂÂs question of why Barcelona seem to get all the breaks in football: âÂÂbecause Barça are better.âÂÂ
âÂÂIf [Madrid] are sincere, then they will admit that the team who won was the one that played more and played better,â noted Fernando Polo.
Over at Sport, LluÃÂs Mascaró was claiming that the semi-final clash was the âÂÂfinal battle between good and evilâ (although it's worth noting that Mascaró wrote the same about the Copa del Rey final but soon backtracked on his prediction once Barcelona had lost).
âÂÂIt was football against manipulation, excellence against lies, Guardiola against Mourinho, âÂÂla canteraâ against millions, humility against pride, skill against physicality, control against aggression,â continued Mascaró for much of WednesdayâÂÂs edition before having to put down his thesaurus with a big self-satisfied, Barcelona-fan sigh of smugness.
The Madridista media are largely blaming the referee for their teamâÂÂs inability to overturn a 2-0 deficit in the second leg that was the fault of the referee in the first game. In doing so they are collectively crying wolf more times than A-ha ever managed.
TuesdayâÂÂs latest UEFA-inspired slur against the good Madrid name was the Gonzalo HiguaÃÂn strike ruled out for a supposed foul on Javier Mascherano by Cristiano Ronaldo, who was in turn nudged by Gerard Piqué. âÂÂItâÂÂs OK Mou, itâÂÂs nothing personal, just business,â read the front page of AS with the paper claiming that the decision âÂÂlooked like an accidentâÂÂ.
Inside the AS editor admits that âÂÂof course Barça are good, very good. A good finalist... but I donâÂÂt like the way Madrid have been driven off the road. There hasnâÂÂt been equal competition.
The theory from AS is that UEFA want Barcelona in the final along with Manchester United because Michel Platini once criticised MadridâÂÂs rampant spending as not being a great way of doing business. âÂÂUEFA decided some time ago that Barça must win âÂÂyes or yesâ and that Madrid must be crushed,â wrote Tomás Roncero on Real Madrid, the poor, unloved, richest club in the world. âÂÂItâÂÂs one rule for Barça and one for the rest of the mortals.âÂÂ
Marca bark that âÂÂit was mission impossible,â but in the refereeing conspiracy rather than the tactical sense. âÂÂAnother bad decision frustrates MadridâÂÂs comeback,â complained the paper, echoing Iker CasillasâÂÂs post match comments that âÂÂthey robbed us here and there. They took away our final.â âÂÂAnyone who knows football knows Barcelona are protected,â sulked Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, WednesdayâÂÂs edition does manage to find some small solace in TuesdayâÂÂs result at the Camp Nou, with its editorial commenting that âÂÂBarcelona are Champions League finalists and itâÂÂs excellent news for Spanish football.â It then finishes off with a bit of a laugh to keep the punters happy for the next few days by boasting that âÂÂSpanish football enjoys enviable health and the fans can feel genuinely privileged.âÂÂ
After four matches that didnâÂÂt exactly set the world alight, itâÂÂs an opinion that may not find favour with much of the planet.
