It was the kind of comment that gets La Liga Loca quite cross. Arms folded, feet stamping cross.
It was the kind of comment that drags the reputation of supposedly the best league in the world through the mud, into a sewer, over a bush, across Charlie SheenâÂÂs bedspread and back into the mud again.
It was the kind of comment that should see Pep Guardiola made to sit in a corner until the end of the season and think very, very, very hard about whatâÂÂs he done.
No, Pep didnâÂÂt get his revenge for José MourinhoâÂÂs Super Copa eye-poke by hitting Aitor Karanka over the head with a tennis racquet, nor declare independence for Catalonia. Instead, the Barça manager dared...DARED!...to suggest there were more important things going in the world than the seventh Clásico of 2011, a match which may or may not have significant bearing on this seasonâÂÂs title race.
Ahead of BarcelonaâÂÂs Champions League clash with BATE, the disrespectful Barça boss insulted âÂÂthe most important game of the century (honestly we mean it this time)â by claiming that what really mattered in the world was going on elsewhere. In somewhere called âÂÂEuropeâÂÂ. And involving a global economic collapse. âÂÂWhat happens on the ninth of December and Merkel and Sakorzy saving the Euro, not the Clásico,â mocked the coach, who should have his bench-sitting license taken away, if indeed one is required in the first place.
Pep probably thinks famine and war are more important than football too, the weirdo...
In doing so, Guardiola made light of all the brilliant observations being written in Spain ahead of the game. Observations such as the claims made by AS that the referee for SaturdayâÂÂs game, Fernandez Borbalán, hates Madrid and loves Barça, as demonstrated by a red card he didnâÂÂt give to Dani Alves in a match against Racing in the 2008/09 season. Or by missing a handball by a Barça player which halted an Esteban Granero shot last season.
The kind of observation that sees Marca reporting that MourinhoâÂÂs master plan is headed by the notion of Real Madrid not conceding a goal in the game - or at least not the first one. The kind of observation that sees the Barcelona press resorting to âÂÂCome on! WeâÂÂre nicer than Real Madrid! Much nicer! Look! Unicef! MessiâÂÂs hair!â as their justification for their claims of an imminent Dream Boys victory at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The kind of insight that sees ValenciaâÂÂs rather important match against Chelsea on Tuesday pushed into second or third place - something that the blog is now also guilty of. Curse you, Pep!
The Mestalla men have travelled to London with the mission of either beating Chelsea or getting a score draw to get through to the knock-out stages and save all kinds of hassle for Unai Emery from the clubâÂÂs misery-guts, moaning fans. For this reason, LLL was willing to overlook the Valencia coachâÂÂs claim that âÂÂthis is a finalâ when it isnâÂÂt on the grounds that one of the two teams on Tuesday will be going out of the competition. Probably. LLL is still too irate to look at the Group E table (good guess - ed).
Should Valencia be the ones sent packing, then Emery noted that âÂÂthe economic side is important but whatâÂÂs essential is the feelings of the fans,â - i.e âÂÂtheyâÂÂll be on my frackinâ back from now until May.âÂÂ
But LLL doesnâÂÂt think it will come to that and fancies Valencia to pick up a handy scoring draw, especially when the form of Roberto Soldado is taken into account, a player who may be doing the thumb and index finger 'loser' gesture to Fernando Torres at the end of the night. It would be another shameful moment for Spanish football of course, but no worse than the disgrace that Pep Guardiola has already brought to the game this week.
