La Liga Superthread 2016/17

inforfun

I so very much hope Sevilla can do the impossible and win that league.

zuutroy

A right side backbone of Sergi Roberto and Andre Gomes isn't good enough. Simple as that.

inforfun

Messi now shares Ronald Koeman's record of 25 scored direct free kicks.
And that 25th one last night came against a goal keeper who hadnt conceded from a direct free kick in his last 160 matches

sky88

im actually surprised its only 25

inforfun

More interested in the conversion rate they both have.

Koeman once mentioned after he left Barca and was taking free kicks at Feyenoord, that he got so many opportunities at Barca with Stoichkov, Laudrup and Romario up front, that his 1st free kick of match he would always smash into the wall in order to get the wall scared for the next one.

Andersonisgod

"Did you see that? Did you see that? Yes, you!" - Gerard Pique to La Liga President (and Real Madrid fan) Javier Tebas sitting in the stands. It's funny really, everything he says, his actions, his very demeanour are the essence of a proud, noble and confident Barcelona and the contrast between that of our starting centre back and that of our cowering and subservient board would be ridiculous if it were all not far too real.

The situation with officiating is reaching breaking point, as Balague said, both the fans and players of the club believe that they are the victims of unfair refereeing and that's now begun to spill into actions by the players on the pitch. Pique is the guy on the pitch defending the club, Bartomeu is a crook keeping quiet.

The_Kew_Tour

Poor Barca.

Never get a break

Bridge93

little to no sympathy for Barcelona after what they got from referees for years. That game at Stamford Bridge in particular was bearly believable at the time. What goes around comes around

Andersonisgod

Bridge93 wrote: »

little to no sympathy for Barcelona after what they got from referees for years. That game at Stamford Bridge in particular was bearly believable at the time. What goes around comes around

Corruption. Corruption goes around.

Bridge93

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Corruption. Corruption goes around.

Sure they're well versed in a bit of corruption themselves. I'm sure Santos feel so sorry for them

GavRedKing

I'd have no sympathy for Barcelona at all in terms of decisions given or not given.

Theyve got a far few "soft" calls throughout the years on the way to Domestic titles and European titles.

The game last night is the kind of game Real have been winning this year time and time again, play poorly, get away with it and scrape a victory by the odd goal, Barca arent doing that this year yet and they were pretty poor last night.

HalloweenJack

The massively unbalanced TV deal which allows them to compete on a world stage in no way makes up for those countless decisions that go against them and regularly costs them points here and there, meaning their 24 title wins should really have been won by greater margins. Of course, they never benefit from any refereeing decisions whatsoever. They've never been given a dodgy penalty never scored an offside goal, never got away with a booking or had the luck that a player on the other side was harshly booked.

When Catalonia finally gets independence, Barca will be at the forefront. By playing in a smaller league, free from the shackles of the LFP, the RFEF, their corrupt referees, their biggest rivals Real Madrid and the biggest match in the world, the mountainous piles of TV money and the UEFA coefficients that benefit teams playing in La Liga, Barcelona will truly become the greatest team in the world playing in a fair and transparent Catalan league against the likes of Espanyol, Gimnastic, Girona, Reus, L'Hospitalet and Barcelona B (why shouldn't Barcelona be allowed two teams after all?). Barcelona will have no problem whatsoever getting the same TV deals. Chinese kids will happily subsitute Espanyol for Real Madrid and Sabadell for Valencia. Barcelona won't need La Liga's coefficients to help them out those years that they come undone in the CL.

Barcelona don't need La Liga. La Liga should be grateful to have them in it and should show they appreciation accordingly by making sure all referees make 100% perfect decisions all of the time, unlike any other referees in the world. Any referee who makes the right decision 99% of the time is clearly a Madrid-supporting Francoist who is out to get Barca and should be let nowhere near Camp Nou.

Andersonisgod

HalloweenJack wrote: »

The massively unbalanced TV deal which allows them to compete on a world stage in no way makes up for those countless decisions that go against them and regularly costs them points here and there, meaning their 24 title wins should really have been won by greater margins. Of course, they never benefit from any refereeing decisions whatsoever. They've never been given a dodgy penalty never scored an offside goal, never got away with a booking or had the luck that a player on the other side was harshly booked.

When Catalonia finally gets independence, Barca will be at the forefront. By playing in a smaller league, free from the shackles of the LFP, the RFEF, their corrupt referees, their biggest rivals Real Madrid and the biggest match in the world, the mountainous piles of TV money and the UEFA coefficients that benefit teams playing in La Liga, Barcelona will truly become the greatest team in the world playing in a fair and transparent Catalan league against the likes of Espanyol, Gimnastic, Girona, Reus, L'Hospitalet and Barcelona B (why shouldn't Barcelona be allowed two teams after all?). Barcelona will have no problem whatsoever getting the same TV deals. Chinese kids will happily subsitute Espanyol for Real Madrid and Sabadell for Valencia. Barcelona won't need La Liga's coefficients to help them out those years that they come undone in the CL.

Barcelona don't need La Liga. La Liga should be grateful to have them in it and should show they appreciation accordingly by making sure all referees make 100% perfect decisions all of the time, unlike any other referees in the world. Any referee who makes the right decision 99% of the time is clearly a Madrid-supporting Francoist who is out to get Barca and should be let nowhere near Camp Nou.

So those closest to the situation are wrong and paranoid.

It's one thing saying the Barcelona fans are wrong and paranoid, another thing entirely when the players feel like the entire system is against them, another thing entirely when crowd violence against the players not only goes unpunished but the President of the league has the nerve to criticise the players, another thing entirely when the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that our centre back is shouting accusations into the stands at the league's President, another thing entirely shen our board is writing letters regarding the officiating their team is being confronted with, another thing entirely when the first team manager is openly questioning the very legitimacy of the league. There's no more ignoring it, the situation has come to a head. The same people denying that corruption in La Liga is impossible are the same people that said such things could never happen in Serie A with Juventus, the same people who said FIFA couldn't be rotten to the very core. Now, with Catalan independence at the top of the agenda, it's not a surprise that its the football club of Catalonia that's being attacked.

elefant

Andersonisgod wrote: »

So those closest to the situation are wrong and paranoid.

It's one thing saying the Barcelona fans are wrong and paranoid, another thing entirely when the players feel like the entire system is against them, another thing entirely when crowd violence against the players not only goes unpunished but the President of the league has the nerve to criticise the players, another thing entirely when the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that our centre back is shouting accusations into the stands at the league's President, another thing entirely shen our board is writing letters regarding the officiating their team is being confronted with, another thing entirely when the first team manager is openly questioning the very legitimacy of the league. There's no more ignoring it, the situation has come to a head. The same people denying that corruption in La Liga is impossible are the same people that said such things could never happen in Serie A with Juventus, the same people who said FIFA couldn't be rotten to the very core. Now, with Catalan independence at the top of the agenda, it's not a surprise that its the football club of Catalonia that's being attacked.

So nothing non-biased then?

Imagine how every other team in La Liga feels if you think Barcelona are getting a raw deal. This is all, frankly, very childish.

Andersonisgod

elefant wrote: »

So nothing non-biased then?

Imagine how every other team in La Liga feels if you think Barcelona are getting a raw deal. This is all, frankly, very childish.

The things I've just written aren't biased. I haven't spun them, imagined them are given them a Blaugrana tint. They are facts. They are things that have all happened. Can you name me any other club or group of players who've been so public in their feelings of being mistreated? Do you think that maybe, in a country where corruption is ripe and football is held so dearly, that these professional people might actually be onto something? Maybe they aren't just a lot of paranoid loons.

elefant

Andersonisgod wrote: »

The things I've just written aren't biased. I haven't spun them, imagined them are given them a Blaugrana tint. They are facts. They are things that have all happened. Can you name me any other club or group of players who've been so public in their feelings of being mistreated? Do you think that maybe, in a country where corruption is ripe and football is held so dearly, that these professional people might actually be onto something? Maybe they aren't just a lot of paranoid loons.

These aren't primary sources you're drawing on. These are actual Barcelona fans, players and employees complaining about Barcelona being treated unfairly. If you can't see that that is bias then I'm at a loss.

As of now, the players and manager complaining doesn't prove that Spanish football is against Barcelona. It's much less of a leap to suggest it proves they are behaving like children.

zuutroy

Is there any actual data or facts to back this up?

Andersonisgod

elefant wrote: »

These aren't primary sources you're drawing on. These are actual Barcelona fans, players and employees complaining about Barcelona being treated unfairly. If you can't see that that is bias then I'm at a loss.

As of now, the players and manager complaining doesn't prove that Spanish football is against Barcelona. It's much less of a leap to suggest it proves they are behaving like children.

But surely you can see how out of the ordinary it is for any club or group of players to behave this way? Let alone a club as distinguished as Barcelona or a group of players as successful and wealthy as the ones in question. I often say when there's an incident on the pitch that you can usually tell the truth judging by other players reactions to that incident, applying that logic to this case it's clear that something very out of the ordinary is happening judging by the reactions of all connected to Barcelona.

Andersonisgod

Anyway I bring this up time and time again on this Board and am met with the same reaction, it seems only to incite vitriol so for the sake of the thread and the collective sanity of everyone I'll finish up posting about this. If you are interested in following it, I'd say follow accounts on Twitter where you can get a translated transcript of player interviews and press conferences, and also those journalists who are very much aware of the situation because I do absolutely believe that in time this period of Spanish football will not only be remembered for this great Barcelona team, of the success of the national team of club teams in Europe but also as a time of institutional bias and a corruption of officiating both on and off the pitch which is rampant in Spanish football.

inforfun

Last night there were 3 penalty claims for handball. 2x barca and 1x Villareal
If the refs are out there to screw Barca i can imagine those 2 barca claims would be dismissed.
But I would expect Villareal getting their penalty at the same time.

Now Barca has gotten 3 penalties awarded to them this season. All 3 away from home
Real got 4, 3 away 1 at home.

As it comes to conceding penalties:
Real 3
Barca 0

(Source: statbunker)

elefant

Andersonisgod wrote: »

But surely you can see how out of the ordinary it is for any club or group of players to behave this way? Let alone a club as distinguished as Barcelona or a group of players as successful and wealthy as the ones in question. I often say when there's an incident on the pitch that you can usually tell the truth judging by other players reactions to that incident, applying that logic to this case it's clear that something very out of the ordinary is happening judging by the reactions of all connected to Barcelona.

It's not that unusual. It's what children do when things don't go their way; blame everyone else. It's the same blame-game Mourinho played during his time at Real Madrid a few seasons ago. It's the same whinging posters do on match threads/team threads on this website every weekend.

As to their wealth being a factor in how we judge them? Please.

zuutroy

Going back to the start of 13/14 season

Barca have 40 penalties for 8 against.
RM have 30 penalties for 18 against.

Barca have 240 yellows and 4 reds
RM have 275 yellows and 7 reds.

Of course they don't tell the full story, but its hard to see the conspiracy in those numbers. I'm a Barcelona fan btw, but hate people presenting hand waving arguments with nothing to back it up.

HalloweenJack

AIG, if the same decisions were going against Real Madrid and their players were complaining that it's a conspiracy, would you listen to them? As for basing your belief on players' reactions, countless players dive, complain and try every trick in the book to gain some kind of advantage. Just because those players come from a "distinguished" club like Barca (Neymar transfer, Qatari sponsors, tax-dodging players, ignoring FIFA regulations on youth players just because they think they do it better), doesn't mean they are any different. Or do you need to be reminded of that Busquets gif or Suarez's biting?

The "them against us" mentality has worked very well for dozens of clubs and managers throughout the years. It's also worked very well for politicians. It also helps deflect attention when things aren't going well. Barcelona, being at the forefront of Catalan nationalism, have a perfect excuse to develop that mentality.

I hope Catalonia achieves independence. It will be great for them. It'll also be very interesting to see what FC Barcelona decide to do when the moment comes and they have to choose between staying in La Liga where they'll be persecuted by the refs and only miss out on a title once every few years because of it while the money rolls in or will they stick to their mantra of "mes que un club" and lead the way in a Catalan league where the likes of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla will be replaced by Espanyol, et al, the money will be less and European success will be more difficult? But, hey, at least the refs won't be out to get them 'cause that's what it's all about of course.

The_Kew_Tour

zuutroy wrote: »

Going back to the start of 13/14 season

Barca have 40 penalties for 8 against.
RM have 30 penalties for 18 against.

Barca have 240 yellows and 4 reds
RM have 275 yellows and 7 reds.

Of course they don't tell the full story, but its hard to see the conspiracy in those numbers. I'm a Barcelona fan btw, but hate people presenting hand waving arguments with nothing to back it up.

Fair play to you. Its pity not more honest like you in this thead.

Andersonisgod

zuutroy wrote: »

Going back to the start of 13/14 season

Barca have 40 penalties for 8 against.
RM have 30 penalties for 18 against.

Barca have 240 yellows and 4 reds
RM have 275 yellows and 7 reds.

Of course they don't tell the full story, but its hard to see the conspiracy in those numbers. I'm a Barcelona fan btw, but hate people presenting hand waving arguments with nothing to back it up.

You can have figures but there's no figures to back up key incidents that go against the team. In the last week, in 2 crucial games and 2 of the most obvious penalties you could hope to see, and that's just in the last week, there's something there just not covered by stats.

Arghus

Andersonisgod wrote: »

... there's something there just not covered by stats.

Yep. A persecution complex.

Corholio

Andersonisgod wrote: »

A Madrid player pushes another Madrid player in the box, penalty given to Madrid.

Not even getting involved again in the whole 'corruption' thing, but your case really isn't helped when you say things like this that didn't even happen. I think it is a little unfair at times that people jump all over you but you really honestly don't help yourself.

ERG89

Valencia did well not to manage to win that. Benefit from an og & then miss a late penalty to go 4-2 up against a side in horrific form, of course they concede a late equalizer. Scary to see them where they are.
17th & Prandelli walked over Christmas.

Andersonisgod

Camp Nou launching into Pique chants, showing their allegiance to their much maligned centre back. You do always get the feeling in Barcelona that there's not a Barcelona player more popular than Pique.

Andersonisgod

And there's your first ridiculous decision of the evening.

Andersonisgod

Barcelona score. Neymar is onside by almost 2 yards. Ref calls offside, to the anger, but not the surprise, of the Camp Nou.

irelandrover

Great goal

Andersonisgod

Goal! Magic Suarez! The man is capable of genius and that was prodigious. 1-0

LuckyGent88

Suarez breaks the deadlock. Only second shot on goal with 70% possession

Andersonisgod

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Suarez breaks the deadlock. Only second shot on goal with 70% possession

Except we had a goal completely incorrectly ruled out for offside.

How is that not a red card?

Andersonisgod

Goal! Goal Neymar, his dribbling wins that penalty, he takes it himself, he scores and he breaks his duck. 2-0, Barcelona have been excellent tonight, total control.

LuckyGent88

Aanother piece of Messi free kick magic

Vincent Vega

Good thing the ref blew on that quick take by Suarez. Dunno wtf he was thinking.

Andersonisgod

Goal Messi! Goal Messi! My lord it's a stunning freekick that totally wringfoots Iraizoz. In the big games, in the big moments, you can rely on Messi to step up for his team. Give all the awards you like to whoever you like, Messi is the greatest.

Bateman

That is brutally harsh. Wasn't even a free. Barcelona have been pretty lucky over the 2 legs, they really don't have the look of a team who can step it up and leave the opposition behind anymore. Until Messi steps up for one of those free kicks that is...

Burial.

Unreal by Messi. Only he would try that in those circumstances. He's a genius.

Andersonisgod

It's all over. A very tough tie, but Barça did enough over 2 legs to go through. Iniesta, Busquets, Pique, Neymar all very good tonight but the difference is Messi. He performs 3 different roles in this team, he's absolutely central to everything Barcelona try to do over the course of 90 minutes but, even more than that, in big moments when his team needs him most Messi produces. His freekick in Bilbao kept us in the tie, his freekick tonight won us the tie. He's Barcelona's best ever player, Barcelona's most important ever player and he's the greatest player.

Just to add to that, Messi wasn't always great at freekicks, maybe didn't always have the power and precision required but he's worked tirelessly on that part of his game to where you could now reasonably say he is one of the greatest freekick takers in the world.

MisterAnarchy

Are Sky not showing the Copa Del Rey anymore ,I haven't seen any matches on lately.

Edit :It seems that they are only showing the final.

Disappointing that ,Sky's La Liga coverage has really deteriorated over the last few years .

I miss Revista De La Liga ,there was some good banter on there .
The new 15 minute highlights programme is very short too ,and they only show it once a weekend .
They could do with a Match of the Day style highlights programme ,but I guess it would be too costly.

dfx-

100 goals for Suarez in 120 games. It took Messi 180+ games, Kluivert over 200 games

lassykk

dfx- wrote: »

100 goals for Suarez in 120 games. It took Messi 180+ games, Kluivert over 200 games

Not really comparing like with like on Messi. He was only a kid when he started for Barcelona whereas Suarez was in his prime.

Still a serious return from Suarez

dfx-

Probably, but Suarez also had a slow enough start with a spluttering team for 6 months and Messi started off with a league winning, CL winning height of Deco, Eto'o and Ronaldinho.

If you were to take out a generous amount of two seasons from Messi of early sub appearances and becoming a starting eleven member by 07/08 say, it's not far off a par strike rate I'd say.

Johner

Sevilla - Real should be tasty tonight.

LuckyGent88

Johner wrote: »

Sevilla - Real should be tasty tonight.

Depends how serious Sevilla want to take the match. Already 3 goals down and they play Real again on Sunday in the league so that might be more of a priority to them

Johner

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Depends how serious Sevilla want to take the match. Already 3 goals down and they play Real again on Sunday in the league so that might be more of a priority to them

Didn't realize it was the second leg.

LuckyGent88

Johner wrote: »

Didn't realize it was the second leg.

Sevilla have got an early goal so might make things interesting yet. Real haven't fielded their strongest team so could be got at.