Week 35 - Spanish football mourns Tito Vilanova

     Tito Vilanova was only Barcelona manager for one season and yet played his part in the most successful period in the club's history. In fact, the man from Bellcaire d'Empordà was only a manager for two full seasons in his entire career, which was cut so horribly short last Friday at the age of just 45.

     The professional life of Francesc Vilanova i Bayó was bookended by FC Barcelona. As a youth, he came through La Masia and graduated to Barcelona B where he became friends with Pep Guardiola, who he would link up with again far more memorably later down the line. At that point the pair's careers took different paths, Vilanova deciding to leave in search of first team opportunities and Guardiola staying at the club for over a decade to great success. Vilanova played for a succession of clubs, only appearing sporadically in the top flight while taking in three seasons at Celta Vigo, but the pair stayed in contact over the years nonetheless.

Pep and Tito in their playing days

After hanging up his boots with Gramenet in 2001, Vilanova later embarked into management with a year-long spell at FC Palafrugell which ended with ignominious relegation from the Tercera División. This failure notwithstanding, in 2007 his old friend Guardiola called on him to act as his assistant at Barcelona B. The pair led the team to promotion to Segunda División B in their first season as a double-act, and were then put in charge of first team affairs after Frank Rijkaard left in 2008. Over the next four years, Pep and Tito together revolutionised the style of football played at the club, since copied by a million poor imitations worldwide, which came to be known as tiki-taka. Their first season was the most successful in Barcelona's history, yielding six major trophies, and before Guardiola resigned in 2012 the team won an insane 14 out of a possible 19 dust collectors.

Mourinho's infamous eye-jab

     Although possibly best known on these shores at the time merely for being blind-sided (literally) and poked in the eye by a cowardly Mourinho during a heated Clásico Supercopa game, Vilanova was more than just an assistant manager and coach at Barça. The all-conquering tiki-taka style, as Guardiola himself has been at pains to point out time and again, was jointly developed by the pair, the current Bayern Munich manager explaining previously "I was just the voice of the ideas that Tito and I developed together." Quite apart from his day to day role at the club, Tito helped his friend by serving as a sounding-board, confidant and advisor.
     After Guardiola left to take his sabbatical, Vilanova was the obvious choice to replace him. The new man immediately stepped up to the challenge, his team collecting 55 points from a possible 57 in La Liga, winning 18 of its first 19 games and drawing one. Barcelona went on to win the league that year with 100 points despite the disruption caused by the manager having to be in and out of hospital at various points for treatment following the re-emergence of his throat cancer. Although Tito was determined to start the following season with a clean slate, his cancer reared its head once more, forcing him to step down from his position last July after concluding he could not concentrate 100% on the team while undergoing the continuous and aggressive treatment. Following Vilanova's death last Friday in a Barcelona hospital Guardiola, two years his friend's junior, said simply and touchingly "the sadness I feel will accompany me for the rest of my life".

The masses of flowers outside the stadium

This was just one of many comments from around Spanish football for a man widely recognised not just as a great tactician and organiser, but more importantly as a good man. After his funeral service FC Barcelona announced three days of mourning. Over 53,000 people queued up and visited Camp Nou to sign a book of condolence for the former manager over the weekend including the Barcelona youth team, which includes his 17-year-old son Adrià. The flower memorials and wreathes increase by the hour and flags remain at half mast around the stadium this week, and the players will wear black armbands in next weekend's game just as they did at El Madrigal on Sunday.

Minute silence at El Madrigal

     There was always the danger that the club's players could be unsettled and allow their sadness at their former manager's passing just two days earlier to overshadow them in a crunch game against Villarreal, and in truth that appears to have been the case, but they came away with all three points in the end regardless, although under fortuitous, some might say peculiar, circumstances. The Catalans were 2-0 down to goals from Cani and Manu Trigueros but stormed back to 2-2 thanks to a brace of own goals from hapless Villarreal centre-backs Gabriel and Mateo Musacchio. If the first was unfortunate and made the defender look clownish, the second appeared more suspect, Musacchio heading past Sergio Asenjo under no pressure whatsoever from a couple of yards out. Never ones to look a gift-horse in the food-hole, Barcelona pressed and the winning goal duly came from that man Messi eight minutes from time, with passing move + weak defending = a Barça winner.
     The game started and finished on different notes. The minute's silence was impeccably observed before kickoff and saw Sergio Busquets moved to tears, while in the 75th minute one imbecilic Villarreal fan saw fit to mark the occasion in their own way, by taking everyone back in time. As Dani Alves was preparing to take a corner the TV cameras picked up an object landing near him on the pitch. A banana. Alves calmy peeled the offending fruit and ate a bit before delivering the corner, a well-measured response to this type of idiotic act. Villarreal have since identified the fan who launched the banana and have banned them for life.

Raúl García

     A couple of hours earlier and a short drive away at the Mestalla, Atlético had managed to place one finger upon the Primera División trophy with a 1-0 victory over Valencia. The goal for los Colchoneros came from Raúl García, who nipped in ahead of a marooned Guaita under a looping high ball to glance a header into the empty net. That was the sixth consecutive game in which Atleti have scored a header and was their 16th to arrive in such a fashion all season, placing them behind only Athletic Bilbao in the ranking of goals scored with the noggin.

     Third-placed Real Madrid made short work of Osasuna to keep the pressure on the top two with Cristiano Ronaldo bagging a super-powered brace before defenders Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal got in on the act to round out the scoring. In the unlikely event that both Real and Barcelona lose next week, Atleti will wrap up their first Primera División title since 1996 with victory at Levante on Sunday. Although the odds of that happening are extremely slight given both teams are at home, Atlético and coach Cholo Simeone know that two victories from their last three games will ensure they are crowned champions nevertheless. One thing's for sure, it'll be bloody exciting.

"Wanted: Players worthy of this badge"

     Real Betis secured their return to the Segunda División with a characteristically meek defeat at home to Real Sociedad, who kept up their chase for Europe thanks to a penalty from former-Arsenal former-Mexican Carlos Vela. Betis supremo Manuel Domínguez assured fans after the game that "the club is economically sound" and has a "workable plan" which it will be able to put in place in the lower league. Supporters remain worried and mistrusting of his leadership nonetheless, as made clear by various chants and protest banners around the Estadio Benito Villamarín on Saturday. Cross-town rivals Sevilla also had a pretty bad time of it over the weekend, getting shown up 3-1 away at Athletic Bilbao in a European six-pointer. The result surely consigns the Seville team to a season in the Europa League rather than the more shiny and desirable Champions League given Bilbao are now six points ahead with only three games remaining. Málaga are currently in no-mans-land with nothing left to play for either way and boy did it ever show in their match against Getafe. They crumbled early in a nothing match and lost to a 7th-minute Adrián Colunga goal, while Granada were battered 3-0 at home by Rayo Vallecano.
     In fact, Almería were the only Andalusian team to get any kind of positive result, a Suso (yes, the one from Liverpool) free kick securing victory against nine-man Espanyol. Elche huffed and puffed but could only come out with a 1-1 draw against Levante, a result which leaves them three points clear of 18th-placed Almería. The unwanted and unloved Monday night slot falls to Celta Vigo and Valladolid. The hosts are safe and in roughly the same kind of end of season pointlessness as Málaga and a couple of others, whilst a win for the visitors would do wonders for their hopes of avoiding the drop, as well as their feelings of self-worth, no doubt.

     Liga Adelante leaders Deportivo La Coruña were stunned by a 3-0 defeat at the Riazor to 15th-placed Ponferradina on the weekend. The visitors were set on their way by an amusing own-goal from Laure just 10 minutes in, Germán Lux saving a one-on-one before the ball ricocheted straight into the path of his captain and thence straight into the net. "Arse-biscuits!" he may well have cried, and he'd havfe been well within his rights. Second-placed Eibar were unable to take much advantage, drawing 0-0 with Recreativo Huelva at home, while Tenerife and Las Palmas both lost, to Real Jaén and Barcelona B respectively. Of the top six able to go up, only Sporting Gijón were able to muster up more than a point, beating Lugo 2-0, both goals coming thanks to lucky bounces in the area and snaffled away before keeper Dani Mallo had a chance to react. To be brutally honest though, his teammates didn't look likely to help him.

Timor celebrates a precise finish

At the very bottom, Girona gave themselves a massive boost towards their aim of escaping the relegation zone by defeating Real Zaragoza at home 2-0. David Timor opened the scoring with a beautifully-placed shot past Leo Franco from the edge of the box before Ortuño finished into the top corner following a scramble brought about by a free kick in the 85th minute, the goal sparking wild celebrations on the touchline as well as in the stands. Unfortunately for the Catalans, their big result came on the same weekend as a couple of the others around them were able to do likewise. Apart from Jaén perhaps getting the result of the day against Tenerife, Alavés came out on top of a relegation six pointer against Mallorca with all three points thanks to a 79th minute Viguera strike.
      The races for both promotion from and salvation within the Segunda División look set to go right to the wire, with seemingly anyone capable of beating anyone else, as demonstrated aptly this week by Real Jaén and Ponferradina. However on this weekend I think it safe to say that those taking part in minute silences before the games will have had the 90 following minutes put into perspective. All apart from one pillock in Villarreal, anyway.

Real win the Copa Clásico

Another Clásico, another classic. The game ebbed and flowed at times but Real ended up the victors.

     Despite notching 19 goals already in his début season in Spain, many were still calling Gareth Bale a flat track bully. They said he could only do it against the smaller teams Real Madrid battered. They said he couldn't perform on the big stage for los Blancos. Then again, they had said that about Cristiano Ronaldo before he won them the Copa del Rey with a physics-defying header in this very stadium, against this very opposition three years ago. Perhaps 'they' should think before they speak.
     History repeated itself last night in a way with Bale, like CR7 before him in 2011, scoring a sublime winner late on and picking up the man of the match plaudits, Marca hailing him as both 'the Prince of Wales' and 'Gareth Bolt'. Ronaldo was forced to watch from the stands due to injury and while Real will hope to have him back on the pitch sooner rather than later, manager Carlo Ancelotti and his energetic eyebrow will have been heartened by the way the team performed without him, especially Bale and the inspirational Ángel Di María.

An accommodating host

     The teams emerged into a cauldron of noise in the last final to be played at the Mestalla, Messi less than a foot taller than the mascot he appeared with. A strange atmosphere for a Clásico eventually emerged as both sides were whistled when in possession of the ball, one by the right half of the stadium, the other by the left.
The game started with Madrid more in control, their passing crisper and more positive than Barcelona's more ponderous style. The gameplan was immediately clear - get the ball to Di María and Bale in the danger areas - and it paid dividends early on. Bale received the ball and found Karim Benzema who had moved out towards the left wing. A beautifully-weighted first time pass from the Frenchman found Di María careering through the gaping holes in the Barcelona defence and into the area. The Argentine had Bale open to his right but elected to shoot, and although wannabe pirate Pinto got a hand to it, the ball skipped merrily into the far corner and nestled next to the post. 1-0 to Madrid and half the stadium went mental. I have to confess I did too, having put a bet on Di María to bag the first goal at 10-1. Result! Thank the gods he didn't pass to Bale. Anyway the Welshman's time would come soon enough.
     In the absence of CR7 and with Messi's continued slump showing no sign of ending, the Spanish press had changed from their usual tack and billed this as the battle of the EUR200m players; Bale vs Neymar. They may have cost nearly the same (taking into account the real cost of the Brazilian's transfer as well as the fines the club have had to pay for their dodgy dealings), but on this showing the pair are nearly incomparable. Neymar had a chance to level the game with pretty much the last kick, but smashed it into the face of the post. Before that, the closest he'd come to getting on the back pages was an attempted headbutt on Fabio Coentrão after being tackled in the area. Never backward in coming forward, the confusingly-coiffured Pepe stepped in and manhandled Neymar away. Referee Mateu Lahoz elected to book both Neymar and the central defender, much to the latter's consternation.

What did you call my mum?!

     By this point, the referee had already been forced to put up with quite a lot of rolling around and cajoling from the players as is now customary in Clásicos. Perhaps not as much as usual, but it would still irk the bejeezus out of me if I had to babysit those 22 players. It has to be said, Lahoz dealt with the histrionics extremely well, not falling for most of the dives and remonstrating with players who committed them. Twice in a minute he got right up in the grills of Barcelona players who he felt aggrieved by, first young Marc Bartra for fannying about on the floor as if he'd been shot by a double-barrelled shotgun rather than slightly and mistakenly brushed by Coentrão, and then Javier Mascherano for a criticism levelled at him. Or having bad breath. Mascherano definitely looks like he could have bad breath.
     Barcelona were racking up their usual numbers in the possession and passes columns to little avail. While at some points they had up to 75% possession, Real looked far the more likely to score, with Isco having a side-footed effort blocked by a delicious last-ditch tackle from a now fresh-breathed Mascherano on 35 minutes. At the other end, and after 472 sideways passes, Barcelona encroached on the Madrid box and caused a bit of a scramble which ended with Messi rifling his shot wide of the upright.
     Jordi Alba, who had earlier beaten Dani Carvajal to a header in the 'contest of the small wing-backs' only to head straight at Casillas, was replaced by Adriano at the break, a move surely brought on more by injury than anything else. The second half began in the same vein as the first, with the effervescent Bale at the centre of all quick Real attacks. The Welsh winger smacked a shot into the side netting a couple of minutes after the restart and remained threatening throughout. The footballer formerly known as Messi then floated a freekick innocuously over Casillas' bar before Mascherano crudely chopped Pepe down as he burst into the Barcelona half and correctly drew a yellow card from the ref. I'm not sure what Pepe thought he was doing, bombing into anyone's half as a centre back, but it looked reasonably impressive nonetheless. From the resulting freekick, three Barça players challenged each other for the ball under no pressure whatsoever and only succeeded in feeding the waiting Bale on the edge of the box. The Cardiff lad chested the ball to tee himself up and unleashed a volley which sailed fractionally over the crossbar.

Uhn-tiss uhn-tiss uhn-tiss... Enya

     Fàbregas was apparently playing in the 'false 9' position popularised over the past couple of years, but to me he looked like he was playing as a 'false 4', so far back was he operating. An advert currently doing the rounds on the tellybox sees Cesc putting on his headphones to drown out the hoards of Madrid fans and outside influences while on his way to a game, and perhaps the only explanation for his tepid display in Valencia is that he'd been chilling out to some Enya or whalesong before the game. Bloody hippy. The
former Arsenal man was hooked off on the hour mark and Pedro entered the fray, presumably to add some attacking inclination. A few minutes later, Bartra wondered up from the back and, apparently growing tired of his team's lacklustre sideways passing shenanigans, unleashed a shot on goal from range. Casillas in the Madrid goal had prepped himself before the game to be playing Barcelona and so appeared highly surprised at this most un-Barça-like attempt. The 'keeper unconvincingly punched the ball wide for a corner and seemed grateful it hadn't ended up in the back of the net.
     Madrid then doubled their lead on 66 mins, that man Bale getting the goal his performance so richly deserved. Unfortunately for the men in white Pinto had scurried so far from his line, presumably in search of treasure or wenches, that when Bale headed the ball into the unguarded net there was only one defender betwixt he and the goal line. A good spot by the ref/linesman and as every schoolboy knows, the offside law dictates that there must be at least two opposition players between the goalscorer and the line for a strike to count.

Bartra looks as surprised as anyone

     Nonetheless, a goal from a corner was scored within a minute, and this time it counted. The Catalans hauled themselves level when Bartra, still playing in a most un-Barça fashion, lost Pepe and helped himself to a free header. Surely this shooting-from-range, winning-headers-in-the-box kind of malarkey will be coached out of the youngster before he gets any other funny ideas. It's just not the Barça way. The Real half of the Mestalla was stunned, the Barcelona half ecstatic. The 15,000 or so officials and dignitaries were
probably nonplussed. Then again none of them had paid up to EUR2,600 for a ticket.
     After the goal, the game was turned on its head. Whereas before Real had been attacking quickly, dangerously and with purpose, now they appeared fearful of their opponents and kept misplacing the easiest of passes, possibly recalling other similar incidences where they went on to lose the game. Barcelona, by comparison, were now full of attacking intent, players in every position constantly harrying for the ball. For the remainder of the match they looked like the Barça of a few years ago, or even like present-day Bayern Munich. After Modrić hit the post for Madrid only a great tackle from Pepe at the other end stopped Barcelona taking the lead

     However, cometh the hour, cometh the Welshman. Receiving a pass just inside his own half just six minutes from extra-time, Bale knocked it past Marc Bartra. The two were involved in a short tussle by the byline but the Barcelona youngster's pressure wasn't enough to put chronic diver Bale to the ground. The Real #11 ended up some three yards outside the touchline following a nudge from the defender but simply applied the afterburners. He absolutely stormed round his marker and re-entered the pitch clocked at

'Gareth Bolt' applies the finish to his wonder-goal

73mph, and entered the area with beautiful control, surely a near impossible feat at that speed. Pinto saw him coming and cast aside his eye-patch all the better to see when the Welshman tucked the ball between his peg-legs with the cutest of finishes. Half the stadium erupted once more - the other side. Bale didn't make any friends by sprinting to the byline to celebrate in front of the Barça end. This wasn't done in a malicious manner though - if you've just scored such an amazing goal you're unlikely to have any capacity left for rational thought. The Culés in the section behind him didn't seem to appreciate the savage beauty of the goal, somehow..
     Bale's momentous goal absolutely took the wind out of the Barcelona sails but there was always likely to be one more twist in the tale. It is the way of such things. A fantastic ball from Xavi split the Real defence, which had seen Varane added to its ranks in place of the hard-working Benzema as the clocked ticked over 90, and ended up with Neymar. Had the uprights not been screwed in properly, the Brazilian's shot would have blown the entire damnable goal right into the massed ranks of fans behind, but as it was the strike cannoned off the post and straight back into the grateful arms of Casillas. The last action of the game saw Bale fouled and left flat on his back. It was an appropriate way to end things. The only way any opposition could have stopped the Cardiff lad would have been to put him in the hospital. He was simply unplayable at times.

Copas are like buses...

     While the Real players celebrated in the time-honoured tradition of massing with thousands of fans by the Cibeles fountain in the capital (Ramos didn't drop their shiny new trophy under the bus this time, but he did pretend to), their Barcelona counterparts carried out what is becoming their own new post-match routine of being heckled and abused by their own supporters upon reaching Camp Nou. Yet again they trudged, heads bowed, to their cars as curses rained down. Yet again Messi was singled out for personal treatment, with fans shouting tongue-in-cheek for him to 'run less'. The
usually twinkle-toed playmaker has been worryingly quiet and downcast these past few weeks, and the newspapers in Argentina are nervously hoping that he's saving himself for a big performance for his country in the upcoming World Cup.
     Various papers in Spain are postulating that this signifies the end of the triumphant Barcelona cycle, but this is all surely a bit premature. Yes they've had an awful week, losing out in two competitions and falling further behind in the other, but after their long period of domination they were always bound to suffer some sort of lapse of form.
     On the other hand, their hated rivals are on a different level entirely. Time and again in post-match interviews the phrase that kept being repeated was that the players hope to add to their haul of silverware this season and return to Cibeles once more. Or even twice. There is no fear ahead of the next round of the Champions League now, a marked turnaround following the abject performance to creep through against Dortmund. Cristiano Ronaldo reckons he might be fit for the first leg of the semi-final and should make the second, but the question is; do Real need him??

Athletic vs Málaga and look ahead to Copa final

On Wednesday night Valencia's Mestalla stadium hosts a Clásico in the Copa del Rey final.

     The teams come into the game in vastly different mindsets. Barcelona, having crashed out of the Champions League and lost second place in La Liga inside a week, are in bullish mood but one senses a terseness beneath the interviews given in the press. Real Madrid appear more at ease, but as with all derbies - and Clásicos in particular - form is temporary and the battle is all that matters. Literally, most of the time. It is of course just a few short weeks since los Blancos managed to balls-up at home to their hated enemies, and Barcelona will be hoping to emulate that victory in Valencia.

Carlo's eyebrow making a break for it

     Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, left eyebrow permanently aflutter, revealed that the players would be practicing penalties ahead of the game for all of five minutes, although he would obviously hope to have the game well and truly finished before such a lottery became necessary. He also confirmed that, as expected, Ronaldo wouldn't be playing a part, although the Portuguese will be travelling with the squad along with the other injured players. Ancelotti also said he had his starting XI in mind but would not be revealing it to the press beforehand. Nevertheless, the Italian stated he was setting his team up 'to play our game with our identity' rather than attempting to respond to Barcelona's tactics. He conceded that the opposition would have the lion's share of possession, and so his team will have to 'control the game with the ball, and for that we need courage and personality, which are the most important traits for playing a final'.

Tata: "The last 2 games were clean"

     His opposite number, Tata Martino, recognised that the final represents a possible tonic for his squad after a torrid last week, although he is ruing the defensive injuries that have left him considering whether or not to play the creaking Puyol, who trained with the squad on Wednesday morning along with Marc Bartra. The Argentine manager refused to be drawn on Ronaldo's injury, but said he hopes for a clean game, expanding that 'the last two games against Real Madrid have been clean and well played by both teams'. It would seem he may have elected to forget Busquets stepping on Pepe's face a few weeks ago, apparently.
     As both presidents were posing with the Copa on Wednesday morning the press managed to wangle a quote out of Madrid head honcho Florentino Pérez, who rather diplomatically claimed 'we're not favourites, but we're optimistic'. On Tuesday, a few of the players had been wheeled out in front of the headline writers and as per usual nothing much of particular note was uttered, as is the way of such things. It seems footballers are paraded in front of the press in search of quotes, but whenever they say anything mildly interesting it gets blown out of all proportion as them calling the opposition manager's mum a whore or somesuch. The closest to interesting it got was when Iker Casillas was asked about his previous comment that he'd "slap" Spain teammate Sergio Busquets for the aforementioned foot-on-face altercation with Pepe. The goalkeeper said "I won't add to the circus that's blown up around this. I'll see him tomorrow and this matter will take up only two seconds of our conversation."

     The week began, however, with the impressive new San Mamés hosting Málaga in the final game of Week 33, with both teams needing the points for very different reasons. Athletic showed by far the greater desire to claim the win and re-establish their 6 point advantage over Sevilla in the battle for the fourth Champions League spot, and their positivity paid off early as Aritz Aduriz headed the Basques ahead in just the fourth minute from a corner. The striker scored again pretty much straight away at the beginning of the second half, taking his tally for 2014 alone to 12 goals, second only to the now-misfiring Messi. The man from Donostia had several chances to complete his hat-trick but was foiled by man-of-funny-name Willy in the Málaga goal. Nonetheless, Willy (tee-hee) was not at his best for the third Athletic goal, allowing a tame Ander Herrera shot to spill through his gloves. Feel free to make your own jokes about Willy and a slippery ball - just don't send them to me.
     For the Andalucians, who were pretty dire throughout, the result means they stay on 38 points in 11th, unlikely to threaten either the European places or those in the relegation zone now there's only five games left. They've been pretty shaky under Bernd Schuster this season and were in and around the drop zone for quite a portion of the season.