WHO SAYS SPANISH FOOTBALL'S BENT?

Saturday evening; on television Madrid’s stadium-quarter, lit by burning cars; police in riot gear charge and charge again; somebody didn’t like the result.

            I’m not a fan of Real Madrid. They’re one of those teams it’s fun to hate – because they’re just so fucking good. But you don’t have to be a fan to acknowledge they’re currently – since most Champions League sides figured out that if you shut down Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez you’ve shut down Messi, and thus the whole Barca attack – the best in the world. Acknowledging it doesn’t mean you have to like it.

            Real were beaten this morning by Atlético Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey. They really shouldn’t have been. You hear about corruption in sport, about officials or players being paid-off, but you don’t like to believe it; what happened in Madrid today made our own bent horse-racing/book-making dynasty look positively saintly by comparison.

            Forget the antics of Atlético’s supporters (Instead of enjoying the sight of the world’s ... second ... best player, they shone laser-pointers in Ronaldo’s eyes the first half-dozen times he touched the ball), it was the antics of the match-officials which were truly outrageous. Some of the decisions seemed to belong to another game.

            Now, in any local derby – let alone a cup-final – you expect tension and aggression. This one was no different. Both sides maintained a frenetic pace and made tackles and challenges that were borderline-malicious. The thing is, though, that for most of the game only Real’s players were being carded – and not always for the stuff that really deserved it. Heading into extra time they had more than twice the yellows. And that’s just the most obvious aspect of some very dodgy refereeing.

            I may be cynical, but it’s hard not to think the idea was: if Real were ahead at the seventy-fifth minute, then it would be easy to quickly send-off two or three key players. As it was both Ronaldo and manager Jose Mourinho were sent to the shed during extra time – which was strange, given that Mourinho was sent the first time he ventured from his seat and opened his mouth, while Atletico’s manager spent the whole game running up and down the sideline, screaming like a mad thing. Maybe Jose sauntered over and asked the ref how much he’d been paid?

            I had an enforced break from sport for a few years while I was married. I don’t remember it being so soul-destroying. Something that’s supposed to celebrate the best in us is being surrendered to the worst in us. I’m not certain it’s all worth our attention. One thing I know – if I were a Real supporter, I’d probably have burned a few cars too.