2024-04-23 00:43:05
It was May 14, 1994. Antonio Jesus Lopez Nietoformer international referee and currently prestigious president of Unicaja de Málagaone of the greats of the League ACBwhistled a penalty in favor of the Superdeporin front of Valenciain Riazor, which could have meant winning the League title. But Miroslav Djukic he missed it (or the Valencian goalkeeper stopped it José Luis González) e hizo champion to Barça.
That night, López Nieto had dinner at a restaurant in A Coruña with some friends, among them a veteran sports journalist of enormous prestige. And, in the middle of dinner, an immense, very large, impeccably dressed man approached the referee’s table. López Nieto feared the worst. And his diners, too.
The gentleman, as soon as he arrived at the table, extended his immense right arm and hand to greet the referee. “I want to congratulate him for the refereeing that he has done. I want you to know that I have been a member and fan of Depor since I was born. And I want to thank him for how well he whistled. But, above all, I want to thank you for taking away the referee’s excuse for my entire life. We have not won the League because we have missed the penalty, because we have not known how to win it. Thank you for your behavior.”
And Xavi Hernández arrives
On August 13, in the first league match, Barça Xavi Hernandezyes, by Xavi Hernández, tied 0-0 in the field of Getafe. The referee Soto Gradolook what a coincidence!, the same one who directed the Real Madrid-Barça on Sunday, in the majestic Santiago Bernabeustopped calling a penalty in favor of the culés due to a previous handball Gavi. Or so the VAR said.
That day, yes, yes, the first day of the season, in the first LaLiga match, Xavi, who began his count of expulsions there, described the match as “absolute shame” (Does this sound familiar to you?), “It has been a very great injustice” and “I’m not surprised that people don’t want to watch football.” Just 32 days later, after another arbitration by Soto Grado, Xavi has not moved a step from his place. At worst ‘Mourinho style’Xavi has continued kicking in the technical area, he has continued protesting, he has continued to be sent off, he said that he would not win LaLiga and, in effect, he has lost it with six games remaining.
laporta / Thomas COEX / AFP
It is obvious that it turns out muuuuuuucho much simpler to warm the assholes with the victimism of the times of Joan Gaspartto say that with these referees we will never win LaLiga (even though they conquered it a few months ago), to tell the truth, to explain where they have failed, to be humble, sporting and professional enough to say that the defeat in the Super Cup with Real Madrid, in the Cup with Athlétic, in the Champions League with PSG and in LaLiga with Real Madrid is the result of a disastrous season, in which, with still two months of competition left, they have already lost everything.
Xavi and Joan Laporta, who when the taxi driver congratulates them they think that all of Catalonia has congratulated them, have failed miserably. Their first failure, which, three years later, they will try to resell to us, was to build a project, a challenge, a story, a grandiloquent bet when they had no money for that proposal and, even worse, when they were going to waste the money on convenient signings. , among friends, not even ‘low cost’, since Barça has spent hundreds of millions on this squad.
32 days later
And, 32 days later, two grotesque events occur. John Laporta He stands before the camera of Barça TV or Barça One, whatever that invention is called, and stars in the most laughable, victimizing, poor, ridiculous, shabby, unthinkable, unnecessary, small, inferior, embarrassing speech in recent decades. True, a populist speech, along the lines of ‘Alo, president’, addressed to his people, to his voters (30,184), to his faithful, to his followers, to his church, but empty, mocking, unjustifiable for the partners of the Media Markt style, of “I’m not stupid.” And you cannot lose everything, so much and badly, because of the referees. No. But he, who believes he has the power to make it rain, dares to say it. And threaten the entire LaLiga.
No more triumphant photos on the lawns of Europe. / THE NEWSPAPER
And the other perplexity that occurs is that that coach, Xavi Hernandez, who said at the beginning of the season “I know where I am and I know that if I don’t win titles, I will have to leave”; that coach who, in January, resigned deferred (and they let him); that ‘mister’ who, days later, commented that he was leaving because this was unbearable, he lacked energy, the pressure from the press was unbearable, he did not feel valued and it is “unpleasant” to be Barça coach; that coach who on April 23 has already lost the four titles to which he aspired; that leader who has lost the three classics, that one, Xavi Hernández, knocks on the president’s door, knock, knock, and tells him that he wants to continue.
The ideal technician
And they do all this, they star in it, they stage it, Laporta and Xavi, who They are not even able to recognize a single error in the management of this disastrous season. I fear that Barça, the ‘more than a club’, is of interest to so few people that the president and coach will get their way. Laporta will ask Xavi to continue and
Those of us who never believed this farce, those of us who wrote that it was about to be produced, to be published, the photograph of ‘stays’although not starring Pique far from it Masip, we know that everything was just a story. A decision to motivate the players, until PSG and Real Madrid arrived. They also sold that to us and, when Xavi says that he is staying, he will remember it.
One thing is clear: the president does not have another coach in his portfolio and Xavi is docile enough to once again accept anything they sign for him. Or they take it away, like when they stole Ousmane Dembélé.
If you previously asked Foyth, Zubimendi, Kimmich, Guido Rodriguez y Bernard Silva and they ended up coming Oriol Romeu, Iñigo Martinez, João Feliz, João Cancelo, Gündogan y Victor Roquenow you will settle for the ones you recommend Mendes, Zahavi, Cury, Echevarria o Deco.
All for the love of the club. And the family. Sorry, families, because Laporta’s also counts.
Subscribe to continue reading
#Laporta #dog #bone