It's been another controversial week, with the 'enemy of football' Jose Mourinho living up to his nickname as he tried to ruin another great sporting ocassion. This week has also seen more controversy with goalline decisions and changes at the top of the golf rankings. Let the Fifa see the conspiracy.
The past week
The people who run the Oscars had to phone up Colin Firth and ask that he give his award to somebody more deserving. There were many candidates for best actor and here are the nominations:
Dani Alves after the challenge which saw Pepe sent off - 7/10
Verdict: A solid effort from Alves, which was backed up well by the rest of his team to get Pepe off
Sergio Busquets - 9/10
Verdict: Has been demoted from the number one spot, but was on top form again this week. Has previous with Mourinho after last season against Inter.
Pedro - 9.5/10
Verdict: An inspired effort from the winger, who managed to get Sergio Ramos booked by clutching his face after brushing his shoulder. Completly fooled the ref.
Highly commended:
Angel di Maria - another complete performance
Ronaldo - less rolling around, but he made up for it with his petulance towards Mourinho
But there can only be one winner...
And it can only be the Special One. Only Mourinho could take all the headlines after that wonder goal by Messi. It was almost as if he enjoyed being locked away from his dugout, as it was far more dramatic. Wonderful theatrics from Jose, backed up by his post-match comments. 10/10
Maybe the ref was just bored of watching Pepe ruin the game, but for whatever reason he sent him off, we should thank him for allowing Messi to score that second goal.
It's been a bad week for Madrid, who lost 3-2 at home to Zaragoza yesterday (and had another red card), but it has been equally bad for Spurs. Not only did they have to suffer from a Simon Cox wonder-goal (or as Harry Redknapp called it, 'a worldy') but then they had to play against 13 men at Stamford Bridge. Why we have no goalline technology is beyond me. Sepp 'reform' Blatter is the person standing in the way of the most obvious reform since allowing the use of substitutes, but unless the technology is 100% fullproof, gives decisions instantaneously, can serve coffee, predict the lottery and prevent global warming, then he isn't interested. And even then he would probably sell it to Russia and Qatar first.
Congratulations to Lee Westwood who has taken his place at the top of the world rankings of golf's merry-go round. His elevation to the top of his sport whilst being an average putter is like Juan Veron playing for United and Chelsea despite having no left foot, or Emile Heskey playing 62 times for England despite having no feet. However, watching Westwood with a wood in his hand is one of golf's greatest pleasures and I''m sure Westwood finds it very enjoyable as well!
Flop(ianski) of the week
Anyway, moving on from shocking innuedo, it is time to decide between Mourinho and Blatter to see who deserves our flop of the week award. On the one hand, we have the paranoid, football-ruining, referee-hating, scaremongering Mourinho and on the other we have the man who stopped us from potentially knocking Germany out of the World Cup. I think it is only fair that they share the award and the quicker both are out of football the better it will be, although I admit to finding the recent Clasicos extremely compelling.
Hall of Lame
As we have shared the previous award, it seems appropiate to mention both the following incidents.
No 1. - Rivaldo in the World Cup v. Turkey. It's fair to say we know where Pedro got his play-acting from when he pretended he had been hit in the face.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVksdN4QnvA
No 2. - If you thought the Lampard 'goal' last summer was obvious, then what about this one? If any more proof was needed that United get pretty much every big decision at home, then this was it. Pedro Mendes and Roy Carroll might not want to look at this again, but both for different reasons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-8dOjeVC80
The week ahead
Predicting what will happen at the Nou Camp on Tuesday is like trying to predict the mood swings of a girl, but we might as well make some suggestions:
Number of goals: 1
Number of red cards: 3
Number of yellow cards: 10
Number of times a physio comes on to the pitch: 15
Number of fouls: 70
Number of Barcelona passes: 630
Number of rolls on the floor: 700?
In the other match at Old Trafford, I don't think it will be quite as difficult to predict what will happen, it's just a question of how bothered Manuel Neuer can be. Anyone for a Raul hat trick?
In the big title deciding match between United and Chelsea, I can't see Ancelotti starting with Torres. However, after a Park stunner, Torres will come on to score the equaliser. Vidic will then rugby tackle Malouda to the ground in the penalty area and sit on him, but the referee won't give a penalty and then Michael Owen will score a 98th minute winner. Standard.
Quotes of the week
Jose Mourinho, after being given the wrong food at a restaurant: 'This is outrageous, it's a Fifa conspiracy, they're just so biased towards Barcelona.'
Arsene Wenger: 'The press are after me, the referee is after me, the police are after me, the FA are after me, Cesc is after me.'
Mick McCarthy: 'I hope our crowd abuse the opposition, get their players sent off and pressurise the ref into giving us a penalty.'
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