On Tuesday night, Barcelona successfully overcame Premier League Champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium following their 2-1 victory in the first leg of the Champions League last 16. We all admire the Spanish giants, in particular the trickery of multi Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, the skill of Neymar and the striking ability of Luis Suarez. Are Barcelona turning the beautiful game ugly with the help of these forwards?
After watching Tuesday nights game against Manchester City, I would say that two out of the three of them are, with the other one extremely guilty of this in the past.
Are Barcelona Turning the Beautiful Game Ugly?
Neymar
Brazilian wonder-kid Neymar has wowed audiences and fans across the world, but the English fans don’t seem to have that same connection. Why? I’m not sure. Possibly due to the amount of intentional dives he conducts, but nevertheless, on Tuesday, Neymar responded with a negative effect, having an altercation with a City fan in the Champions League encounter.
The City fan in question was sat near the Barcelona dug-out, and when Neymar was substituted with ten minutes left, the City supporter began to goad the Brazilian forward, with hand gestures of diving. Neymar, wrongly and rather unprofessional, responded by giving the hand gesture that would suggest; ‘come here and say that!’ The striker wouldn’t reveal what was said in his post match interview, but hinted the fan swore at him.
Messi
Lionel Messi is without a doubt one of the best footballers to ever grace the field, and is also part of one of the greatest squads ever assembled. But he too has become rather ugly with the way he conducts himself on the football field. Barcelona were leading the game against Manchester City 2-1 when the Catalan club were awarded a penalty in the final minute. Up stepped Messi, only to be denied by England goalkeeper Joe Hart. Hart’s save was only parried back into the path of the Argentinian, who sent his open goal header wide. Ok, so even the world’s most talented players make mistakes, but what followed was uncalled for.
Seconds after this incident, the final whistle went. Usually at this point, the players would shake hands, swap shirts and congratulate each other on their respective performance – sporting behaviour. But Messi simply walked straight off the field, past every player without glancing an eye at any of them, including his teammates who had gained a fabulous result in an important cup stage. It’s not the first time this has happened involving Messi;
In the World Cup final in Brazil, he captained Argentina in their 1-0 defeat after extra time against Germany. In the final minute of the game, the world’s best player had an opportunity to level and take the game to penalties when Argentina were awarded a free kick some 25 yards out. His miss was catastrophical. Upon the final whistle, he sulked, moaned and didn’t congratulate any of the World Cup winners or even console his losing nations players. He just sat in disgust on his own performance. On top of that, once the game had finished, he, under controversial circumstances, was awarded the best player of the tournament award, where again, he took without any pride or grace, failing to congratulate the other winners.
Suarez
Luis Suarez was undoubtedly the best player on the pitch for Barcelona as he scored both goals in their 2-1 victory away to Manchester City. He however, conducted himself professionally.
It is his past antics that has given the Uruguayan striker a burden to his name; found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, multiple biting offences, three in total, and a World Cup semi final deliberate handball in South Africa in 2010. On top of these obnoxious incidents, he has also gained a reputation as being a diver, in particular during his time in the Premier League.
As a striker, like Messi and Neymar, he is a wonderful talent and his goalscoring record is exceptional at every level he has played at, but a player with his history will carry a negative effect despite his on the pitch quality.
Barcelona
As a front three, it is possibly the best attacking force in Europe, if not the world. But following these controversial incidents, are Barcelona beginning to turn ugly? After all, they did sign Luis Suarez for a record fee of €81 million whilst the player was serving a four month suspension from any football activity as a result of him biting Italian defender Chiellini in the World Cup. And with the recent attitudes surrounding Messi and Neymar, something must change, as the unprofessional attitude could corrupt the rest of the squad.
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