NFR: Barcelona and cheating?

[Snibbo]

Worth a read from the Grauniad :

Luis Suárez's dive exposes Barcelona's cheating, amid the celebrations
The notion of the club's revival against PSG being special is undermined by their players tumbling. The message? When things get tough, keep conning officials
Ewan Murray
Published: 06:45 ACDT Fri 10 March 2017
Follow Ewan Murray
The post-match Camp Nou scene that resonated most with me did not involve Barcelona's group photographs. It was not Luis Enrique in such a mood that one thought he might be of a mind to reconsider his future. The sight of distraught Paris Saint-Germain supporters, motionless on the upper tier, was what struck a chord.

Never mind celebrations, what lingered was that gut-wrenching feeling of painful defeat as experienced only by those who care passionately for their team, and which dismisses the cliche that football is "only a game". It is unexplainable to anyone who hasn't suffered the same level of dejection.

Neymar stands apart to make the impossible possible for Barcelona | Sid Lowe
In this case, those from France can only have sampled hurt turning towards anger when they reflected on Wednesday night's events. If they could stomach the replays, that is. The notion of Barça's comeback being special, incredible, the best of all time – isn't everything nowadays? – is completely undermined by the specifics of their achievement.

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Once again the cottage industry that is the lauding of all things La Liga, and Barcelona in particular, belies what appear to be dark arts. The Barça brand matters more than what should always be established codes of football conduct. So too, perhaps, does the Champions League brand, as backed further by BT Sport within recent days. Pundits fawn, laughably in respect of former footballers who would rightly be incandescent had they suffered at the hands of Barça's routinely wobbly forwards.

If the awarding of Barcelona's first penalty of the night was dubious, Thomas Meunier committing the apparently fatal sin of falling over with Neymar in close proximity, the hosts' second, which fuelled the fairytale, represented a blatant act of cheating. Consider this scenario: that Luis Suárez threw himself to the floor in the manner he did after darting in front of Marquinhosa when playing, instead, in a key international against England. No odds can be offered that we would have heard plenty more about it, either in immediate post-match analysis or now that the dust has almost settled. In this instance? People are willing, just about, to cite "controversy". It is Barcelona, they are brilliant, fresh parameters apply.

Luis Suárez reacts to being booked by the referee Guido Kleve for a dive during Barcelona's 6-1 win against PSG
Luis Suárez reacts to being booked by the referee Guido Kleve for a dive during Barcelona's 6-1 win against PSG. Photograph: Bagu Blanco/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock
Suárez dived, just as he did earlier in the game when such antics cost him a booking. If you watch back through the dying stages, Barça's players are throwing themselves to the floor with such desperation it is comical. The not-so- subtle message, as witnessed by millions including impressionable young footballers? When in doubt, when things get seriously tough, keep the conning of officials at the forefront of your mind. The ruse is even more effective when a team are at home, in such an intense atmosphere as the Camp Nou. Referees wouldn't be human if they didn't feel pressure to bow to the demands of the bawling masses.

There is a counterpoint. That is, players such as Suárez – Cristiano Ronaldo being another – move at such pace that the slightest touch in what believe it or not remains a contact sport will knock them off balance. Yet it is quite incredible that players with such power, poise and strength are suddenly toppled when scope for a key penalty kick exists.

PSG are not some put-upon minnows – far from it. Barça's followers can point both to a penalty their team should have had on Wednesday after a pull on Lionel Messi's shirt and contentious decisions in the first leg. Nonetheless these incidents are made more troublesome to the point of impossible for referees by the scale of diving as carried out as routine by Suárez and co. Barcelona versus Real Madrid matches might offer epic theatre but the scandalous level of play-acting is curiously ignored in a manner that insults the intelligence of onlookers. This undermines the fixture.

The common response to such complaints is that some of us, particularly in Britain, need to wise up. British players, it is even stated, should become more streetwise when catching up with the "art" of simulation. It is a ludicrous argument; that cheating, because it has become rife, must be embraced as part of football.

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Other sports would scoff. Would the player who signed for a 63 at Augusta National but was later found to have kicked his ball from behind a tree at the 15th be shamed or lauded? Would the wicketkeeper who flicked bails off for no reason be laughed at or hailed? What about the snooker player who subtly shifts a troublesome black with his hand at The Crucible? This all adds up to the same thing: deception.

Barcelona 6-1 PSG: the internet reacts to an absurd football game
Just as Barcelona are a brilliant team, who revolutionised football to an extent, and Suárez is a wonderful player, this should not provide an excuse for selective blindness. Unfortunately it does, amid the race to proclaim Wednesday evening as worthy of a public holiday. There is almost the sense that the Champions League needs Barça's involvement, regardless of the means by which that transpires.

In context of the greatest European comeback ever, even those in the present-day backwater that is Scotland, who realise football didn't begin with the onset of the Premier League and wall-to-wall live broadcasting, can cite alternatives. Kilmarnock versus Eintracht Frankfurt in 1964 is worthy of mention, as are Dunfermline Athletic's heroics against Valencia two years earlier. In 1967 Hibernian turned another Inter-Cities Fairs Cup tie on its head by trouncing Dino Zoff's Napoli 5-0 in Edinburgh.

They say life was simpler then. Football was certainly fairer; it should not be beyond professional analysts to lay aside the confetti and point that out or, indeed, for Barcelona to modify their behaviour.

[VicHalomsLovechild]

A good read, especially the bit where he compares with other sports.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

The article seems a bit OTT.

To compare the possibility of cheating in golf or snooker where the action is discrete, the pace that of walking and where there is no contact with the difficulties of judgement facing a referee is just ridiculous.

And why pick on Barcelona? Raheem Sterling and Dele Ali dive every week.

I thought the first was a penalty. The defender was falling but he made an effort to impede the attacker and the attacker accepted the kind offer.

PSG can have no excuses. They should have closed out a game with a 4-0 lead and then an away goal.

[westcliff white]

The first is a penalty a soft one but a penalty, the second wa never a penalty.

I agree PSG should have shut thegame down especially after the away goal, Emry is an experienced manager with European success. I am very sceptical about the reuslt I have to say, 3 goals in thew last few minutes.

[Holders]

I think diving in the box or "appealing" for a penalty should be a yellow card. It should be the referee's decision if a foul has been committed. This is football, not cricket.

[nose]

sport is a contest to determine who is best, or in football terms who can score the most goals.
the rukles are the framework for the contest
unfortunately what we have now is the bizarre notion that who can cheat better is a fundamental part of the game
getting one over on the ref is part of accepted psyche
we won a foul, we won a penalty, that is crazy.
you should not be looking to win a foul, but tying to play the game.
example... a forward is running with the ball and being chased by a defender, he suddenly slows the defensder has no time to react and runs into him, foul awarded to the forward. That cannot be correct.

The authorities should name and shame the cheats and ban them for a long time, any dive should be 6 matches, shirt pulling, 6 matches... that would stop it.

the rules are the framework for which the game is played, what footballers do at the top levels is like stealing from the bank in monopoly.

the ball crosses the line and the ref didn't see it, the players should stop and say it crossed the line, it's that simple, encourage hinesty.
Naive? maybe but if your bank manager took mony from your account whilst you weren't watching you would have the police onto him.

what barca did was nothing short of despicable, and the media laud it as a great comeback. They cheated, the only thing we can say is PSG would have probably done the same if the roles were reversed but that does not excuse anything.

[Funky Fulham Dave]

Yes I read that - I'm a Guardian reader don't you know – and the article emphasise how in football the tail wags the dog.

In this case the only people cheering louder than the Barcelona fans at the end was UEFA themselves. And if that meant turning a blind eye to Barcelona's serial cheat Luis Suarez falling over at every opportunity when inside the box then as far as UEFA are concerned that's a price worth paying.

UEFA need the continued presence of Barcelona if only to help continue to fill the coffers of the Bank of UEFA and if that means a little dive here and there so be it.


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