Spanish Musings.

      What a week it has been. I wanted to write about a specific topic but every time I started a new story would break out. So I figured I would just give my thoughts on the biggest stories to occur this week.

1. Ballon D' Or.

        Ronaldo was the obvious winner, despite my Blaugrana leanings its hard to argue with his statistics last season: 51 goals and 15 assists in 47 appearances in all competitions, 17 goals in the Champions League with 11 appearances. Simply put Ronaldo was insatiable last season and despite a tepid World Cup performance by Portugal, it wasn't enough to deny him the trophy. My issue with the award is that no known criteria is given. For example in a World Cup year, does that month long tournament eclipse the achievements of players over a 9 month season? And whichever team wins the World Cup, which player is given the award if there was no outstanding individual but rather and outstanding team? These are questions that I believe should be clarified when deciding who is the best player. However, congratulations to Ronaldo, you may not like his personality but his talent is undeniable.

2. Barca stables ship.

          "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on" Winston Churchill. Depending on what publication you believe its the House of Cards at Barca and Messi is Frank Underwood, deviously scheming and plotting to take over. In football players and coaches argue a lot, especially a coach with the  hard graft approach of Luis Enrique who, as a player fought for every ball and wore the badge on his sleeve, has brought that approach as a manager. In a week were Zubizaretta, the Sporting Director since the summer of 2010 was fired, and elections were brought forward; a lot hinged on whether Barca would capitulate under the pressure surrounding the club. Messi and Luis Enrique reported tensions with each other, which lead to reports that Messi requested him fired, all of that and then facing Spanish Champions Atletico Madrid who had comfortably beaten their city rivals in the Copa, the script seemed written for the Titanic to hit the iceberg and sink. Instead Barca came out united on the pitch and the front three of Neymar, Suarez and Messi linked up extremely well, the midfield pressed and controlled the game and the defense (Pique and Alba especially) were solid. Messi then came out after the match and denied all the stories that made him Napoleon and said they were all "lies". I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle, Messi and Luis Enrique probably had a disagreement that was then blown out of proportion. Sometimes the most sensational stories are just that, stories.  Can Barca use the win vs Atletico to improve their overall state of play? Will Luis Enrique settle on a starting 11?  These are the more pertinent questions, football related questions that should occupy our minds not salacious headlines

Until next time, peace.

Stats for Ronaldo from www.messivsronaldo.net