Media Hypocrisy Or Are Real A Bigger Club Than Barcelona?

By Isra Qassim.

In a Liga night of Saturday,  Barcelona met Granada in Camp Nou, where it is hard for teams like Real Madrid to get to result in, everyone thought Barca would win the game with ease as they are the stronger team on paper – and Granada's recent performances have been so poor that they were booed on their own turf by their own fans.

However it was far from reality, it was a difficult home game for Barcelona where they struggled for 86 minutes with a heroic performance from Granada's defense and hero of the night, Tono – their goal keeper. The game ended up with a win for Barcelona, anyway, as a wonder strike from Xavi and an own goal sealed the deal for them.

Barca's Saviour against Granada

 Now some might argue that the reason for Barcelona poor performance was missing Iniesta, leave this argument for another day. Now you might look at my title thinking what does this have to do with what is written so far. Well now I get to my point; Messi, who is the 3 time ballon d’or winner, had arguably one of his worse games ever. Perhaps anyway one of the worst recently. 

He couldn’t make assists or continue his dribbling to cut inside and score, lost possession – and that, on one occasion, almost gifted Granada a counter attacking goal had El Arabi taken his chance instead of shooting it straight to Victor Valdes.

Messi is a Human being and any Human being can have a day on the pitch. He was angry and frustrated – with himself and also with his team-mates.

This frustration resulted into Messi have a got at Villa, just before half-time, for passing the ball too late. He shouted at him 4 times, "Why didn’t you pass earlier, Villa?", Villa responded causing an altercation infront of cameras for millions of people around the World to see.

Villa Replies To A Frustrated Messi

Now isn’t this enough news for media or press around the world to go around speaking of a feud happening in Barca's dressing-room? But no, everyone jumped into the defense of Messi, how it is positive and how it motivates his teammates or it happens in games all the time.

I am not in any shape or form saying these things don’t happen in a game. I am a Real Madrid follower, I have seen Iker, for example, many times just screaming at his defenses to move or position themselves or even be angry at them after conceding a goal, these stuff happen.

However, let’s imagine for a second that Cristiano was screaming at Higuain for not passing ball in a game. Which kind of new inside civilized war will be in RM dressing room? Argentina vs Portugal or Higuain actually thinks that Messi deserved more of Ballon d’or and told Cristiano he isn't as good as Messi and that's why Cristiano screamed at him? Or Cristiano is just purely arrogant and a narcissist?

You think I am exaggerating? Well, Iker didn’t celebrate Cristano's winner vs City – Iker actually doesn’t usually celebrate in a crazy way unless it means something big and winning a home group stage game in UCL doesn’t come under the criteria maybe (but the real reason was that one of his faithful young fan died of a long term disease as mentioned by newspaper sources after all sorts of rumours were flying around) – however did this stop media from speaking about a feud and hate relation that is between Cristano and Iker? No it didn’t.

A Motionless Iker

 Ramos was dropped in ONE game for a technical decision, media went on stories how he is punished for going on against his coach and that Ramos is now in bad terms with Mourinho, even though Ramos has been average after the Euros. But no, let’s believe that Ramos hates Mourinho after all he invited his “support group” for lunch to complain about him.

People say that Real are a big Club and thus media always like to talk about them, so aren't Barca a big Club? Or is it because news regarding Real – like people more interested in Cristano accusing Iker on stealing his hair-gel trying to cover his bald spots on his head – sells more? Or is it just pure media hypocrisy that they just like to talk about Real?

(Talks of rift in Barca's dressing room were reported, but by very few media outlets - not as much as how the aforementioned Real-regarding rumours were talked about worldwide.)

Yes, Real have 2 outspoken personalities in Mourinho and Cristiano, but that doesn't mean that it should make them subject of unfairness – especially when both of them have changed to become more conservative than before.

So what is the reason for this double standard? Is it because Real are a bigger Club or is it because some hypocrite media outlets? I'll leave this for you to decide.

Follow Isra On Twitter!

Why Cristiano Ronaldo Deserves To Win The Ballon d'Or Ahead Of Messi This Year

by Nour Sedki.

Two of the best...

Well, that's the big debate. It's the debate that possibly divides fans the world over. What remains is the question: Who's better, Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo or Barcelona star Lionel Messi? Firstly, I would like to say this article will not certainly settle that debate as fans' opinions are so solidified at this point that I doubt any article could.

While Messi may be more beloved and has better stats overall in 2012 as things stand, I'm one of those objective writers whom are of the opinion the Portuguese attacker fully deserves to snatch this year's Ballon d'Or award. It's quite true Messi notched a staggering amount of goals last season, surpassing the mark of 70 strikes for club and 80 if taking national team goals into consideration. 

The Defending Champion

One could suppose Messi has no opponents to square off against for this year's award considering he had completed the greatest individual season of all time, but what most people are yet to realise is that team performance counts when talking about the Ballon d'Or. 

Saying that Barcelona struggled as some of their key players were injury-prone for nearly half of the season and Messi had to carry an off-form Barcelona side to glory all by himself undoubtedly makes sense. As shown statistically, if we take out Messi's 50 league goals, Barcelona would have ended up at 6th place, which proves how important Messi has been for Barcelona. And while Ronaldo had Higuain and Benzema on his side with both scoring 25+ goals, it was a lot easier for him to get the job done. 

However, one could also argue Ronaldo has been the most decisive player in club football this year. Even though he had teammates uninjured and creating chances for him to score, we have witnessed a more unselfish and less individualistic Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Taking team performance into account, Ronaldo led Real Madrid to their first league title in four year after racking up 46 goals in La Liga over 60 in all club competitions. Moreover, Ronaldo had silenced 95% of the people who previously criticized him for not scintillating in the most crucial games, the 'Big Games'. Ronaldo, unlike rival Leo Messi, proved decisive for Real as he produced several match-winning displays that have helped the Whites through all competitions - i.e: v (Barcelona, Bayern, Betis, Valencia, Lyon, Atletico Madrid, Rayo Vallecano,..etc) Ronaldo showed up when it mattered most for his side, something the Argentine phenomenon couldn't do.

Another thing people seem to forget nowadays is that the Ballon d'Or is given based on the player's performances throughout the calendar year, and not the season, so all what will be taken into consideration are Ronaldo and Messi's plaudits back from January the 1st until the 31st of December. Thus, statistically speaking, the pair share the same amount of goals (64) whilst the Argentine currently has more assists (21) compared to Ronaldo's (15). 

But what really gives the Portuguese the edge is his impressive performances at the Euros with Portugal. 

Carried Portugal On His Shoulders...

Ronaldo got off to a poor start following two lackluster showings respectively against Germany and Denmark, but then produced the goods since taking the Seleccao further than expected - the semifinals of the tournament. Ronaldo scored thrice and ended up being the top scorer of the tourney along with five other players. Portugal have unfortunately got eliminated at the hands of eventual winners Spain, on penalties, in which Ronaldo could not take a single spot-kick. 

Ronaldo then traveled to France and Thailand with future wife and current girlfriend Irina Shayk as part of his short two week vacation. He returned to training on the 28th of July, hoping for a great start to the new season in order to win trophies with Real Madrid. 

Real kicked off their La Liga title defence with poor performances against Valencia and Getafe as Real drew 1-1 against Los Che and suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Getafe after a late goal from Barrada. Ronaldo afterwards showed why he truly deserves this year's Ballon d'Or when he was integral in Madrid's conquest of their first Supercup since a long time following a 2-1 victory over eternal rivals, FC Barcelona, where he scored a goal each in both legs. Ronaldo unquestionably outplayed Pique and his charming displays might have overlooked Messi's during that game.

Cristiano Celebrating His Goal Against Barca

Ronaldo obviously has a very good chance at scooping this year's prize from rival Lionel Messi. Reasons in short are because his dragging of Portugal to Euro Semis after scoring three crucial strikes, he helped Real Madrid secure their first La Liga title since 2008, he showed up when it mattered most and was arguably this year's most pivotal player. 

And that's why he deserves the Ballon d'Or more than Messi.

Follow Nour on Twitter!