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Barcelona's Goal Against Sporting Gijon Sparks Media Controversy Across Spain
The Madrid-based press and the Barcelona-based press are on the verge of coming to blows as another week of controversy envelops La Liga...
Feb 1, 2010 3:05:00 PM
By Cyrus C. Malek
As if Cristiano Ronaldo's two-match ban after Real Madrid's Malaga match did not cause enough controversy over the past week, Saturday's match between Barcelona and Sporting de Gijon has uncorked another slew of contentious comments from the Spanish media as outlets from both sides make very high accusations of fraud.
The issue in question remains to be Barca's solitary goal against Sporting, where the Blaugrana's Pedro Rodriguez received a through ball from Andres Iniesta on a very quickly taken free kick. The goal proved to be Barca's entire of victory and helped the Catalan giants retain a five-point lead over their bitter rivals as Real Madrid overcame a 19-season curse to beat Deportivo La Coruna at the Riazor.
But the press in Madrid has cried foul on Pedro's goal, with a number of images and videos coming out of sports dailies Marca and AS that seem to indicate that the Barca youth player received the ball in an offside position, and in AS, high accusations of a 'Villarato' conspiracy have taken the headlines.
Villarato, while not not a real Spanish word, is a term coined by Spaniards to describe the close relationship between Barca president Joan Laporta and Spanish Federation president Jose Maria Villar (also the vice-president of FIFA and the third vice-president of UEFA), a word that implicates favouritism on the part the Liga directors towards Barca at the expense of Real Madrid (ironically, the same accusations made towards los Blancos as "Franco's team" by Barca fans).
In response, Barcelona sports daily Sport has rubbished the accusations of 'Villarato' as jealousy of Barca's superiority over Madrid and have gone as far as to accuse Marca and AS of doctoring the photo of the Barcelona match with Pedro ahead of the last defender, presenting their own photo (albeit taken from a slightly different angle) showing correct positioning of the Barca forward.
As the Liga race heats up, one can anticipate the Spanish media war to become an even more toxic affair in the coming weeks.
| Bet: | Returns: | Bilbao £85.00 | Draw £55.00 | Barcelona £12.50 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Bilbao £95.00 | Draw £55.00 | Barcelona £12.90 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Bilbao £90.00 | Draw £50.00 | Barcelona £13.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Bilbao £90.00 | Draw £60.00 | Barcelona £12.90 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Bilbao £87.00 | Draw £53.00 | Barcelona £12.50 |
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The issue in question remains to be Barca's solitary goal against Sporting, where the Blaugrana's Pedro Rodriguez received a through ball from Andres Iniesta on a very quickly taken free kick. The goal proved to be Barca's entire of victory and helped the Catalan giants retain a five-point lead over their bitter rivals as Real Madrid overcame a 19-season curse to beat Deportivo La Coruna at the Riazor.
But the press in Madrid has cried foul on Pedro's goal, with a number of images and videos coming out of sports dailies Marca and AS that seem to indicate that the Barca youth player received the ball in an offside position, and in AS, high accusations of a 'Villarato' conspiracy have taken the headlines.
Villarato, while not not a real Spanish word, is a term coined by Spaniards to describe the close relationship between Barca president Joan Laporta and Spanish Federation president Jose Maria Villar (also the vice-president of FIFA and the third vice-president of UEFA), a word that implicates favouritism on the part the Liga directors towards Barca at the expense of Real Madrid (ironically, the same accusations made towards los Blancos as "Franco's team" by Barca fans).
In response, Barcelona sports daily Sport has rubbished the accusations of 'Villarato' as jealousy of Barca's superiority over Madrid and have gone as far as to accuse Marca and AS of doctoring the photo of the Barcelona match with Pedro ahead of the last defender, presenting their own photo (albeit taken from a slightly different angle) showing correct positioning of the Barca forward.
As the Liga race heats up, one can anticipate the Spanish media war to become an even more toxic affair in the coming weeks.
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