Last night a great football side finally died.
Barcelona looked shockingly fragile as the turbocharged Bayern swept them aside.
The 8-2 scoreline was the Catalan’s worst result since 1946.
It now feels like an exceptionally long time since the unplayable trio of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi tortured the best in Europe.
There were times when it seemed that they were re-defining what association football could be.
Elite clubs crumbled as they realized that they simply could not get the ball as Barça
did their stuff.
It was death by Tiki-taka.
That is now a memory.
It is not just a marketing slogan to state that Barça are “more than a club”.
For generations, they have been the symbol of a stateless nation with a long and troubled history.
Xavi, the imperious playmaker who was the brain of the unreachable Barça team a decade ago, was also intelligent and perceptive off the field.
“Celtic, like Barcelona, are more than a football club. Our clubs are a symbol of a culture and community that has not always been made welcome in their respective countries.”
Now, that essential truth about the ethnicity of the Parkhead club is above the intellectual paygrade of the copy and paste commandoes in the Stenography Corps in Fair Caledonia.
It is also true and the chaps on the sports desks often have an aversion to truth.
Last night in Lisbon the Germans mercilessly battered a hollowed-out husk of a team.
The Messi-Suárez front paring is, of course, a world-class duo that would trouble any defence.
However, the eight outfield players behind them last night were not on their level.
The Germans pressed them back relentlessly and Barça, devastated by the energy of their opponents, found themselves 4-1 down after 31 minutes.
It was reminiscent of the destruction of the Brazil side in 2014 with Thomas Müller being the two-goal common factor.
Like many contemporary stories in o jogo bonito, it is necessary to follow the money.
Philippe Coutinho piled on the agony for the Catalan with two second-half
goals and an assist last night.
However, the Brazilian is a Barcelona player, loaned to the Germans to reduce the most significant wage bill in world football.
The Catalans will now be on a long and difficult Carretera.
However, you would not bet against them rebuilding and rising again.
Més que un club.
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Let’s start by recognising that I do not listen to the politicians. I listen to recognised virologists and epidemiologists. Last week the Chief Medical Officer stood in on the Westminster briefing and stated that we have probably reached as far as we could in returning to “normal”. I predict that you will now be seeing less of his appearances. There have been others who have “disappeared” from the briefings and have now joined with other reputable scientists. These guys don’t give opinions they state the facts.
The main fact just now is the concern over the high level of recovered COVID patients who suffer from ME, but there is more. Let me quote this from Akiko Iwasaki, Yale University
” Even though it’s one virus, it can cause all different kinds of diseases in people.”
Rather than give you stuff to read from medical journals that will bore the pants off you no matter how serious the subject matter this might give you a taster.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/brain-fog-heart-damage-covid-19-s-lingering-problems-alarm-scientists
And as to the young people that think that it doesn’t matter if people die because it is the older ones that are affected try these latest figures from Sweden.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107905/number-of-coronavirus-cases-in-sweden-by-age-groups/
I’m not going to lead you by the hand through all the research work, like the Spanish review that is finding worrying brain damage consequences, do that for yourselves
We are in a war and in wars the government will give you only good news – it’s called propaganda.
But hey you guys want to party at football matches so what the fuk.
Reiver, I know you are having a rant, however I just want to thank you, you have certainly educated me.
To describe present day Catalonia as a nation is as meaningless historically as describing the historical Kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon as nations.
This Barca v. Bayern game is the first “behind closed doors” game that I have managed to watch from start to finish.
It was compelling viewing, as it seemed to represent the definitive end of an era for Barca – and possibly the end of Messi as their key player?
Bayern were brutally efficient in their elimination of the Catalan club: this could be the beginning of a dominant CL era for the German club.
Change is good – and it could prove helpful for the CL competition in the long run if both Barca and Real drop out of the Champions League elite for a while.
I just had to come on again to respond to the dangerous idiots that rebuked me yesterday.
Let me stress again that the football I was listening today was only available because the clubs through the SPFL and SFA guaranteed that they could return to training AND then start playing games without risk to the general public from a resurgence COVID19. Guess what guys? It’s back. Reading the level of response I got yesterday I’m guessing that when I start using numbers you will go into meltdown. No matter the level of meltdown it does NOTHING to undermine the facts.
Lockdown forced the occurence of COVID to reduce because people were staying far enough apart to stop the germs(I take it that you know what they are) being spread. You measure this reduction or, as is now happening, increase of people ending up in intensive car using the R value.If the R value is under one then the number of cases can only decrease, above one then the cases increase. The R value reducing has nothing to do with the virus it is an indicator of what the general public, including the idiots, are doing to avoid each other. If you don’t believe me then youtube the Aberdeen players at the pub. Don’t concentrate on the players but look at all those idiots gathered around them. We now know that at least one of the imbeciles would go and visit a few more pubs. In the days before the pub visit the R value was between 0.6 and 0.8. Within days the R value was over 1.2 and a couple of hundred peoples lives were in danger as they had been infected.
But hey, what do you guys care, your young and fit and it won’t affect you. Ignorance again. Sweden has gone into another infectious phase and guess what , 7 out of ten are in the 25 to 50 age group . You guys reckon that it isn’t serious for the youngsters. Whoops, wrong again! You may not end up in ICU but there are other effects that the government is only letting us know about now. The virus settles in the lungs and the docs are learning how to deal with that. Now they are learning that the heart. kidneys and liver are damaged. Worse still it affects the brain(OK so you guys are safe from that one) and they have given the name COVID Fog.
No lies from the scientists who are not in the government employ. Westminster are not trying to scare you, they trying to keep the scary stuff from you.
For you supporters whose allegiance is to Ireland take this on board. The Irish government have Scotland as a no-go area and it ain’t cos there are Rangers supporters here.
Face up to the facts, this virus is real and anyone who puts the rest of us a risk should be hammered. The clubs promised the government that they could control their side of things. They haven’t, they couldn’t, so hammer them and they can hammer the idiots.
And still we have the likes of Lawell requesting that punters should be allowed to attend matches on a trial basis. That’s not because they have sympathy with you cos you are missing your favourite sport it’s because he wants money into the coffers for his annual bonus.
WISE UP!!!!
The virus…or whatever it is is real. Only a fool would disagree, but with so much crap, or noise in the media how do we know where the truth is.
The best case scenario as far as I’m concerned as a 62 year old slightly obese “holocaust decentraliser”…. is that you , me all of us might succumb to covid 19…but in the long run the world will keep on turning whithout you or me or even Glasgow Rangers….hard to imagine isn’t it…!!! How could that be zi plead…. but the ghost of Alec Cameron…answers me not…..!!!
Can you please post a link to the independent scientific studies you cite? My local GP has studied this and advised both my wife and myself that it is a bad flu! At this time last year there had been 1200 deaths from flu in Australia, this year there are zero, the PRC test used has been showing false positives of around 80% on top of that the lady who invented it stated it cannot be used effectively to determine Coronavirus!
Dr Buttar did a live stream of over 200 MD’s all were in agreement that we’re being lied to! Look at the people who have increased their wealth during this time, as Phil says, follow the money and you’ll see why this is being played out the way it is! In NZ laws that would make you sick have been passed while the democratic process has been abandoned due to corona, in the UK & Aus, government officials, not medical professionals, can take your kids from you if they see fit with no court proceedings or due process, but yeah you’re right, let’s keep faith in government, it’s not like they benefit or have lied to the general public in the past🙄
Really, if you still think this just a bad flu, then heaven help you. And all the people you risk infecting….
So post your numbers, How many have died of flu this season? Usually there are between 20,000 to 40,000 a year die of flu, but not ONE this season has been reported.How many have died WITH Covid NOT because of Covid? There are many instances where people have died due to, for example, cancer but had Covid and so were included in the figures.
Yes there is a pandemic and people should be more aware, however that doesn’t mean the healthy should be punished by being forced to stay home or wear a mask.
20 years experience in the health service and NEVER before have we quarantined the healthy.
Wrong!!!!!!
COVID deaths only get reported if the patient has been tested. Next to none of the residents of care homes had testing available to them but the death rate soared.
Flu deaths – if you still don’t understand what the R value means then this is probably a waste of time. Under normal circumstances the R value for flu is around one and for covid is around three. By social distancing we have reduced the R value of COVID to less than one. We haven’t done anything to the virus, we have just reduced the chances that we give someone else it. In doing that we have done the same for every other infectious disease that spreads by droplets. Because of our actions against COVID we have reduced the cases of flu to the same proportions as we have managed to do with covid. The R value for flu probably stands at about 0.2-0.3 instead of 1.
Cancer, heart attack and stroke figures are NOT included in the COVID figures. In fact, as I said earlier, many of the COVID deaths are not included in the COVID death figures.
If you don’t want to mislead the rest of us by not writing your fiction at least try to stop misleading yourself.
Wrong. I know for a FACT that at least one cancer patient ( tested four times during hospitalisation ) who subsequently died and COVID was on his death certificate. The numbers you are want to quote but refuse to do so, as you know they are false. Just because the R number for flu is reduced doesn’t mean no one died of flu this season, yet there are no recorded deaths. If reducing the R number for covid is so successful why have we not been doing the same for flu for the last 20 years or more? Why would we let 20,000 to 40,000 a year die of flu unnecessarily?
Not disputing Covid is out there but I do contest the government figures are misleading to say the least.
So, because someone disagrees with you they are “dangerous idiots”? Can’t we offer our own opinions without attracting personal insults?
I had a wry smile on my face when I heard the score.
The reason being we as a Club have been panned in recent years for some similar score lines by the media both North and South of the Border.
The fact remains though that in the Champions League there are sides quite able to destroy more expensive and better squads than what we have managed to put on the Park as a Club.
No shock here that Bayern managed to dish one out against a mediocre Barça squad by their own high standards.
Aye. It’s been the case for years that ANY of the really big boys can give ANY of the others a going over if everything clicks for them. If anything the scoreline flattered Barcelona. Bayern passed up a lot of chances. When they scored the fifth, in 49 minutes I think, it was their FOURTH chance of the second half.
The myth of an all-conquering Barcelona doesn’t bear scrutiny. They’ve never won back to back European Cups and in the last 15 years have won it 4 times, which is the same as Real,
Countinho cost Barca over £100m, as did Dembele and Griezmann, who were only good enough for the bench, which is horrific and with only 3 homegrown players in the starting line-up, 2 of whom didn’t play the whole match, the famed La Masia is losing its lustre.
They are reckoned to be over £800m in debt and have a plan to redevelop the Camp Nou costing £500m!
Sevco may be the Espanyol of Glasgow but are Barca the Sevco of Cataluña?
800 million in debt?
That is approaching SDM levels;
and what happened to him?
With one pound, he was free!
I well remember the hacks in Scotland, advised, that Celtic should withdraw from Europe’s top competition, as we suffered a similar mauling.
They felt it was embarrassing.
I wonder if theyll offer similar advice to Barcelona.