I watched the Man City v Leicester game on Saturday and was of course as enthralled as everyone else by both the result and by Leicester’s clarity of ideas. Over here in Spain, the Leicester fiesta has at last been noticed, and the consequences of their rise to prominence have been several-fold. The first, of course, is the fact that at last the Spanish can now pronounce the English city’s name, correctly using two syllables instead of the previous three (‘Leh-theh-stair’). The second has been the occasional hints in the Madrid press of interest in Jamie Vardy, although it’s always difficult in these cases to separate fact from fiction. The Spanish capital’s hacks have never been overly keen on letting the facts get in the way of a good story, and anyway, it’s an accepted law of Spain that any half-decent player will be associated with one of the country’s auld firm. Indeed, the real force behind Leicester’s rise, the Algerian Riyad Mahrez, is said to be interesting Barcelona, according to English media. He’s certainly a Barcelona ‘type’, just as Vardy would better suit Madrid’s style, but this is largely idle speculation.
The really interesting thing about the Leicester phenomenon is that it has been allowed to happen at all, in a league whose wealth is better distributed (although obvious imbalances exist) and where the biggest clubs do not depend exclusively on a mutually cosy relationship with the media. No conspiracy theories will ever prove it, but the winds that blow through Spain do tend to billow the sails of the most powerful, and the machinery that exists below the glittering surface manages to ensure that outbreaks of footballing democracy such as Leicester City occur less frequently.
There was a feeling, at the turn of the millennium, that Deportivo de La Coruna (who won the title once) and Valencia (twice) were making real inroads into the Madrid-Barcelona duopoly, but the feeling was misplaced. Both clubs have suffered financial and institutional crises since. Deportivo have been twice relegated since their year 2000 apogee, and although Valencia have put on a good face during the hard times, their current 12-game run without a win looks like lurching them back into crisis. More of that later, but the saddest aspect of Leicester’s life-affirming season so far is that the big clubs will inevitably seek to break up their success by tempting their two best players away. Having praised the Premier League for allowing (politically speaking) Leicester to ruffle the big boys, one is forced to admit that the masses of money now sloshing through its corridors will tempt Mahrez and Vardy to jump ship, and who could blame them? There’s already a feeling in England of ‘enjoy this while you can’, because even the fact that Vardy has just signed a new contract will be no impediment to the two big Spanish clubs, and nor will it deter the big four or five in England.
Pep Guardiola will no doubt have watched his Manchester charges-to-be get terrorised by Vardy’s pace and Mahrez’ guile, and made appropriate notes. Barcelona themselves have been knocked a little off kilter by the news of Pep’s next move, since Guardiola (backed up by Txiki Beguiristain) is the only man who could possibly persuade Lionel Messi to spend his golden years in another footballing context, as unlikely as that seems. That he might persuade Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique to sample the Manchester rain, however, may be more plausible. There seems no end to Barcelona’s success on the field, but equally no end to their problems off it. Neymar’s father’s run-in with the Catalan press this week was just the tip of the iceberg, as the fiscal issues surrounding the Brazil captain, Javier Mascherano and Messi continue to simmer problematically, and the club is now embroiled in alleged digital espionage from Sandro Rosell’s time in charge. It wouldn’t be beyond the pale to suggest that, eventually, this atmosphere might tempt some to seek pastures new.
Real Madrid will be hoping so, because there seems presently no way to catch their rivals. Without playing particularly well again, Barcelona equalled Guardiola’s run of 28 games (in all competitions) without defeat in Luis Enrique’s 100th match in charge. Enrique’s overall record in his second season is now superior to those of Guardiola, Johann Cruyff and Frank Rijkaard, with 80 games won and just nine defeats. Also joining the hundred-club was Fernando Torres, who marked up a century of goals for Atletico Madrid, the team for whom he first scored fifteen years ago in Albacete. It’s been a long time coming, although to be fair, in the interim he scored 126 goals during eight seasons England. His 100th came in injury time against Eibar, who had been leading in the Calderon after Keko, an ex-youth product of Atletico, put Eibar into the lead (and sort of celebrated). The Eibar players seemed less than impressed by Torres then holding up a special shirt for the occasion (you get booked for taking your shirt off, but not for producing a new one) but hey, they probably didn’t want to begrudge him the moment. It meant that Atletico, weakened by injuries and suspensions, stay second but are still three points adrift of Barca.
Luis Enrique's club-record run vs Pep Guardiola's club-record run.
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) February 7, 2016
Almost identical records. Two incredible teams. pic.twitter.com/020fmk6hWf
Real struggled to take all three points at lowly Granada, but finally clinched the game with a wonderful late goal from Luka Modric, after the Moroccan Youssef El-Arabi had deservedly equalised Karim Benzemas’ opener. Villarreal lost ground with a goalless draw up in Bilbao whilst further down the table Valencia remained faithful to their awful week by losing 1-0 at Betis, further tempting press speculation that Gary Neville’s time is surely up. In midweek, the temporary sheen of competing in the King’s Cup semi-final was swiftly obliterated by Barcelona’s merciless onslaught and a 7-0 victory that was the worst since they lost by a similar score in the cup in 1928 at Real Sociedad. One might have expected a decent reaction at Betis but the hosts themselves had not won under their new coach Juan Merino and needed the points too.
Valencia are now a mere four points from the relegation zone, and seem denuded of confidence and clear ideas. In the post-match press conference, where Neville was forced to speak in staccato bites due to the necessity for translation (the Spanish guy did a good job), the Valencia contingent among the press had clearly turned hostile to the Englishman, despite the latter’s polite attempts to explain away the latest defeat as a consequence of the outrageous nature of fortune. You thought that at any moment Neville would break into Hamlet and talk of slings and arrows, but the translation wouldn’t be easy. One journalist implied Neville would be ok because of his ‘friend’ Peter Lim. Neville ignored the slur, but is clearly beginning to suffer. The reality may be that Valencia cannot afford to sack him (and bring in Rafa Benitez) but if he survives this week then the only sunny sign on the horizon is that the next two games look to be winnable, against Espanyol and Granada. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Neville is probably a decent coach in the making – although it is one thing to analyse a game perceptively and quite another to communicate your ideas to and motivate a squad of players. His mistake was to underestimate the challenge he was taking on, but it would be a shame if this initial venture were to end so quickly and so sadly.
