The day Iniesta shut Cristiano Ronaldo

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In the catechism of good FC Barcelona supporters, the first commandment is to win Madrid, anywhere, even on the bus.

Not my habit to talk about football on this blog. But if it comes to Barça – and especially of a classic derby with Real Madrid – everything changes. « A Barca-Madrid is the top-ten of pleasure », says La Vanguardia. And that’s quite right.
Beyond the sporting merits of Messi and Guardiola and the undeniable quality of Madrid, there is a fundamental difference between the teams. The Catalans are just that: a team and the meringues ‘just’ a sum of individuals (built-through a mass of money).

That Barça is more than a club, we all know. But we must remember, as the former president of FC Barcelona Agustí Montal does in an meaty interview in La Vanguardia, that the club is a fundamental hallmark  all throughout Catalonia and in this globalized world, this team represents, alongside sporting excellence, some way of understanding life getting to unite altogether in the same ideal: Empathy without violence or fanaticism. In front, a proud Madrid, with bright moments, but not much more:

Iniesta vs. Ronaldo, the typology opposes both characters, one silent, hieratic, cautious, almost humble, the other arrogant, spoiled, tough guy, and uploaded in the dollar, as any player had never been shaped.

Iniesta is probably a better player than Ronaldo. Time will tell.