gingerless
Active member
Totally agree. Like Xavi said, he's a little bit "puto", street smart. He draws fouls like nobody I've ever seen at his age, which is an art all by itself. In normal matches, he's very subtle, placing his body in the way of other players so that they are forced to plow into him, that kind of thing. The problem is that he sometimes overdoes it and it's too obvious. That happens in matches where teams like Inter and Real Madrid come out with the obvious game plan to physically intimidate Barça. Late challenges, stepping on ankles, knee stomps, hip checks, throwing elbows, all that violent bullshit that a small team like Barcelona would be vulnerable too if it weren't for players like Busquets drawing yellows and reds from assholes like Motta and Marcelo. Honestly, I can't understand how people think that stomping on somebody's ankle is "part of the game", but go nuts if somebody exaggerates the pain felt by that stomp so that they referee will punish the violent player. It's like they think that they should just stoically take the physical abuse, which will escalate if they are not punished, until Pepe finally breaks Xavi's leg or something. Fuck that. Drawing cards by calling the referee's attention to each and every one of the violent tactics is a way to protect themselves from the Pepe's of the world. Deal with it.
word