Sunday football. Today it can all be over. The outcome of a season in two hours of radio. The fixture at 6:30 PM can make things more clear or make them even harder to guess for the last game of next weekend. Anyway, LaLiga has just one week left and I think that it is the right moment to analyze what this season has brought to us.
The season has been market by empty stadiums until today, as the Comunidad Valenciana, Balearics and Galicia can have a maximum of 5,000 fans at their stadiums (or 30% of their capacity) in order to cheer up their players for their last (and decisive) home game of the year. Only them, as they are in phase 1 right now, are allowed to count on this “privilege” that has delayed for more than a year and that now has come as an unfair and inequality decision. This is to adulterate the competition with only two games remaining. There is no need for this.
As it could not be any other way, it has also been the VAR´s season. Key actions in every game that have changed the outcome and that influences a lot in the table, no matter if it happened at the start or last week. I understand that the fans only complaint when their team is injured and look the other way when they get benefited, but I strongly believe that the issue affects everyone and we have a big problem to solve.
I also get that the covers from the main newspapers complaint about a doubtful action at the Real Madrid vs Sevilla game (not even clear) and do not mention other plays that are as serious as this one that take place in every game, like the penalty conceded to Osasuna against Cádiz last Tuesday. We all know how this works.
I always tell the same. The VAR´s problem is that is run by referees, not the tool itself. Referee´s problem is that before the technology arrived to football, mistakes were justified (human errors) and now that is not an excuse because they can watch instant replays. Football´s problem is that those who decide the rules and “dispense justice” neither know about football or have practiced it.
We just have to see the poor referee´s level in Spain, a league where they show you a yellow card for blinking. Just compare it to the criteria used in Europe, where you can say that they really play football just because they let you play. This is why I would like to praise one name: Mateu Lahoz, the best Spanish referee and the only one who lets to play. His award will be to be the referee at the Champions League final. I am very happy for him.
The season where the values of football have been in risk is about to end, as they threaten to create a Super League saying that “football had to be saved”. The modern one, I guess. This week I saw on Twitter the pre-match program of a CD Logroñés vs Rayo Vallecano game from the 90s. An old football piece that many have not experienced and those who did say that it was better.
Now this is what we have and like with anything else, there are pros and cons, but in the end I just hope football to maintain its main essence: the excitement that anything can happen in a game, and I think that this fixture symbolizes exactly this emotional rollercoaster with all the games taking place at the same time. It is a radio and emotional evening, a piece from the old football within the modern, an oasis for the nostalgic people. Let´s have fun.