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What’s the Story?
Abdullah Al Thani, Malaga’s President has become embroiled in the middle of another ugly controversy after several sections of the Catalan press levelled serious allegations against Malaga’s players accusing them of throwing the game in Real Madrid’s favour. Al Thani, naturally, responded with vehemence and turned the tables on Barcelona threatening to take them to FIFA and/or UEFA with a dossier that he claims holds proof that the Catalan club offered him money to make it profitable for him to beat Real Madrid. This is as reported in the spanish website elbernabeu.co
In case you didn’t know
We had earlier reported “Why losing to Real Madrid will see Malaga make more money than if they win”, but this latest round of acccusations has thrown a whole new shade on things.
The heart of the matter
Incidents like Villenueva slipping under the ball with Ronaldo waiting to pounce behind him and Luis Hernandez losing the ball to Isco in a dangerous area were highlighted by the pro-Barca support as the proof behind their delusional theories. Al-Thani exploded and as per the Spanish media outlet, the Transistor, has threatened to take the case to the supreme footballing authorities which would naturally land the Catalan club in a whole lot of trouble.
What next?
Whether there is truth in either side’s claim, spanish football be benefited if they seek out an independent enquiry (from UEFA, or FIFA) to look into accusations levelled at both sides. Without complete transparency there will always be an air of murkiness surrounding the whole affair – and that is defintely something the world of football could do without, their two biggest clubs becoming embroiled in something as scandalous as this.
Author’s Take
First off, Barcelona lost the league because they were utter rubbish against the likes of Alaves and Deportivo La Coruna (just two of the lower placed teams that Barca lost to), in fact they even went on to gain just 1 out of a possible 6 points against Malaga themselves – and that’s what cost them the league. Before the club’s fans, media, and maybe even the club itself start throwing around random acccusations, perhaps it is time for everyone to take a deep breath and introspect.
Read, Also – 5 tactical tweaks that will make Barcelona invincible next season
As for Al-Thani’s acccusation while his indignation is understandable, the whole matter could have, and should have, been handled with far greater subtlety.
