Eric Abidal tells a story about Lionel Messi in training, "After one session, we all practised free kicks," said the Frenchman. "[Jose Manuel] Pinto was in goal, he was a close friend of Messi. Each time he took the free kick, he told Pinto exactly where he was going to put it. He told Pinto to wait for the ball where he told him it was going to go. Pinto ignored him and every time Messi kept putting the ball in exactly the same spot. Then Messi would say: 'I told you where I was going to put the ball, why didn't you wait there?' He did this 10 times and scored 10 times. Everybody was laughing."
Is that arrogance or brilliance? The players thought the former and because Pinto was a close friend of Messi, he could get away with it. However, showboating can take a different twist when it is against a foe.
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When Neymar was perceived to be showboating in the 2015 Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao, the Basque players were outraged as the former Santos striker tried to flick the ball over the head of Unai Bustinza before going down theatrically looking for a free kick.
Even Neymar's Barcelona colleagues Gerard Pique and Luis Enrique had some sympathy for them, with Enrique, the coach, saying: "If I was an Athletic player, for sure I would have reacted the same, or worse. In Brazil it is normal, it is difficult to explain to him, but we will try to control that, with time."
Neymar was having none of it and said he had no plans to change his style. It was how he had always played, it was his culture, he explained. The Corinthian spirit may have been taken to his home region in the name of a football team, but Brazilian football has made its own interpretations.
Barca’s players are sympathetic to that culture and do not think either Messi or Neymar are showboating and being arrogant.
“A fantastic boy,” said Xavi of Neymar. “He’s Brazilian, he loves life. Other cultures might not understand his humour; people think he’s making fun of his rivals, but he’s not. He’s like this in the dressing room, in training.”
And so to Sunday, when Barca were awarded a penalty during an utterly spectacular last 20 minutes against a smart Celta Vigo team missing three strikers. Barca were only 2-1 up with 16 minutes remaining and yet won 6-1.
Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez were incredible, toying with their opponents like a real life computer game. When Messi was awarded a penalty, he passed it towards Neymar rather than shooting. Instead, Suarez shot it home, breaking the internet in a flurry of vines and gifs. It was brilliant and everyone had their own take on it. The Catalan media said it was in honour of a similar spot kick involving Johan Cruyff and Jesper Olsen 34 years previous. The Madrid media condemned it as arrogance, though they would not have said that if it has involved a Real Madrid player. Celta coach Eduardo Berizzo did not think it was arrogant or disrespectful. It was entirely within the rules of football.
There is a fine line between gloating and humiliating opponents, but Barcelona are staying on the right side of things, even when hammering teams by six or seven. Already the best in the world, the front three are getting better and better.
Already they have scored 86 goals this season between them; they scored 122 last term. The three South Americans play purely as a collective rather than individuals. David Villa and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were world-class footballers, but could not establish the connection with Messi that Neymar and Suarez have.
And as former Barca sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta, the man who oversaw the signing of Suarez and Neymar, said recently of the Uruguayan: “We hoped he’d get on well with the other strikers. We couldn’t imagine they’d share barbecues together at home.”
The three, all neighbours, play together at work and in their social time and their friendship off the pitch is helping to create spectacular moments on it.
Away days are blue for Sevilla
Barcelona and Sevilla will meet in the Copa del Rey final after hammering Valencia and Celta Vigo, respectively, in their semi-finals. If the match is half as exciting as the last time the pair met in a cup game then prepare for one of the great encounters of the season.
The 5-4 Uefa Super Cup match in Tblisi last summer was a stunning season-opener. Trailing 4-1 after 56 minutes, Sevilla brought the score back to 4-4 with nine minutes left before losing to a 115th-minute Pedro goal.
Since 2009, as well as winning five of seven leagues titles, making the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League in six of seven seasons, Barcelona have reached six of eight Copa del Rey finals.
Barca’s brilliance is well documented, but Sevilla have been a success story over the past decade, a fine cup side who have won two Copa del Reys and an incredible four Uefa Cups/Europa Leagues, plus a Super Cup.
Unai Emery’s side started this season poorly, losing three and drawing two of their opening five league games. Bottom of the table in September, they soon found form and have not lost it. Seville beat Real Madrid at home and were the last team to defeat Barcelona, a 2-1 win on October 4.
Their Sanchez Pizjuan home is a fortress and Sunday’s league win over Las Palmas was their 13th straight victory at home. They have risen steadily and are now fifth in La Liga, yet there is a huge disparity between their home and away form. Sevilla have yet to win a single away match in the league and have mustered only six goals, the lowest of any team on the road. In the Champions League, they lost all three away games, winning two and losing one – to Manchester City - at home. They will re-join the Europa League where they have done so well in the recent past. They face a home game against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Molde team on Thursday.
At least Sevilla’s domestic away cup form is better, and they have defeated Real Betis, Logrones, Mirandes and held Celta Vigo, but no team is so good at home and so bad away as Sevilla.
The venue of the Copa del Rey final in May has yet to be determined, with the annual stories emanating from Madrid about how the Bernabeu cannot be used to host a cup final involving Barcelona, where the Spanish national anthem will be booed by Catalans. Real Madrid would rather not provide a stage for that; instead they will host a Bruce Springsteen concert that night.
Located between Sevilla and Barcelona, Madrid is the right venue and Atletico Madrid’s 55,000 Vicente Calderon is the sensible choice, even though there will be logistical issues with the Springsteen concert.
With half the venue given to their own fans, which Sevilla will we see?
Player of the week
Thanks in part to being gifted a shot by Lionel Messi’s penalty, Luis Suarez got another hat-trick. Messi too has designs on winning the Pichichi, so his gesture was selfless. Suarez is Spain’s leading goalscorer. He is in the form of his life, the best centre-forward in football at present.
Game of the week
Athletic Bilbao v Real Sociedad in the big Basque derby. Sociedad can go into the game with higher hopes than at any time for three years. Real Madrid will do well to win at Malaga, while Villarreal’s unbeaten run will be tested at Atletico Madrid.
What else?
Valencia defender Joao Cancelo, 21, is highly rated by Gary Neville. With 19 minutes left on Saturday and Valencia losing again, Cancelo charged forward towards the Espanyol goal. Desperate times called for desperate measures and his directness helped set up Alvaro Negredo, who is back at his fighting weight, if not with the same sharpness in his feet, for a key equaliser.
Denis Cheryshev's brave header provided a winner five minutes later before he was substituted to a standing ovation. At last, a league win for Gary Neville and Valencia.
Espanyol have been woeful since December when their Romanian coach Constantin Galca took charge, tumbling from 12th to 17th, but they played well in Mestalla. Oscar Duarte, the Costa Rica international defender who started this season playing for Bruges against Manchester United, put them ahead and they created the better chances. Four of their next five games are against relegation rivals. Play as they did in Valencia and they will start picking up points.
From Spanish statistician Alexis Tamargo: It took Fernando Torres 2,713 minutes to go from 99 to 100 goals for Atletico Madrid. And two minutes to go from 100 to 101.
Real Sociedad made it three wins in a row, beating Granada 3-0. It is their best run since they finished fourth in 2013.
Eibar are not falling away in the second half of the season like last term. They beat Levante 2-0 to leapfrog their Basque neighbours Athletic and go back to sixth and a European spot.
Levante have played well since splurging in the January transfer window, but they really need to start picking up points if they’re going to stay up.
Villarreal are now 11 unbeaten and looking very comfortable in fourth, eight points ahead of Sevilla. Five behind Atletico, they are set for fourth – and that would be a success.
Deportivo La Coruna have drawn 14 of their 24 league games. They drew 2-2 against Betis at the weekend.
Karim Benzema had scored in six games in a row, but did not score as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 4-2 at home to stay four points behind Barca. The Catalans will use their game in hand on Wednesday at Sporting Gijon, Luis Enrique’s former club and the one which remains closest to his heart.
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