So, everyone cheats and they played some really silky footy so who cares? Nah. Not for me.
Maybe everyone buys the refs. Not everyone else has been caught. Most who have, have been punished. Hopefully barca will be eventually, along with city.
Pep got away with his doping on a technicality. But, like I said, his moral compass didn't steer him away from the blatant cheating at city either. His character is obvious.
Just to add regarding his barca side:
If you had the refs paid for, would it take a genius to work out that just keeping possession until you either get a foul or an easy chance to move forward presents itself, is the least risky way to play?
The sort of diving I'm talking about isn't chucking yourself into the area, it was more simply turning back every time you were in danger and yelling like a wounded elephant if you ever got caught in possession. That way most teams are forced to sit in against you. It was clearly a plan which was why the whole team would protest so hard about a supposed foul near the halfway line. Go back and watch them. Most of their games started with the same pattern.
On a general note, you really are taking it to an extreme and yes of course refs, players, being bribe it's at the order of the day, sometimes with not even the clubs knowing they are workin for third party interests, such is the world we live.
I'm not saying that when caught clubs will not have to deal with it, but for me that Pep side wasn't as heavy favored as you make it sound
to make them play like they did.
As a side note, the thing with Barca too, it's that since always they have been a very self destruct organization, so it's easier regarding them to actually boicot themselves from the inside, it's such a political club that this mix gets worse than many other giant clubs and they will time and again shoot at their own feet, perfect scenario too to get caught more easily with such ambient. They are really stupid regarding that. And when I was saying that multiple dubious stuff it's operating at the same time, you can have even in the Negreira days decisions as "stupid" as that wrong ruled goal by Messi against Aleti in 2014, a play that in itself determined the outcome of the entire League. If sthg I can bet, it's that Barca would even find a way to not even bribe right, they are fecking tools throught there history regarding scandals, transfers, legendary players treatment, etc. nothing surprises me about them.
Back in a more football related stuff. I trully believe that you are making it sound that the protests were made only by Barca players and not by any major side since ever, since they know that their t-shirts carry weight to affect any ref, every big club does it.
In relation to that Pep side, even as cunning (and annoying sometimes) Busi can be, or Alba or Pique, etc. how many times fellas like Iniesta or Messi were basicly torn apart without them even protesting interrumpting the flow of Barca's game too, you seem to only see one side of the coin.
You are describing it like they almost fake every foul while nowadays not only by watching matches you can see that it wasn't as one sided as you make it sound, but we can also hear from the very own voices of many former adversaries than in the prior week before a match against Barca the main plan against them was, let's avoid the ball reach to the litlle fella and if it arrives to him let's just kick the hell out of him, that creates a REAL foul galore with the characteristics of the fella (even more if had a tendecy to let himself fall, that he didn't).
In fact even prior to Pep's era, Mou started to established the "Messi theatrics" in that famous Stamford Bridge match, and that in many ways started the whole "it's all diving and theatre from Barca" while that game in Stamford Bridge Chelsea made red cards fouls time and again, Terry made one of the most blatant penalties ever, yet Mou as a master of puppets that he is, made the game all about Messi Theatrics, therefore Barca as a whole "just" a team of divers.
So what I'm implying it's that for every bit of act and protest of Busi and company did, that indeed they did, there were even more blatant fouls or systematical and tactical ones, so at the end that Barca (or even prior ones when Mou started the whole diving thing), hardly they were a team mostly based on diving and protesting to play their best football. They were cunning? yeap, they went sometimes full rondo to create fouls, yeap too, but common on, there is to the very least some middle ground there man.
Anyway, I do not think that you'll agree and you are of course entirely entitled to your opinion and I do conccur to some extent in some obscure or annoying stuff from those Pep's teams, but clearly not to the extent you are doing it.
