El Clássico: Pour loser, or rigged ref?

On Sunday, March 23, Barcelona played Real Madrid, in one of the most famous soccer matches in the world, known as "El Clássico". The game started well for Barcelona, with Lionel Messi sending Andres Iniesta through on goal in the 7th minute, and that was 1-0 for Barcelona. It is normally Iniesta who plays Messi through, not the other way around. Madrid kept pressing, and in the 20th minute, some sloppy defending from Javier Mascherano led to Karim Benzema equalizing. 4 minutes later, Mascherano left Benzema unmarked again, and Benzema scored a second to make it 2-1 for Madrid. The game stayed like that, up until the 41st minute,when a beautiful one-two play with Neymar led to Messi finish to make it 2-2 before the break. Just after half time, in the 54th minute, a unintentional trip by Dani Alves on Ronaldo, led to a penalty shot for Madrid. The replays showed it was just outside the box, and should not have been a penalty, but Ronaldo took it and scored, anyway. 3-2 for Madrid. In the 63rd minute, Neymar was running through on goal. Ramos intentionally gave him a shove, and what looked like and unintentional trip. Neymar went down, and some people think too easily. In my opinion though, Neymar is very quick, but extremely weak. The slightest contact from a tall and strong man like Ramos, could send him down. Also, I believe that he stumbled from  the shove, and fell right into the path of the flailing foot of Sergio Ramos. Messi delivered from the penalty spot, and that was 3-3. Then, in the 83rth minute, Iniesta got tripped by Xabi Alonso, and another penalty was awarded. Messi scored his hat-trick, and is now the all-time leading top goalscorer in El Clássico. After the match, Ronaldo accused the referee of favouring Barça, and saying that the refs in La Liga don't want Madrid to win. He has been suspended for his claims by the BBVA.


To watch the match highlights, click this link:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aKCw8VaUnQ

To watch the whole game in HD, click this one:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etAF2uCgeJE

I will be starting of with the big question, who is number 1 in the world, Messi or Ronaldo?

Well, Ronaldo is a great goalscorer.... but that is really it. He is not a team player whatsoever. He often shoots from range when teammates are open in better positions, and scores very few. His former coach, Jose Mourinho said "You cannot coach him. He thinks he knows everything". He is known for being a very consistent diver, and often goes down without being touched, as seen in this clip.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1LiWYJswZw

As most of you know, you will get a yellow card if caught diving, and Ronaldo should get an average of 4 yellow cards a game, which is 2 red cards, but thanks to refs not noticing, he rarely gets booked.


Now for Messi. A smaller, weaker player, but manages to score more and is more of a team player. Last year, he had the most goals in La Liga and the second most assists, and Ronaldo had the second most goals and was 7th in in assists. Messi does not dive, and is picked on constantly and is brutally fouled several times a game, but he sucks it up, gets up and keeps going. A quick warning, the lyrics in the soundtrack of the video are explicit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFu27JZMs1s


After looking at these facts, I have reached a verdict, and that is Messi is my choice over Ronaldo.