After 300 minutes of El Clasico play that was largely bad football, we finally got an open match. We got to watch two teams featuring nearly every key player from one of the greatest national teams of all time, plus Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and several other foreign stars. Ninety minutes of both sides going for each other’s throats in the rain with a spot in the Champions League final on the line. It was an absolutely staggering amount of talent on the pitch in a staggeringly huge moment. It was a scene that should have been filmed by Kurosawa, painted by Van Gogh, with Beethoven conducting a symphony in the background. Nights like this are what the sport is all about. This is why it’s a religion to people all around the world. So, if you can forgive me for channeling Mourinho, I just ask why. Why must we talk about anything but football? Why?

Barça is going on to the final because they are the better squad. They responded to adversity by playing with the cards they were dealt, instead of throwing up their hands and blaming UEFA, UNICEF, Shakira or Tom Hanks for their problems. But, some of the Madrid players and fans seem to think their defeat had nothing to do with them. If no calls had gone against them, they say, they would certainly be moving onto Wembley. If all things are equaled out, they win, the story is.

So, let’s take a minute and examine the merits of that. Of the absurd amount of time the teams faced each other on the pitch this season, let’s reflect on the stretches where Madrid was arguably the better side. OK, here we go.  Uh………..well, there were large parts of the first half of the Copa del Rey final. And thus ends our exhaustive analysis.  That was quick. So, here on display, we have a team that had hours upon hours to make an argument for some kind of superiority but failed to do so. We have a club that fancies itself the biggest and most important club in the world, but would rather post videos on its website as “evidence” of their righteousness like an angry 14-year-old rather than look closely at what they could have done to avoid their European demise. We have a side that, if the referee had given every call to their opponent as they claim, could have finished Tuesday night with just Casillas, Özil and Mourinho’s Yorkshire terrier remaining on the pitch. The big question: Should any living person with any handle on logic take claims of helplessness from this club seriously? No. Not even for a second. Simple as that. See you in August for the Spanish Supercup.

Now, something far less enjoyable, and something a lot of you might not agree with. A word about Sergio Busquets.  He’s been accused of using a racial slur against Marcelo. So far, it’s unsubstantiated. But observers on both sides have agreed that it certainly looks like he might be saying “mono, mono” in the video clip of the incident. While there needs to be more proof than lip reading before we close the book on this, the club has to investigate. And if he said it, we have to get rid of him. Even if he could levitate above the pitch while juggling the ball and sweating champagne, he should be tossed out on the street if it’s true. There’s no room for that at Barça, or any other club for that matter.  Personally, I was already fed up with his embarrassing acting. Maybe it happened less often this year, but as we all saw, it didn’t totally go away. Now remember, “if” is a key word here. But, if it’s shown that he used racial taunts on top of his face-covering antics, and he stays at the club? All I can say is I will be deeply ashamed. Just as assuredly as Real Madrid, their manager and their supporters need to look in a mirror, it’s a situation that unfortunately has to be looked into.