Barcelona v Manchester United

I have happy memories of Barcelona after two visits to the Nou Camp. One when they thrashed us 4 0 in 1993/94, yes I did actually still enjoy the trip. The other when United beat Bayern in 1999. But I've never fallen for all the hype about the football club that is Barcelona. Yes they have had some teams, the current one included, that play some beautiful football, but so do plenty of other clubs.

The constant drooling hype about 'Barca' by the media, and those who slavishly follow the media hype, often makes me retch. A sense of perspective is handy and you only have to look at the vile cheating of the Barcelona players against Real Madrid to get a sense of perspective. Too many of their players are cheats for me to respect them.

Then there is the politically correct hype. Barcelona represents the alternative politics, Catalonia fighting the old enemy Castille. Scratch the surface, especially of the politically correct in the UK but in Catalonia too, and there is still simmering obsession with the Spanish Civil War, Franco and the role of Barcelona in that particular conflict.

So there are people all over the world falling for the hype, a bit of an Arsenal on a world scale situation, and Barcelona pull off the most cynical piece of marketing genius since the conman who made it by selling bottled water when we have perefectly good, if not better water free from our taps. They bung a few million quid to Unicef to put Unicef on their shirts. Bingo, kerching, the dosh flows in as millions all over the world suddenly rise to the bait and start buying Barca merchandise. Bloody mugs!

What was all that about not selling their shirts by having a sponsors logo on them? As cynical a football club as you will find anywhere in the world.