Yeh, it does happen to a certain extent in all leagues, however in Spain it's taking on ridiculous proportions with almost constant badgering of the referees.
For me it took the shine off Spains World cup performances, and has continued into the domestic season, despite the authorities repeatedly calling for greater respect of referees.

Regarding the other point, the first half was generally just a mid field scrap with only the occasional threat from a Real breakaway.
Barca controlled much of the rest of the game, but again made little progress against a Real side who had parked the team bus in front of their penalty area and continued to rely on breakaways.
It did improve slightly later on as the players tired, but it was never a great game, and as I said the Spurs/Arsenal game on the same evening was light years ahead as regards entertainment value.

You should`ve gone to Specsavers....

I can even see the white in your eyes from here.

I'm no great Man U. fan but I have to say they were superb tonight and with reasonable luck would have won by many more and had the tie definitely sown up.
In any event they must be odds on favourites to make the final now.

Now looking forward to Real and Barca crossing swords again tomorrow night.

No matter what happens on the pitch, Real know how to maximise earnings.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...-in-sales.html

One way and another Real, (the Capitalistas of Spanish football), have always enjoyed a huge financial advantage over their rivals.
At one time they were heavily backed by Franco's regime and later substantial funds from the huge corruption and drug rackets in the Marbella region were diverted in their direction.
Whilst the majority of Barca's present team of superstars cost them next to nothing and were mostly homegrown, in total contrast Real have always seemed to have access to an inexhaustable amount of funding and without checking the figures I would guess their present squad cost at least double that of Barca.
I have much more admiration for teams which can compete at the highest level on a virtual shoestring budget,such as Villarreal for instance, than sides like Real Madrid who always have a mountain of money available to try and buy success.

I think you're confusing Gil's Atletico Madrid, with Real.
Real do have large income streams, not least the ability to negotiate huge contracts with tv broadcasters

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle6426983.ece

Bareclona too are just as much a "big money club" that benefits from selling tv rights separately, hence their big signings of recent years like David Villa, Ibramovich, Hleb, Thierry Henry etc. They would have signed Fabregas too, but Arsenal rejected their offers.

As for the "smaller teams", I think La Liga is now just like the Premiership (where 2 teams realistically can win the league). Less established teams don't have a hope of winning the championship now, unless like Man City they can get a multi-billionaire to invest in their club. It'd be nice to see Arsenal or Spurs win the league again (or Valencia or Atleti in La Liga) but it may be a long wait...

But for the magic of Messi tonights game was a total mess and a disgrace to the game.
Nice to see Mourinho behind bars though.

Are Getafe expected to get many millions from their new owners?

Agree, I gave up on it, switched it of, and the computer on. Yes, a total disgrace they way they fall about all over the place, all swarming around the ref protesting at all and everything.

it was worth staying tuned for Mourinho's press conference afterwards.

Looks as though the Premiership is wide open again.
Who would have thought Chelsea would be in this position a few weeks ago.

I saw the second half of Arsenal v Man U and thought Arsenal deserved their victory. Despite what's been written in posts above though, there was still far too much theatricals, fouling, unsavoury incidents and various attempts to get opposition players booked ie not a uniquely La Liga feature. It's a shame, but it seems prevalent in professional football. Admittedly Fergie and Wenger kept their cool (just), but they have thrown their toys out of the pram on various occasions in the past. I love the sport, but I'd hate to have to mix socially with professional footballers.

Childlike behaviour is certainly not confined to La Liga as I mentioned previously, but it's definitely much worse in La Liga than in the Prem.
Indeed it was comparitively rare in the UK top flight before the influx of large numbers of foreign players.
As far as thrill a minute,cut and thrust football is concerned,the Prem is much more entertaining, which is probably the reason why it's still the Worlds most popular league.

Anybody who watched the Rugby Championship semifinal between Worcester and Bedford which immediately preceded Arsenal v Man U will realise why I prefer Rugby.