but I do hate the cult of beautiful football that seems to have risen around them. Barcelona are one the great teams of this generation, possibly one of the better if not the best teams football has ever seen, but their brand of football isn't particularly attractive to me. Its really quite boring and more so if Messi wasn't playing for them. One reason that the Spanish were so boring at the World Cup was because they lacked Messi's drives and runs. Tiki-taka makes for effective football, but it's not really that attractive. (at least to me. I realise that tastes can be subjective.)

I especially don't like it when people say that the way Barcelona play is the way football is meant to be played. It's not. It's just one of the ways.

One thing they can't be excused for is the diving though. That's just ridiculous.