El Chiringuito are it again. As salty as the Mediterranean
Spanish football show El Chiringuito are back on their bullsh*t – surprise, surprise – and went so far as to call out Euro 2020 as “the most shameful competition that we have covered”, labelling it “pathetic” and accusing UEFA of “conditioning” the competition so that England would make it to the final.
Host Josep Pedrerol was in fine form as ever but it was his guest, journalist Roberto Morales, who gave us the spiciest take on the semi-final. He evening managed to get Brexit in there. To be fair, mate, we’re not happy about it either.
What was the reaction on El Chiringuito to that England penalty?
Well, here's conspiracy theories and mention of Brexit. pic.twitter.com/0q3xxPXS70— El Chiringuito in English (@ElChiringuitoEN) July 8, 2021
As you can see, Pedrerol sets him up with a perfectly loaded question: “You think UEFA organised this for an England final?”, to which Morales quickly answers, “It has been totally prepared. They’ve played every game at home except one. It has been totally conditioned for England”, as the customary doomful backing track scores the clip. “The longer the note, the more dread”.
For those uninitiated in the ways of El Chiringuito, aside from being a heavily Madrid-leaning programme, the production has all of the pantomime drama of Kitchen Nightmares USA. That being said, the second you hear that foreboding music, you can’t stop laughing at the absurdity of it all.
For added context, this is how they reacted to Eden Hazard speaking to his former teammates in the Champions League final and this is something they genuinely said just two days ago:
"I have a dream, like Martin Luther King,"…
… is probably not a great way to start your argument about the Spain squad having no Real Madrid players. pic.twitter.com/5WKFH4eGa0— El Chiringuito in English (@ElChiringuitoEN) July 7, 2021
So that clears that up but back to the matter at hand. Are people forgetting that most years, the tournament takes place in only one country anyway? Are we going to backdate the entire history of the Euros and call for all of their trophies to be rescinded?
Italy played most of their games at home in Rome and we were granted an additional game in the round of 16 because other stadiums dropped out after not being able to guarantee the minimum capacity and Covid security at the same time.
Furthermore, we were also selected partly as a reward because leading the fight against the Super League; so much so, that the Italian media think we were “gifted” the penalty – a competition in which your beloved club and closest rival still remain a part of.
The ‘Big Six’ may have been complicit it but at least they had the common sense to listen to the fans and pull out. I wouldn’t throw around the word “shame” so readily if I were you.
Morales goes on to say, “We’ve had matches in cities that aren’t even European in any sense. We’ve got a final that was prepared for a country that left the European Union”, before adding “All that was missing was the help received with the penalty in a game that was proving complicated.” Ahh, wondered how long that would take to be mentioned.
First off: if we’re going to argue over decisions, how about the free-kick that shouldn’t have been for Denmark’s opener, or secondly, the even more obvious penalty Harry Kane was denied in the second half? Thirdly, Makkelie makes clear contact with his thigh (however soft you want to argue it was) and to quite the words of Ian Wright, “we’ve seen them given all season”.
Of course, this isn’t the only controversy: the laser pen pointed at Schmeichel, the petition for a rematch and football fans from all over trying to accuse England of cheating. We’re sure they’d all be just as ‘honourable’ if it was their team that made it to the final.
At the end of the day, these big decisions do change games and even if you want to buy into us ‘cheating’ our way to a first final in 55 years, we’ve been on the receiving of plenty: the ‘Hand of God’, Lampard’s goal that never was; even Damsgaard’s free-kick and Kane’s pen in that game alone.
We’re not going down the route of ‘it all balances itself out’ but let’s just say there is no way you are convincing me that we have done anything other than battle our way towards history. One more game.
