According to Spanish National Team manager Luis Enrique, there exists a campaign against Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba within the realms of Spain’s footballing world and media, possibly emerging from a particular city of Madrid.
While the manager himself continues to defend his selection of both players, claiming Alba as one of the most dangerous attackers from the flank in the final third as well as proposing his insistence on having Sergio Busquets represent Spain for another World Cup following this 2022 edition, the media from Madrid seems consistently insistent on criticizing the two Spanish veterans.
From simply critiquing their age to their effectiveness, the agenda that Luis Enrique seemingly hints upon is the sourness of those in Madrid seeing the abundance of Barcelona players that were called upon in comparison to the sole two (Asensio and Carvajal) that were called up to represent Spain this time around. As history would claim, this has been a recurring habit of both the countering Madrid and Catalonian agencies in order to dismantle one another at any given opportunity.
While this onslaught of criticism may persist, as higher-ups and club officials question and want departures from both players in the hopes of financial improvement at Barcelona, and fans continuously look to scapegoat them when results go south, it is perhaps the inability of Barcelona fans themselves to defend these two legends that seems rather paradoxical in nature.
Regardless of these off-the-pitch opinions, both players continue to serve La Roja well and seem to have complete faith of the man in charge of the National Team as it stands, with Spain now on track to face Morocco in the Round of 16.
