Mahamoud Diarra was just a little disgruntled when he arrived back in Madrid today. After being ordered to leave the Mali national team, who have an important qualifying match for the African Cup, in order to play in Madrid’s vital game against Mallorca, Diarra was less than pleased. “What Fifa did is scandalous. It is shows a lack of respect to African football and to Africa in general.”

As I’ve said before, I think it is ridiculous that Madrid are put in a position where they could lose their players for such an important game. But with rules being rules, and Fifa being Fifa, you have to wonder how they decided on a change to their normal position of supporting national teams over clubs. There is always talk in Spain of suitcases stuffed with cash that are handed around in the last few weeks of a tight title race. Who is to say that someone high up in Fifa didn’t take a backhander in order to change the policy in favour of one particular club?