Agreed. There are some fanatic people here in Brazil saying this Spain team is playing the most beautiful football in the world nowadays. That’s so off. I mean… I understand this modernized version of tikitaka are probably the most efficient tactics today in terms of getting results, and this next season will surely grow some contenders to that, but having watched Barcelona back in early 2010s, I just feel that calling 2026’s Spain “beautiful” or “entertaining” is either a sign of poor memory or settling up for just too little.
Spain was not a beautiful team, but that Messi team was pure ugly. when they all turned their backs at the end when Spain collected their trophy - that was disgusting, really poor unsporting behaviour that shall be forever remembered.