Following the latest bout of gran clasico handbaggery, Gerard "Waka Waka" Pique tweetulated that Jose Mourinho is "destroying Spanish football".

Not the most helpful remark because it's exactly such inflammatory words that crank up the Real Madrid coach's madness dial. Vitriol is chicken soup for the Mourinho soul.

Not for the first time, his Barcelona counterpart, Pep Guardiola, offered a cupful of sanity, conceding that both sides were responsible for the malice that has recently saturated their venerable rivalry. He also warned that fan violence is a clear and present danger if the toxic atmosphere persists. And it's hard to see how it will stop.

One (impractical) solution would be to send both sets of galacticos on a week-long hiking tour of the Pyrenees, where they might discover their shared humanity, get stoned, toast marshmallows and sing Beatles tunes around the campfire. It won't happen.

As things stand, the players (and Mourinho) are all thinking with their bollocks, to quote Vladimir Vermezovic. Marcelo's tackle on Cesc Fabregas was a nasty one, but the home bench had no call to invade the pitch like a mob of yobbos.

At least the football itself was a big improvement on last season's joyless clasico series, mainly because Real finally mustered a consistent attacking threat and enjoyed more success in scrambling Barca's suffocating rhythm. Messi prevailed regally yet again, but the balance of power between the Spanish giants looks promisingly fluid ahead of the league race.

And Spanish football is certainly not being destroyed, as the piqued Pique would have us believe.

While La Liga is not nearly as open a contest as the English Premier League, it remains a more cultured stage.

Hence congratulations are due to Tsepo Masilela, the talented Bafana leftback, who has just won a precious loan move to south Madrid outfit Getafe from Maccabi Haifa. Founded in 1983, Getafe aren't fashionable, and attract the smallest crowds in La Liga, but they're a well-run club who have stayed in the top flight for eight seasons running. Three years ago they finished sixth under coach Bernd Schuster, and progressed to the Uefa Cup quarterfinals under his successor Michael Laudrup.

Getafe's new coach is a comparatively obscure Spanish geezer, name of Luis Garcia Plaza, who recently took Levante into the top flight. Garcia has some work to do: last season, Getafe dodged the drop by a whisker, finishing 16th after star forward Roberto Soldado was sold to Valencia. But the good news is that a consortium of middleweight oil sheiks, the Royal Emirates Group, bought the club in April for 62-million euros.

The new owners show no signs of emulating Malaga owner Sheik Abdullah Al-Thani's lavish programme of acquisitions. But even if Getafe have to fight to survive, Masilela can expect to be paid on time - and if he commands a regular place will get frequent chances to showcase his abilities against the world's mightiest players. Provided he stays fit, Masilela has the pace, power and swashbuckling game to catch the attention of a bigger club.

Easier said than done, of course, when Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo start bearing down on you.

It's a thrilling test for "Chester". One thing's for sure: he's not in Benoni any more.