Wembley.
Freddie rocking at the old Wembley
On Saturday they will take the field to meet Man U in the Champions league final--the last game of play in Europe before the summer coolout of vacations and harmless friendly exhibition matches.
The last few weeks have had the feel of vacation, as the Spanish league has been won and settled with a point total of 96. The entire top ten is as follows:
1 FC Barcelona 96
2 Real Madrid 92
3 Valencia CF 71
4 Villarreal CF 62
5 Sevilla FC 58
6 Athletic Club 58
7 At.Madrid 58
8 RCD Espanyol 49
9 Osasuna 47
10 Sporting Gijón 47
Almeria, the scene of a personal industrial-coast dis, was relegated to the second division. They finished with 30 points.
Almeria
The team are the favorites to win on Saturday, against the side they beat two years ago for the cup. Man U no longer have Cristiano Ronaldo or Carlos Tevez, but they have picked up the blossoming Chicharito as striking power and Wayne Rooney has been having a great four months.
Likewise, Berbatov has been one of the Premier league's most dominant scorers and Ryan Giggs-now in his 26th season playing professionally in Manchester (with the last 24 being at United) has been solid as a rock. He is what John Terry wishes he could be. Outrageous sex scandals and all.
In fact, the last week has been looking a little shaky for Man U. Giggs' is in the storm of a media freakout over an affair with a reality show chick, and he has ducked the press and skipped practice. Man U also played a friendly this week against Juventus, and the Italian side came to Old Trafford and handed them their first home loss of the season.
In the meantime, it seems that Barça have been studying up and doing their training for the final. They had to fly a day early into England as there is another Icelandic volcanic explosion threatening to shut down air traffic soon. That could be lame for the blaugrana since they would naturally want their maximum fan turnout in a stadium that holds 90,000 (the second-largest in Europe behind the Camp Nou).
Though the crowd should be overwhelmingly Man U supporters, there is a kind of harmony to the appeal of Messi these days that could persuade any football fan to their feet.
The dude is now 23 and he's got that young Obi-Wan Jedi knight stride. Guardiola looks excited and focused in the pre-match, while Sir Alex Ferguson seems to be hedging his optimism in the face of jedi.
If Barcelona get a stunning win on Saturday, it will clearly mark them as one of the great teams to ever play professional football.
It feels like everyone is preparing for that eventuality.
One to go...
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