The Supercopa is a cup played over two games between la Liga's champion (the blaugrana), and the Copa del Rey winners (these dudes). Sunday should bring the starting team together for the first time since the championship to unofficially kick off their season at the Bernabeu.
Pep isn't scared of white people
Before the game, it looks as though Cesc Fabregas will indeed be coming back to Barça (probably for around £35M--at least 5M less than what Arsenal had wanted to give him up for, but the little guy gave them the puss-n-boots face and they caved). It is said that he himself will shell out 4M on the move, but some things are worth more than millions.
Francesc Fàbregas i Soler
So what have Barcelona done in the off season? They have gotten rid of Milito, Bojan and Jeffren. Pep has signed Alexis Sanchez (Udinese's Chilean striker) and (almost certainly) Cesc, thus further empowering his attacking midfield.
The defense remains a concern, with the job of the backs frequently being given to players more accustomed to the midfield. But that is how Pep seems to want to augment the defense. Since the barcelona defense is also keen to switch positions and move to attack, their versatility and refusal to be purely reactive keeps their opponents on their toes. Last season every single member of the squad except for Javier Mascherano scored. Pretty illustrative of their defense's creativity.
Mascherano himself came to the squad from Liverpool, where he was a (you guessed it) midfielder. Though he was known as a hatchet-man to deliver tackles, he was not employed defensively in the back third.
Masche got serious love in Liverpool
He made the switch to Barça last year after the World Cup, where he was captain of Argentina under Maradona. When Maradona first took the coaching position for his short and curious tenure as the national manager, he was asked who he wanted for the team. "Mascherano and ten other guys."
Puyol hasn't played much lately, still working on his fitness after yet more surgery, and the dudes they have played in the pre-season have not covered themselves in glory along the back line. Losing against the prides of both England and Mexico isn't a great look.
But now the first team is fittin' to re-form like Voltron and have a cup showdown with their nemesis. Their small statures are towered over by the broad boys of the capital, but they take the pitch in Madrid like Jay Adams hit the ground at Del Mar.
Rascal
Since Pep has taken the coaching gig at his alma mater, Barça have not lost in Madrid. Like a wave of bees, the blaugrana have flooded their senses over and again. If the Mourinho team will opt to continue their barrage of fouls and negative-play in order to grapple the little guys to submission (as they did for their Copa del Rey win [Madrid's only victory in the last three years against Barça]), remains to be seen.
But for anyone who likes to see a littler kid walk up to the face of a bully and dis him, this is the kind of contest that is the sweetest. The kind we pull for and giggle at. Time to play, time to play...
Even in Madrid they know who rocks
\m/
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