Curse of the Monkey Paw

It has been a mixed bag for the club in the last few weeks, though most of it has been good.

Barça played Santos in the FIFA World Club Cup final in Yokohama to win the curious title of best club team on Earth. FIFA sets this up by pitting the continental champions from all over the world against each other. It was pitted as a match-up between Leo and the mercurial young upstart, Neymar.

...a couple of Silver Spoons

Before the game, as the two sides were lined up in preparation to take the field, it was something to see how the two stars reacted to each other: Neymar nervously looking towards Messi, trying to not look too hard and retain some semblance of cool, while Leo kept his head largely down in an inscrutable passivity.

But then they started playing and there was no trace of passivity. Barça shut down Santos 4-0. The first goal was a deft piece of play set in motion by Messi, as he doubled back away from the goal, only to turn around and dart up field setting up a triangle give-and-go with Cesc and Xavi back for his charge to the goal.

So the cup went back to Catalunya, but David Villa caught a bad one and sustained a nasty injury that will keep him out of play for some six months. Broken bone in the lower leg. Afelay is still mending from his early autumn surgery. The revolving door of injured players keeps spinning...

After the holiday break the team went on to play for the Copa del Rey against Osasuna, and handedly beat them, but then came the Catalan derby with Espanyol.

Espanyol, the Barcelona city neighbors, have a reputation for a fan base that is decidedly less diplomatic than their celebrated big brothers. Racism looms large in their stadium, as their own black keeper was subject to monkey chants for years. Their own goalie...It shouldn't be unexpected, then, that they gave monkey chants to Dani Alves every time he touched the ball.

The game was very tight and hard-wrought. Most teams tend to bring their most competitive spirit to the pitch against Barça, after all, the teams are then being seem by a global audience that quadruples (on average) from their usual broadcast draw. It was in the last few minutes of the game that Espanyol tied up at 1 and that was how the scoreline stood when the last whistle blew.

Are you fuckin' kidding me?

The result put Barcelona five points behind Madrid for first. This is a tough spot for the team, forcing them to not drop any more points for the entirety of the season, and beat Madrid, and hope that Madrid drops points as well.

It can happen, but it is not going to be easy and what's worse, it won't entirely be in their own hands.

On a better note for the team, Monday night saw them receive yet more accolades, as Messi was named FIFA world player of the year, and Pep named as the coach of the year. During his acceptance speech Pep thanked the thousands of people to have been involved in the club's history and dedicated it to his right hand, Tito Vilanova.

Tito underwent surgery to remove cancer from the salivary gland this year only a short while after getting his eye gouged by Mourinho in the Supercopa. He is clearly the supreme confidant of Pep at the club. That he was acknowledged as such was pure class. Though the league may not be in our own hands entirely anymore, either way that dignity will sustain us.

Tito and Pep

The Blast from Maxwell

In yesterday's Copa del Rey opener against third division Ceuta, Maxwell scored a sick goal in the 16th minute. It was his first goal for the team since coming aboard as left-back this season.

It showed the level of play that even defenders carry for the team. Dani Alves is an unbelievable right-back for the team, and he makes more plays and assists to the scorers than nearly anyone playing the game professionally. Alves is now sought out by Chelsea when his Barça contract expires in 2012. It would be a shame to lose him, in my opinion worse for the team than their shedding of Liga top scorer Samuel Eto'o in 2009.


Alves celebrates back in the Eto'o days

The team has been playing well--they have locked down the most artistic elements of the World Cup-winning Spanish(but isn't it really Catlan?!?)-style. They are in a three-way tie for second in La Liga, behind Real Madrid. While Real Madrid have blown some of their opponents clean out of the water with high scores, Barça have won most of theirs with 2-0 scores or even tighter--same low-ish scores that Spain rode to the World Cup win. It's all about trickery-dickery play that keeps their foes on edge.

With the game yesterday against third-division Ceuta in the half-esoteric Copa del Rey, many of the first team mainstays remained seated while the reserves and bench stepped up for the match. Bojan wore the captain's band for the second time ever. He looks to me like Gael Garcia Bernal. Anyone??

El Clásico

Real Madrid made the trek south to Barcelona and the Camp Nou to meet their rivals. The time since their 6-2 trouncing at the feet of Barça in May has not been unproductive: They spent hundreds of Millions of dollars to acquire superstar players that could help them avoid such a humiliation again. Pobrecitos.

Neither Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaka could save them from the defeat that came on Sunday. Though it was not the 6 point display of pyrotechnics that Barcelona unleashed on them in May, the 1-0 victory was enough to show the Madrillenos who is still running the show in Spain. It also returned Barça to the top of the league after they had fallen one point behind Madrid for a week.

To be fair, Real Madrid looked better than any other club that has played at the Camp Nou this season. They had a lot of solid opportunities and generally played Barça with the kind of parity of ability that is nearly non-existent among clubs that play the world champion team. Still, their shots flew wide or were deflected by Valdes (who made a brilliant save against a charging Ronaldo), or were sent astray at the feet of the ever-passionate Carles Puyol. Puyol was seriously on one; he played as intently as ever and came up with several win-saving plays. Likewise, Dani Alves was a true force on the pitch. He was, for me, the man of the match; playing with grit and guts on both sides of the field-seemingly everywhere. Alves showed his dedication to the club and game by leaving it all on the field. It was an inspirational performance.

The lone goal of the match came off of Alves' beautiful driving pass to Ibra, who had only recently been subbed in the game for Henry in the second half. Ibra, the club's own superstar acquisition of the summer, showed again why he has become the highest scorer for the team this year. His speed and ability are top-class, and it seemed to be a victory of management being played out: As Madrid's marquee trades could not get it together against Barça, the Blaugrana's ended up coming through to save the game for the 98,000 spectators at the Nou.

A few weeks back, during the 6-1 trouncing of Zaragoza, Ibra scored his greatest goal yet this season on a lightning swift free kick. As he did his victory stomp, he seemed to look to the owner's box in vindication as the club president barely restrained his glee next to his counterpart from Zaragoza. The moment was a diamond of athletic ego; the 60 million euro player validating his paycheck with the kind of performance that only he can produce. That display of platinum skill and ego came again on sunday when it mattered most for the team.

This was the most hard battled game of the season and it had been simmering since the summer time. No matter what comes of the rest of the season, it's alright now.