The Slide

Mascherano pulls ahead at Levante

This season is in a desperate last push for the final month of play.

All of the pressure that accompanies vying for such high stakes is shown on the face of Pep. With it already nearly the end of the season, he still has not re-signed for next year. The speculation is rife about him being wooed to Chelsea.

There is a kitchen-sink mentality to the play. The formations are stacked offensively in order to create movement and--when possible--get the ball to Messi. Play 1-2s that let them pass the ball to the back of the net.

But the 1-2s haven't been as precise, some games.

The final key touch, when it's fallen to Thiago or Cesc or Pedro, has been slightly off. Though Cesc has had his highest goal scoring season to date, he has had a lot more opportunities than before by being moved to the front.

It was thought that he was coming back to Barça to replace Xavi in the mid-field, but he has instead been played with Messi and either Iniesta, Pedro, Alexis, Cuenca... up front. The mid has been occupied by Busquets, Xavi, Thiago, Adriano (labeled a "back"), Keita...

In the back there has been less Pique than before, as he has been reported to have had some static with Pep over his boisterous social life. Mascherano, who was loved in Liverpool's midfield, has been a strong and key player with Puyol in determining the defense. Like Puyol is partially orchestrating Masche to dart to the places he is not quite able to break for. The captain just turned 34.

No Abidal, as he is recovering from having a liver transplant. Many thoughts are with him.

Ibrahim Afelay has finally been declared fit to play, though he has not been in a match in six months. Which brings us to this upcoming week's contests: A trip to London to play Chelsea on Wednesday, and then returning to the Camp Nou to play Madrid.

First things first--Chelsea.

This is a tough time to play Chelsea because they are getting visibly fired up at their successes since Andre Villas Boas was given the sack. They played today and scored 5 on Tottenham. It was a fairly sordid scene, too. The Chelsea mob wouldn't shut up during the moment of silence for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster where 96 Liverpool fans died at a FA cup game against Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. That about sums up Chelsea fans: Vocal.

This lot...

In fact, its safe to say that the London fans will be as hostile to the Spanish champs as anyone they could meet. It was three years ago that Barcelona put their champions league run to sleep with Iniesta's wonder goal.

Of course, the psychology of the game is going to be destabilized with the trade whispers currently going between the two sides. Romeu has gone to Chelsea from Barça B, and we might want to get David Luiz soon coming back the other direction...But if Pep is potentially on his way there anyway, how can we plan ahead for trades as comparatively insignificant as that of defensive backs? After all, Chelsea don't have any svengalis freeing up in the transfer window, do they?

Pep looks completely stressed. When his team is ahead, he is freaking out that they will give up opportunities. When they are behind he is confirmed in his fearful judgement that winning the league is nearly "impossible." He screams and shoves his guys around for being the fat cats he'd warned them about. The satisfied winners that don't deserve to wear the crown anymore.

Though he pushes them like a rabid mule cart operator, part of the reason that nets any results at all is the fact that he himself was a club legend, and the idol of more than one of his current star players. With a team so largely home-grown, and he himself a product of the youth cantera system, the players perform in front of Pep like he was the guy up the block that dated their older sister, drove a bitchin' Camaro and gave them their first beer.

But if he was at another club, though his legend would still loom large, it would not be the same as the ingrained awe that he received from his team at Barcelona.

Right now, the team should be racing forward at full bore with all of the momentum they have accumulated through the year behind them. To win the league they must win every single contest and hope that Madrid also drops points along the way.

They will have to beat a resurgent Chelsea over two legs, and then save enough mojo to stomp the tall men in white.

They have to satisfy the desires of an unsettled shaman.

Is this the end?

What to do?

Adversity Revisited

Eric Abidal: More trials.

This is the point of the season that tests teams.

Barcelona are currently involved in three competitions, the Copa del Rey (who's final--to be played against Bilbao--is all that remains), the Champions League of Europe, and finally, the quest to win la Liga.

That the schedule of "top" teams becomes multiplied to double that of lower ranked teams, means that the most competitive had better have a bench of back-up players that are ready to step in when things inevitably go pear-shaped.

Case in point, right now Eric Abidal has been marked out from play until lord knows when, seeing as he is due to have a liver transplant. Apparently, the issues that took him out for several months last year have resurfaced more gravely and now King Eric needs to undergo a full removal of the cancerous organ.

And who is there to pick up the slack? Fontas, or Adriano or Dani Alves--all three of whom were out through injury and suspension from this weekend's game in Mallorca. Pep was forced to field only three defenders on Saturday, but this is actually an exciting thing.

The 3-4-3 formation that Pep has resurrected this year from the old-school total football playbook has been something of a revelation. The keys to its success lies in the fact that Barça, even when they field the conventional 4-3-3, are basically playing a 3-4-3 since Alves or Adriano usually spend as much time darting upfield on the wing as they do "defending." The only difference is mostly one of declared intent.

In Saturday's game the team was laid out more in a 3-3-4 with so many central attacking midfielders on the pitch making themselves available in the final third. The old joke about Barcelona being a goalie + 10 midfielders is largely true.

And hopefully there will be another one returning to the field in a short while.

Afellay and Pep

Ibi Afellay has been out almost the entirety of the season, but may make it back on the field (unlike David Villa) before its end. Messi has picked up the slack for a somewhat under-performing Alexis Sanchez and a non-scoring Pedro, though there has also been an increased scoring presence from Xavi--plus a banner year for Cesc--you get the feeling that the attack could especially use the Dutch-born Moroccan's skill at sending crosses in from the wing.

Since he has been gone, there have been other resources to explore, namely the B team and Isaac Cuenca and Cristian Tello.

The Boys from Company B

The two have been plucked from the B team by Pep, who has given over 20 members of the B team their debut in the A team since his arrival at the helm. Both players are explosive attacking in the box (with Cuenca possessing a particularly accurate cross and knack for blowing by defenders with his gnarly trick-footwork), and they have certainly raised the profile for B side upstarts already boosted by the advance of Thiago early this season.

So while it seems that as long as Barça have la Masia educating young players in football and molecular gastronomy (or whatever else they get into...), they will not run out of talent to pull from at a bargain price, but they still angle for bigger signings to keep them in all three races they run through the course of a year.

The rumored trades for the summer look to be Gareth Bale from Spurs, and David Luiz--the Brazilian back for Chelsea that looks and plays like Animal from the muppets.

David Luiz

Personally, I think either one would be a great acquisition, Luiz in particular, as he has the kind of die-hard engagement in the game that suits the team, but the issue is also tempered by the need of the team to balance their books. Either way, the cold-war-arms-race-style spending it would take to procure Neymar would be a dumb-ass waste of money that would do more to characterize the team as another Galactico, rather than the largely home-grown club that it really is.

Barça are currently 6 points behind Madrid in la Liga, after Madrid drew two out of their last three games during the week. At this rate, the possibility of winning the league perseveres. It would only take Madrid losing one more game out of the remaining nine, as well as getting beaten by the Blaugrana at the Camp Nou.

On Wednesday, Barça will travel to Italy to face AC Milan again in the Champions league, this time not just in an irrelevant meeting at the group level, but in the Quarter Finals. The return of Ibra... the cracken stirs up from its grumbling deep.

Mighty Healthy

King Eric shows love

The Clasico in Madrid--the first of two that will in all likelihood decide the winner of the Copa del Rey--was played on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu. Again, Madrid struck early and lead the game by one in the first ten minutes, and again, Barça came back and won the game with deft team play in the second half.

Madrid tried a different tack this time (their Barça playbook is getting well weathered at this point with frustrated strategies...). Last month in Madrid they pressed hard and wore themselves out, this time they stayed back and didn't chase but waited for their opportunities on the counter.

Same result.

The only difference was the return of some of the more egregious fouls and nasty play that we'd seen last year in the Supercopa. They get pissed off like Yosemite Sam and start fouling like assholes (the worst coming from Pepe [as usual] who went so far as to stomp on Messi's fingers as he was on the ground from a hit by Callejon). This kind of behavior comes from the top down and as Mourinho gets relentlessly shut down the only strategy that is left to him is brute force and intimidation.

Fuel for the fire

Though Ronaldo scored against Pinto in a strike that would more likely been stopped by Victor Valdes, the game was won for Barça on the strength of two goals scored by defensive backs: Captain Carles Puyol and Eric Abidal.

By opening up the entire squad to the goal and keeping a versatility in roles and relationships, Barça have had five different scorers for their last five goals against los merengues. Continued Voltron shit.

But even in his traditional role as defensive cleaner, Abidal was brilliant. His performance, in the wake of his re-upping his contract with the team, was jubilant. Let's look back at the last year for King Eric: Get diagnosed with cancer, kick cancer's ass, return to the team and score the winner in Copa del Rey qualifiers against Bilbao, play in the Champion's league final and lift the European Cup, re-sign with the Blaugrana, go to Madrid and score the game winner on Wednesday.

Domino!

The Copa del Rey is not really the priority championship that the teams play for. It is less weighted than Champions League and the League itself, but it was all that Madrid could console themselves with in the last three years (though they dropped it under their team bus while celebrating).

These early months in the calendar year are usually where Barça find themselves in a tricky position, just before they get all cylinders blasting again for the end of the season symphony. Behind by five points in the league, it's time for the superheroes to take charge.


How to foil the evil Professor Frinkle? It's simple really but quite clever.

Liquid Swords

The Squad salute their 500 supporters in the cheap seats

Barça went to Madrid on Saturday and beat their rivals 3-1. Though el Clasico appeared to be an uphill battle in light of Madrid's current run of dominance, Barça still managed to create the opportunities needed to come up on the (then) league-leaders.

How?

The game was thrown into a tailspin upon first getting possession of the ball in the first half, after sending it back to Victor Valdes, the goalie gifted it directly to Di Maria, who dished to Mesut Øzil, whose shot was deflected right to Karim Benzema, tapping it into the roof of the net past Valdes. 22 seconds into the game and Madrid was up 1 nil.

Jesus...

The problem was that as Barca had gotten possession their defensive backs started splitting wide and heading to play deep out of their end. They were so wide and far back, in fact, that they were way out of distance to effectively defend in front of their goal, which is where the Madrid front line were pressuring to attack and pounce on just such an opportunity.

Barcelona was playing the kind of daring football that no one else on Earth attempts. By splitting their defensive backs so wide apart and so deep up the pitch to play out from the back, they were daring their adversaries to challenge them up high in order to make holes in the midfield. 22 seconds in, they got caught.

But as they regrouped and got the ball into their own rhythm, steadily they managed to create those holes in the Madrid midfield and fatigue their forwards who were busy chasing the ghosts of opportunity created by Pique, Puyol and Abidal in the back field, still holding on to their now-you-see-me-now-you-don't style.

By the second half, the merengues were having to dash back upfield to defend their goal after being drawn out time and again, and their breath was no longer able to sustain the effort of keeping up with the claret and blue zig-zags.

The line-up that Pep fielded was different from the one that faced Madrid a year ago in the 5-0 rout at the Nou Camp. Instead of David Villa and Pedro on the wings, he put in Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas--both of the summer signings. Indeed, both of them would score in the game.

It wasn't the starlets presence on the pitch that won the game, though. It was Pep.


El Genio

Though he started the game with the team lined up in a 4-3-3, keeping four defenders in the back to deal with the aggressive Madrid offense, by the tenth minute, down a point, he switched it up to a 3-4-3, sending one of the backs up into the mid-field and beyond. Dani Alves was exemplary in shooting up the field in the role we saw him in last year as a make-shift winger that sent his pitch-perfect crosses towards the forwards swooping in at the goal. Sergio Busquets acted as a sweeper to make sure the defense always could get some kind of entry to Xavi and, most effectively, Iniesta.

Iniesta seemed to exhaust his counterparts as he whirled all over the pitch with his beguiling gait. They could not get a handle on him. And though he did not always connect with his teammates in the way we are used to seeing--in fact, the team in general seemed to give the ball away much more than would have been comfortable for their fans--Iniesta was always a problem for the men in white to contain. He was such a dazzler that as he was subbed off the game in it's final minutes, even the Madrid fans applauded his master-class.

Pep made the adjustments necessary to counter Mourinho's press-crazy tactics, while Mourinho let his boys keep playing the same way.

The resulting win for the Blaugrana was a win for flexibility.

The team is in Japan today, set to play in the final for the FIFA Club World Cup. Another fairly arbitrary cup, but a cup nonetheless.

On Friday is the Champions league draw for the final 16.

The pendulum is swinging back our way.

The Unlikely Underdog

Kill em' with kindness

Here it is:

The Clasico.

Though Barcelona are the reigning champions of Europe and Spain, this week finds the team in second place behind their brawny rivals from the capital. Real Madrid are currently widely regarded as the strongest team in Europe; dominating the power listings of sports journalists and sitting on top of the domestic table by three points with a game in hand--the widest margin since Pep Guardiola took over the Blaugrana three-and-a-half seasons ago.

Pep has only lost a single game in all of his squad's 11 meetings with the men in white, but as Madrid have just won every game in the Champions league qualifying round (the only team to do it since Barça in 2002), the challenge facing the Catalans is greater than ever. Though the season is not yet half-over, with the way things shake up in la Liga it seems that this game could be a deciding factor in the outcome of the 2011-2012 season.

Speaking of shake-ups, FC Basel beat Manchester United today in Switzerland to knock out the giants from the Champions league and into the second tier Europa league. It was a milestone achievement for the Swiss outfit, and a humbling shock for the English champions who got outclassed by Barcelona in the Champions League final in London this past May. It seems that the Sir Alex Ferguson has no antidote for claret and blue.


Brothers from another mother, FC Basel send Man U out of the Champions league

If Basel's uniform seems familiar, it should. The red and blue kit echoes Barcelona, as both teams were founded by Joan Gamper back in the 19th century. Though Gamper would move away from his Swiss homeland for the sunnier pastures of Catalunya and create what would become one of the world's most celebrated teams, he first hailed from Basel.

One has to wonder if he had some magic in place that would be the downfall of English teams.

Let's hope Pep has a similar juju to make meringue collapse.


Joan Gamper wearing claret and blue

The Sword of Doom

Who started it?

The Supercopa has been played and since the Spanish Liga is in the midst of a labour dispute, it looks like we will not get much more football for a while. The season will be delayed a week or more. Perhaps til' the middle of September.

It is a good thing that the two-game series did not disappoint at all. The series saw a Barcelona team that had not played together in months and shown only a thin shadow of their champion form over the course of their three or four pre-season games, meeting a Real Madrid squad that has never looked tougher.

Madrid was physically imposing and looked ready to run up mountains. The scot commentator described them as "fit as butcher's dogs." Additionally, Mourinho had changed their style of play from the knee-breaking defensive vice, to a barrage of attacks and pressing for every ball at all parts of the pitch. They utilized their offensive force in a way that was more dynamic than they have shown before. As I said, Mourinho teams take a year to warm up before really getting into stride, and this one looks fit to be a demon.

In Sunday's game at Madrid, los Merengues outnumbered Barça in shots 20-3. It was also the first game in the three full seasons that Pep Guardiola has coached that Barça did not keep a majority of possession on the ball. While they usually get up to 70% of it, at the Bernabeu stadium they had to settle for chasing the action around and scoring on the break--much like Mourinho had coached his previous teams (Chelsea, Inter and last season's R. Madrid) to do against Barça. The shoe was on the other foot.

In spite of that bizarro-world flip-flop, Sunday's first leg score was 2-2. Madrid could not capitalize on their abundant opportunities. Valdes was a phenomenon in the goal, and Dani Alves performed admirably on defense.

It's funny, but though Alves is ostensibly a back, we get so used to seeing him break up the wing to get crosses in to the attackers that he looks almost out of place in his actual 'position.' Nonetheless, he showed that his defensive instincts are really unbeatable (at least if you're Cristiano Ronaldo...).

The games were a total tug of war with each team answering the other's goal through the course of it's three hours, ratcheting the drama tighter and tauter. The signing of Cesc Fabregas between the two meetings just pressurized the environment, as it became the major piece of sporting news on the continent and shored the attention of the football world on the cup Clasico. The Supercopa is usually regarded as a pretty minor championship, but these Madrid/Barça Clasico meetings always take on a lot of symbolic weight.


Who's gonna take the weight?

Messi, who had gone back home to Argentina to play in Copa de America only to return to Spain empty handed and salty, performed like the world's greatest player. He scored or assisted every goal that they marked over the two games. His first assist on Wednesday to Iniesta, who was clear to break free and chip the ball past Casillas, was brilliant. His play with the pass is the sure reason that he is the best.

As Madrid equalized to bring the score to two after Kaka had been brought in late in the second half Wednesday, the game looked set to go to extra time. But Fabregas' substitution (in his first adult moments on the pitch as a member of his boyhood squad) changed the energy substantially. First he collided with Pique to inadvertently gum up a break to the goal in front of Casillas' box. His first touch wasn't with the ball, but with his teammate who was looking to score. But then he redeemed himself by meeting up with Adriano who dished back to Messi for the game winner in the 88th minute.

It was at this point that Madrid, after so nearly beating their opponent at their own game, fell apart. In the extra time Marcelo sent a scissor kick tackle to Cesc to bring him down right in front of the coaches.


Marcelo gets down and dirty on Cesc

It was an outright red-card, and a clear reflection of the frustration that the team of the crown felt at still not being able to beat their rivals--who were weaker than ever and yet again managed to pull rabbits from their hats. The benches cleared and everyone started fighting.


Same as it ever was

Right away, the brilliant two games of play--probably among the best examples of football I've ever seen--are reduced to battles in the same dirty war that has gone on so long. In the ensuing scrum Mourinho walks over behind Barça's assistant coach Tito Vilanova and flicks his finger in his eye. In the 95th minute of the second leg of the Supercopa, three players get red carded-two of them (Özil and Villa) aren't even playing.

There are sure to be sanctions imposed by la Liga for the mud that was kicked up. The complete collapse of Madrid in the closing moments of the contest has resparked the spring's debate over the ill-temper of Mourinho and the rivalry. Is it worth all of the acrimony and nasty vibes? Will the anger on the pitch spill over into the streets and be played out by the team's supporters as proxies?

Pique has come out and declared that Jose Mourinho is "...destroying Spanish football. It's not the first time and it's always a number of players and the same ones so there has to be some way of stopping them. I hope they adopt the necessary sanctions because every game cannot end this way."

Yet almost all of them do.


One last thing

In the classic Okamoto film, The Sword of Doom, Toshiro Mifune is attacked by a group of assassins that mistakenly target him. He delivers all of them to their miserable snowy end, then scolds their ringleader. "An evil soul; an evil sword. Learn the soul to learn the sword."

As the conduct of Madrid's leadership has become so bitter and cynical, the games cannot help but devolve into static. The figures in Madrid's Olympus pavilion of elder statesman are displeased with the brutal character their squad has come to personify, but they are largely tied to the mast of their Ahab. As Madrid had tried to beat their nemesis by out-hustling instead of brutality and still came up short they are left with all their tactics frustrated.

They know there's no success like failure, and that failure's no success at all.


the scrum

To Rock Madrid

This week is starting to get busy, as Barça are going to play their galactic rivals in Madrid for the first leg of the Spanish Supercopa.

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/

Offseason

The 10-11' season is over and the books have been written on the outcome.

It has been an obvious high-water mark for FC Barcelona, and perhaps football in general as people have lined up to sing the praises of their particular style of apparently, selfless play.

The team has also gone through the measures of shoring up their squad with contracts designed to keep their nucleus largely intact for the next four years. Pedro recently re-upped his along with Thiago, as Busquets, Alves, Xavi, Messi, Iniesta and others (almost all of them, actually) are committed until at least 2015.

The only familiar dudes that seem to be candidates for inevitable trade are Bojan and Gabby Milito. Neither one of them has had a remarkable season in a few years. Milito has been injury-ridden and showed himself to be less than up-to-task in filling the gaping holes in their defense last season.

Bojan is a more tricky issue: He is a second generation player on the team who showed real flashes of brilliance while still in his teens. He was almost like a Messi-alternative for a short while.



But then it seemed like his touch stopped settling and in the key final moments, his shots would fly awry. I felt that he may have been sent a bit off course by his feeling an urge to replicate Messi's jaw-dropping improvisations, rather than keeping a holding pattern that would allow him to clean up on second chance strikes as Pedro has done so effectively. Now he is rumored to be a bargaining chip to be moved to Italy and help alleviate some of the team's 500 million Euro debt.

Speaking of debt, distinctive chinks in the superman armor seem to be showing under the weight of the bank balance. After years bearing only the mark of UNICEF on their chest, Barça will begin featuring the label of the Qatar Foundation--a group that seems to be a broad consortium of scientific, industrial and educational interests that are designed to advance the oil-filthy-rich nation socially. It may not be AIG, but it seems vaguely like a cabal compared to the polio-vaccinating and baby feeding peacemakers of UNICEF.

The £125m price of selling the front jersey real estate, while moving UNICEF to the back as a tramp-stamp, will make some progress in making the world's most dazzling team more economically viable, but it looks a little nefarious.

Elsewhere, there is still talk about signing Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal--this makes two summers in a row that have had the rumour blazing. Arsenal is a mess. He should move, but I still don't see a sure place for him in the lineup, at least until Xavi or Iniesta leave (knock-knock). Even then, they just signed Afelay like six months ago and he will be such a great fit with the team in the season to come. Cesc, just stay in England.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid have been signing a ton of defensive midfielders and look to be scrambling to meet the needs of Jose Mourinho after a season that saw them finish in second place for the third straight year. Next year they will most likely be even more competitive, as all Mourinho teams tend to take a year to warm before really getting rolling. Current speculation links Brazilian striking phenomenon Neymar to Madrid. That kid's one of these Justin Bieber dudes...


Neymar warms up

There is already a match scheduled for the numbers one and two teams to meet twice in August for the Spanish Super Cup, where the Copa del Rey winners meet la Liga's champions.

In the meantime, some players are getting a break, while others from the western hemisphere are playing in the Copa America. Even for those who've got to play in July for their home country, the feeling looks to be pretty post-orgasmic. The real heavy dream lifting has been accomplished back in Catalunya, and what comes now are just gravy contests to please the die-hards and show the folks back home a taste of the jedi lessons that have been learned in the Camp Nou.

If there is darkness on the horizon, it is still distant.

My senses haven't returned to me just yet.

Jedi

El Clásico was just played in Madrid. Biggest game of the season.

Madrid has lost to Barcelona tonight. Barça are back in the top spot of la Liga after having been in a stranglehold tie for first with Madrid. That's exactly how the game was played--as a taut twisting grapple for dominance between two teams that are eager to stomp the other out of the picture.

The first half was a bitter war of inches and possession. The sides struggled against eachother and gave up fouls. Lot's of thrown bows and whistles blown. Still, Barça managed to eke out an advantage in possession and direction of the ball.

The team seemed to be playing in direct psychic opposition to the rough play of Madrid. Madrid were vicious. Each possession of Barça would receive a brutal challenge. Players all over the field; ankles twisted back and their eyebrows scrunched with pain. The refs didn't feel like calling the most egregious fouls and decided instead to blow the whistle when the guilt from negligence reared randomly.

It was after one of these violent clashes that Messi broke through off a quick pass from Xavi. Leo skated up through the center of the pitch and snuck to the box to shoot past the keeper. It was another in the current streak of successively more incredible goals for him. One for the ages.


Messi scores

Ibra was out for the game, so the team employed a different lineup that moved Messi to the center. This was not ideal, as his lack of height made the chances for headers slim to none.
Pedro was on the side.

Pedro did deliver through out the game with a lot of possession and brutality endured. He then came up on a goal in the second half. 0-2.

But where was Ronaldo?

The Madrid star was consistently denied by the defense of Pique. The two players, both of similar stature and alumni of Man U. were well matched. Pique had his number. That combined with Valdes' supreme handling of the net created a hull that Madrid found they couldn't breach, no matter how many rusty cannonballs they lobbed.

Madrid mostly showed their confusion in the face of Barça's game philosophy: The deft handling of the ball at all times kept la Merengue always one step back. The world's most expensive team couldn't break the code of Barça's frequency.

It was easily the most difficult win of the season so far. They were met at all times and were contested with more audacity than by any other team in the spanish league. The team of the Empire used all of the sinister tricks available to them to try to claw the eyes out of Barcelona, but it was trumped by adherence to their philosophy. Guardiola directed his team to victory by playing their unique game and not getting into a slugfest. Same way they won against Arsenal-who showed a surprisingly physical game in the face of their diminished chances.

How do you kill a sith lord? With a jedi.

Enemies: A Love Story

Barça played Deportivo yesterday and beat them 3-1 on the strength of a driven performance by Leo. Messi scored twice and looked like lightning on the field. Relentless.

To satisfy the gods of superstar trades, Ibra also scored once.

In Madrid, meanwhile, Real Madrid played Almeria. This game makes me conflicted because as much as I dislike Real Madrid, I have a personal grudge against Almeria that ought to supersede grudges that I accumulate as a result of my support for Barça. Lucky for me, there is a perfect confluence of mutual misfortune for both teams. Almeria lose to Madrid 4-2, and Ronaldo gets Red carded.

And what did the superstar get ejected for? He got his first yellow for taking his shirt off after a goal, and the second for a nasty foul in the last minute of regulation play. The hubris of this jock inspired him to pull his shirt off and show his chest muscles in front of the world.



Only a few minutes before, his penalty kick was rejected by Almeria's goalie. Though his teammate knocked the ball in for a goal as it bounced away from the keeper's hands, Ronaldo did not celebrate the score--after all, it wasn't his goal, but the team's. The goal he scored a few minutes later was then celebrated with the kind of bully gusto that over-compensated for the disappointment he felt at not being the guy who broke the tie.

There's no "I" in "Team", big guy. Smell you later.

As for the city of Almeria, I got my grudge after a long day spent roaming through the town waiting for a bus. I had been pretty mercilessly ejected from where I'd been staying and ended up with an impromptu layover in the city. It seemed everywhere I went, I was told to leave. I walked into a café that was full of people, was looked at sideways and told they were closed.

Spent the rest of the day walking around listening to the Stooges on my walkman. No fun to be alone, Walking by myself. No fun to be alone, In love with nobody else.



But if all you have is love for yourself that burden can ruin what soul you were born with. Talent; Strength. Beauty and Ego.

Some of us can juggle.

Some know how to play football.

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.

A Goal On Yourself, Is Still A Goal

Pique! What the fuck?! How can that shit happen?

After slugging out 92 and a half minutes with Osasuna--the last team to beat Barça at the Camp Nóu-- and coming up with a beautifully executed goal off a strike by current hot boy Seidou Keita, Barça could only come up with a tie after Pique bungled a defensive knock into the net. An own goal. Jesus. There was like twenty seconds of play left before Barça could have packed up their shit and left the stadium with their three points for the win and a four point lead over number twos, Real Madrid. Instead they are one point up and have to ask themselves how the hell they let the victory slip through their fingers.

The good news is that the versatile play of Keita is netting some real results for the team. He scored his fourth point of the week, bringing his tally up to 6. Unfortunately, the secret may be out about this under-trumpeted weapon in the arsenal and he will probably not be able to get by below the radar of opponents any more.

At least Osasuna cannot claim to have beaten the Blaugrana--they only drew, and even that was at the hands of Barça's own error. And Barça are still undefeated and sitting in first place. For now...

Hang your head Pique. Your chiseled good looks and George Michael-esque stubble will not redeem this slip up. Show us your war cry.

Wake me when it's over...

Barça is playing Cultural Leonesa right now. The team looks to be the second stringers. No Ibra, Messi, or Henry. The goalie is the dude with the long hair that's braided. What is weirdest of all, is the absence of Carles Puyol. The ever-mean mugging team captain is not on the field.

They've already scored thanks to a goal from Pedro, but my heart isn't in it. Who are these guys?

They don't play with the hypnotic strategy of my team. They don't carry the weight like the starters.

These guys look intimidated of being burned by the torch their carrying. The flame that said "fuck you" to the Franco regime. Rather than rightful heirs to their team's glory, they seem to be knowingly temporary custodians. That's cool. If anything I would rather hang out with these dudes than the superstars. But to watch the game, I need the drama that is accessible only to the most ego-driven.

On a similar note, Real Madrid got de-pantsed by a small club, 4-nil yesterday. They were without the benefit of their two biggest stars, Ronaldo and Kaka. For any Barça fan, this inspires the sweetest Schadenfreude. Their shoddy performance against a Bad News Bears team is like the proverbial stone being thrown at the brass statue with feet of clay. They spent hundreds of millions in the last summer to create a sensational team that would get spanked by some minimum wage players. Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

At least there was some drama in their defenestration (for the record, a Defenestration takes place when a team loses 4-nil). The fabulous hubris of the team--of Franco's team--made their humiliation exciting.

But Barça is winning this game prosaically, and there seems to be little distinguishing this game from any of the others that have already been played today. Almost surely, they'll win, but it will be without the sneaky master-play that I've come to expect from my side. For a solitary dude nine time-zones away, it doesn't feel much like victory.