And So It Begins…

One last post before it all comes together in those 90 minutes of madness:

All that’s left to say, the only thing worth saying is this:

Visca el Barça!

Published
Categorized as El Clasico

By Isaiah

Isaiah is a co-founder and lead writer for Barcelona Football Blog. He currently lives in the greater Philadelphia area.

29 comments

  1. Clasico time: when one of the best football blogs, filled with intelligent people with high tactical and analytical skills, descends into pure vibes and general chaos 😛

  2. Been offline from BFB for a couple of days already. Trying to be calm about it but thought I had to come and post what the Madristas put up in their stadium, a banner that says;

    Mou, your finger shows us the way

    at

    http://twitpic.com/7ra8np

    1. The Barsa vice-president has said that the banner has been removed.

      The team is at the stadium. Tito is with them.

  3. Things that will happen in today’s Clasico regardless of the final score:

    1. Messi will score.
    2. Ramos will get a yellow card.
    3. Iker will make an Iker Face.
    4. Alonso will make a nasty foul and not receive a yellow card.
    5. Xavi will complete more passes than anyone else on the pitch.
    6. Di Maria will fall down.
    7. Puyol will make a game-saving last-ditch tackle.
    8. Di Maria will fall down again.
    9. The Bernaboo crowd will abuse Dani Alves, possibly in a racist way.
    10. Pique will bleed from the head.
    11. Pepe will get sent off.
    12. Mourinho will complain about it and get himself sent off.
    13. Di Maria will fall down again.
    14. Dani Alves will join him.
    15. A spontaneous round of synchronized swimming will break out.
    16. Iniesta will do something amazing.
    17. More than one goal will be scored.
    18. At least one will be from someone unexpected.
    19. Busquets will get fouled a lot. The ref won’t notice.
    20. Pep will remain classy.

    Feel free to print this out and use it as a drinking game! 😀

    3. 😆 at the numerous Di Maria falling down.
      You should add Pepe & co. elbowing, pushing, tackling off the ball.
      Mourinho knowing exactly when the camera will be on his face and will make faces showing his displeasure over the calls made against his teams even though it is clearly a foul.

  4. I’ve spent the week re-watching about a match per night, right through the super cup, and…
    I think Iniesta needs to (and I believe will) have a HUGE match, he could be key, and he’ll need to get forward and penetrate.
    And remeber the Fabregas-Messi-Adriano-Messi-back of the net, goal from the super cup? We are going to need to play at this kind of speed and boldness from the get go.
    Defensive positioning and awareness in transition are going to be key to stifling their counter, there isn’t a lot of room for error there.

    I’m having trouble envisioning the match without Messi-Cesc link up, and Alexis patrolling the touchline… We’ll see. They’ve both been in my preferred staring XI for over a week now, but from the looks of most analysis, we’ll see Villa, and may see a squeeze out of Cesc to start. Im not sure how we go into this match without Masch either. In Pep we trust, right? Glad I don’t have to make the selection…

    Visca Barca

  5. anyone else have trouble sleeping last night? seriously need to its finals week but the only thing that trumps that is El Clasico Day!

  6. Woke up early this morning to watch the lunar clips with family and sent a prayer for the team. I believe in this team and history will one day claim that they are indeed the best team we have ever come to know. Visca Barca!

  8. So, anything special happening today? Watching Arsenal v Everton. Decided that I won’t complain about any of our guys’ hair ever again. You think a hairstyle is bad…then you see Gervinho…

    So later this afternoon, I’ll peruse the channels and see if there’s soccer worth watching and…

    OK, denial doesn’t work. It’s coming whether I think I can handle it or not. I can’t even drink this clasico because of meds. Dangit!

    Futile Pedictions:
    1. VV, Xavi, Messi, Iniesta and 7 of my other favorite players will take the field in the classic Barca amoebic formation.
    2. Pep will sub too soon for our liking if we’re ahead or too late for our liking if we’re behind.
    3. Pep will shock us with something.
    4. Predictions 1-20 from Blitzen will come to fruition.
    score:2-3 (Messi(Oh, I love to go out on a limb, don’t I?), Sanchez, Xavi)

    Pressure pushing down on me
    Pressing down on you no man ask for
    Under pressure – that burns a building down
    Splits a family in two
    Puts people on streets…
    …This is our last dance
    This is ourselves
    Under pressure.

    But really, I’m off work so I can wear my 09/10 Campions t-shirt. We have never lost when I have worn that! So no worries…right?

    Visca Barca i visca Catalunya!

  9. OK, its finally here, WE GOT THIS
    Unfortunately i will not be able to join the LB as ill be watching the game with friends, but good luck to us.

    LOVE YOU ALL BFB’ers

  11. Yeah, won’t make the LB – far too anxious so maybe see y’all at HT. I’m hoping to see 4 at the back with P/P as CBs but if we end up going with 3 then at least we can be proud that we are taking the game to them in their own stadium.

    Have a feeling Iniesta is vital tonight.

  13. I’m going stir crazy–ddon’t know how I’m going to pass the next two hours. Can we start the liveblog early?

  17. I’m gonna be a hater for this lines;
    Hate the Bernabeu crowd, who follow Mou as he was the pharaoh or something “Mourinho, your finger shows us the way”? WTbleep. At least Sandro could manage to get that sign off the stadium.
    Hate when they bitch about every decision the referee makes. And then Mou bitches to the 4th referee as well, could he actually believe he’s right?
    Hate when they dive and then blame us for diving.
    Hate people that want Madrid to win “because they are bored Barça keeps winning everything”.
    Hate the ESPN program about Ronaldo making him a god in everything.
    Hate that ESPN latinoamerica, keeps putting Quique Wolff as commentator, being a madridista (he actually played for EE a few years), and he feels no shame in not being objective.

  18. OK, so at the moment I am trying very hard to convince myself that we are the outsiders in this match, that EE is too motivated, revenge-thirsty and has a host-bonus, that a single game is not so vital, that I shouldn’t care that much about it since I’m not Catalan, etc. in order not to get too devastated if we do lose and to boost the emotion in case of a win..

    ..however, I totally fail at that 🙂 Also, I have a feeling about Alexis being really huge for us today!

  19. I HATE ESPN Desportes…. and they don’t even broadcast in HD. 🙁 Nevertheless that is what I am watching on.

  20. Is it true that Alexis cried before the game in Supercopa?

    I believe Cesc is the X-factor today. The way he used to pass for Arsenal, could be key today.

  21. Believe it or not – yes – there’s a new post!

    My tactical preview of the match. Sorry it’s so late – but it was a busy week for me.

    Put it up in case people are looking for something to take their minds off the nervousness!

    1. It did just that for me! Especially since I somehow thought the match was starting one hour earlier than it really is.

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