The whole concept is that you’re better for 90 minutes. That is, really, the idea. At first it may not seem obvious, but after an hour and a half, it’s fairly clear. Take a gander at the first 5 minutes against Arsenal in 2009 and then the final score; after that, once you’ve digested the reality of what came to pass, tell me it isn’t about 90 minutes. Try. Just go ahead and try.

There was a moment not so long ago when 18 seconds separated Barcelona from the league trophy. The official site puts it this way:

Then came 18 seconds of madness on the penultimate weekend. Madrid came from behind to draw with Zaragoza, and just as they scored, Espanyol equalised with Barça at the Camp Nou. A great chance had gone to waste and Capello’s side made no mistake on the final day, rendering Barça’s goal-fest in Tarragona useless. “

It’s about the 90 minutes worth. It’s why both Guardiola and Puyol scream at players when the team is winning 4-0. It’s why you can never give up an easy chance even when you’re winning by a mile. Milan learned the hard way in the Champions league final against Liverpool and nearly relearned it against Arsenal in the round of 16 this year.

Why this Phil Simms-esque “the game is a full 90 minutes” diatribe? Because we’re down 6 points and there’s no margin for error whatsoever. Even if you say that the Clasico will get us to 3 points, there are still 3 monumental points that have to be overcome. Guardiola is right in saying that this will be a bit complicated. And it’s Mallorca that stands in our way at the moment, not what happens next week in Milan and not what happens in a month when Real Madrid visits the Camp Nou. Putting pressure on a Madrid team that looks like cracking in half at the wrong moment is exactly what the team has to do, but it’s no easy measure, not with a rear guard made out of popsicle sticks and badly applied rubber cement.

Our attack may be monstrous, but it will mean little if we allow Mallorca to put 3 beyond Valdes. Granada may have been lucky to get penalties to do just that, but they were still constantly attacking rather than being shown the side exit by a well-mannered, yet very insistent back line. And so, while the front is allowed to have fun, the back must be solid and stern, very Mr. Carson to the attack’s Lady Mary. There’s glory in keeping the house in order, you know.

So it is that Mallorca hosts Barç and the team has to continue to perform well while also continuing to put on the show that has made them so fun to watch recently. Messi can have another hat trick if he’d like, while Iniesta, Xavi, and Busquets are needed to hold down the fort in midfield, though Sport thinks Cesc will start head of Xavi. You can, however, start as brightly as you want, so long as you remember the final 89 minutes.

More details and starting in 3…2…1… Just got out of class.

Starting XI: Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Adriano, Xavi, Keita, Thiago, Cuenca, Messi and Alexis

Bench: Pedro, Cesc, Tello, Busquets, Mascherano, Iniesta, Muniesa, and Pinto

Last time we faced Granada, it was a much closer affair than some might have expected. This time the game is at home, in front of Barça’s fans, and there is the added incentive of getting the lead at the top down to 5 going into Madrid’s game at Villarreal tomorrow. Last time we played them, Kevin could only come up with this apt description:

…it was again a club in disarray, a tired, disjointed, disinterested-looking club that played not only the worst match of this season, but the worst match that I can remember a Guardiola side playing.

Icky-poo is how I would describe such a thing, personally, but I’m not the wordsmith around these here parts, so it’s fortunate I have the adept stylings of Baby Kxevin to keep me humble. Keeping the FCB squad humble is Guardiola’s job, of course, and he seems to be doing a bang up job heading into the the Champions League semifinals quarterfinals [well spotted, reader Josep; apparently I'm ahead of myself] against Milan by saying that our league chances are done and dusted. Kaput. Fallen from this mortal coil. No more.

Will we take Granada seriously enough tonight? Given what the team has done over the last couple of weeks to other teams in similar positions, I say yes, it will be a different match to the one that Granada probably should have earned at least a point from. What’s important, once again, is for us fans to enjoy the spectacle that is Lionel Messi and company. And what a spectacle it is.

Tonight we specifically have Messi gunning for Cesar’s all-time FCB record, whatever the total really is, it doesn’t matter because Messi will beat it at some point in the near future. Celebrate it now or celebrate it later, whatever, it’s fun to celebrate a player who has gone beyond what anyone thought possible–and done so repeatedly to the point where the impossible has become an expectations. I’m not old enough to know if Wilt Chamberlain or Pele had the same aura about them and even Maradona is something before my time (though as a child all my friends were huge Maradona fans since he was at the peak of his powers and they were soccer nutters), but Michael Jordan springs to mind. It was never really a question of if he was going to blow your mind, but when. It’s what Kobe lacks, it’s what Cristiano Ronaldo lacks: there’s no aura of invincibility, no knowledge, sure as I sit here today, that you will not believe your eyes next time they play.

Watching Messi can be infuriating sometimes, such as when he doesn’t pass to an open man and instead takes on an extra defender and loses the ball, but mainly he’s just a joy. Simply put: he’s thrilling. Xavi and Iniesta are arguably more soccer intelligent, some have suggested Sergio Busquets is too, but it doesn’t matter. They can’t hold a candle to Messi’s slaloming runs, to his head down bull charges that somehow end with him reading the entire field perfectly. Eyes on all sides of his head, you could say.

So when he passes Cesar, it will be worth celebrating simply because of what we’ve been able to witness these last 7 years. The growth of a dynamic and brilliant player for whom records were apparently made to be smashed into smithereens. It’s only March and he has to be the odds on favorite to win the Ballon d’Or, FIFA World Player of the Year, and about 30 million new hearts.

Maybe Granada will put out a ridiculous bus, park it in their area, and say “Come get some.” Okay. And Messi will be there, slinking and powering through the defense in search of that little bit of joy we call Making History. It’s not if, it’s when.

Vj to the rescue again.

Starting XI: Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Messi, Pedro, Cuenca

Another matchday, another refereeing scandal. It’s gotten to the point where even rational people are flipping out about it, either in defense or in accusatory howls. And as usual with situations such as this, I do and don’t know what to think, so let’s start with what I know I think:

There is no refereeing conspiracy. If you believe that there is, you should stop watching La Liga matches, including ours, because you already know how it’s all going to go, and how the league is going to go.
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We have an assistant at work. Her name is Rosemary. And like that same type of person in roughly the same support position in so many offices, she is indispensable. She has all the answers, even for things that she isn’t supposed to have the answers for. She does so much, and is always there. You have a thought, and she’s thought of it already. The humor is always good, and you wonder sometimes about value.

The prima donna writers and self-important editors whip around, preen and demand and Rosemary just makes it all happen, stoic, good-natured and invaluable. Nobody ever says “We can’t get it done without her.” Ever. Even as it’s true, day in and day out, because it’s often true that the more important people are overlooked.

Like Seydou Keita.
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