(Insert reference to Lio, lions, and roaring here)

Pep’s notes before the game must have been:

1. Give Messi the ball.
2. ????
3. GOLAZO
4. Repeat 1-3 until sufficient scoreline is achieved.

A simply remarkable game from the world’s best player. But the thing is, this is him being “back on form”. That’s the incredible part.

By his standards, Leo Messi has been a bit lacklustre in away games. Despite being the focus of the opposition team’s defense, a minimum of three defenders on him at all time, despite the fact that that means that the rest of the team has much more space to operate, he only scored one goal in away matches in the Liga this season. (Compared to the 18 goals scored at Camp Nou).

And that is poor. By his standards.

By his standards.

Those are the key words and ones I would repeat ad nauseam.

Because the standards this man has set is higher than Mount Everest and it only continues to elevate as he plays. A standard no other human can ever reach and maintain.

Because Messi to me is like a footballing superhero. Except it’s not Superman, it’s Argentinaman! (His Argie blood gives him strength, don’tcha know?).

He is the team’s greatest offensive threat. He’s been carrying them offensively. The real story this season is not that he’s only score one goal away from home, but that the team itself has had problems scoring. Even if he himself doesn’t have a direct impact, though assist and goals, the indirect influence he has is priceless. He forces a team to change shape and makes sure the opposition can never really relax just by being there because they know that one false move, and BAM. Destruction. Goals. Mayhem.

That’s why Pep doesn’t sub him off.

And as the mister said today: “Messi’s main quality is his consistency; for being decisive in so many games, for such a long time.”

But if he doesn’t dominate the game as his often superhuman, Argentinaman self does, doesn’t shine the way he’s supposed to – the way us Barca fans are used to – then he’s had a bad game. He looks uninterested, unmotivated and has to be subbed off.

If that were me, I’d be weeping at the unfairness of it all.

But not Messi. Because he knows. He knows the standards he’s set. He knows that he has to keep improving, that he can’t just rest on his laurels. That the fans and the club are demanding and expecting and will not allow that. And if he wants to stay, he’ll have to keep pushing himself.

He told Don Balon a couple of weeks ago:

“I’m at the best club in the world, no other team could fulfill me as much as Barcelona does. I grew up at La Masia and I became a man at Barca. I hope to stay here until they get tired of me, which is hopefully never.”

This is our player. And today, he showed that hunger that never left.

Target: Locked

We rolled into Malaga’s stadium with Valdes; Alves, Pique, Masche, Abidal; Busi, Iniesta, Thiago; Adriano, Messi and Alexis. It was an interesting one. No Xavi, Fabregas, or Puyol, and Adriano starts as LW.

The game itself stated with a battle for possession. Malaga weren’t interested in sitting back a la Madrid and going for a counter attack. But unlike many games this season, we got into a rhythm early, passing the ball around, getting into a groove.

Or rather, Messi got into a groove. As early as the 7^th minute, he went on one of those classic runs, dancing past Malaga defenders, before slotting the ball to a wide open Thiago on the right who first times the cross for a diving Alexis header in the box which was saved by the excellent Malaga goalkeeper.

But the onslaught was just beginning. Two minutes later, another lovely dribble from Messi ends with a powerful shot deflected JUST past the post for a corner. Iniesta was wide open in space to the left of Leo and he probably should have passed to Ghostface.

Barcelona were really dominating now. But Malaga then decided to try and get something out of the game.

Now Victor Valdes must have the hardest and easiest job ever. The ultimate paradox. He has to be alert to the danger, which is often meager. But if he’s not focused, the goals will pour in like locusts.

In the 14^th minute, Valdes produced three successive goal denying saves from Isco to keep Malaga shut out before the Messi show took over.

Messi was once again on a run but the ball is tackled away (he gets accidentally kneed in the head for his troubles). Malaga counter attack. After a nice one-two on the left, Isco unleashes a shot that’s headed for the top right corner, but he is DE-NIED by a flying Valdes. From the resulting corner, Boo! Wellington the pesky Isco directs a header towards goal but that man Valdes saves again. The rebound is smacked goalwards yet again by Isco but no ball shall pass the Wall of Valdes. In the first half anyway.

You shall not pass!

Regular service resumed from there as Pique had a free header in the 17^th minute which was poor. Decent chances from Thiago and Adriano followed. The break-through only a matter of time.

Déjà vu hit in the 29^th minute when Messi floated an incredible pass to a wide open Abidal. Very reminiscent of the winning goal last Wednesday. But Willy Cabanero was alert to the impending catastrophe and forced Abidal back. Abi passes back to Messi who is lurking in the box. Leo spanks the ball towards goal but Demichelis clears off the line.

But Messi’s wasn’t finished. He lays an incredible pass to Alexis which is saved. The Malaga GK, desperately trying to relieve some pressure, launches a counter attack through Eliseu. He curls a wonderful cross to Ruud van Nistelrooy (yeah, he was playing) who puts it wide.

Fantastic game and still only a half hour in. You’d wonder how it was still 0-0.

That would change in the 32^nd minute when Adriano puts in a fabulous floating cross for –who else?– Leo Messi to head in. He may be the second shortest player on the field, but the man can head the ball. I’ve always thought so. The placement was spectacular. 1-0 to Barca.

Eat it, Pele! With a side of paella.

I’ll take the time to say Messi’s passes are just incredible. I mean, really. Nothing flashy, just simple perfectly weighted passes that are so, so deadly.

The half ended with two more half chances. The first comes when Alexis wins the ball at the edge of the Malaga box and play a brilliant pass to Iniesta, but he miscontrols (!) and the danger is cleared. The second was Messi passing the ball through the legs on a Malaga defender to Abidal, but his cross is gathered by the Malaga GK before Alexis could get a head to it.

Halftime. 1-0 Barcelona with 70% of the ball. Ole.

The second half started as the first half ended. Barca camped out in the Malaga half.

Wonderful play by Iniesta would be the instigator for the second goal. He sets up Thiago at the edge of the box, but his shot was saved. The danger for Malaga wasn’t averted as Adriano picked up the rebound and squared the ball to Thiago but he is once again saved by the outstanding Malaga GK. He wouldn’t be able to stop Alexis, as the Chilean manages to put in the rebound. 2-0 Barcelona.

Would we let poor Malaga catch their breath?

Answer: Hell to the no.

Just three minutes later, good pressure from Iniesta Busi Leo in the Malaga half wins Barca possession. Busi slides a short pass back to Messi. Surrounded by three players with another two blocking his path, the genius jinxes his way through, drifting to the right before cutting back to his left and slotting the ball past the keeper. 3-0. Game. Set. Match.

But we’d spend the rest of the game looking for a fourth.

Striker Pique would come out of the long grass around the 70th minute, but the team ignores him he doesn’t get any service.

In the 73rd minute, after Pedro comes on for Iniesta, Messi hits the underside of the crossbar. To describe my feeling, I go to the wonderful Ray Hudson:

“Damn that crossbar! Damn it all to hell! A hat-trick would have been deserved. Look at this, the witching way. I think it crossed the line.”

Aye, sir.

Thiago would get two good opportunities to net the 4th. He’s put through on goal by a great Abidal pass, but he tries to set up Cuenca instead of going for goal. A couple of seconds later, he has a header saved.

The fourth goal would come eventually and to describe it, I will consult my notes from this match:

81st Busi wins the ball in Malaga half. Messi. Dead. 0-4. Hattrick. &#^(@#&@)*#@)*#)!(

Argentinaman. I’m so glad he plays for us.

Match ball is yours!

The End

Make no mistake, Malaga were a dangerous opponent. They had very good looks on goal in the first half. In the second half, substitute Rondon was very lively. He scored after Valdes saved the initial shot from a Malaga player, but pushed the ball into the path of Rondon. That man Rondon would get anther look at goal int he 86th minute, dragging his header wide after a great cross from the left.

He himself would provide a cross in the dying moments of the game but the resultant header was poor.

So it’s not like Malaga were parking the bus — we forced them back and put them relentless pressure. So much so that they couldn’t get into the game (until we dropped off towards the end). Important distinction.

Also, Santi Cazorla is a wonderful footballer.

Thoughts:

Team: Easily the best away game of the season. Some frenetic passing in the first half, but calmed down in the second. Was just dominate for 85 minutes and a sensational day between the sticks by the Malaga GK is what kept the score down. No matter who plays, the level doesn’t drop much. Almost scored a goal from pressing in the 26th minute too. This performance was coming, but it was also much needed. Riding the momentum of the Copa win. Keep it up!

But that being said, those last 5 minutes… no me gusta. You can’t just switch off like that. Stay focused for the whole match.

Pep: Made all his subs before the 75th minute!! Also, he had the team ready to play but also rested some key players. As Josep Capdevila, a Spanish journalist, noted on Twitter: Pep is still rotating even with 15 squad players (and a couple of B teamers). This is awesome. Well played, boss.

Valdes: “Without Valdes’ saves in the first half, you don’t know what can happen. Details are decisive in football.” – Pep Guardiola post match. Some really sensational saves Victor. It’s a shame that we couldn’t keep a clean sheet for you. Can’t put too much blame on the Rondon goal, maybe could have push it out, but even then that’s asking a lot.

Alves: Seemed like he was dying in the second half with all those hits. Glad to see he’s okay. Malaga attacked his flank most often in the first half, to be expected. Got up and down the flank with his usual energy. Nice line up play with Messi and Alexis.

Mascherano: Full on man. Fantastic defensive play towards the end of the first half, where he just ate up the ground and blocked van Nistelrooy’s path to goal.

Pique: Getting better. Did some great covering jobs, particularly in the second half. Tried to be a striker, but alas, had to slowly make his way back when it became apparent that a) the team wouldn’t be entertaining that idea, and b) he probably wouldn’t have scored anyway.

Abidal: Maxwell said after he signed for PSG: “Abidal is the best left back in the world. He’s in spectacular form.” Couldn’t have said it better myself, Maxy.

Busi: Really loved the game he played today. Always available as an outlet, always keeps it simple. Just a great footballer. That tackle by Camacho in the second half was just awful. Ripped your shorts and everything. I bet some will still call you a diver afterwords though.

Thiago: Wonderful match. He’s putting in that workman like performance that tends to be a thank less job. Keep possession well, make some great runs into the box. The interesting thing with Thiago is that people are still expecting him to play a looser, flashier match. But he knows that for the team to win, he’ll have to make sacrifices and do the dirty work. I love that.

Iniesta: Another strong match. I love his chemistry with Messi. Their link up play is just a joy to watch. Got some well deserved rest when Pep subbed him off for Pedro.

Adriano: He loves to attack doesn’t he? He didn’t make as many runs that I’d expect him to. And sometimes he had the defender’s reflex in the box where he cleared the ball away from the Malaga goal instead of towards it. Fantastic cross for the opening goal. Shame you got a cramp towards the end. Let’s hope it’s not serious.

Alexis: El nino maravilla! Movement was good, had great chances to score and eventually put away the second goal. Good day at the office, chileno.

Messi: See above. At the halfway point in 08-09 season he had 11 goals, in 09-10 he had 15, last year he had 18 and now he has 22 [Jafri during LB]. Only one two from a penalty (compared to another player who has 22 goals, 10 9 (!) for the spot). And he’s still expected to do more, to be even better. He wouldn’t want it any other way.

Substitutions

Cuenca (for Alexis): Came in when the match was pretty much decided. Good run out for Isaac.

JDS (for Adriano): Yay! JDS got to play and it wasn’t at rightback! I always love seeing Jona on the pitch.

Pedro (for Iniesta): Looked good. Gain some much needed minutes and had nice touches on the ball. Here’s hoping he comes back to form soon.

So we’re still improving. This doesn’t mean that there won’t be more…unfortunate… results in the future. But the team will keep trying hard to win this Liga. I couldn’t ask for more.

Away form: hopefully fixed.
[All images courtesy of fcbarcelona.cat]

"Never attack Russia in the winter"

Apparently Betis didn’t get the memo, and like Napoleon’s march on Russia in 1812 they started brightly. Valdes was forced into action early as Abidal failed to pick up his mark and Mascherano lost track of his man running through, giving him a one-on-one. Valdes again showed his importance to the team on the resulting corner, punching out a bullet of a header. Betis looked hungry, they were pressing well, passing well, and creating chances. And the English commentator just called it the “Nou Camp.” Where is that mute button? Time for some Frank Zappa.

Yet for all Betis’ work, Barcelona is the first on the score sheet with what is essentially our first attack. Puyol makes a smart interception and feeds Xavi who begins to dance through the midfield, exchanging passes with Busquets and Iniesta as he moves left and finds Sanchez in space. Meanwhile Fabregas is doing what he does best and making an incisive run across the box. Sanchez again shows his ninja skills with a cleverly disguised pass, Fabregas has his evening cup of Earl Gray before he clips the ball against the far post, and Xavi is lurking to make it 1-0. A deserved goal for Xavi that earned him the right to a cute hop-skip-and-jump celebration with a fist pump thrown in for good measure.

I had barely finished my own, more excessive, celebration before Messi made it 2-0. The entire Betis backline is in full retreat as Iniesta dribbles at them before playing a simple pass to Sanchez who is in acres of space on the left. The Betis right back obviously didn’t learn his lesson about giving Sanchez too much space from the last goal and Sanchez punishes him with a perfect first time cross that Messi finishes easily. Two goals, both of which Sanchez created by maintaining width on the left and catching the Betis backline out of position. 12 minutes into the game and I started to relax.

Unfortunately I wasn’t the only one. Messi put Iniesta in on goal with a long probing pass but Iniesta looks like he is out on a Sunday stroll and the chance is lost. As a side note, Fabregas starts the play making an interception in the right back zone, and ends it making a slide tackle in Betis’ box. Fabregas dropped deep in midfield throughout the game, playing almost as a defensive midfielder at times without the ball. I’d like to see this more often as it fills the hole Busquets leaves when he drops into a back four (and hopefully will cure Fabregas of his “run wherever the ball is” positioning). The ensuing 20 minutes consist mostly of Barcelona maintaining possession deep but not creating many chances. Strangely the reason we struggled to create chances was because we weren’t patient enough in our passing. The team as a whole was too direct in the opponent’s third, constantly trying to play the hero ball when we needed to be besieging their goal (there was also Sanchez comically tripping over the ball when he was through on goal).

AND HOLY JEEZERS BETIS HAVE SCORED. A darting run from Molina through the middle beats Mascherano. Molina drops it back, and while our entire defense stands transfixed a perfect ball finds Castro camped all alone in our box. A very nice goal that we would have been proud of if our boys had scored it, but all of a sudden our Camp Nou clean sheet run is over. And I’m not quite so relaxed anymore. On a tactical note the worry with the 3-4-3 on defense is generally that teams can find space on the wings. With both Puyol and Abidal playing fairly wide throughout the first half the most danger has come when Betis isolate Mascherano against a quick forward and play a through pass – they’ve had several good chances this way. The rest of the half devolves into a ping pong match with both teams having a couple half chances. Overall it feels like an EPL game for a couple minutes there.

FIST PUMPAZO!!

A nervous half time commenced. I kept hoping that the words a wise man once spoke would be true: “Betis always find a way of troubling us, even if we eventually win.”

Alves replaced Cuenca at half time – starting off at right wing where Cuenca supposedly played in the first half. Within six minutes he was dropping in to play right back, forming a 4-3-3, and within seven minutes Betis scored their second goal. Castro had the whole right side of the pitch to himself as Alves had been drawn way too centrally. Castro finds Santa Cruz unmarked at the top of the box and Santa Cruz nestles the ball in the far corner. 2-2.

And for a couple of minutes after the equalizing goal there were doubts. A dread seemed to hang over the stadium, and you could hear whispers from the peanut gallery: “Pep insists on using this formation even though it is weak defensively.” “The team lacks the killer instinct it had in years past.” “This is the type of match where Barcelona concedes the league.” For a moment I thought I could hear a Cule running down Las Ramblas screaming “Franco is coming! Franco is coming!” But there was lots of time left.

Barcelona started crafting some half chances, with Messi putting a weak shot on target and Xavi playing a nice chip that Fabregas blazed over. Abidal in particular was enjoying the change back to a 4-3-3, getting forward and causing havoc on the left. Fabregas and Messi play a cute give and go but Messi blazes over. Speaking of Messi he lost the ball all too often today, especially after Betis scored their second. 60 minutes gone, and there isn’t so much time left. My heart rate is getting alarmingly high.

The players also seem to be losing their cool, as both Messi and Xavi tell the ref exactly what they think about his call. Alves on the right causing trouble now. We are attacking their goal but the clear chances just won’t seem to come. Messi loses the ball again. Alves goes up with the keeper for a header but the ball just won’t go in the goal. ARE YOU TOO GOOD FOR YOUR HOME? I’m breathing hard now. Xavi is awesome. The ref denies Iniesta a penalty after Montero mistakes his shin for the ball in their box. Iniesta says to the ref “Sir, I must kindly disagree” and gets a yellow for his troubles. Damn this game is exciting. Messi drives through the center and gets wrecked by Montero, who sees his second yellow. Being a man up is great and all by why can’t we score?!?!?! Messi loses the ball again. Oh no Betis is attacking again. Pep is yelling. Sanchez gets a ball through from Iniesta but can’t finish. Sanchez glances a header just wide. 15 minutes left and the tension is rising to uncontroGGGGGGOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL. GOAL GOAL GOAL.

Xavi has been providing dangerous balls for a half hour and he finds Sanchez running laterally through the middle. Sanchez still has it all to do and he finds space against two defenders and powers the ball past Casto. I may be developing a man crush on Sanchez. The final goal and the nail in the Betis’ coffin comes through an excellent attacking run from Abidal where he combines nicely with Messi and keeps the ball alive after the rebound and earns a rare Barcelona penalty. Messi duly finishes it, and the match is over.

The oddest moment of the match

Valdes: B+. Will be disappointed to concede in the Camp Nou, but can’t take blame for either of the goals. Made a couple excellent saves early in the first half. Distribution was solid as always.

Puyol: B. Made some excellent interceptions, but also got caught way out of position at times.

Mascherano: C+. Beaten several times in the first half to give Betis dangerous chances, although he was left isolated. Much better in the second half with Puyol next to him.

Abidal: B. The second game in a row where he cleared the ball out of bounds with alarming regularity. Looked unsure of his role and positioning on the left of the three man defense in the first half. Enjoyed his freedom to get forward in the second and played a huge role in winning the penalty.

Busquets: B+. Spent the first half somewhere between centerback and defensive midfielder, popping up at the right place with unnerving regularity. He reads the game incredibly well. Distributed well and created a couple dangerous moments when he attacked through the middle. Fouled and won fouls. All in all a stereotypical Busquets performance.

Xavi: A. Scored a deserved goal, and controlled the match throughout. Played a bunch of dangerous balls as we searched for the equalizer – they all found their target, but only Sanchez could capitalize. Good match.

Iniesta: B+. He was a wizard out there with the ball at his feet. Played well with Sanchez in the early going. Created a lot of dangerous situations but just seemed unable to connect for the final pass.

Fabregas: B. He kind of reminds me of watching Pedro in his first season. Covered an unbelievable amount of ground. Made some dangerous runs in the box but could also be seen deep in the midfield at times. Some of his passing wasn’t patient enough and he still looks like he isn’t sure where he should be on the field a lot of the time.

Cuenca: C-. Hooked for Alves at half time after an anonymous first half. Contributed almost nothing going forward but worked hard and covered a lot of ground defending the right flank.

Messi: B. Scored two goals and drew a red card, but didn’t have a great game the rest of the time. A solid first half was followed by a second half where he lost the ball too often – whether on the dribble or a pass.

Sanchez: A. Created danger on the left wing the whole first half, and the first two goals as well. Faded a bit in the middle of the match, but emphatically scored the winning goal after a superb run through the middle. We haven’t had a player with his dynamism and versatility of play on the left wing since Henry circa ’08-’09. My MOTM.

Subs

Alves: B. Deserves the blame for Betis’ second goal, as he was ostensibly playing right back but was standing in the center circle. Created danger on the right, including a sumptuous cross for Sanchez right before we took the lead, but nothing quite seemed to come off for him.

Thiago: N/A. Replaced Fabregas in the 83rd minute to maintain possession and did his job without any fuss.

*All grading is done on the curve.

Overall it was an incredibly exciting game. No, Barcelona wasn’t at their best, and this didn’t turn into the statement game that many were expecting or hoping it to be. In fact it’s fair to say that our execution was off all night – maybe just by a little bit, but that small margin is what makes the difference. These matches are the reason I love watching this team – tense all the way through, moments of magic, and it feels unbelievably amazing when the boys in Blaugrana pull it off. Games like these remind the players, and fans, that even in the Camp Nou nothing can be taken for granted – a lesson that we may have forgotten over three years of success. In the end you can’t help but hope our season plays out just like this match – a strong start, a slump in form in the middle, and a blazing finish that secures the win.

This thought was reinforced when the main story in the buildup to the match was the dense fog that had descended on Pamplona. It seemed a sinister fog, forcing Barcelona to land their jumbo jet in a neighboring city and take a bus the rest of the way – buses being the kryptonite of the team (apart from knee and hamstring injuries). The fog also forced Pep to leave Iniesta at home as he was concerned the other players wouldn’t be able to see him, and Alves stayed behind so he didn’t miss his Thursday night samba class. A classic 4-3-3 was in order with the likes of Pinto, Montoya, Pique, Fontas, Adriano, Sergi, Mascherano, Thiago, Cuenca, Sanchez, and Pedro getting the nod. And I was excited to see some fringe players get some time.

As the match started the fog wasn’t just obscuring my view of the far side of the field, it seemed to weigh heavy on the shoulders of the men in mint green. It was a pernicious fog that seemed to have seeped into the minds of our boys, and for much of the first half we seemed slow and off kilter. I’m reminded of the first time I ever went white water canoeing – the fog was so dense over the Nantahala that you could hear the rapids before you could see them, and by the time you could see them there was no time to react. My skiing coach once told me that in order to be a good mogul skier you had to be thinking at least two turns ahead – the same holds true for white water paddling, and for football. The fog on the Nantahala made it impossible to look down the river and plan my moves, meaning I spent the entire time reacting to the river instead of being proactive (well, when I wasn’t swimming). And so it was with Barcelona early on. The fog had appeared to dull the teams thoughts, to make them reactive instead of proactive. And just as my analogy falls apart here, so did Barcelona’s coordinated team play for most of the first half.

Calvin vs. Nantahala, 2007

Pedro was the man who created the first bit of excitement in the half as he created a half chance for himself and duly put it on target. Unfortunately it forebode the type of game he would have, the type of game he has been having all season. Whether it’s due to his injury issues, his lack of goals this season, or the arrival of Sanchez; Pedro has been trying too hard to make something happen, to create a moment of magic. To return to the form that elevated him briefly to San Pedro he is going to have to return to basics and focus on doing the simple things correctly… Ooooohhhhh Osasuna gets off a good cross that neither Pique nor Montoya have any idea how to deal with and it luckily passes harmlessly between them. Lucky Break 1.

This brings us to the most disappointing aspect of the game – Fontas’ ACL injury. He only lasted 11 minutes but up to that point he had been nearly flawless – passing well, getting into space well, and even doing some defending. Unfortunately his first mistake got him into trouble as he lost his head and the ball at the edge of our box. You can see him put a serious stress on his knee while his foot is planted, and then, in a lion-hearted move that would have made Puyol proud he continues to play and atones for his mistake – all while it looks like his knee will give out at any moment. It was a glimpse of the determination and steel that champions are made of. Unfortunately it’s a sight we won’t see again for some time, as it looks like the already underused defender will be out for the season. So it goes.

The rest of the first half was honestly fairly uneventful. It consisted mostly of Barcelona keeping possession but not threatening much while Osasuna looked dangerous every time they crossed into our half. Pique made a massive goal line save with his head after Abidal lost the ball in our box – although Pinto should take some blame as his distribution put Abidal in a dangerous situation. Lucky Break 2. Osasuna created several more dangerous chances, including a beauty of a volley from Lekic. Lucky Break 3. Lekic made no mistake with his next chance though, as a poor clearance from Abidal followed by Sergi tripping over his shoelace gifted him a clear chance. So it goes.

Meanwhile we were somewhat of a shambles going forward. The problem originated in the midfield where all three of Mascherano, Thiago, and Sergi had a tendency to dwell on the ball. This game was a reminder why Pep uses Mascherano as a center back, he distributes the ball adequately but not with the speed, creativity, or precision that Busquets does. Meanwhile Sergi can pass but he didn’t put himself in positions to help his teammates enough. We did manage to put together a couple nice moments of tiki-taka which interestingly all coalesced around Thiago. Unfortunately Thiago lacked a foil in midfield and has a tendency to push the play away from himself – he has a phenomenal cross-field pass, but in this match he needed to draw the play towards himself, not send the ball across the field. Sanchez looked isolated but played his role well. He held up the ball well several times and made intelligent runs to find space wide but you couldn’t fault him for being frustrated.

Come on Abidal, hands above the blanket

While we somehow managed to sneak out of the first half without giving up another goal, the boys looked more positive at the start of the second half. In practically the first attack of the half Adriano created just enough space with his pace to play a phenomenal cross that was easy for Sanchez to nod in at the back post. Adriano deserves the credit on this one. As a side note I’m more than happy that I was wrong about Sanchez’s ability to score goals, but the kid has the killer instinct of a ninja combined with the hunger of a black bear coming out of hibernation. Scary.

And now some things are happening on the far side of the field but I can’t tell who is on the ball and whether they are doing something sweet or not, damn fog. At least we have the ball near their box and look dangerous. Ohhh look it’s the 60th minute and Messi is coming in. I should have made a wager on that, although I bet it would have had less than a 1% return on my investment. Ohh and look, he gets fouled the first time he touches the ball. So it goes.

With Messi on we looked like a completely different team. He gave the attack a focal point and began to dictate the game, something no one had been able to do earlier in the match. OHHH what a nice disguised pass from Messi that Pedro somehow manages to get stuck between his feet and the chance is lost. And Pedro has picked up a hamstring knock and is replaced by Busquets as Pep looks to see the match out with a 5-1 aggregate lead.

The final goal of the tie comes as Sergi finds a pocket of space in the Osasuna backline and is put through with a phenomenal ball by Messi. It’s worth noting here that Sergi set himself as the player highest up the field. Whether that was due to an instruction for Pep or whether he naturally noticed that there was space available, it was impressive positioning from the youngster. The goal brings his tally to 2 goals in 4 first team games. I have to wonder at this point if he has leapfrogged Dos Santos in the pecking order.

At this point the match is essentially over as a contest. Barcelona maintains almost total dominance for the last 20 minutes, and other than a sweet Messi chip disallowed for a (correct) offside decision, there isn’t much to report on. On to the players!

Duck, Duck, GOOSE!

Pinto: B-. Decent performance, but some of his distribution was questionable – notably putting Abidal in trouble right after he came on.

Montoya: A-. I haven’t mentioned him yet, but he put in a very solid shift today. He covers the flank well, overlaps well, and regularly puts himself in good positions. His passing is quite tidy, and he rarely gave away the ball. Add in some neat interceptions on top and it was a very encouraging, if understated performance from the young Spaniard.

Pique: A-. Put together a very solid match today. A great goal line save was the highlight, but he lead the line without too much trouble throughout. His long pass radar also seemed to be working tonight, something that hasn’t been true in a while. When the team was lacking drive he made some intelligent runs forward to try and galvanize the team. Good match.

Fontas: N/A.  Played well in the first 11 minutes. Unfortunately his first mistake was his last as he was stretchered off with an ACL injury.

Adriano: B+. Struggled a bit in the early going, but the more he took the license to get forward the better he looked. Put in a phenomenal cross for the first goal after he made the smallest window of space for himself.

Mascherano: C+. Struggled a bit as he moved back to his “natural” position (as the English commentators called it). He misplaced too many passes and spent a bit too much time on the ball. However his movement was intelligent as he dropped in to form a back three at times.

Sergi: B. Popped up to score the winning goal to atone for being easily muscled off the ball to gift Osasuna their goal. His passing is solid, but seemed a bit rushed at times. His movement could use a lot of work, and he needs to learn to offer himself for a pass instead of making a bee-line for the goal. Even though he was hot and cold, he should be encouraged by his performance.

Thiago: B. Some good, some bad. He was in the thick of all our best moments in the first half, but he also gave the ball away much too easily on several occasions. Unable to set the tempo of the match, but generally used the ball well.

Cuenca: B-. Looked good when the ball came his way and his deadly low crosses were there tonight, but no one could seem to get on the end of them. Anonymous for large periods.

Sanchez: B+. Looked isolated in the first half, but not for lack of effort. Put himself in the right place to score the opening goal and his movement was good throughout. Subbed for Messi in the 58th minute.

Pedro: D. A tough game for Pedro where he worked extremely hard and created very little. His pressing was poor today, and at times it looked more like chasing that coordinated pressing. Taken off with another minor hamstring injury. Must be wishing this season would end so he can get a fresh start.

Subs

Abidal: B-. Abidal didn’t look his usual calm and collected self out there today. Gave away the ball and almost a goal as soon as he came on, and never settled in. Cleared it out of bounds more than I’ve seen him do in some 5 game runs. Had a hand in Osasuna’s goal with a poor clearance. Looked solid most of the time, but like my old man says “Defenders can play a perfect game but make one mistake and it is considered a poor game.”

Messi: A-. Provided a focal point for the team when we desperately needed one, and got himself an assist for the winning goal. We looked a different side with him on the pitch.

Busquets: N/A. Came on to provide stability and other than making a meal of a challenge I can’t think what else he did.

*All grading is done on the curve.

And so in the end it was a victory, but a costly one. I’m reminded of the legend of the Greek king Pyrrhus, who looked out at the battlefield after a victory over the Romans and said “another such victory would uttely ruin us.”

I know what you are all feeling. I know because I’m feeling the same way.

Well, actually, I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like doing this:

Those Pericos. How I loathe them.

Just when the perfect opportunity to sit down and roll over nicely presents itself – really, we weren’t even planning on scoring that many goals against them—they have to go and play out of their skins against us in front of their fans.

The bastards.

So Barcelona struts onto the Cornella pitch with a 3-4-3 formation consisting of: Valdes – Puyol, Pique, Abidal – Xavi, Busi, Fabregas, Iniesta – Alves, Messi, and Alexis.

It was the same eleven that started, and won 1-3, in the Bernabeu in December. Iniesta and Alexis were able to shake off their injuries (well, in latter’s case, make a full recovery). There was no Cuenca, or Maxwell, as they didn’t make the bench.

The match started off at a frenetic pace, which suited Espanyol just as well.

Wait…Espanyol?

What?! There’s another team on the field?!

Barcelona with their superhuman tippy tappy from hell tends to make the other team seem like they’re training cones. Turns out they’re actually aren’t.

…Yeah, I’m pretty shocked too.

Hats off to Espanyol. They made things difficult. How difficult? I’ll get to that. But they definitely played out of their skins.

The concept of deserving things – goals, cards, wins, sweat soaked shirts– in football is one regarded with some disdain: you don’t ‘deserve’ things, you earn it. And I’m hard pressed to say that Espanyol didn’t earn their goal.

It was coming, it really was.

Composure, composure, wherefore art thou?

A 3-4-3 is a great formation when executed properly. You can create a boat load of chances, gain numerical superiority in advantageous places on the pitch, and score a lot of goals. However, there is one very important thing you need to make it all work:

Possession.

With possession, you can compose yourself, find a rhythm, dictate the tempo, prevent your 3 man backline from being exposed and just generally cause the other team problems while minimizing yours. It’s why we love it so much, we could marry it.

But if you don’t have it, 3-4-3 is a bit… risky, to say the least.

Barcelona did not have good possession, regardless of what the statistician says.

(They’re probably getting lazy and already have the possession stat before the game’s played, I bet. )

Espanyol came out with a game plan, which was: press the heck out of that team in black and turn this game into a scrimmage. Don’t worry about keeping decent possession or anything impossible like that, just make sure they can’t.  Stay narrow, flood the centre, and when you get the ball, don’t worry about scoring on the counter. Just make sure you have more players than them when countering and work from there.

Needless to say: it worked.

Sergio Garcia and Joan Verdu in particular did a great job in drifting in between our lines. Sure, they can’t finish to save a dying puppy, but it seems like Alvaro can.

It’s a cliché but midfields win matches.

The main objective of our midfield is quite simple: keep the ball. From there, they usually establish the team’s rhythm and dictate the match’s tempo.

As mentioned above, the first half was end to end stuff. That was partly down to Espanyol’s press, but our players also had a large effect.

They were far too direct today and played far too fast. And they let themselves get caught up in Espanyol dynamics and didn’t try to settle the match down.

It was weird seeing our team play like they were Speedy Gonzalez on speed. (Don’t doubt my similes, okay. They’re brilliant.)

I didn’t like it.

The Cesc Complexity

I'm really scoring dem headed goals!

I find Cesc Fabregas a very interesting player. He’s not particularly fast, his first touch isn’t the best on the team, but he has a wonderful GPS in his head that probably flashes green arrows every now and again that tells him ‘Hey, Cesc, move that way! You’ll find space there!’ and more often than not he’ll do some kind of damage using that space, whether it be scoring a goal or providing an assist.

Take the goal he scored today in the 15^th minute, after being denied minutes before when Messi was adjudged to have used his arm to control the ball (silly refs, don’t they know he’s Argentine?): Xavi shifts the ball to Alves on the right. As Dani prepares for the cross, Messi makes a barreling forward run towards goal, taking a multitude of defenders (read: two) with him. That leaves a small gap – really, I doubt we could even fit Bojan in there (if he were still here) — and Fabregas took advantage, directing a fabulous header into the bottom right corner from just inside the box.

Wonderful goal. He shadows Leo’s runs so, so well.

That being said, he brings a host of other issues both directly and indirectly.

His role in the team is still a weird one. It’s kind of like he’s in a free role, but not really. When he’s playing in an advanced position, he’ll have a positive effect. However, when he’s playing in said advanced position, shadowing Messi’s runs or creating confusion – “anarchy” as Pep calls it, as when the opposition defenders see him they think, “Wait, when you get here? Aren’t you supposed to be in the midfield?”—there’s no one to support Xavi, Iniesta and Busi in the midfield, particularly during counters.

In other words, sure, we have another player up front, but we’re a man short in the midfield of all places.

So not cool. And totally rains on Pep’s total midfield domination parade.

So whenever we lost the ball, our transition defense (ie. When we go from ‘let’s score a billion goals on these mofos’ to ‘ah crap, we lost the ball, all hands on deck!’) suffered. Badly. We didn’t have enough players to defend the Espanyol ones that were streaking forward.

Added to that was Alves playing too far up the pitch in his right wing role. When he’s playing that high, and Cesc is off to scale Mount Shadow Striker, he’s got to make sure he’s careful not to lose possession on his side. Why? Because he’s only got Puyol and Xavi, who probably drifts to the middle, behind to cover. As much as I love ‘em, they’re not exactly the Spanish Usain Bolts. And there’s only so much ground Busi’s Bambi legs can cover. (A lot, to be fair, but still).

Basically Alves shouldn’t lose the ball too often because he’ll be too far up the pitch to run back and cover and leave poor Puyol, Xavi and maybe Busi to cover.

Problem: Alves lost the ball too often, leaving poor Puyol, Xavi, and maybe Busi, to cover.

Yeah, this isn't working.

Second half: Pep tries to make adjustments

Team came out of the second half after getting their Pep talk (pun had to happen, sorry) and they kept possession much better.

And by much better, I mean slightly better than what it was before. Which wasn’t much.

That had to do with the fact Alves was pushed deeper; first to the midfield, then to right back around the 65^th minute. When that happened, we switched to a more conventional back 4 and Fabregas moved to the wing. It was necessary as our right flank was being overrun.

We needed to regain some lost composure. Then build a rhythm and get that second goal.

Ultimately, Barcelona couldn’t. Espanyol’s dynamism dictated the game and that was the Pericos’ greatest victory.

Two Schools of Thought: We’re all gonna die! Vs. Relax muchachos, still a long way to go

A good chunk of cules, maybe 90%, ascribe to the former. I’m that rare 10% that believes that giving up on the Liga with 17 games to go is…pretty silly.

Is it a challenge? For sure. But impossible? Not a chance.

Yeah, we’ll drop points, but they will too. A draw here, an Alcorconazo there, et voila! We’re back in it.

This might shock some people but…

We’re still not a finished product. Experimentation is still in effect. Seriously. Just like the first half of the season saw about a billion backlines (something like 9 different ones in La Liga alone) so that we could seamlessly go from a 3 man backline to a 4 man backline with no subs, I think our second half of the season will see us doing more experimenting with our frontline, especially given Villa’s unfortunate injury.

Honestly, I’ve always seen this season as the transition for next season when Alexis is fully integrated, we find out what the heck to do with Fabregas, and Thiago…okay, maybe not Thiago.

Penalties and Barca, like Di Maria and Staying Upright In the Box

The majority of the blame lies with us, but no one blaugrana would mind if referees didn’t stop applying the rules of the game to us. We can be crap and still be allowed to get penalties. Really. First Valencia, then Getafe, and now this game…

Is it because of Qatar Foundation? Or the Coke Zero? Because that’s not our fault. (Okay, maybe the first one, but that’s all RoSELL man. And the cules who voted for it).

And I don’t even like Coke Zero. Aspartame sucks.

Thoughts:

Pep: game-plan didn’t work. Should have set them up different, like you did in the Clasico with Alexis up front, Messi as 10. And personally, I’d have put in Thiago instead of Pedro. He can play LW and still maintain possession. But I know you wanted it. Look how sad you are in this video.

Team: Not the best of games. Too direct, passes more wayward than Liverpool’s sense of justice. They’re human after all. Your punishment: Being in the middle of never-ending rondos, courtesy of the Barca Babies. Then having Carmona and Armando on your team when playing against them. Don’t worry fellow cules, I have a heart; I need it to live after all. Conscience? I have no conscience.

Valdes: Didn’t really have much to do. Some erratic passes and weird positioning at times, but awesome save in the first half when you pushed Verdu’s shot off the post. That, and the save from Sergio Garcia too. Maybe could have done better on the goal, but that was an all around stinker.

Puyol: Lots of heart, full body blocks and some great covering for Alves. That said, Espanyol were prioritizing that right flank and so you were by yourself for a while. Alvaro also broke away from you on the goal. Sad face.

Pique: I liked your defending today. Great interceptions, won a lot in the air, some good tackles and that goal line clearance? Me gusta. Your passing? Could have done without it today to be honest. Missed their mark and tended to gift possession right back. Your form’s improving though. Good news.

Abidal: Mr. Reliable. Espanyol took one look at you and said, “screw attacking this flank.” Your flexibility and ability to play as centre back is one of the reasons why we can seamlessly go from a 3-man back line to a 4  man one. I loved that full body block in the first half on Sergio Garcia too.

Busi: I thought you had a great game. You’re just so smooth. I like your deft passes. You keep it simple, and it’s wonderful to watch. There was this lovely turn you did in the centre of the field in the second half that I could seriously watch all day. There were times where you were in fireman mode too and used those Bambi legs to cover great distances. Under-appreciated.

Xavi: A lot of people are blaming you for not controlling the midfield, but then those people probably don’t get that you’re not the one who’s solely responsible for Midfield Domination ™. When you did have the ball though, you did some good things, like that assist to an assist for our goal. You also misplaced passes on occasion, which is notable only for its oddity.

Iniesta: I missed you. Oh how I missed you. Silkiest player I’ve ever seen. Combinations with Alexis were very nice, and one of our best players in both halves today. A selfish part of me likes that you are sometimes overshadowed a bit, or lumped together with Xavi, because then you can become subject of a cult. A fanatic one.

Cesc:  see above. What I’m reminded of when I thought of this game is a Barca youth team coach who said that he felt that Fabregas was making us too ‘English’ and that worried him. Interesting shout and after watching this game, I’m inclined to agree a bit.

Alves: The cross for Cesc’s goal was immaculate. I see Cuenca’s emergence has been keeping you on your toes. Just stop dilly dallying with the ball. Please. I know you’re playing right wing, but if you’re not going to take on a player, which you should have given how narrow Espanyol was, then at least keep the ball moving. The hesitation really isn’t necessary. Disappointed with you today. You need to take ‘Keep It Simple And Moving’ lessons with Busi.

That said, incredibly saddened to hear the monkey chants directed at you. It was very clear on my TV. Shameful.

Messi: Generally, most people will be thinking, “we lost—uh, I mean, drew! Where was Leo!” Those same people tend to forget teams prioritize defending him. There will be games where it’s just too much. And when he’s being defended by so many players, everyone else has less players on them and are more open. His job isn’t just to score and be the hero all the time. Team game, etc.

That being said, it wasn’t a shining example of what he can do. Didn’t have much direct effect as we’re used to seeing, didn’t press as hard as he could have, and was just generally meh. By his standards.

Alexis: Chut de bol, chileno! Shoot! His game was a mixed bag for me. While he was very lively, he tended to be too differential to other players. That, and when he DID decide to shoot, it took about a million years. And he didn’t get it on target either. Bad Alexis. Also, take on players more.  You’ve got skills, bro. Use them! His workrate was as great as ever though.

Substitutes:

Pedro (for Alexis): brought on to assist in the scoring of, or actually score, the second goal. Composure on the ball isn’t his strong suit, his wayward shot at the death was a scuffed one, but he could have, and should have, gotten a penalty after Raul Rodriguez’s blatant handball. Ah well.

Keiteeee (for Cesc): Came on just before the goal was scored. Your sub was meant to restore some order in the midfield, and basically hang on to the 0-1 (which is always very risky) but with that equalizer the team was always going to be frantically searching for the winner. Now you’re off to the ACON (African Cup of Nations). You will be missed.

So.

Some food for thought:

– In the post match press conference, our mister was almost in tears. Seriously. He had look forward and up to stop them welling up in his eyes. This Liga matters. They won’t give up until it’s mathematically impossible and neither will I. There was a time where Madrid was 12pts back and still managed to win the title (ugh) and in the 08/09 we had a 12 pt lead in January cut down to 1.

5 points?

The league isn’t over until it’s mathematically impossible. We’ll fight to the end.

Our next match in the Liga is against Real Betis on Sunday (we play Osasuna away on Thursday).

Som-hi, Barca!

– Espanyol started a bunch of homegrown players, men from their academy, did that make a difference, however small it may be? Personally, yes, I think it did.

They hassled, they harangued, they moaned, they stomped – they did anything they could do salvage something in front of their fans. And for themselves. Because, well, they hate us. Sure, it’s been diluted a bit by Iniesta’s Jarque gesture, but the chance to put a wrench in our season is one they clap their hands gleefully at.

And… that’s something I don’t think Madrid have right now to be honest.

Am I the only one who noticed the...body...in the background?

—-

Images courtesy of: fcbarcelona.cat, Yahoo! Sports.

So we're incompatible? Huh. (Getty)

It appears that visiting the Camp Nou is the footballing equivalent to a death sentence. Since the 2-2 draw with AC Milan in the Champions League group stage on September 13, 2011, Barça has allowed exactly 0 goals at home. In La Liga, 8 matches have produced 39 goals for; in the Champions League, 2 matches meant 6 more goals; and in the Copa del Rey, L’Hospitalet fell 9-0 and now Osasuna has gone down 4-0 as well. In total, that’s 58 goals to none against. 60 goals with 2 against is the season-long total unless you count the Supercopa de España second leg match against Real Madrid that ended 3-2 in Barça’s favor.

Osasuna, whatever their complaints about the grass or Messi’s inclusion in the squad after the announcement of his illness, should recognize that the final score was a fairly just outcome for how they played. Opening salvos aside, it was a one-dimensional match: Barça attacking. That anyone could possibly complain about being played off the pitch is simply a testament to how much it sucks to get blown out, no matter who the opponent is.

As a casual amateur player, I get upset when I lose a tight match, much less when my team is repeatedly subjected to the other team’s goal celebrations. And the largest number of fans we have are the teams waiting to play after us. We’re competitive, even if we’re not, you know, competitive. Being competitive is the lifeblood of any athlete and it is only increasingly so as the stakes get higher, so it’s understandable that Osasuna is pissed about having had 12 goals put on them in 2 matches.

Speaking of competitive, Guardiola rolled out a very serious lineup, starting Pinto, Puyol, Mascherano, Pique, Busquets, Thiago, Xavi, Cesc, Pedro, Cuenca, Alves, a 3-4-3 on paper and mostly so in practice. You have to start at least 7 first teamers, so next week’s match, while pretty much a formality, will not be replete with B teamers called up for the occasion. It’ll be something like what appeared against L’Hospi, one can assume.

The match, then

Early pressing by Osasuna created a couple of delicate moments, including a risky pass by Pinto out of the back to Pique. When Osasuna got the ball, however, Barça was quick to press and Osasuna gave the ball up fairly cheaply. By the 6th minute, Barça’s rhythm had been established and the day’s theme began to emerge: Osasuna’s midfield would press forward while the defense became discombobulated and lost the plot. The back line would just hang around with FCB’s forwards and leave the middle channels completely open for quick bursts through the middle.

Barcelona’s shape was, as always, dependent on the moment. Cuenca and Pedro switched positions from time-to-time, causing slight panic in the defense that Cesc took full advantage of throughout. He was everywhere and I suppose it’s worth a paragraph about him:

Cesc Fabregas is a wonderful player. We all know that. We’ve all known that for a long time. I wasn’t in favor of his purchase for a couple of reasons that aren’t really worth going into at the moment, but suffice to say that they didn’t have much to do with his on-field abilities. Since his arrival, I haven’t been particularly impressed with a couple of aspects of his game. Compare him to Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, and even Thiago and you can say that he has subpar on-the-ball qualities. He’s not as fast or physical as everyone in England claimed he’d be (though that is a lame argument on my part since I didn’t buy it back then either) and his passing sometimes leaves something to be desired, but he is—and this is very important—absolutely ridiculously awesome at spacing. He’s got that innate knowledge of where to be and how to position himself to create space around him. It’s a lovely thing to watch and yesterday’s match was that plus a work rate that was virtually unmatched. He was everywhere and doing everything. He put in his best all-around performance in a blaugrana shirt. What’s tough for him, of course, is that his performance was nearly overshadowed by that of Xavi. Or possibly even Messi, who played for just 30 minutes.

But no, my Man of the Match is Cesc Fabregas. He was spectacular. He could have had 4 goals and as many assists, but ended with “just” a brace and a single assist.

And yet.

It’s a team game and this team, this Futbol Club Barcelona is simply on another planet right now. They’re space aliens come to earth to mess with our brains. As long as their mothership doesn’t come to take them away, I gladly welcome our new overlords. Because, damn, they’re somethin’ and that somethin’ is such a pleasure to watch.

The team is playing at such a high level that it’s almost incomprehensible how they lost to Getafe just a few weeks ago or even conceded a single shot on goal to that one team in white, much less a goal. Osasuna ran into a buzzsaw and if Madrid gets past Malaga to reach the quarters with Barça, it’s going to be a crazy couple of games, but 2 which the team should win. Al Sadd and Santos can tell them what it’s going to be like. L’Hospi is still searching for a ball to play with since we still have them all in our house. Osasuna thought they were doing okay, but then half jogged for a moment and bam. 4-0.

The Bad

A couple of odd moments at the back, Pedro’s anonymity throughout, and the lack of a pressure during a small period where Osasuna played their way into the game and probably should have gotten on the scoreboard to teach us a lesson about going to sleep. That’s about the only bad, I guess, except for pretty much all of Osasuna’s performance.

The Good

Cesc, Xavi, Messi’s sick performance, and the overall defensive display. Also good was Ivorian-Guinean-Belgian striker Roland Lamah, a second half substitution who showed determination and a couple of good moves. Pretty much the only bright spot in an otherwise bad performance by the team. I enjoyed the team’s overall work rate and especially the willingness to track back when things slipped through the first layer of defense. Sánchez stood out in that, for instance. Puyol was an inspiration. What a guy.

Messi was incredible in his few minutes. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how good he really is, then he comes on and bam, it’s a different game. He is so complete now: his passing, vision, and ability with the ball are simply unfathomable skills. Twice he combined with other players to go on a sick run. The first, with Alves, deserved a goal. The second, with Xavi, was more intricate and probably better, but ended with a little shirt tug that could have been called a penalty but would probably have been too harsh. Whatever. Incredible. I’m a Xavi guy, really, a fan of playmakers, of midfielders in general, and yet I’m enthralled by this Lionel Messi. How can you not be? He’s astounding.

Next up is the Catalan derbi. So yeah, let’s keep this level of play up and put pressure on Madrid going into their intense match against Malaga that could go either way (though will probably go in RM’s favor). Do you believe in this team? You should. If you don’t, go watch them again and drink in the lovely draughts of The Best Team Ever. You won’t get another chance for 30 years, so go for it, go all in. It’s fun.

This was the face. Messi has, of late, undergone a degree of scrutiny that might make many believe he just stands around, waiting for the ball before he springs into action. But if you want to see how much this club wanted this title, just look at this image.

Better yet, watch this glorious, glorious match by the best club in football and one of the best in the history of the game, a beautiful thing that never fails to bring pleasure, even when it fails to fully execute its mission.

Notions of beauty fascinate me. Men and women, cars, objets d’art can all be justly labeled “beautiful,” by many a person who, subjectively, deems them thus. Disputes? To be sure. Recall when MOMA featured a blockbuster exhibition that featured motorcycles. “That ain’t art,” some crowed, “and it ain’t beauty.” But subjective definitions quake in the face of logic, since subjectivity is, by its very definition, unassailable. “I say it’s beautiful, so it is. The end.”

They won’t be putting our glorious club in any museum for people to gaze upon, though they should. There should be videos, and things so that people remember what this is like, rather than some elderly Catalan dude in the stands, waving around a cigar in open defiance of the Camp Nou’s non-smoking edict, talking about the Best Club He Ever Saw.

I’ll start you right off by saying that my Man of the Match is Pep Guardiola, for what he did for this side, on this weekend that is, so far, the culmination of a season that saw so many doubting him. “He messes around too much,” said some. “The players aren’t motivated,” said others. He just said, “We’ll be fine,” and has proceeded to craft an amorphous, glittering objet d’art that leaves its viewers in open-mouthed astonishment, time after time after time. Further, he made them understand how precious this weekend was. Yes, we were better than the clubs at the tournament, better even if an all-star side were to have been ginned up of the best players from every club in the tournament. That’s just a consequence of big-time football.

But the incredible focus that this club had made this destruction of a Santos side that did the best it could without the ball, a true thing of beauty.

Recall when I was wishing that the A team would play the System the way the Babies played it against BATE. Voila. Who thought, at times, that we had more than 11 on the pitch, as the pressure and movement were incessant. Santos pushed and pressured but after a while, as the players re-dedicated themselves to the system that brought them to the current lofty heights, it was all over but the shouting. “Run, you bastards, run,” Guardiola urged the club when he first took over. And you saw it today, when the Santos players were sweating and tired, and we looked like we’d just come out of the locker room to begin the half. You saw it today in the way that our players never were found without a place to move the ball to, no matter how tight the confines.

Guardiola had those players as ready as could be for two matches that were really academic. Santos had only slightly more chance than Al Sadd, despite them having the current holder of the Phenomenon crown in Neymar, who at this point should consider himself lucky to be mentioned in the same sentence as Thiago, never mind Messi. Most importantly, he somehow got them to believe again, in the System. Did they learn from the Babies? Maybe. Was Santos complicit in its own demise? Hard to say, as they never really got the ball all that much.

But this much is without question: It was a dazzling display, a display for the ages capped off with four goals of indescribable beauty.

Guardiola rolled out with the “in it to win it” lineup of Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Pique, Abidal, Busquets, Xaviniesta, Thiago, Fabregas, Messi. If anyone was wondering about the respect that our club had for this tourney and its opponent, look no further than the lineup card. And that lineup set about the task of destroying Santos with a single-minded zeal not seen since last season’s manita. This, for me, irrespective of the opponent, is the best match this club has played this season. Period, full stop. Because it displayed the System to its fullest effect. Was it the rest for Xavi? Dunno. Or maybe, the fact that Messi played his most complete match this season? Possibly.

I prefer to think that it was everything coming together all at once, from a gazelle-like Abidal to our Captain, Carles Puyol, who, as he did with Thong Boy, said to a much-lauded opponent, “You fit in my back pocket rather nicely, thanks. Now git!” It was everything. Dani Alves was his old, bombastic self on the right, and Thiago created danger and good things every time the ball was played to him on the left side of the pitch. Busquets destroyed and created, wrecking attack after Santos attack, and creating ours with delightful balls to Xaviniesta. Santos brought in Elano, hoping that would be the difference, but the same thing happened: We kept the ball, and they chased it. Those two things have but one logical, inevitable outcome.

On the oveall scale of silver, the World Club Cup isn’t all that important. I’ve always viewed it as a sop for the Champions League winner, who gets an easy chance to pad the trophy case. But what made this match interesting, was the hype. Messi against Neymar, a comparison that, for those luxuriating in the delightful clarity of hindsight, is rather like comparing a lump of dough to a perfectly made baguette. You don’t know what the former is going to be yet, because it’s still raw, while the baguette is perfection, a ray of gustatory sunshine suited to melt even the hardest of hearts.

Put another way, Neymar wasn’t allowed to have the ball. And we knew this going in, as Fabregas said during the pre-match chatter, “If dude ain’t got the ball, how good is he going to be, yo.” Or something like that. But in Catalan, so it sounded all pretty and stuff. This was the strategy, one borne out by the lineup of our quickest, best ball handlers. There wasn’t a real forward to speak of, as Guardiola chose to wreak havoc with a cadre of attackers who are supremely comfortable with the ball at their feet. Possession was key against a Santos club that was so dangerous in the counterattack. So we kept it, and kept it, and kept it, and kept it, until suddenly a slick 1-2 between Messi and Xavi broke the match open.

The ball from Messi wasn’t the best, not that it mattered a whit to Xavi as Messi continued to steam right on past him, because this has happened a million times in practice. Messi knows that the ball doesn’t need to be perfect for Xavi. It needs to be sorta there. So Xavi lifted a heel to control the ball, bringing it down to his feet in perfect time to slot a through ball for Messi, who just kept on running. Xavi brought it down, controlled and one-touched it almost in the same motion, to a perfect spot. Messi deftly lifted it over the keeper, and it was 0-1.

A one-goal lead is complex, because it is an error away from starting all over, particularly against a club such as Santos. So not long after, it was time for No. 2, another amazing bit of alchemy, again with Xavi at its core. Alves smacked in a pass to Xavi, a ball that had to be struck with some venom to get it past the ball-hawking, aggressive Santos defenders. Again, showing the remarkable control that makes him unfortunate to be the best player on the planet, playing with a player who scores bags of spectacular goals, Xavi controlled and again, with precious little time wasted on fully controlling the pass, half-volleyed it past the Santos keeper.

The Inevitable Xavi

At 2-0, you really couldn’t say that Santos played all that badly. It was simply that they weren’t allowed to play. The rare time they got loose and (inevitably) fed Neymar, Puyol would roll over and say “Hey. Kid! Sign says no ball playing. Give me that.” Or Valdes worked some magic, including a shot that Neymar probably scores on in a few years, even if he does become Robinho II. 2-0 is also a mistake away from being fraught, so we pressed for a third and again, Alves was involved.

Brazilian Unbound laid in a perfect ball right at the feet of Messi, that was parried away. So Alves ran that ball down and laced in another bit of perfection for the noggin of Thiago, whose header was again stopped as the rebound flew directly to Fabregas, who slotted home from the doorstep. This goal also came at the worst time, right before halftime. A 0-3 against the best club in the world is bad enough. That scoreline with only a half of footy left to be played, is insurmountable, even if players have to think “Sure, we can get this done.” But at 0-3, when your best player has this to contend with ….

It was Alves Time again for the fourth goal, as Busquets won a long clearance from the Santos keeper, heading it directly to Alves, who headed it forward so that he could run onto it to feed Messi, who did something that makes me wonder about The Way Things Are.

He took the ball from Alves and ran at the keeper, who decided that sliding was the best option, because that works to stop mortals. Messi, in full stride, chipped the ball into the pitch so that it hopped up as he rounded the keeper and slotted home. For me, the question is Did Messi mean it? If yes, it’s a remarkable play by a remarkable player. If it was just a happy accident, still …. what a golazo!

All four goals were, in effect, unstoppable because they involved two things:

–Great players doing remarkable things, all at once
–Belief in, and knowledge of a system that enables the first thing

So if Messi has any doubt that Xavi can control the ball and slot it through for him, maybe he doesn’t make that run with the vigor sufficient to beat the defense. If Alves doesn’t know that Xavi is going to take his pass and make magic, the possession game dictates that he probably wouldn’t have made it. It truly is a remarkable time in this great club’s history. It might not win another piece of silver this season, and I have to say that to such things, I don’t care. For seekers of footballing beauty, this club has shown me, all of us, what the game can be like at the highest levels. And that, for me, just like when you visit a great museum and carry the memory of the pure emotion raised by seeing great art with you forever, is enough.

Team: 10. Even as it let off a couple of times in the second half, the support network was there as everyone held everyone else up. They played this match with the fire and focus of a Clasic. Santos should be honored to have gotten our best match.

Guardiola: 10. Right lineup, right psychology, right substitutes. Did everything right and at the end of it is another piece of silver that further underscores the magic he hath wrought. One part of me believes that he will stay at Barca, because he knows that no other club in the world can offer him what this one does in its supernatural players. I hope that is the case.

Valdes: 10. You’re sitting at your desk minding your own business, and suddenly a bunch of people run toward you and one of them kicks a ball at you, really hard. That’s the life of Victor Valdes. Santos had 3 or 4 very good scoring opportunities, including some 1-v-1s. Valdes stopped them all. Calmly and with style.

Alves: 9. If a team is going to allow Alves the space that Santos did today, he is going to kill you. But is also raises the quandary of what to do when there’s Messi, Fabregas, Xavi and Iniesta running at you. Still not a fan of his fouling to fix getting caught out of position, but whatever works, right?

Puyol: 10. Damn. Poor Neymar. Another lauded, preening, stepover whiz with pace, outrun and outplayed by Captain Caveman. He brought the ball up, he played midfield, he did it all, but most importantly during those rare times they (and Neymar) got the ball, Puyol hung out the “Closed” sign.

Pique: 6. Distressingly ordinary on a day when the rest of the squad was playing to such a high level. From wayward long passes to potential extreme danger when he lost a ball to Neymar on our doorstep, Beanpole has had better matches.

Abidal: 9. Let Ganso get the better of him a couple of times, but brilliant match. His closing speed is staggering, and his committment is full. What more can you ask, except why haven’t we renewed him yet?

Busquets: 10. Remarkable match. Supporters of this player should record this match as an example of what he is capable of, and then some. He combined a physical presence, with Keita’s in-the-wayness and he quelled his tendency to dwell on the ball too much. Keeping it moving is the answer.

Xavi: 10. I run out of words to describe the excellence of this player. He should have won Ballon d’Or last year. He won’t this year, either. Not that I think it matters an iota. Simply the best in the world at his position.

Iniesta: 10. So, here’s the thing: You have Messi and you have Xavi, and you have to deal with them. Then you have Iniesta, who seems to be able to dematerialize, then re-materialize behind you with the ball. Sucks to be you, right? Ask Coentrao.

Thiago: 8. He holds the ball too long, and is a little too casual with the flicks and tricks. Having said that, have we found our new left winger when Sanchez needs rest/healing? Every time the ball went out there, something good happened.

Fabregas: 7. In and out of the match, like a transistor radio. Unlike Sanchez, who has decided “Screw it, I’m playing my game,” Fabregas has a more complex world to deal with, peopled by the two best players in the world at his position. So now what? He will learn.

Messi: 9. His most complete match of the season as well as his most selfless, as he worked within the system with fire and flair. I still the Neymar stuff fired him up, which isn’t a bad thing.

Substitutions

Mascherano (for Pique): 7. Was certainly playing his way to a higher rating. He reminds me so much of Puyol when he plays. Same for Neymar, unfortunately, who set off on a break up the right side, and Mascherano said “Different hair, same result. Gimme that!”

Pedro (for Thiago): incomplete. Worked hard, got some good touches, continues to show flashes that he is back.

Fontas (for Puyol): incomplete. Too little time to do anything except marvel at Mascherano, which he did very well.

A few more things:

–Next up is L’Hospitalet, for the home leg of the Plat del Reig. For those who don’t know, my view is “Dump the Plat.” We won’t, and I don’t expect us to have much trouble at home against this side. but again, you never know.

–Please don’t think that I am in any way dissing the talent of Neymar. But this was, really, his first showing against a top club side as a club player. He has done well for Brazil, but Santos (and hopefully, Neymar) learned a valuable lesson today. Yes, Barca is as good as advertised.

–That this man scores headers is a continual source of wonder.

"No, YOUR hair sucks more!"

Whee

Don’t forget to check out the Champions League draw post I put up a few minutes ago.

If you’d told me that there would ever be a match where Adriano, Keita, and Maxwell combined to score 4 goals while no one else ended up on the scoresheet, I’d probably have told you that you might want to lay off the wacky tabacky because it’s messing with your internal sense-making devices. Turns out I’ve just been neglecting my own creative concepts producer by not feeding it with whatever psychotropic fun you’ve been able to get your grubby mitts on. I’ve stuck with chocolate and the occasional Dr. Pepper when things get desperate.

And, as such, I was somewhat caffeinated (by my admittedly low standards) throughout viewing Barça’s demolition of Al-Sadd and not entirely focused on the match. But neither was Al-Sadd, so it’s not like I was missing a particularly interesting match. Was that the sound of Euler punching his monitor? It certainly sounded like someone attempting to reach through the tubes and strangle me for making such an anti-Pepian statement.

The lineup that was put out there wasn’t really that close to full strength, but showed that Pep was taking the match very seriously. Valdes, Adriano, Puyol, Mascherano, Abidal, Keita, Iniesta, Thiago, Villa, Messi, Pedro were rolled out and it quickly looked like another match where the opposition was simply not up for it. Al-Sadd played virtually a 5-4-1 and put little pressure on Barça’s midfield while also forgetting try and hit the team on the break. Mamadou Niang was all by his lonesome up front, backed by exactly no one until the second half, when the game was already over thanks to two Adriano goals.

That Adriano was able to have such an offensive impact is a credit to the consistency with which Keita defended and allowed the wing backs to make forward runs without worrying about a counter attack. Puyol and Mascherano were able to play a 2 man back line, with Keita dropping in sometimes to play backup, which is just silly. When the experienced Algerian international defender Nader Belhadj mishandled an imminently clearable cross from Pedro and pushed the ball sloppily to his keeper’s feet with Adriano bearing down on him, the Brazilian was gifted the simplest of goals.

After that, the match settled immediately back into its previous rhythm, with Barça looking to slip silky passes through and taking the occasional shot. A ball over the top sent David Villa on a run and then his plant leg seemed to catch on the ground and pop went his tibia. He immediately signaled to the bench and there went his calendar year, certainly, and possibly the rest of his season. He’d been struggling with a long-term tibia injury according to Pep, which kept him out of a few matches earlier in the year (namely the L’Hospitalet CDR match), but he was doing fine and even play pretty well.

Losing David Villa is a massive blow given his talent, creativity, and work rate. Pedro, who hasn’t been having the best of years, will have to step up and fill the void on that left hand side. Fortunately he looks like he’s coming back into form. With both Afellay and Villa out, it’s simply fantastic that Cuenca is available and playing at a high level. What a system we have that we can simply replace one world class player with another and then bring up a young kid looking like he’s destined for similar status. Absolutely amazing.

The match continued with Sanchez replacing Villa. And in the 42nd minute, Adriano got his second by playing a quick interchange with Thiago and letting Sanchez make a darting run to hold the central defender just a split second while Messi confuses him by occupying the space available for another pass. That’s all Thiago needed to return the ball to Adriano in stride, who merely had to settle and place the ball around the keeper. Admittedly the keeper should have palmed it out, but he didn’t. That the right back was able to have such time and space in the attacking third was a credit to the movement all around him, especially in the center where Messi, Iniesta, and Sanchez were causing all sorts of organizational problems. At the end of the move, the defenders had no idea where anyone was, much less how they should get a foot on the ball.

In the second half, there was a different tactical approach from Al-Sadd and Eric Wynalda rightly (!) point out that they should have played with more than 0 midfielders from the beginning. They retained the ball longer, pushed Barça back a little, and even created a few dangerous looking forward runs. And then Al-Sadd’s fear of Messi caused them to bunch formation around him and he simply passed through them in the 63rd minute to Keita, of all people, who, from the DM spot, was stepping up into the void created by other runs. That left him one-on-one with the keeper and he dinked it in for 0-3. Keita celebrated by running to Leo and lifting him up. It was a brilliant pass through the defense, but it was made all the easier by Messi’s darting little runs with the ball that terrified everyone into looking at him and ignoring everyone else. The defender ostensibly marking Keita was watching Messi 10 yards away even though Messi had 3 defenders around him. That little look, to see which way Messi would go, meant Keita won his shoulder and it was over from there. The ball just had to be put onto Keita’s feet.

The scoring was rounded off in the 80th minute by Maxwell, who restarted a play with a quick ball to Thiago and then raced into the box for the return pass. No one was able to mark him since the right back was pushed up to mark both Maxwell and Iniesta on Barça’s left wing. Messi again had 2 markers and Keita kept a third occupied. So Maxwell just ran into the box, collected Thiago’s pass, and shot it beyond the keeper, who let him score on the near post. We’ve yelled at Valdes for similar against Milan, so I suppose it’s only fair to say that the third goal should have been saved as well. That’s 3 of the 4 goals that you can at least partially blame on the keeper. Not a good night for him.

Overall, it was a lovely match from the squad. Negatives are Villa’s injury and now Alexis and Pedro are both fitness doubts is a doubt for the final. That could have a huge impact on what happens. Cuenca will start, I’m sure of it and so will Iniesta, Cesc, Xavi, and Busquets in the middle. It should be a lovely game and one full of piss and vinegar. Or something.

So now it’s on to face Neymar in the FIFA Club Neymar Cup. Can’t wait to see the Neymar on Sunday!

Bright lights, brighter stars. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images AsiaPac)

Fontas: forever walking Chewbacca

We’re posting thick and fast now, so here are links to the last 3 things that we put up prior to this: Kari’s Clasico Podcast, Tito’s Return, and Soccermom’s Part 1 of the greatest book ever conceived. Read those!

Yesterday afternoon I watched the Basel-Manchester United Champions League match that ended with [Spoiler Alert!] Alex Ferguson’s team dropping to the Europa League for the first time in I don’t know how long. Some long amount of time. Part of what was so interesting about the match was how Basel played right through much of United’s midfield. Shaqiri was impressive, if also selfish at times, and he did a good job of simply taking the space given him and using it well. The same can be said of, say, Rafinha, in the match against BATE.

Kevin tweeted this before, but it’s worth reiterating: the players may be young, but the system is purring like a cat in the sun. That’s not necessarily a statement about the overall quality of the players, though they are certainly extremely talented, but it is a statement about the overall quality of the system put in place over the last two decades by a team always looking forward. Guardiola played it perfectly and the team responded in kind, perhaps against a weak opponent, but one that drew 1-1 with Milan.

Marti Riverola made his competitive debut, Rafinha and Thiago played together for the first time, and Sergi Roberto and Martin Montoya scored their debut first team goals. Pedro finished the match with 50 goals to his name in 140 appearances. Guardiola got his 150th win in 208 attempts (!).

Everyone line up and celebrate!

Beyond that, it was probably Pinto’s last European game between the sticks and I think Maxwell becomes the first outfield player to ever be older than the combined ages of everyone else other than his goalie. But I suppose when everyone else is in the single digits, that’s not so crazy. Bartra is 4 and Cuenca is 5, after all. All around, a solid day.

There were some fluffed lines that could have resulted in goals for BATE, but they were never really up for it and from the get-go it was always going Barça’s way. The stats are the usual stats: 75% possession, 9 shots on goal to 0, 6 fouls to 16. You’d imagine that Xaviniesta were controlling the midfield and not Thiafinantos. Yeah, that one didn’t really work out, did it? Jonafinhiago? Dammit. Dos Alcantara just seems like cheating. Jonathiago works well enough, I guess, but leaves out Rafinha. Ah well.

My major thought about this match is that it calms the nerves of various cules prior to The Big Game. The matches against Rayo and Levante were also therapeutic and should really help the squad go into the match on Saturday with a big grin and some backhands to the jowls to give away like candy on Halloween. It won’t be easy, but these matches, ones where the team gets its swagger back, even if vicariously, are massive. Real Madrid will know they were lucky to get away with an easy win in Amsterdam–2 goals ruled out by a Portuguese ref, let the nonsensical conspiracy theories abound!–even if it was a relatively weakened side. Fábio Coentrão and Pedro both played 90 minutes, which suggests they won’t get starts on Saturday, but anything can happen. Benzema and Higuain also played large parts in the RM match, so the advantage of resting up goes to Barça by a smidge. The advantage of being at the top of the league and this not being a must win goes to RM.

The future is bright, folks, though we’ll need to find a new defender. That’s not based on any lack of quality in either Bartra or Fontas, it’s just that, well, what’s with the lack of hair, boys? With those purty little haircuts that make you seem like nice young men, how can you ever compete with this:

And now I’m hyped. Get ready. It’s here.

"Hehehehehehe!"

Though I confess to being entertained by Ray Ray, I don’t often agree with his stone table pronouncements about The Way Things Are. But today, as the match began, his observations about our side and its shape were spot on. He eschewed any real designations for the formation(s) that we play, instead calling it “amoeba.” How right he is, hell, even as amoebas move by changing the shape of their bodies, ask yourself how Messi, Cuenca and Iniesta got out of some of the spots they were in today.

Yes, we start out in a formation, but what can you really call it when Fabregas is playing defender, breaking up an attack in our box before threading a pass that starts an attack the other way, then dashing down to join in on the attack. A label-defying shapelessness. “Total football?” Dunno. I do know it’s beautiful, and when it’s played the way that it was today, it warms the cockles of my cold little heart.

After the Getafe mess, Guardiola said this club will be fine, and he was right. There is too much talent for the club not to be fine. The simple complexity is that sometimes, that talent isn’t used to its full effectiveness, for whatever reason. And it’s soul-illuminating outings such as today’s destruction of the 4th-placed side in the Liga, that make those clunky outings so frustrating. There is so much beauty present in this team, this once in a lifetime bunch, that we get used to the sparkle, the footsteps that seem to strike ocular glitter from the pitch as our diminutive sprites work their magic. They make it look so easy, so fluent. It is just when we question the matches where they go through the motions. Is it the burden of expectations? Not for me.

No, for me, it is that such loveliness deserves its reward. Those brilliant “total football” sides didn’t have the success their mellifluous elegance deserved, the success that makes people say “See, the game can be beautiful and effective.” As they say of us. This club needs to pile up as much silver as it can, like a singer in her prime who nabs sales and artistic awards galore, stockpiling accolades to build a fortress of comfort for the time when the voice isn’t as pretty, its range shortened and suddenly rough around the edges.

And what a time for our beauties to return to us. Levante rolled into town a mere week before El Clasic, probably thinking they would find us distracted and nervous, anticipating the titanic struggle that is to come, rather than taking them seriously enough to be at our absolute best. They were right and wrong, right in that El Clasic was definitely on the brain, wrong in that the state in which they would find us. They also had the great misfortune of being the tuneup opponent, the one that helps the club figure out the form the week before a big match. Levante was therapy, in other words.

Guardiola rolled out with a lineup that I have mentioned being desirous of for the Clasic, Valdes, Mascherano, Puyol, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Sanchez, Cuenca, Messi. But frankly, I was surprised to see it, even as its vindication was evident. Width, pace and movement were the hallmarks of a side that looked like marbles in a giant glass bowl. It wasn’t that Levante played poorly. Far from it. They were organized defensively, and aggressive at both ends of the pitch, determined to play like men, rather than just keeping 10 behind the ball. They came at us with midfield pressure and tight lines. But they had to hit the reset button after about 3 minutes, as Messi, Iniesta and Fabregas combined for the first of a series of exquisite goals. On paper and the pitch, it looked so simple: Messi passed to Iniesta who passed to Fabregas who slotted home.

In reality, it was one player, measuring the defense right down to the way it closed spaces and the pace at which it would do so, then striking his pass with the precise amount of weight to get it through that defense, but not so hard that the receiver can’t control and redirect it. It was a pass that was exactly right. Then the receiver has to, rather than controlling the ball and giving the defense the opportunity to close down, almost parry the ball with his heel, into space for the teammate that he already knows will be exactly where he already is, because Iniesta created the space with his run toward the box. So his backheel was flicked to Fabregas, who hit a shot that was hard enough to sizzle, but not so hard as not to be precisely controllable, placed in the sliver of space between the post and a diving keeper.

But on screen, it was “Pip, pang, goal.” And there was much rejoicing.

Ray Ray said that “Knowing where it’s going to be, you’ve won three-fourths of the battle.” Which is exactly right. Our players aren’t telepaths, even though they are footballing savants. But they know, because the system has taught them, the same system that nurtured every last one of them, the same system that fast learners such as Abidal have now become part of.

The biggest difference today was movement, movement of the kind that always leaves every player with a passing option, that helps the defense by shutting down the midfield by filling it with kicking, clawing little people who want the ball back, so they can resume making like the inside of a supercollider. Movement makes goals. But movement, the kind of movement we saw today, is admittedly impossible to pull off every match. But it’s the kind of movement that makes us the best club in the world, a club that today, would have beaten any club that it faced. It just happened to be Levante, who could only shrug and glare in wonderment and the opponent does the impossible.

The second goal was atypical for us, scored off a header from a set piece. And again, simple on its surface, as Xavi plonked a ball onto the poorly coiffed head of Fabregas, who headed the ball to the one spot the keeper couldn’t get to, something that Sanchez didn’t take notes on when he had his header opportunity, it must be noted. But again, it was a goal of such exquisite precision as to boggle the mind. Drogba today, against Newcastle, hit a rocket of a header that if the keeper had gotten a hand to it, would have knocked him back into the net with the ball. The Fabregas header was a deft, glancing blow that was flawlessly placed. With his head.

At this point in time, Levante were done. No way were they going to score two goals, because the movement and aggression were back, qualities that limit the comfort, the chances that a team has to score against us. They had two excellent ones. Valdes stopped them both. Done. Their keeper was excellent today, which didn’t matter, because none of our goals made all that much sense in a real world in which such things aren’t really possible. I think of a recent episode of the wonderful “Top Gear,” in which Jeremy Clarkson was driving a replical of a Lotus Formula One car. He explained that the car was difficult to drive because it was faster than his mind would comfortably fathom. So he would brake three times sooner than the car needed to make a corner.

So it was with our third goal, a work of art that saw Cuenca as the beneficiary of the largesse of Messi and Iniesta. Again, Messi smote a pass for Iniesta, who simply moved it along to Cuenca, who calmly bent the ball around a diving keeper, who probably figured he had it, that that …. that …. kid wouldn’t have the presence of mind to hit that kind of a shot, the perfectly bent ball that made diving, a keeper’s anticipation and knowledge, as useful as a umbrella in a rock slide.

Were we scoring goals for fun? No, we were scoring them for practice, reacquainting ourselves with being at absolute best. The goals were rooted in movement and excellence, not formations, Xs and Os. It was Alves scrambling, fighting, hustling to win a ball back and put it in the perfect spot for Messi to slot home. How do you defend the indefensible? Two weeks ago, Alves probably loses that battle. Not today. Not a week before El Clasic. Not when he and the club have to be at their absolute best.

In addition to movement, width was back. Real width, not the fake stuff that comes from players taking the ball out wide and cutting in to make an already congested middle of the pitch more so. Cuenca hugged the right sideline, and Sanchez set up station at extreme left. As both players were dangerous, when Xavi wisely sprayed balls out to them, Levante’s defense absolutely had to shift. A club would be crazy not to play the ball, right? It becomes a daft decision time of whether you just leave Cuenca on his own, staying home on the likes of Messi and Fabregas, or whether you play the ball. Whatever you do, the answer is almost certainly going to be wrong.

Yes, this means you’re a little loose, because Messi and Iniesta are the dangers. So when Sanchez takes a ball on the left, he has a little more space than he probably should have. He takes a little shimmy to create a bit more, then bends/lobs an amazing shot that caroms off the underside of the crossbar before nestling into its rightful place, in back of the net. It was goal that made me scream with delight, because it started in the very very back of the pitch, in the corner from which Abidal banged a foot-perfect pass to Xavi after some deft interplay with Cuenca. Then it’s Xavi to Messi to Sanchez to yield another offering at the altar of beauty.

And the side could turn it down a notch or three, coasting home with the confidence that it is ready for the test that is to come, against an opponent that is better, more prepared than it has ever been, an opponent that cost Levante its dignity, as we took them seriously because of the task at hand: preparing for a titanic struggle against a powerful foe. Yes, it was as simple as that, but it was also indescribably beautiful.

Team: 9. Allowed Levante some time with the ball as Kone’s pace and strength were surprising. But apart from that, what a match, on every level.

Guardiola: 10. Right lineup, right strategy, right substitutions. He has his side at its best at the exact time that it has to be.

Valdes: 8. Extraordinary stop 1-v-1 against Kone. Yes, the attacker panicked a bit, but Valdes made himself huge and showed excellent reflexes. He has to stop spraying balls from the back, however. Could be dangerous against the wrong opponent.

Mascherano: 10. Ray Ray was justifiably having gush fits about his performance, including the one remarkable sequence where he stopped two different Levante players, then played the ball brilliantly out of the back. He’s our best defender right now.

Puyol: 8. Very strong match. He has a spiritual presence that is hard to define, but it’s there. The defense is tighter, better-marshaled when he’s in the side. He and Mascherano worked very well together.

Abidal: 8. A few fraught moments, including a lapse on the header that Valdes had to save but overall, an excellent match as he outran everyone and everything. All the time.

Busquets: 8. He played to a higher score, with omnipresence in the defensive midfield. He kept the ball moving, stole it from Levante attackers and almost always made the right pass. But his “I’m dead! I’m dead!” routine almost cost the club, as an attack streamed right through the space he would have been occupying, had he not gone fetal. Stop it. Just stop it.

Xavi: 9. There were actually a couple of (shudder) errant passes, but he was thriving in the space created by the presence of Iniesta and Fabregas. He understands the value of width, as he constantly played wide balls to Sanchez and Cuenca.

Iniesta: 8. What a match for La Illusionista, who had a hand in two goals, should have scored another himself and sparkled with the kind of aggressive movement that makes us a much more dangerous side. The difference when he’s in there is so easy to see.

Fabregas: 9. Scored a brace, made lovely passes, tracked back on defense, even threw in a Prem-quality strategic foul. Awesome, awesome match.

Sanchez: 8. A constant threat, with or without the ball, and what a golazo he threw in. His pace and creativity make him a very different prospect for teams to consider on the wing. I suspect he will start the Clasic, with Villa as the impact sub.

Cuenca!: 9. Some moments of positional uncertainty, along with a beautifully taken goal, and the tactical discipline that saw him hugging the right sideline to maintain width and the threat of an active winger. This dude is for real.

Messi: 7. The strongest match he has played in some time, even as he was a little subdued, clearly marshaling his energies for the big fish. A constant danger that would materialize at horrifying times for Levante. Two defense-splitting passes and one goal himself (which should have been three, as he badly missed a couple of sitters).

Substitutes

Keita (for Busquets): 5. Disappeared, with occasional appearances to do his Keita Thing. “I’m in the way. Neener, neener!” Then vanish again.

Alves (for Puyol): 6. Would probably have played to a higher rating with more time. He still gets caught pinched in toward the middle too much for my tasters.

Pedro (for Fabregas): incomplete. His pace energy are wonderful, as he seems to always be working under the instructions of “Go chase the ball!” And this he does, tirelessly.

For me, the revelation of the match was Cuenca. He is playing to a level beyond his years, and is creating quite the selection headache for Guardiola, who has to want him in, because of the effect that he has on the right side of pitch, as he seems to always be able to find a way around his defender. So in his honor ….

"All. My. Friends. Know the low rider."

Pedro (for

"Keiteeee!"

My oh my, how we’ve grown to hate Internationals. The players travel hither and yon, sometimes not returning in the best of condition, usually to an opponent who has had everyone sitting around at home, watching our boys get tired via the telly.

And we look lackluster, drop some points and everyone grumbles. But we can thank EE, who is playing very good football right now, for the impetus necessary to find us razor-sharp this time out, against a Zaragoza side that was done in by its own pugnaciousness. It was a match that wasn’t as close as the score indicated, as we were light years ahead of them in every category except shots at an opponent’s Achilles tendon. It was one short of a manita, with the luxury of a second half through which we could coast, ahead of an important Champions League match against Milan.

Was anybody else bored?

Guardiola came out with an “I’m serious about this one” lineup of Valdes, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Maxwell, Keita, Xavi, Fabregas, Sanchez, Cuenca and Messi. The pressure on Saragossa was incessant, as Messi was playing like a demon, or maybe a dude who wanted to put this match to bed early so that he could coast home. Either way, it was very clear that Saragossa was out to maybe nick one on the counter, with a game plan that started with keeping us from scoring, and ended with keeping us from scoring.

And truth to tell, their plan worked for a while, even as our threat was constant. Then it took an unlikely goal scored in an unlikely way, to put things right and begin the road to relaxation. We scored a headed goal off of a set piece. Xavi dropped a ball directly into the perfect spot for a marauding Pique to head hom, complete with spectacularly dorky arm position, like he’s dancing on some music video show.

"Get down, get down, get down tonight baybeee!"

It was 1-0, as Eric Abidal, on the bench, tried to teach Fontas the cool shake celebration that he and Pinto are so fond of, and having much hilarity doing so. The players know, and they knew that 1-0 meant done deal. Game, set and match. Then, when Fabregas set up Messi with a flawless ball that our scoring dynamo slotted home, that really was that, and everyone knew it.

So now what? And that was the problem with this match, for those seeking excitement. We kept the ball, Saragossa didn’t do much with it when they had it except give it back to us (except for a couple of occasions). The end.

Now for me, this made for a dishwater-dull match, mostly because the opponent didn’t really seem all that interested in trying to make it something compelling. We even tried to help them out, as Pique headed a ball away, directly to a Sara attacker, who dished the ball wide, which has become all the rage as it usually means you’ll catch Alves pinched in toward the middle. They did, as well, and Alves got smoked as his man smacked in a cross that could have been danger, but Puyol cleared it. And if anyone noticed the look that Captain Caveman gave Alves after that one, you’re probably still quaking in your boots. It was withering, and deserved.

We scored two more goals, one that has probably been ruled an own goal by now, as Fabregas found Keita in the box with a perfect ball. Keita headed down to Puyol, who tried an effort that was stopped, then he tried sort of snaking his way to the ball, that was rammed home by a diving Sara defender. And then Villa broke his 500+minute non-scoring drought with a diving header off of a delight of a cross by Cuenca, a player described by Ray Ray as a “wonderful adam’s apple on the run.”

"My dance is better than Pique's."

And I had a hard time staying awake.

Meanies get what they deserve

This was actually a very cool match to have, leading up to the Milan tie, because Saragossa is big and physical, as Isaiah noted in the preview, being rather fond of leaving little calling cards. This played right into our hands, allowing us to gut their defense almost at will. We struggle against physical-but-disciplined defenses, who play spaces rather than players, preferring to stop the ball rather than put somebody on their butt, or flick at their heels. But when Sara kept coming at us with those niggling little “One for you ….” fouls, they left spaces that couldn’t be closed. The rest was easy.

Is Saragossa of the quality of Milan? No. But the way that we kept playing our game, successfully, in the fact of some big, nasty ol’ brutes was nice to see. And we didn’t even play at a level approaching our best, even as it was a level that was plenty good enough to win at a canter.

Team: 7. Loved the interplay and link-up action, as well as the challenges via superb passes. There were a few defensive lapses that would have allowed a better team to score, that need to be shored up.

Guardiola: 9. Hard to fault anything that he did, except for not taking Messi off when a match was decided. One day, that might cost us. But the lineup made perfect sense as it kept the pitch wide, facilitating things for our midgets. How did he know that Maxwell was ready to have a blinder of a match?

Valdes: 7. Called upon a few times, always perfect. Looks like he’s been working on his long, attack-starting passes, as well.

Alves: 6. Gets too cute with the passing interplay, and Puyol’s glare at him was justly earned. His tendency to get caught pinched toward the center is a problem. He doesn’t have real pace to catch and keep up with attackers, who almost always get the corner turned on him for a pass into our box.

Pique: 7. Beanpole was very good today, with key interventions, an excellently taken goal and more intelligent passing out of the back, rather than those bombs he is so fond of, that too often cede possession to the other side.

Puyol: 8. That man and his throbbing Catalan heart are amazing. Interceptions, taking fouls, one huge clearance after the Alves blunder and a kicking, clawing, scratching goal.

Maxwell: 7. Wow, what a match. He was almost like Abidal, except with even more attacking intent. Granted, Saragossa weren’t going to test our defense all that much, but still. Fine match from a player who always finds a way to be of value.

Keita: 8. Keiteeee! Great assist, great getting in the way. His physical presence was exceptional today, from end-to-end.

Xavi: 8. Gorgeous and inevitable. His passes, particularly that header to Pique, are unerring. Because Sara didn’t pressurize the midfield that much, giving him time to work his glorious ways.

Fabregas: 9. Monster match, from beginning to end, on defense and offense. His passing, movement and directness into the box are all what our offense has been needing. He left some goals on the table, or sure, but there’s always a next time.

Sanchez: 5. Dispossed way too easily, didn’t seem to know quite what to do. Had a couple of nice moments but overall, pretty adequate.

Cuenca: 7. Did some drifing in and out of the match but man, when he was involved. I don’t want to blaspheme here, but I might leave Pedro sitting until we can fully suss out Cuenca.

Messi: 6. Got off to a bright start, even as his passing was way off in this match. Lovely attacking football, but as he entered energy conservation mode, he drifted in and out of the match as he saw fit.

Substitutes

Thiago (for Xavi): 6. It’s interesting that people keep saying that Thiago isn’t playing as well because he isn’t the dynamic offensive force that he was during preseason. But when you look at how he plays defense for the side and controls play, he’s a delight. He’s fearless, and not shy about getting stuck in.

Iniesta (for Sanchez): 7. Aggressive and dynamic, even after a few rounds of Iniestabuse. He just seems to materialize where the ball is, ready to do some damage.

Villa (for Fabregas): incomplete. Didn’t get enough time for a full rating, but had some good moments, including the goal. Let’s hope that helps him begin to find the back of the net in the Liga more often. We need him to succeed, ultimately.

Next up, midweek, is AC Milan, who boast one braying jackass of a Swede named Ibrahimovic. I want to beat them. Bad. And these guys will probably be a huge help in doing so: