A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, the Rebel hordes were enjoying a run of form, converting planet after planet to their joyous worldview as they romped across the galaxy.

And all was good, as the Footballing Force ran strong in them.

Then, an Evil Empire roused from slumber and proceeded to maraud across the galaxy, conquering 18 planets by force, magic and effort, climing the walls of the Rebel fort, and a breach was made.

People wondered if the Rebels were nervous, if the Evil Empire was about to destroy them. Then the plucky Rebels assaulted the Death Star, shooting proton torpedo after proton torpedo down the core until Saint Iker was riddled, and victory was theirs.

Yes. I could have just done a review that consisted of “Damn!” Then the points. But by writing, I can re-savor this amazing, amazing display. And that picture. That glorious picture is of our Man of the Match, Gerard Pique. It was a close one, really. Do you choose the entire team, Xavi with his 4 assists, Henry with his critical, critical brace, or Messi with his overall dominance.

I’m going for Pique, because to win, you have to first not concede, and every time the ball got near him, he won it, stonewalling Raul, dispossessing Robben, making a clearance sitting on his butt and just being a generally spectacular central defender.

And so it goes.

I’d also like to apologize to Chelsea, on behalf of cules and the Spanish press everywhere. We all feel horrible about things that we said.

Because I wouldn’t come out to play us, either. The EE had to, and look what happened. Bayern did, and look what happened. Now, like the other dismantlings, I’m sure that people will say that the other side was shit, that we were allowed to play with the ball and if you do that, of course you’re going to get beaten, blah, blah, blah.

But this was a simple display of superiority. There were three telling moments in the second half that spoke far more eloquently than any words could about what happened today:

1. A long attacking pass is well-defended by Puyol, who heads to Iniesta, who heads it back for a one-touch to Xavi, who one-touches it back to Iniesta who is covered by two men. He stops, spins with the ball and is off to the races, leaving Gago shrugging in exasperation.

2. Eto’o is hemmed in on the sideline, but forms a triangle with Xavi and Alves, creating a deft series of one-touch passes that calmly and effectively work the ball out of trouble, and onto the attack.

3. At about the 44-minute mark, Abidal is playing a long ball, with two opposing attackers charging at him. He calmly controls it and flips it forward with what is almost a backheel, causing one attacker (Gago, I believe) to perform what looks like a bit of applause at a play well done.

This was the best side in the Liga by a country mile showing the world exactly why. And it was done with a lineup that was supposed to be tired, and nervous, and hearing footsteps of their charging challengers. Out came Valdes, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Abidal, The Yaya, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Eto’o, Henry, to contest a battle that was, simply put, not only for the Liga title. Win convincingly and the team would head for London with a burst of confidence that will serve them well.

It was for real, for sure like. And we let it be known right away that we were there for business, as early chances came to Messi and Eto’o, in a match that was going to be up-and-down, because parking the bus wasn’t an option. If the EE went out, it was going to be like men, and we all have to applaud that decision because win or lose, you do so taking your best shot. Hats off to them.

One big difference in this match was the way that Henry was integrated into the offense early and often, as Messi drifted over to the left, Xavi played balls to him and Iniesta showed him some love. The result was a fully involved, dynamic Henry, who made Ramos look like a cantera defender in practice with the A squad.

And with all of that activity, who knew that the first goal would come for the other side? Robben worked a two-man run at Abidal, who did about the best that he could with no help, and an unmarked Higuain buried a header. Not a damn thing Valdes could do about that one, and the blame is all Puyol’s, as he just stood there. We were 0-1 down, and it was looking like a match.

Phil Schoen, however, trying to match Ray-Ray in the Hyperbolic Rant sweepstakes, said “Barcelona are on the mat bleeding!” Dude, it was only the second round. Lots more fight to go.

Because the way we were playing, with beautiful one-touch football bereft of dwelling on the ball and screwing around with it, just capitalizing on ball and player movement, meant that the equalizer couldn’t be far behind. And when Messi (dammit!) hefted a killer lob to Henry, danger was written all over it. Henry didn’t bother controlling it, he shot with the first touch, essentially using the inside of his foot to pass the ball past Casillas.

And it was 1-1, until shortly thereafter, a free kick for us, one of those set pieces we’ve been sucking out the planet at, saw Xavi (again) making a great effort to the head of Captain Caveman, who blasted in and skied as though launched from a missile, side-heading the ball past a rooted-in-place Casillas. Just like that it was 1-2 good guys, and the looks on the EE faces were shock and awe.

Yes, there was a lump in my throat as our Captain ripped off his Catalunya armband and kissed it in exultation after scoring his goal, and erasing the pain of his failure on the defensive end.

Like defending champions, they began pressing, charging forward and contesting the midfield. Xavi answered by pouncing on a moment of uncertainly by Lassana Diarra, gangstering the ball and turning Messi loose, who knew what to do. He put it past Casillas and suddenly it was 3-1 and truth be told, I didn’t know what to think.

Messi even showed off his philanthropic side by raising his shirt to show off a “Sindrome X Fragil” t-shirt, aimed at calling attention to a developmental affliction that children are battling. Awesome, every bit as awesome as the goal.

And halftime fell, with a bit of uncertainty. The EE has made a season of pulling out wins, battening down the hatches and coming back to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with grit and determination. Couple that with our habit of getting bored with a lead, and you can understand my nervousness.

Yes, the Whites came out with vigor and aggression, and earned a rotten, flopping free kick. The cross came in, and it was a marking issue again, as Ramos was unaccounted for. Abidal was on his man, Pique was on Higuain and Ramos occupied the space between those two, knocking a clear, close-in header past Valdes.

2-3, and the comeback looked to be on.

Things were different today, however. Rather than the uncertainty we sometimes play with under pressure, we kept playing our game and not long after, an exquisite ball from Xavi fell to a just-onside Henry on the burst. Once again, he just lobbed it, not even bothering to control it but rather lifting it over Casillas with the side of his foot. The two-goal cushion was back and from then on, we were never threatened. We had absorbed the other side’s best shot, and brushed it away.

From that point we parked the bus, Barca-style, which meant possession. Constant, interminable, exhausting possession as the other side had to chase the match. And the possession drew closer and closer until suddenly, Xavi sprung Messi with yet another (yawn!) perfect ball. Messi smoked it past Casillas and it was 5-2.

And who knew that Pique, who had heretofore done everything else, was saving the best for last. He won the ball, dished it, moved into midfield, pushing up as our defenders do, then decided to play Thierry Henry. Seeing that Xavi was about to turn Eto’o loose, Pique burst into a full-tilt run, crashing into the box. He took the cross from Eto’o and shot but was parried by Casillas. Pique went back, got the ball and did this crazy, corkscrew, reverse-spin sort of shot that bamboozled Casillas and drove our Man of the Match crazy.

There is so much to say about this match, that was our best of the season, at the exact right time. But I’ll leave that to the comments. I do want to say that for all of the talk about our back line being a weakness, I think that those comments are only partly accurate. I say partly because I don’t believe that we do our real defending on the back line. If an attack gets that deep, something has broken down, because we defend from the midfield, with The Yaya, Xavi, Iniesta and the forwards tracking back. Look at how almost every time an attacker got the ball, a triangle closed around him.

This isn’t to excuse our back line, which has been shaky this season. But I just don’t believe it to be a traditional back line.

And with that….

Team: 10 A truly amazing display of unison football. Even players who were having down days contributed to the exceptional whole.

Guardiola: 10 He did his best coaching job of the season by telling the guys to take a few days off after the Chelsea match, to focus and cleanse their palates. Look at the result. His statement in rolling out his best lineup said “I have the utmost confidence in you guys. You aren’t tired, you aren’t fatigued, and you’re going to be brilliant.” And they were. Sometimes, the best coaching is not coaching.

Valdes: 8 He could have followed the flight of the ball better on those headers. Maybe. Or maybe I’m just being too hard on our keeper, who was spectacular, and never more so than when he prevented Dani Alves from making it 2-2 by stopping the flailing right back’s point-blank attempt at an own goal.

Alves: 6 He played a lot of defense today, but is still stinking out the pitch offensively. And that’s fine. He’s a right back, in case we all forget. Push comes to shove, I’d rather have him stopping his marker from scoring than working with the offense and creating space behind him. We have plenty of guys who can score.

Pique: 10 Spectacular. The play of this guy, who started out an uncertain mess, has been extraordinary for some time now. He has been our best back line member for quite some time now, and shows no signs of wanting to relinquish that crown. Robben ran toward him with the ball, full of intent, and Pique just calmly strolled up and nipped it away, distributing it up the pitch with style. Wow.

Puyol: 7 Yes, he got the goal back. But I’d love to know where the hell he was going when Raul was allowed the space to shoot. It’s almost as if he saw a phantom attacker in the box and was heading that way. Still, a very strong match by the Captain. I’d love to see him back there against Chelsea, but that’s life.

Abidal: 7 He spent much of the first half getting turned inside out by Robben, before finding his game. He was perfect after that, contributing to both offense and defense. Tell me again why people don’t like him?

The Yaya: 9 Full-on man back there, doing his job in a way that made Xavi’s life so easy, up to and including bringing the ball up and starting attacks, like a big, dark, world-swallowing Xavi. His touch is deft and his control brilliant. But when all else fails, he just stands over the ball and takes root, like a giant, brown sequoia.

Xavi: 10 Wow. Four assists? And all of them were inch-perfect efforts that dripped with consideration. It’s one thing to get a player a pass that he has to control and then attack. It’s something else to give a player a pass that all he has to do is what he does. The Henry passes, the Messi pass were all spectacular. That second Henry pass even took the Frenchman’s speed into account. Unreal. Note that he was clean-shaven, continuing the Stubble Theory of Excellence.

Iniesta: 7 He looked a little tired, and was curiously quiet. Once he picked it up he became a Xavi doppelganger rather than the box-storming hooligan we’ve all been enjoying these past few weeks, because he knew what the side needed and just did it. But dude, you gotta shoot. Lob Casillas instead of feeding Messi. Dig?

Messi: 10 After a string of mediocre matches, he was on fire today, unstoppable in every way. If that Messi shows up in mid-week at Chelsea, we’re going through. The movement, the effort, the jackrabbit-quick way that he gets after balls is back. Was it fatigue, or was he steeling his spine, conserving energy for these next two matches? One down, one to go? With the quality of Xavi, Pique and Henry, don’t underestimate the spectacular match that Messi had.

Eto’o: 7 Why a 7 for a guy who is still exhibiting a touch of stone? Yes, I said it. Witness two efforts he got in the box, and just cocked up. But he also knew that for Guardiola’s offensive scheme to work, he couldn’t be in the way, which meant drifting to the right so that Messi could roam to center or left. His passing was also very good, and his contributions to midfield control were excellent. Way to give it up for the team. Yes, he’s selfish. Yes, I wish that we could have he and Henry on at the same time, instead of either/or. But you have to admire Eto’o’s team effort today.

Henry: 10 He did everything, from midfield control to attacking like crazy. That little bit of keepe-uppe to befuddle Ramos made me laugh for its audacity and effectiveness. His goals both came at the exact right times, first to tie the match, then to restore the two-goal cushion. He tweaked his knee a bit thanks to a dirty Ramos play just off camera. Hope he’s okay for Chelsea.

Substitutions

Keita (for Henry): 8 Did exactly what he was supposed to do, and did it perfectly. We didn’t need what Henry does any longer. What we needed was that layer between Xavi and The Yaya, and that layer was Keita.

Krkic (for Iniesta): incomplete He ran around, got loose and smoked Heinze like a joint. Nice!

Busquets (for The Yaya): incomplete He ran around, got loose and didn’t smoke Heinze like a joint.

Now, it’s a 7-point lead atop the Liga standings, with 12 more points left to play for. There are still ways we could lose the Liga. We could draw the last four matches while the EE wins out. We could lose three and win one while they win out. But the odds on that, given the opponents (Villarreal, Mallorca, Osasuna and Deportivo), are shading toward nonexistent. Which is assuming that the EE beats Valencia and Villarreal.

So I’m coloring the Liga done. Buried. Stick a fork in it.

Now to settle a score in London.

P.S. I would be remiss in not mentioning some statistics: Messi scores his 1st and 2nd goals in the Bernabeu; Puyol knocks in his first goal of the Liga season; Pique’s crazy corkscrew was the our 100th goal of the campaign. Yay!

Lineups:

Barça: Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal, Xavi, Touré, Iniesta, Messi, Eto’o, Henry
Real Madrid: Casillas; Heinze, Metzelder, Cannavaro, Ramos, Gago, Lass, Marcelo, Robben, Raúl, Higuaín.

Saturday. 2pm Easter Standard Time. Live on GolTV with Ray Hudson frothing at the mouth and Phil Schoen hardly containing his delight. In fact, I imagine that Ray Hudson is preparing for this game right now by screaming at his wife/girlfriend/random people on the street about the little magic man, [insert Messi, Robben, Xavi, Higuain, Iniesta, maybe even Robinho]. If I lived in Miami I would go searching for him. And I would buy him a goddamned drink or twenty. It’s not that I think he’s the greatest commentator there is – he’s not, that’d be Gus Johnson – but this is el clásico and it’s not el clásico without Ray Hudson firing up Ye Olde Hyperbole Machinne* and having a good go at being the craziest man this side of Grand Central’s Wu-Tang-quoting, slow-motion-Shaolin-kung-fu-practicing homeless guy.

El Clásico! Oh God I’m so hyped right now. I feel like I just chugged like eight Jolts (remember those?) and stuck a fork in an electrical outlet. This is going to be so awesome. A better writer may have made a more meaningful pop culture reference (do they have an app for that?), but I am not interested in such banalities in the face of el clásico. In fact, I’m not sure I’m going to get any work whatsoever done today because, well, because tomorrow is el clásico. Have I mentioned that?

Argh, Friday, why are you so slow?

I’m not going to bother recounting the various reports in Marca and AS about this or that statement made by Raul because the guy is a madridista through and through (despite his Atleti roots, I should point out) and the papers themselves are the same. No self-respecting blogger (is that an oxymoron?) can put much stock in such rags – and that goes for Sport and EMD, of course – so I’m going to go straight to the facts, Jack:

Barcelona are 1st in the league, with the 96 goals scored, 26 allowed, and 82 points. Biotch.

Real Madrid are 2nd with like, some other amount of goals and stuff.

How am I supposed to write a fair and balanced preview of a clásico? I don’t think I can, but let’s put this to a vote. You, the reader, shall decide. If you want me to put in the time and effort to really study Madrid and come up with something other than mental diarrhea, raise your hand. Anyone? No? Okay, so here goes the biased preview:

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a team all dressed in white that couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, no matter how many blaster shots they fired at the out-spent rebels from a distant land. So, to make a long story short, Messi is Luke Skywalker and has a land speeder, The Yaya is Chewbacca, Valdes is R2D2, Florentino Perez is the sinister Lord of the Sith or somebody like that, Raul is obviously Vader, Casillas is an absurdly talented dark jedi with requisite mind tricks, and Guardiola (In Whom We Trust) is Obi Won. And Hleb is so General Akbar.

That. Just. Happened.

Actually, I can’t believe I just did that. I don’t really know anything about Star Wars, I just know that The Yaya doesn’t need the Force, because he IS the Force. This is what el clásico does to me.

Okay, so, the best offense in La Liga goes up against the 2nd best defense in La Liga. The best away team versus the tied best home team. Barcelona has 36 away goals scored and 16 away goals allowed while RM has 46 home goals scored and 20 home goals allowed. This page gives Barcelona the slimmest of advantages, statistically. That is a small part of how I see the game, but there’s a lot more to it than goals scored, allowed, and points earned.

Let’s compare their last 5 common opponents, which actually isn’t hard to do because of the scheduling shitfest that La Liga engaged in this year. So basically we’re discounting Valencia and going back to the Barcelona-Malaga game. Both teams won all of those games, so we’re really only comparing the scorelines, not the results.

Barça | RM
Malaga H 6-0 | A 0-1
Valladolid A 0-1 | H 2-0
Huelva H 2-0 | A 1-0
Getafe A 0-1 | H 3-2
Sevilla H 4-0 | A 2-4

Note that until the Valencia game, which comes after the Sevilla game and was Barça’s most recent away trip, isn’t included in this, but was be a 2-2 draw, ruining the clean sheets. As you can see, the last 2 games for Madrid have had some shaky defense (Sevilla and Getafe both scored first, you’ll recall), something that they can’t afford against the likes of Messi, Eto’o, and Henry. RM won’t see as much of the ball as they have been, either, since Barça will be looking to control that little spherical thing as usual. Defense by keeping the ball from your opponents, naturally. So Barcelona has the upper hand in terms of going into the game knowing they will be able to control the ball as they always do, unless RM wants to play a wide-open game, which they should feel free to try.

To the squads before breaking it all down:

Real Madrid: Casillas, Dudek, Heinze, Torres, Marcelo, Ramos, Cannavaro, Metzelder, Garcia, Van der Vaart, Parejo, Gago, Lass, Robben, Faubert, Raul, Higuain, Huntelaar, Saviola

Barça: Valdés, Jorquera, Henry, Xavi, Piqué, Iniesta, Puyol, Cáceres, Sylvinho, Bojan, Eto’o, Messi, Hleb, Alves, Abidal, Keita, Gudjohnsen, The Yaya, Busquets.

I’m not entirely sure how Real Madrid are going to line up, so I’ll steal Corey’s lineup from his preview. He’s got them lined up in a flat 4-4-2 (perhaps it’s more of a 4-4-1-1) that looks like this:

—————-Casillas—————–
Ramos—Metzelder—Canna—Heinze
Higuain——L.Diarra—–Gago—–Marcelo
———Huntelaar———Raul———

I believe that Guardiola is going to roll out this lineup:

—————-Valdes——————
Alves—Puyol—Pique—Abidal
—————-The Yaya—————
——Xavi—————–Iniesta——
Messi———Eto’o———Henry

and I really don’t see anyone being surprised by that, except that maybe he’ll start Caceres on the left or in the center to give him some reps before the Chelsea game, when he’ll almost assuredly have to take over for Puyol. Another possible back four is Alves-Puyol-Abidal-Sylvinho since we know we’re going to need Pique against Drogba on Wednesday.

I actually think the lineup I’ve suggested is our strongest possible, so RM is in for the best of what we have to offer, even if Puyol isn’t totally on form. Marquez has been casual recently, so it’s not great loss for this particular game. It’s in the CL, when we don’t have Puyol, that the acuteness of the double loss will be felt (speaking of which, what the shit, Puyol? Why did you get that yellow card?).

Here’s a bit of a 1-to-1 comparison, excluding the keepers:

Ramos vs Henry and Higuain vs Abidal: la banda izquierda of Barcelona and versus the right side of Real Madrid should make for extremely intriguing matchups. I can see Juande starting Sergio Ramos on the left side to combat Messi “switch-footed” as he did before, but he may opt for a bit more attacking power on the right rather than curtailing his offensive defenseman too much. That would create a slight imbalance on Barça’s left whenever S.Ramos when up the line a la Dani Alves on the other side. It would force Henry to sit back a bit more or to rely on Iniesta to clean up the good there, meaning a small hole in the middle of the field that Gago could take advantage of. If Henry is able to effectively keep Ramos back in his own half, then there should actually be more room for Iniesta to operate, moving Lassana Diarra and Gago around a bit more in coverage rather than tying up just one of them at a time. What Higuain brings to the table is the ability to play almost as a third forward alongside Huntelaar and keeping Abidal back. If Iniesta and The Yaya can keep the ball from reaching Higuain, that will force him to move farther towards midfield and derail many of his attacks, effectively making him a playmaker instead of a forward, where I think he’s much better. He’ll have a few runs at Abidal, but he hasn’t really encountered pace like he will, so it might take a bit for him to adjust and begin to cut the ball in for in-swinging crosses much like Diego Capel tried in the Barça-Sevilla game.

Xavi vs Gago and The Yaya vs Lass: The center of the field is, as always, the most important part for Barcelona. Gago and Lassana Diarra are going to have to step up and play the best games of their lives if they’re going to stop our General and The Yaya, who will be holding down the middle of the field like it’s his fiefdom. Well, folks, it is. The Yaya does not move to the ball, the world moves to him. But really, if Xavi is going to have a good game, he’ll have to better Gago and Lass, who will be attempting to cut off his passing routes and, more than likely, his ankles. The same is probably true of Iniesta, but it’s Xavi’s orchestration that, to me, is the most important part. The Yaya in the middle behind Xavi will provide both the outlets during moments of pressure and the beginnings of counterattacks. Having two defensive midfielders in front of Xavi and Iniesta is one way to go, but because there are few passing lanes available to DMs against Barça thanks to Xavi’s and Iniesta’s underrated defense. If Gago is forced wide to deal with Iniesta’s incursions into space, Xavi then acts as the fulcrum to pull Lass out of position and then Messi slips into the middle right channel, Eto’o begins a diagonal run perpendicular to Messi’s, meaning the defenders are trapped in between the coming pass and the hard-charging little Argie (Argie Chargie?) that can take brilliant shots off his left. If Lass doesn’t step up to Xavi and instead covers Messi, then the backline of Metzelder and Cannavaro have to take on Xavi by themselves, meaning Eto’o runs diagonally into the box to receive the threaded pass from which he can shoot easily or Xavi plays a quick one-two (wall pass) with him and is free in the box with options of shooting, giving it to Eto’o, or cutting it back for any of Iniesta, Messi, or Henry. That Chelsea was able to block these moves for 90 minutes is a credit to their individual skill and Hiddink’s tactical gamble (as well as highlighting just how much worse at flowing soccer Chelsea is and how deadly boring they are too), but Real Madrid, if they enter into this kind of a gambit, will lose. And they will lose big. Pepe has the physical size and talent to do the job, but Metzelder and Canna are not as good and will wind up fouling more often than not. It’s then up to the ref to call these fouls, but we’ll find out early on if it’s going to be a rough game or not.

Messi vs Heinze: To me, this is a fairly individual battle, with no corollary on the Madrid side. Robben can be incisive, of course, and if Juande goes with him from the beginning and he really is 100% match fit, Madrid really does become about twice as dangerous, but Robben is no Messi. No one is Messi. No one is capable of stopping him one-on-one, especially not overrated Gabriel Heinze. It should be no secret to any long-time readers that I’m saying this because I think Heinze is trash. I applauded his move to Madrid in the first place because I thought he would be shown as the incompetent player he is (rash, dirty, and spiteful at that), but he’s somehow survived despite his mistakes. He puts in the occasional good match (and actually seems to play fairly well against Barcelona) and that must reaffirm his place in the starting 11. Because nothing else can explain it. If Juande goes with Heinze on the left of defense, Messi is going to make him look stupid and will draw either a yellow or a penalty in the first half. Heinze has nothing on Messi, even with Messi’s current dip in form. Marcelo will have to track back on the left a lot to get in Messi’s way and that’s going to bring Alves forward without much fear, meaning our control of the ball will be almost absolute. It will be interesting, of course, to see Alves vs Marcelo, a duel of impish Brazilian who like to roll around on the ground a lot. And at least one of them likes grabbing their crotch and sticking their tongue out at Getafe players. Messi’s dominance of Heinze is, of course, being taken a bit for granted by me, but I just don’t see any other way if those two really do go up against each other. If it’s Sergio Ramos on the left instead of Heinze, I think RM will have a much better chance of slowing down the Barça transition game, meaning the above-mentioned scenarios of ball-movement will be harder to come by, but when the breakdowns happen, they’ll be more complete as Ramos and Heinze will be out of their elements on the wrong side of the field. Without a big, physical center back like Alex or Pepe, RM are going to suffer (yeah, blah blah Metzelder is 6′4″ but he’s not Pepe or Alex, both of whom are 2 inches shorter than Metzelder, but definitely bigger and more physically capable). Messi’s runs against Heinze will have to be stopped by Lass or Gago (whoever is playing on the left side of defensive mid) and Messi will either beat them, freeing Eto’o’s run from the shackles of Canna and Metzelder, or he’ll pass to Xavi who will pass to Iniesta, who can then take on whoever is front of him and dish back to Xavi or over to Henry. There are obvious holes in the RM defense, as I’m sure RM fans are thinking of our defense, but they don’t have Iniesta, Xavi, and Messi dictating the game. And we do.

Last time we played, there was no Iniesta and we ran out 2-0 winners. We will win again, I’m sure of it. Maybe not with a clean sheet, but we will not lose this game. We will score and we will take the game to them like they haven’t seen since the last time we played them. We don’t take advantage of bad defending like Liverpool (4-0), but rather, we make defending bad. Yup, that’s some hubris there, I know, but it’s not like I don’t realize RM is dangerous, especially in their home, but we are Barcelona and we are better than they are. And for proof of that, you can check the stats.

Official Prediction: 2-1 Barcelona, goals by Eto’o and Messi.

Remember, because this game is on GolTV, you can watch the game at many a fine establishment listed in the Where to Watch page. (ballbeav, I didn’t forget your email, I’m going to try to add those two places today or tomorrow)

—–
*No, that’s not misspelled. But is it irony that I originally typed “mispelled”?

In A.D. 2009
War was beginning.

Juande Ramos: What happen ?
Boluda: Somebody set up us the Messi.
Mijatovic: We get signal.
Juande Ramos: What !
Operator: GolTV turn on.
Juande Ramos: It’s you !!
GUARDIOLA: How are you gentlemen !!
GUARDIOLA: All your Bernabeu are belong to Eto’o.
GUARDIOLA: You are on the way to 2nd place.
Juande Ramos: What you say !!
GUARDIOLA: You have no chance to survive make your time.
GUARDIOLA: Ha ha ha ha….
Mijatovic : Juande !!
Juande Ramos: Take off every ‘RAUL’!!
Juande Ramos: You know what you doing.
Juande Ramos: Move ‘RAUL’.

I am so pumped.

BRING IT ON.