Barcelona - Espanyol: Saturday 2pmEST (GolTV)

By: Isaiah | April 18th, 2008

So it’s another derby, another day, right? Weeellll, it’s more like we haven’t gotten the full measure of revenge for Tamudo scoring that title-destroying goal against us last year, so not only do we need to continue their losing streak (4 straight at the moment, with nary a goal to show for their so-called efforts) and push them completely out of contention for a European spot. Am I bitter? Goddamned right I’m bitter. The periquitos can bite the big one, if you ask me, if only for the way they celebrated RM getting the title last year because of them. But obviously there’s mucho morbo involved in this match without that.

It’s a derby, people, so let’s derby up! Form goes out the window (theirs and ours) and the yellow cards come out of the pockets (and hopefully the white hankies go into the vacated pantspace). I want to see blood!* It should be a thoroughly engrossing match, though, especially if you consider our potential lineups…

The squad: Valdés, Pinto, Zambrotta, Puyol, Milito, Márquez, Sylvinho, Abidal, Xavi, Touré, Iniesta, Deco, Gudjohnsen, Messi, Eto’o, Bojan, Henry, Giovani

The inclusion of Deco is a huge positive for us, but nothing is bigger than Iniesta’s availability. I guess his slipped meniscus wasn’t so bad, after all. YAY!!! SPF45 is a major part of our squad and can provide versatility that few others can. If we can reduce the amount of running our midfield has to do in this game, we’ll be fresher and better equipped to take on ManU on Wednesday.

Our home form is so much better than our away form it’s actually just not funny. There’s no humor in it. Unless you’re the type who laughs at roadkill. Since we’re so good at home and we’re going to come out fired up, I don’t know if a down-in-the-dumps Espanyol is going to have 90 minutes of up-tempo soccer in them, but, like I said, it’s derby time and no one quits in those moments.

It’ll be hard-fought game and for that reason I’m going to give us just a 2-1 victory. Any other team with such a terrible recent record and I’d say 2-0 at least, but since Espanyol isn’t any other team, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt to improve on their scoring issues.

Sorry this post is so short, but that’s how it’s got to be. I am going to try to make it to Nevada Smiths tomorrow to watch it, but my lady’s parents are in town and might want me to hang out with them. Not that I don’t like them, but you know, Barcelona…But please, discuss amongst yourselves what will happen on the morrow. And don’t forget to visit the Where to Watch page to find out what’s new (and there are some new places!)

Where to Watch: The best places to watch FC Barcelona in action

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*I don’t actually. I’m a very peaceful person.