Gimnastic de Tarragona – Barcelona: the greatest preview ever

By: Isaiah | June 15th, 2007

All games are at 3pm EST Sunday

Okay, so the title is probably a little hyperbolic on my part, but come on people, it’s the last weekend of the league and the title has yet to be decided. There isn’t much more exciting stuff in sports other than that.

So the games that matter at the top are:

Nastic – Barcelona
Real Madrid – Mallorca
Sevilla - Villareal

There is little chance that Sevilla will overtake the top 2, but they are involved in what could be a monumental match as Villareal fight to retain their UEFA Cup spot and Sevilla try to give themselves a fighting chance to nip in for the league title. But really, it all comes down to the former Barcelona bench-warmer, one Maxi Lopez. Mallorca’s striker says he’s looking forward to Calderon’s reaction when Mallorca stuns the Bernabeu “faithful” (fair-weather is hardly the term; it’s not strong enough). No lap of honor then, methinks, but of course that’s reliant on a striker who made 13 appearances for Barcelona and scored in nary a one. He’s played in 25 games for Mallorca this year and if he scores a double against Madrid like most people seem to think he can, he’ll double his tally for the year. No matter what kind of prize you offer him, it won’t make him into a decent player.

That Barcelona will beat ‘Nastic is hardly up for debate. Either they win or they might not even finish 2nd and get that crucial CL automatic qualification spot. Ronaldinho is back and no doubt they’ll score entirely legitimate goals this weekend (well, I should really say that because we all know anything can happen). A friend of mine and fellow Barcelonista wrote me and said, “la esperanza es lo último que se pierde,” which translates roughly to “hope springs eternal,” and I have to say if we don’t enter this weekend feeling like we can win, we won’t. After all, ‘Nastic is the one opponent I would have chosen to end the year on even if I didn’t know the schedule or the results. You just saw this relegation coming from Day 1, really.

Villareal and Sevilla will draw, I think, while Osasuna will draw with Atlético, meaning the Yellow Submarine will do the unthinkable and actually make it to European competition (albeit the NIT/UEFA Cup), something I didn’t think would happen after their dismal first half of the season. Still, they’ve gone on a beautiful tear and I just wish Riquelme were there to orchestrate it, despite the fact that his presence was probably a factor in their previous “misfortunes.” His free kick against Gremio on Wednesday was fabulous and it reminded me that this sad genius is truly a fantastic player, even now in Argentina where he is at least a legend well and truly loved by La Bombonera.

Back in Spain, the relegation battle is hot as the title challenge, it’s just not as interesting. Athletic Bilbao have their future in their own hands at home against Levante and you can’t ask for much more than that. They need all 3 points to be positive of maintaining their record as the only side to never have dropped out of the first division. So, just for history, I’m hoping they win and stay up. May Levante accidentally field an ineligible player or go down to 9 men in the first half. Same with ‘Nastic and Real Madrid, for good measure.

And of course that brings us to the league-vs-FIFA question in general and Dunga-vs-Real Madrid specifically. Robinho is the player in question and the Copa America is the tournament he’s supposed to be warming up for. If he’d rather stay with Real Madrid, he should be granted that opportunity, but if he’d rather go to play with Brazil, no one should complain and no one should put up any kind of a fight. It’s the league’s fault for making this a question by going longer than anyone else, but it should be solved by Robinho being the one who makes the decision. He’s the one who has to set foot on the field, after all, not Angel Maria Villar or Ricardo Terra Teixeira (RFEF and CBF presidents, respectively). So let it go and let him play against Mallorca, to the benefit or detriment of Real Madrid.

If you think about it, this should be a question for Barcelona as well, considering they have one Ronaldo de Assís Moreira who as refused to play at the Copa America for Brazil. If Ronaldinho can say no, why can’t Robinho? Rafa Marquez and Leo Messi can say no, so why not Higuain or Gago? It’s a silly double standard and the absence of those players would not make it a truly titanic series of games. It would taint the ending and be cause for second-guessing and political finger-pointing.

Anyway:

VISCA EL BARÇA!

Here are the statshots I never got around to posting this weekend:

Feel free to note the fact that neither Mallorca nor ‘Nastic are anywhere near good enough to be the final games for either Madrid or Barcelona.