Final thoughts for the season

I love the fact that people blame Barcelona for giving the Big Mouth (aka, Mourinho) a taste of his own anti-football medicine, not realizing that Madrid's Special Mistake (aka, Mourinho) was the one that tarnished the image of Spanish football overall and of Madrid in particular when he chose to counter Barcelona's style with aggressive tactics especially in light of the 5-0 humbling.  When Madrid snatched a draw and subsequently lifted the Copa del Rey, commentators were VERY quick to applaud his special ability to neutralize Barcelona's style of play.  It seems logical that coming to the CL, Pep knew that the only way to win was to get down and dirty with a mad genius obsessed with defeating Barcelona.  To prove my point, just look at the magnificent style of play in the final; no yellow cards for the first 2/3s of the match even though Valencia should have received a yellow.  Both teams played beautifully and both deserved to be in the final, the better team simply won, even SAF acknowledged Barcelona's performance.

One more thing, the team's spirit was displayed when Abidal who is not the second, third, or even fourth captain, was handed the captain's armband so that he may lift the CL cup in recognition of his ordeal with his liver cancer and his commitment to the club - Actions speak louder than words and on that day everybody knew what "mes que un club" meant.  What's your team's motto?  Now do you know why I and the rest of the world love Barcelona?  Think about.  Thank you.

4 more Clasicos, any one?

Hidy-ho,

Well...

Let's start with the expected Saturday line-up:
F:   Messi, Villa, Pedro (a.k.a., MVP, as fellow www.BarcelonaFootballBlog.com colleagues would say)
M:  Xavi, Iniesta, Keita
D:  Adriano, Pique, Busquets, Alves

Madrid should field a "familiar" team to hide a potentially different CL line-up:
F:    Benzema
W:  De Maria, Cristiano
M:  Xabi, Ozil, Khidera
D:   Marcelo, Carvalho, Pepe, Ramos

Reserves: Kaka for Ozil or Xabi, and Higuain or Adebayor for Benzema, and Diarra for Khidera.

Both coaches have declared their intentions to send in their best players and the Big Mouth has all his strikers on the ready (the Frenchman, the Togolese, the Portuguese, & the Argentinian).  I expect a tough game, in which the Big Mouth's battle tactic is to weaken FCB as part of his overall CL/Copa del Rey War Strategy.  Imagine, FCB without an injured Messi or a Xavi, or Pique for the next 3 weeks.  It will be easy for Ramos and Pepe to squash the smaller FCB player.  Moron-hu plays defensive football and will give the nod to his players to be "extra" physical.  I hope the referee will be able to keep Madrid under control, especially in front of their crowd.

Personally, I would be happy to concede a draw against a maturer Madrid team and focus our strength on the CL, for if the Big Mouth can't make it to the CL, he'll make sure that FCB will pay the price.  I can imagine him plotting his "scorched earth" plan; FCB will be so weak by the time they get to the final (if they do), even the opponents B team will give FCB a hard time.

On the other hand, a simple 1 goal victory at White Castle's (not the burger joint) would strike a severe mental blow to the Madridistas, who are desperately seeking revenge for the past 5 losses and especially for the last 5-0 humiliation, in order to believe in themselves again.

Copa del Rey:
I think that team B got the Copa and deserve to play the Copa even if they do get mauled:

F:     Afellay, Jeffren, and an MVP component (I feel sorry for Bojan, he's just so unlucky)
M:    Thiago, Dos Santos, and Keita
D:     Maxwell, Milito, Fontas, and Alves
KG:  Pinto

I say let's give this bone to the dogs, even though I think that this dog is smart enough to not take the bait and is OBSESSED in the T-Bone steak, the Champions League, after having tasted it twice before.

Champions League:
The loss of Moron-hu's rock in defense Carvalho is a severe blow, especially with hot-heads Pepe and Ramos.  This aspect should lessen the severity of our own losses in defense (Puyol and Abidal) rendering Madrid prone to our attacks.  Recall that Madrid's players are not used to playing on three fronts at the same time.  We have to win in the first leg when Madrid is without Carvalho!!!

Expected FCB CL Line-up:
F:    Messi, Villa, Pedro
M:   Iniesta, Xavi, Mascehrano
D:    Adriano, Pique, Busquets, and Alves

I have to admit, I did not think that the Big Mouth could bring the players this far.

Overall, we only need to win 2 of the 4 four games but not the Cope del Rey.

All the best!