Ibrahim Afellay. - among other things.

(Left: oh right yeah, they speak english! ...and pique is in new NIKEiD tiempo shoes)


So Ibi is training with the squad.
I think I do like him, but am not sure where his place will be. Hopefully he won't be one of those new signings glued to the bench (Adriano), and adding to the already burdening debt of FC Barcelona, which is now said to be 15M Euros, having reduced from 22M because of the new Qatar Foundation sponsors.

Having said that I think, (and if im wrong then, whoops, egg on my face), ibi will play into the roles of a combination of Andreas Iniesta and Xavi, and permanently benching keita. or not. Guardiola likes Keita, no matter how much he lacks shine when he's compared to Xavi. In that case, Afellay will get a lot less game time, because Iniesta barely needs to be substituted. And that would be a shame because he's such a star back at PSV, being captain and all, and at Barcelona he'll be like Mascherano, who's captain at the Argentina national team, and Sergio Busquets substitute at Barca.

Also intresting was the game between Cataluyna and Honduras. In that game, Bojan Krkic scored two goals and made two assists, and the final score was 4 - 0. which means Bojan contributed to every goal, and that maybe Guardiola should take the hint that he's actually leaving a very talented son of a bitch on the bench every weekend. I understand that Bojan has also just signed a new contract until 2015, hopefully he doesn't spend his youth benched in the shadows of David Villa or Leo Messi.

Speaking of Leo Messi, where is he? apparently Guardiola gave him special permission to stay on holiday until the 1st or 2nd of January. I swear to God if he's getting married and his marriage affects his footballing abilities then I will kill someone. Hopefully he'll be back for the fixture against Levente on January 2nd/3rd, because there is a dispute between the Footballing Federation and the players, who claim that the 2nd of Jan is still a holiday for them.

So we'll see on the 2nd/3rd of Jan how Barcelona will hold up against Levente without Puyol or Messi.

Barcelona Real Sociedad - LATE

so in the middle of my christmas break i've decided i really want to watch the match against sociedad that i'd missed earlier this month. again, i already know the score, and will be pretty brief with this one because it's on dvr and i can fast forward if i want to.


After a few early attempts there is a foul on victor valdes. it was a close call though... don't think sociedad would've scored from that anyway.
You know xabi alonso spent his youth and early years in sociedad, i can't help but feel some respect for the club who groomed such a man.
oof! Iniesta is in new nike ctr360s! i like them.

Mascherano is booked 7 minutes in. yes, it was a very late tackle, it was a good call.

VILLA GOAL! it looked like an easy goal, great timing from Pedro's assist, and great finish. This is 9 minutes in.

Ah damn, pedro's shot goes over the crossbar after Alves' cross. so close!

Commentator is making fun of Messi! "David Villa's cross is overshot, little Leo Messi was his target man at the side of the goal, not a large target man of course" - cruel. whatever he lacks in physical form he makes up for in talent. hugely.

Dani Alves weaving through the sociedad defence. There's just way too many of them in there, he does make a typical Barcelona run.
And there was a pass so badly aimed at that it resembled something I would have done on PES.

The camera man is so obviously trying to gesture the commentator to talk about Barcelona's last apparence in the shirt with the World Champions badge. He's just not taking the hint. So I'll say it. Because of the Club World Cup final taking place after this game, new World Champions will be named, who we now know to be Inter Milan. (also showing how important the Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Inter Milan was, considering that they won the Champion's League and qualified for the club world cup, and potentially if Barcelona had held their early lead during that game they could've gone on to do all that)

What an effort wasted from Sociedad. A ball from his own half saw a run 50 yards on and no good finish. -wait, why am i writing so strangely obsurely?

And then what a fucking mess this is. 5 shots were taken time after time. Messi's original shot, and then these shots followed: Xavi, Messi again, Villa, and then Dani Alves is offside. 5 shots in a row, and 5 misses in a row. ANGRY FACE! >:(

GOAL! INIESTA! In a one-two with Pedrito he's scored in the corner of the goal left empty by the keeper.

And then came the series of fumbles. David Villa takes a shot at the keeper, who manages to block it but not hold on to it, and it wobbled back to David Villa, who shoots it straight at the keeper again. why though? the keeper was about 5 yards from the goal! the GOAL WAS EMPTY.
ANGRY FACE AGAIN! >:(

Sociedad takes a shot and is deflected far away from the goal. for some strange reason though Victor Valdes is on the floor. BUT NO ONE TOUCHED HIM? no ball was near him. Im really confused.
and then nothing happens for 5 minutes. I know this because im reading the commentry.

Second half!
LEO MESSI CUT YOUR HAIR PLEASE. POR FAVOR.
if after the christmas break Messi cuts his hair short i will be a happy child.

MESSI GOAL! perhaps i shouldn't be talking about hair when messi scores 2 minutes into the half. so there was 3 one-twos between Alves and Messi, beating 6 Sociedad players in defence. I do like team effort goals, i do also like their relationship on pitch.

Busquets is on for Mascherano.
WHERE IS BOJAN.
i hate it when they swap sides after half time.

fuck, busquets is diving again. i mean, yes it was a late challenge. but he needed have gone down. it annoys me just a bit when he does that. okay, some 5 minutes after he's "taken down" again. fucking hell. show some respect. 2 minutes later something is up and the medical staff are poking at his eye. think he's contacts are giving him trouble.

61 minutes in - Bojan is on for Pedro! did i just fast forward to this? maybe....

Iniesta is taken down in the box! no one ever gives penalties to Barca! not even a spot kick. but seriously, in 4 months, there has only been ONE penalty given to us, which Leo Messi took.

Xavi is off for Keita. Well, now that Ibi Afellay has signed for Barca, either he's going to be a bit of a waste of a signing or Keita will be permanently benched, or iniesta will have some rest time. But i will comment more on afellay later.

Fuck Messi's shot goes off the post. You know you can really see the power put into a shot when it's rebounding off the post.

LEO MESSI GOAAAALLLL! WHAT! that was amazing! he just runs around 5 defenders who just don't know what to do with him! Bojan passes to him, and he out runs 5 defenders who were IN FRONT of him. so lets put this on a linear view. If this was a race, of the 10 yards he just ran, the 5 defenders would've been paced one after another each about a yard a head of each other, and they all start running. Messi, at the start of the 10 yards would beat all of them.

BOJAN GOAL! YES! right that was amazing too! going to rewind it.... so he's running down top speed to the goal, takes a shot, it's saved and rebounded back to him, and then he just fires it to the back of the net. what a goal. Messi is the first one he hugs. obviously.

I was really impressed by how chilled Eric Abidal is all the time. it seems like nothing could actually annoy him. Probably just really experienced.
where was gerard pique? Alves was in the backling with puyol, maxwell and abidal. which also works, apparently.

and that's all. i need to go watch the arsenal v chelsea game now.

Barca - Espanyol - derby

1. Kick off! 14 seconds in and espanyol is already closing in the goal area, valdes is forced to make a save!

2. I think it's safe to say that I was quite worried about this game this week, because firstly, this is a derby, it does tend to get violent, and secondly, espanyol is in very good form.

3. AH CRAP! in a barca corner, busquets almost scores with a back flip-y thing. don't know what it's called. will look it up later. the ball was inches away from the net.

4. I just realised that im watching this with chinese commentry. ah.. much better.

5. Shit, Espanyol's cross in was offside, it was too close for comfort.

6. Messi's shot is over the bar. Alves should probably have scored it himself. Sometimes Barca players need to stop being so nice and selfless.

7. Busquests is cheating like there's no tomorrow. Typical. Maybe in addition to counting David Villa's offsides every week I'll also count Busquest's dives and fouls. Actually then i'd probably lose track by half time.

8. GOAL! PEDRO! Referee missed an espanyol injury. I hope he doesn't take the goal away. He's been down from Puyol's challenge, which looks like no foul. The referee is probably in trouble for this though, he should've stopped play.

9. Valdes is making saves miles away from the box. slightly worried about the giant gaping hole which is the goal left empty.

10. Busquets gets carded. What did i say earlier about him cheating... But in his defence some of the espanyol players need to man up a bit.

David Villa offside No. 1.

11. Messi is fouled. Leo Messi get a haircut, please.

12. fucking hell, this ref is a bit shit. Villa's shot very obviously deflected off an espanyol player. No corner is given. I say obviously because h

13. What now? XAVI (who has had a haircut) GOAL! Espanyol is firing up again. The goal is given nonetheless. 2 - 0.

14. The commentator just said "you can't take your eyes off this game at the moment" - He's actually right, I've been itching to get a drink since 10 minutes in.

15. Espanyol shot on target! wicked save from Valdes. Valdes pats him on the head. I love La Liga. Let's see the corner. It's not good.

16. Some weird shit going on here. A metre away from the goal Barca's defence seems to have managed to save a goal without the use of their goal keeper, but made a messy job of it. I don't see why they didn't just give it to Valdes though.

17. I'd like to see Barca come away tonight with a clean sheet. Because that add Espanyol on the list of sides which they have not conceded against. Messi's magic seems a bit run down today...

-------------- HALF TIME ---------------

18. Alves it putting up a fight with every decision of the ref. typical dani alves. I am now having a sinking feeling that Leo Messi won't score tonight.

19. Oh fucking hell. Seriously, needed to be a bit more selfish. Pedro should have scored instead of passing to Messi, instead it gets intercepted. When the season finishes and it comes down to goal difference Pedro will be looking at this again.

20. Pique picks up a yellow card. For once he walks away without putting up too much of a fight. Free kick intercepted by Leo Messi. Messi can defend, apparently.

21. Oh... Valdes Saves! Luis Garcia's shot is on target from a freekick from a foul from Pedro.

22. I really hope Messi scores or something dramatic happens before my cold medicine sets in and i get too dopey to care. But Espanyol is a good side and maybe i'm asking too much of him.

23. PEDRO SCORE! to give credit to Leo Messi's Jedi run. That goal should've been Messi's. The reason why i look at his goals as great importance is because i secretly favor him over pedro. and secondly because i really don't want cristiano ronaldo to win the pichichi.

24. OSVALDO SCORES! oh right, there's no clean sheet for Barca then. well, that's the first conceded goal in a very long time for Valdes. it's still 3 - 1 though, see if any more goals come in.

25 Shit, Leo Messi is down. What happend here? Ah, well, he's back on his feet now. All is cool. But what's this? Busquets is down... Referee gives a drop ball because Osvaldo was taken down earlier.

26. The fans are really taking against a stand against Dani Alves. Whenever he has the ball they just boo him. I am feeling sorry for him. It's not his fualt the referee didn't call a stop before the first goal.

27. Barcelona is forced to go into defensive play now. Espanyol looking a stronger side for the last 20 minutes.... worrying.

28. SHIT, pique's shot goes way way way way off. He really should've scored it. He's annoyed. I'm annoyed.

29. DAVID VILLA GOAL! Leo Messi's great assist and david villa finishes beautifully. 4 - 1.

30. Mascherano is on for Busquets. I reckon Guardiola should've done that some 20 minutes ago.

David Villa Offside No. 2.

31. DAVID VILLA BRACE! Here it comes again, typical Villa goal, it looks so easy but it's actually down to his rediculously well timed shots.

32. I'm somewhat worried that Leo Messi is falling into a playmaker role and will score less individual efforts. Bojan is on for Villa, again, Guardiola should've done it earlier.

FULL TIME. 5 - 1. good derby, good game. a bit annoyed about the conceded goal, and that Leo Messi didn't score, but all in all it was worth getting up at 2.30, freaking out and thinking it was 5 because my clock was set to another timezone, and thinking that i'd missed the game.

and yes, i realise that i'd missed out the Barca - Real Sociedad game, maybe one day i'll catch up on that one.

LATE GAME. Barcelona Osasuna

Am annoyed right now because the Spanish Football Federation messed with the timings and took back the approval for barcelona to postpone the match til tomorrow. and so they'd just made a crazy trip and went to zaragoza by train and off to a 200 km bus ride to pampola. insanity. so now they're here 49 minutes late. I hope no one gets motion sickness.

Barcelona has new away shorts! shame, i liked the blue ones...
am worried because osasuna has been unbeaten at home and they're looking like the better team a few minutes into the game.
ahaaa.. villa trips and misses his chance.
dude, i've seen this ref many time before...
oho shit so close villa is to scoring once again...
the icy pitch is not helping.
shit, osasuna is really doing well. barca can't hold posession in their own half.
pique has given away a free kick with a foul from a corner...
what! ref says no foul when messi is taken down.
and now osasuna is freaking out because they're asking for a penalty. i think he was diving.
i guess the fouls cancel each other out.
woho shit valdes accidently chucks the ball to the wrong person. lucky he redeems himself by saving it.
david villa offside No. 1.
the osasuna shit looks like a thermal undershit that people wear to ski.
pedro GOAAAL!!!! finally! 1 - 0. leo messi assist (i love leo messi). jedi run from him. and great timing from pedro. i hope messi scores tonight.
messi's shot hits the post. dammit.
pique just came in from the right of my screen. he looks giant.
TV dimentions are annoying because sometimes you think you're seeing the ball go left but it's actually going right.
camera zooms into the ref's finger... camera man, are you bored or something?
i'm annoyed at how all messi's shots are blocked or hitting the post.
icy slippery pitch is not helping anyone.
whoops i fell asleep at half time. it is 5 am anyway. and no goals have been scored since the first. it's now 52 minutes in.
Leo messi is less Jedi tonight...
Villa' shot is wide. annoyance.
Osasuna need to stop diving.
Guardiola is looking more mellow than usual. i wonder what's up.
it would certainly be awesome if leo messi could score a goal tonight.
oh right, just as i said that MESSI SCORES A GOAL! JEDDIIII. that was one crazy break there. insane speed. i feel a bit jedi for saying that at the right moment.
oho shit what a jedi run with no goal for messi. what a shame. it's one of those runs which we see in his goal against getafe
what a shame he doesn't score.
a bit of a fight type thing here, nothing like barca madrid one though. they reckon busquests has dived. but they weren't going for the ball either. so a yellow for each was a good decision.
dude what the fuck the linesmen is saying the ball's gone out when it hasn't.
dammit! villa SO close! AND onside!
Villa offside no.2. i may have missed one cosidering that i fell asleep.
looks like the camera man is playing with his extreme zoom again.
Villa's shot is saved.
Keita is on for Xavi. Mascherano is yet to see a game since a few games ago.
PENALTY! on messi! come on leo messi, COME ON. barca's first penalty all season OHO! YES. 3 - 0. and it looked. SO. EASY. okay i was so nervous just then that my legs just cramped up.
Villa's shot is blocked by ricardo agian.
substitutions to waste time, bojan on for villa and jeffern for pedro.
bojan's shot is wide! it was close though, would've been amazing.
FULL TIME 3- 0.
we see puyol taking his shirt off. he is, still, ripped, to the max.
so this game means barca will keep the lead on la liga no matter how real madrid plays tonight. and there were NO yellow cards!? strange.
i realise i haven't mentioned iniesta at all this game. he was amazing as usual and his hair is starting to grow into a faux hawk, but it's in its very early stages.