El Clasico (1/4)

OH MY GOD. EL CLASICO! the first of the four in 18 days and our captain puyol is back!
Ew the bernabau is so quiet and just.... snobbish. what's with this weird atomosophere.
PUYOL IS STARTING. i can't believe he is. it's been too long omg!
0' KICK OFF OMGGGG.
0' 13 seconds in and benzema fouls busquets. free kick for barca...
1' no! madrid is in posession...
2' Pepe is down! Busquets fouled him.... why is Pepe in midfield...
2' Pepe fouls Xavi. this is just ridiculous.
3' Ha! the ball rolls out and Marcelo and Messi were running after, Marcelo takes the linesmen down.
4' Cristiano is running fown the side and he has space! Adriano clears it out...
4' Busquets! yet another ball out onto the sidelines... this is the second one in 4 minutes.
5' Xabi is annoyed that no kick was given for Alves' challenge on him... did look like he dived a bit though. Im not lying, i do actually like him as a player... still think of him as a liverpool player rather than madrid.
7' Foul given for a challege on Pepe by Xavi. Actually he didn't touch him, Xavi is teasing the ref. Typical Xavi :D
8' Adriano booked! for a block on khedira..... maybe a free kick, not worth a booking. i'm kind of annoyed already.
9' Ronaldo takes it, it's about 25 yards out! He's going for goal! Valdes holds it safely in his hands! oh that was close.... looked like his tan was coming loose there in the close up, and for the record, he IS orange.
10' Xavi clips it over all the Madrid defense for Dani Alves but he's offside...
11' Hard to tell who's going better at the moment.... God the lighting in the stadium is so weird. It makes everything look.... illuminated.
11' Ronaldo makes a run but his ex-teammate Pique just clears it easily
12' Adriano rolling on the ground in exaggeration of a late challenge by Sami Khadira.
13' Ronaldo almost puts it through the Barca defence but Puyol is the one to clear it! :')
13' Marcelo being fouled by Messi. He is actually just tapped on the back by his hand and Marcelo is sent flying towards the ground..... theatrics....
15' Iniesta puts it over the top for Pedro but it's over and it's a goal kick for Casillas.
16' the tiki taka at it's best.. 126 completed passes by barcelona and 20 passes by madrid. 126, 16 minutes in!
18' Iniesta's ball comes in over to Leo Messi! He gets through the defense and he's one on one with Casillas! Casillas makes the save as expected as Messi tries to clip it over him. Ah, good try though
19' Pedro flicks it through to Iniesta but he can't control it and Casillas has it again.
20' Di Maria with the ball, here's Puyol on him, Puyol clears it! did he just... the commentator..... HIS NAME IS CARLES, NOT CARLOS.
21' Di Maria takes the corner and after Xabi wins the header Bezema takes a shot and Valdes can't hold on to it and it's another corner.
22' This time pique makes a clearence and it's the third corner in 2 minutes. Ronaldo goes for the header and it's over the bar.
23' Pique takes Ronaldo down! Some shit is cooking up..... my tv signal is weak. Ronaldo isn't fouled from the replay. Iniesta is taken down.
25' Pepe handballs and a foul is given against him. Good thing too, pepe was near...
25' Casillas takes Villa down in the box, Villa is furious! he's shouting at the ref! Pique is too! Pique is booked! Replay says Casillas didn't touch the ball! It SHOULD'VE been a penalty!!!! i swear to god if we're down by one goal at the end of this....
26' Iniesta fouled from all directions....
28' I really wish the commentator would stop calling him "carlos" puyol.
28' Pique clears the ball and it's a corner! Di Maria takes it... he gets the ball back and he goes for a shot... it's over the bar.
30' Marcelo handballs, Messi asks for a yellow card, he gets what he wants, Marcelo's reactions are actually commical.
32' Okay, what the fuck. Madrid with lots of posession. Barca have tried to get the ball back but it keeps getting back to Madrid. and then the commentator calls Xavi Pique. and Messi comes back to defend, and then he calls Barcelona the red and purple shirts. PURPLE. PURPLE and red shirts. BARCELONA THE BLAUGRANAS.
34' Cristiano with a shot but it hits Pique and Vales catches the rebound off him.
36' Puyol takes Marcelo down who's taking a shot.... just outside the box. Both Puyol and Valdes are smiling because the ref was right there and nothing was given.
38' God Busquets actually keeps on his feet.... oh wait no he's down now. and he didn't have to. typical.
39' Villa tries a long shot but Casillas gets on the end of it. As expected.
40' Messi is on the ground holding his face..... what was going on here. Iniesta helps him out. Xabi Alonso catches him in the face with a leg or something.
42' Macelo looks like he's in pain... we'll see if he makes it to the second half.
43' Messi's shot is good but Casillas makes the save! What a shot! he's trailled by 3 defenders! and what a save as well!
44' Khedira wins a corner.... come on! oh wow, what just happend.... Dani Alves is down..Ramos got the header, Cristiano heads it and Valdes oh makes a save!
45' Barca with a counter attack, oh! messi is with the ball, gets it to Villa, Villa slows down as everyone gets back in defense for Madrid. shit. it goes way wide.

Half time!
Why oh why video replay.... you make me so angry watching the injustice of football over and over again. I can just imagine if it was a penalty, and Villa scored. Whatever, im trying not to focus on it. If we keep dwelling on the what ifs, then what if i supported madrid. HAHA. i can't even imagine.

45' Second half! im toasting something... going to run off to get it soon.
45' we're being dominated.... it's almost as if we're losing. mentality wise....
47' Dani Alves taken down by Di Maria....
47' Shit, Ozil is warming up!
48' Cristiano dived! he dived and there's a free kick at the 18 yard box! FUCKKKKK.
49' He takes the shot and it's just on the post! the angle the shot it from looks like the one they do on Fifa 10...
50' Villa is down. No foul.
51' UN PENAL. ARBIOL IS GIVEN A RED CARD! OMFGGGGG. HE MADE A SHIT FOUL ON VILLA OMG. MESSI IS TAKING IT. IM DYING. COME ON! Messi against Casillas....OMG
GOAL. GOAL. 1 - 0. I think i want to scream. but i won't, everyone is asleep. it's 5.10 am. MESSI. Puyol comes in for a hug, he lifts Messi up. oh. wow. that. If anything. Messi vs Casillas... a meeting of the greatest at this given time. Wow. Wow. Messi finally scores against Mourinho's side. Madrid have 10 men from this point on...
54' Messi pushes it through to Villa and Pepe takes the ball off him. Pepe is now at centre back. Obviously.
55' Keita and Ozil waiting to come on.
56' Puyol is down... he's out for treatment. oh dear. he's still down. the stretcher is here. oh no. no. no. no. no. no. no. no. no. no.
no.
no.
no. he's carried off.
57' Keita is on for him now.
60' Ball goes forward to david villa but it's too far from him.... Puyol is sitting on the floor instead of the bench to stretch it out. Life is shit for him. At least the football life is.
61' Xavi swings one in from afar and it hits the crossbar. so close.
62' Xavi is fouled and taken down by khedira.
63' Urgh, messi flicks it on for Villa but he tries to get it back with a backheel and Madrid cuts it out.
64' Carvalho comes in for a shot and Pique just dives in to put it out for a clearence.
65' Corner, Di Maria takes it, Pepe tries to go for goal but only gets the side netting.
65' Alonso is coming off for Adebayor... XABI ALONSO IS COMING OFF? Pedro is off for Afellay, hey, it's his first clasico!
67' Gr! Villa is running after the ball and he gets a shot but it's over...
68' Adebayor almost has a chance but it just rolls over to victor valdes.
68' Ball through to Messi but just gets to iker casillas again.
70' not sure what that was. Messi with the ball and pepe just whacks him with his hands on his back. what...
70' Villa! oh god that was weak. just straight to iker... again.... could've been good. but nooo. he has to continue his goal drought apparently.
71' Guardiola shouting so loud that if i understood catalan i would be able to understand what he just said.
72' Ball gets run out by Afellay. Ronaldo just falls striaght onto him.
73' Iniesta is taken down.... he just flips over. interesting. in a bad way.
75' oof. villa fouls khedira... just pushes him out. he needs to chill the fuck out.
76' Arbeloa is booked for a poor challenge.
77' Iniesta is stopped for foul. Not sure why.... hey his hair is actually growing. Ronaldo taking the free kick from about 20 yards out. WHY THE FIFA GAME FREE KICK ANGLE. he takes a shot, it goes over the crossbar. :)
Valdes is flipping out. his teammates decided to wuss out and parted the wall.
78' Adebayor is down, Alves is booked..... it's another madrid free kick. Ozil is taking it. it's kind of shit. Ramos can't get to it at all.
79' Final change at the bernabau with adriano coming off for maxwell.
80' BOLLOCKS SHIT. VALDES IS BOOKED! D: MADRID HAS A PENALTY. ALVES WITH A LUNGE AT MARCELO. WHAT THE FUCK. OKAY. COME ON COME ON VALDES. CRISTIANO RONALDO GOAL. IT"S 1 - 1 AT 81 MINUTES.
83' Keita is down... pepe just elbows him in the back. come on barca. hurry up....
83' I am going to think of this as a 6 minute game from now.
84' Messi goes for the ball from Xavi's pass but iker gets there first! okay. i'm freaking out now.
85' what a mess. Messi goes for goal but is taken down just before. ball goes back to iniesta. goes for goal. it goes. wide.
86' stunning chance for villa but iker makes an amazing save. sigh, iker, why must you be so good.
87' Ramos blocks messi off and nothing is given. Messi takes the ball off Ramos and it's a free kick for madrid. messi is furious. i would be too.
89' Adebayor squares it for Khedira and Valdes makes a crucial save for barcelona.
89' Afellay goes for goal and it's just over the bar.
90' four minutes extra time. i think it's unethical for them to show statistics just on messi against ronaldo. it's not a game for just those two. If anything.... it's as valid as showing stats of dani alves... against sergio ramos.
91' Messi smacks the ball into the stands. Pepe tells him to use his head.... a bit of a fuss... Xavi is booked for saying something at the ref.
93' Bollocks. it's the final whistle. what a bollocks game. Pique is pissed off. i don't blame him. So the whole second half was basically everyone getting nowhere with attacks because the goalkeepers of both sides are too good. right.

okay, away draw. not that bad. the worst thing about this game, the WORST BY A MILE, IS PUYOL PICKING UP ANOTHER INJURY. THAT IS. THE WORSE. SHIT. EVER. HIS FIRST GAME IN THREE MONTHS. THE BARCELONA CAPTAIN IS OUT AGAIN. COME ON. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS SHIT!? THIS WAS. SUCH. A. GRR.
AND TO GO DOWN AT 81 MINUTES. WE'RE ONLY 8 POINTS AHEAD. WE NEED THIS.
i'm not going to lie and say i wasn't frustrated by the game or annoyed by the fact that the only goals were penalties. but i'm not going to say it wasn't worth watching either. all in all, it was a pretty shit game. we didn't take the oppertunities that we could have and madrid drew with us with 10 men. whether this affects us in the long run with the league title is something that cannot be told from this point in time so we can leave it. in a way, a draw at the bernabau is not so bad anyway, but seriously, 10 men, and a draw? and don't get me started on the ref.
either way, 3 more to go, we better get through to the champions. just saying.
sigh. i will stop ranting.

FIFA Ballon D'or

Last night was spectacular.
Barca had:
1 Ballon D'or
1 Coach nomination
3 finalists for Ballon D'or
6 Players in the World XI

Lionel Messi wins the first ever Fifa Ballon D'or, having won both last year. Congrats to Messi! It would've been great if either three of them had won it, mostly because none of them would be as great as they are without each other.
It was strange; In the video for the nominees, Messi was in Xavi's video, Xavi was in Iniesta's video, and Xavi was in Messi's video. But a part of me wanted Xavi to win it, because he's 30 and he did play very well this year, being crucial to both Spain and Barcelona.

And then there was the World XI. All the players who were shortlisted from Barca: Pique, Puyol, Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Villa, managed to take a spot in the top XI. which is more than half of the spots available. Of course Cristiano Ronaldo was also in it. As a matter of fact i reckon in the real world it wouldn't work out. Ronaldo's huge ego will stir up Villa's temper and it would probably end with Villa strangling Ronaldo who will complain about a tiny scratch on his face that he got from it.

And Pep Guardiola lost out to Mourinho. I must admit that although Mourinho was too much of a diva to show up to the press conference, I am not angry nor surprised about this. He's managed to take up teams that aren't winning trophies at all, and turned them into world champions. Pep takes a team with the best players in the world, and even if they had won the club world cup, it isn't really an indication of being a good coach. Not enough at least.

To sum it up, at this moment I am incredibly proud to be a supporter of FC Barcelona, and am very glad that the magical football they play every week was recognised by such prestigious awards last night.

And finally, i think it's worth saying that Lionel Messi makes me proud to simply exist in the same time frame as him, and in many years forward i hope that i will be telling others that I'd witnessed his incredible football, as well as his incredible humbleness. It's very rare that someone with such recognition is able to stay as modest as he has.

Levante - Barcelona.

Messi is in the stands. oh i am angry now. why was he given special permission to stay on holiday! GAH!
dani alves has shaved his head.
Milito isn't playing even though he is fit.
Bojan is starting for the first time in the league for months.
and this game will be posted in 2 parts because i need to get up early tomorrow and shouldn't be watching his at all.

this first part is live.
5 minutes in: 0 - 0.

1.Bojan's size plays him down a bit as he's pushed around a little bit. For the first few minutes he still hasn't completely gotten control over the ball yet.
2. Villa takes the stranges pass which went about 15 metres up and only 2 metres across.
3. Iniesta takes a short and it is saved by the levante goal keeper.
4. Xavi takes a shot from distance and it is again saved.
5. now I am annoyed because the commentator is listing the absensces of Barcelona and didn't mention Leo Messi. GRAH.
6. Iniesta's cross to Bojan is overshot and is taken by the keeper.
7. David Villa's shot is wide after a great run.
8. Just wanted to point out that Levante's home kit is actually the same colours as the Barca home kit. how annoying. but obviously they're in their away kit at the moment.
9. what a horrible moment. on the counter attack levante forwards are tearing after the ball, but only to be beaten by abidal who passes it to goal keeper Valdes. Valdes passes it back but it was taken by Levante and they almost take a shot. Valdes redeems himself by making a save.
10. Pique, Puyol and Afellay are in the stands. Ibi is looking bored as fuck. I assume that until Afellay learns spanish or catalan he'll be pretty stuck to pique.
11. Commentator says that Lavente is on the tall side. no, Barcelona are on the short side.
12. Barca are asleep and Levante take advantage of the situation and are looking threatening. Abidal does well to clear. Levante are appealing for a penalty. None given. We literally have no central defense today anyway. With Pique on suspension, Puyol injured and Milito still not match fit.
13. Villa's free kick is sent over the crossbar.
14. Pique is on his blackberry in the stands. The commentator is wondering whether he's posting on twitter, saying that he is a pretty regular poster on social networking sites. I am now going to find out.
15. Bojan clashes with two Levante players in a
16. Iniesta is in the sidelines just having a bit of attention from the physios. Dear god i hope he isn't injured.
17. Shit, Bojan misses two chances when Iniesta's ball goes to him, onces when it rebounds off the keeper's save, and one off the defender. They do have a corner though.
18. After a series of fumbles iniesta's goes to ball to bojan and the shot is missed, dropping to Alves, who is literally about a quarter of a foot from the goal and shoots it WIDE. what a waste.
19. shit, everyone is failing. Valdes is forced to make a save because of the slack defense. We're missing the wall in defense that is Carles Puyol.
20. Alves is diving. he isn't even touched.
21. This is incredibly frustrating. at 32 minutes no one has scored.
22. In a replay it shows Bojan was fouled and completely ignored by the referee.
23. Again, missed chances again and again from Bojan and Pedro. In the replay it shows Bojan mouthing something that looked like "I AM SHORT" and looking very, very annoyed. Obviously it was in Catalan and i am a terrible lip reader and even if i wasn't I can't understand catalan.
24. Our attack is simply being completely SLACK. every pass and every cross is just completely off.

5 minutes left in this half.

25. Bojan's shot is deflected off Robuste, captain of Levante tonight, and he seems to have a concussion. He's up and okay now.
26. Why are Barca forcing all these corners? the ONLY tall player to take headers is pique and he's off. What needs to happen now is for Xavi and Mascherano to stop fucking around in the midfield and actually get some balls into the penalty area without Bojan and Villa fucking up.
27. I swear to God the commentator just said "best chance of the game, almost put pique off his penis" Oh, a replay shows he was referring to Pique dropping his peanut and picking it back up to eat it off the floor. nice. nice.
DAVID VILLA IS OFFSIDE.
28. some stuff is going on here. Bojan looks fouled or something. Not sure. Either he's booked for complaining to the ref, or the Levante player is booked for fouling him.

HALF TIME.
Commentator said Barcelona were suffering from a holiday hangover... HA.
Apparently it was Nano who got carded, not Bojan, before the half time.

PEDRO! SCORE! Alves was waiting... and waiting.... and waiting....and threaded the ball through 4 defenders, Pedro obviously thinking on his feet scored it. shit, i forgot i was writing in lists.

29. Thiago is on for Mascherano. cool. hope the Barca B player does well today.
30. Shit, Bojan went down and got kicked in the chest. He seems fine though, no foul given either.
31. Thiago instantly with a shot from distance. It's of course saved by the brilliant keeper Reina from Levante.
32. Pedro got whacked in the gut. Looks painful. Free kick is given. Xavi better not fuck this up. Shot taken and saved.
33. Close save by Victor Valdes. thank god they didn't equalise.
34. PEDRO GOAL! superb. That was from outside the box as well. Dani alves assist. Impressive to the maximum. I must say he's one of the most underated players in La Liga.
35. Levante are a loud side. Their shouts can be picked up beyond the crowd and commentator.
36. Bojan goes down. No foul.
37. AHH BOJAN IS OFF! no goal for krkic... what a shame. Keita is on for him. it was not a good game for Bojan today. Sorry.
38. Thiago with great control and speed there. It's a shame Pedro's shot hits the bar.
39. Milito is warming up! yes! the commentator lied to me, saying he wasn't match fit.
okay. first part out. sign off time 67.47.
first part will be posted first, and then later edited to finish the game off.

EDIT: sorry, i realise that i was meant to get back to this. but either way everyone knows it ended 2 - 1, Levante having scored in the last 5 minutes or so. I would say this victory is a bit of a stretch, too close for comefort, as well as Barca's cup quater final 0 - 0, 1 - 1, just barely pushing through with away goals. not sure what's going on lately...

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.