Game, Set, & Match: Barça!

Unforgettable: what happened this past Saturday in the Santiago Bernabeu will not be forgotten ever by football fans around the world. Saying that Barça had been superior to Madrid in terms of their game was a statement that needed to be confirmed and Guardiola and his players were responsible to show the world that without any shadow of doubt they were the best team. In the 50s there was the Barça of the 5 cups -the best Barça to date in the writer’s opinion- then the Barça of Cruyff (player) is remembered for the 0-5 in the Bernabeu; then there was the Dream Team of Cruyff, now the coach, who’s remembered for many things such as the first champions league title and the 5-0 against Madrid at home; lastly we had the Barça of Frank Rijkaard which was a team called to make history but died sooner than they expected; they will always be remembered as the team that brought the second champions league title and the one that beat Madrid 0-3 at the Bernabeu the day that the Madrid’s fan cheered for Ronaldinho. Now Guardiola’s team has entered history; they will always be remembered for the 2-6 victory at the Bernabeu. The display of football as an art is appreciated even by the most ultra fans of Real Madrid.

Only 2 New Faces: Comparing this game to what happened a year ago when the Catalans lost 4-1 to Madrid one may think that Guardiola did an intensive renovation of the team bringing new faces and getting rid of many but the truth is that Pep used only two new players yesterday: Alves and Pique. Henry, Eto’o, Messi, Xavi, Abidal, Toure, Iniesta, Puyol, & Valdes were playing for this team last year. This goes to show that what Barcelona needed was not a new philosophy of playing or new players but a strict working ethic. Pep is a coach who was being blamed of lack of experience; however, he acts as a veteran coach guarding every single small detail. Against Madrid, he cracked down were the weak points were and placed Messi in that spot- in between the defensive mid-fielder and the center back- and to do this he had to “sacrificed” Eto’o in the right wing. The strategy worked to perfection and shows that Guardiola spent hours figuring out how to beat Madrid. His next job is not to see how Chelsea plays because he has done that already; instead, he has to fix the problems that his defence is having with corners and free kicks.

Next Objective = Rome: with La Liga almost won and the objective in the king’s cup already achieved- being in the final- the next objective is to eliminate Chelsea at Stanford Bridge in two days. This team deserves to be in the final of the champions’ league but deserving it is not enough and just like they did against Real they have to prove it against Chelsea. Whether the final is won or not is not something they have to think about; the objective has to be a place in the final as it shows that you were a direct championship contender. The biggest concern that Guardiola has is that Marquez is out for the rest of the season and Puyol is serving a suspension so he will only have Pique. Some suggest that Toure will be used as center back and other suggest that Caceres will have the opportunity of a lifetime to shine. Whatever happen I’m confident that this team has the tools to make it to Rome… a 1-1 will do.