Andddddd moving on.

I don't think in the last 5 years i've ever described a Barcelona match as an unmitigated disaster. Of course, there is a first time for everything. In probably the worst 45 minutes i've ever watched them play, Barca gave away a trophy to Madrid, losing 2-1 in the second leg of the Spanish Supercup.

Now, not everything is doom and gloom, as once we get over the two goals given up and a red card in the first half hour, it actually became an entertaining match. The two goals were absolute fuck ups on the center pairing of Mascherano and Pique, the latter whom continues to insist he hasn't lost a step over the last year. They missed their Captain dearly today and Higuain and Ronaldo both put balls past Valdes. Ronaldo's goal in particular (his fifth straight in game against FCB) made Pique look the fool and Valdes simply ran out of miracle saves for the day. Once Adriano got shown off for dragging down Ronaldo as the last man, a defensive switch finally got the game under control, and as the clock ticked towards half time, Messi scores an absolute cracker from a free kick to tie the aggregate at 4-4. Even though the score would hold through the second half, and Madrid takes the cup on away goals rule, Barca put up a hell of a second half fight. They kept possession, made some great runs, and had a handful of excellent scoring opportunities. Iker Casillas once again was the whites savior, making incredible stops when Madrid should have put their foot on the throat and killed the game up a man, but credit Barcelona and a real turn around from Mascherano who did everything he could defensively to make up for his earlier mistake. While the trophy would be nice, Barca is off to a great start in the league, 5 points ahead of Madrid (with only 36 to play!) and they can be proud of the effort they put in when everything was going backwards for them. Naturally, commentators and message board posters want Pep back, and Pique sold, but that's garbage. Both Barcelona and Madrid's newest summer signings made debuts as Song and Modric came on within minutes of each other, and while Song will have to wait a little longer for his first trophy, Modric is celebrating a trophy tonight after 15 minutes on the job.

Moving on, tomorrow is the group stage draw of the Champions League! Every year I make a pathetic attempt at trying to guess the completely (or is it?!) random drawing of the teams. Here is what my magic 8 ball came up with this year.

Group A:
Milan (ITA)
Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
Paris Saint-Germaine (FRA)
Malaga (ESP)

Group B:
Chelsea (ENG)
Braga (POR)
Galatasaray (TUR)
Borussia Dortmund (GER)

Group C: (group of deathhhhhhhh, basically whoever gets Juventus will be considered group of death)
Bayern Munich (GER)
Manchester City (ENG)
Juventus (ITA)
Nordsjaelland (DEN)

Group D:
Barcelona (ESP)
Benfica (POR)
Anderlecht (BEL)
Celtic (SCO)

Group E:
Arsenal (ENG)
Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)
Ajax (NED)
BATE Borisov (BLR)

Group F:
Real Madrid (ESP)
Shaktar Donesk (UKR)
Olympiacos (GRE)
Montpellier (FRA)

Group G:
Manchester United (ENG)
Valencia (ESP)
Lille (FRA)
Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)

Another update before the weekend once the real draw occurs, and my thoughts on it.

Mes que un club!