We've got Cesc Fabregas!

Sevilla 2 - Barcelona 3

Just can't play a game without controversy, can we? Once again, thanks to BeIN Sport not being on Time Warner, I watched the game via internet highlights and streamed commentary.

Without Pique and Puyol, Villanova was again forced to play Song and Mascherano at the back, and once again the defense was suspect and exploited by a good Sevilla side, who just two weeks ago beat Madrid. Sevillas first came in the 25th minutes when a cross deflected off Mascheranos boot and landed at the feet of Piotr Trochowski whose shot was given a very disappointing half hearted effort by Valdes. While an unfortunate bounce for Marscherano, Dani Alves HAS to do a better job of closing down. I'm not sure if he was screening Valdes, or if he was just being lazy, but it was a goal that could have had a better defensive effort behind it.

Sevillas second came after the break in the 53rd, when a poor Busquets pass turned it over in their own half, and allowed Negredo to cooly chip Valdes to put the Sanchez Pizjuan into full on rapture mode, 2 goals up against the undefeated league leaders, whom they haven't beaten in the last 5 attempts. Again, lazy defending from the defense, as Song didn't want to risk a red card and was quickly bumped off by Negredo on his was into the box. I can forgive Song, as he isn't a center-back (yet), and he isn't sure how much contact you can get away with in La Liga. Hopefully he will know now, that you can make more contact than that.

Five minutes after the Negredo goal, one Cesc Fabregas came through with his first goal since February for Barcelona, a 20 yard strike from the top of the box that beat Palop and lets FCB back into the game. Barcelona would need to show more than that to get points today though.

While watching the game updates online, this happened in the 72nd minute (courtesy of Goal.com),

'HANDBAGS AT THE SANCHEZ PIZJUAN!! A number of Sevilla players are surrounding the referee and it looks like Gary Medel has been sent off for the home side. Replays show the Sevilla man nudged his head into Fabregas' face off the ball, but the Barca man certainly made the most of it. Silly, silly behaviour from Medel. That is the last thing his side need as they look to hold on to what would be a huge three points against the side top of La Liga'

A spew of comments regarding acting, diving, making a meal out of it, etc, came flying out of the Sevilla camp.When reading the comments I had thought something like this had happened;

But instead this was the scene;

He didn't hit the ground grabbing at his face and writhing in pain, and his reaction is hardly overacting in your normal footy sense. Was there contact? Probably a touch, but I would hardly accuse Fabregas of being a deceitful, cheating, scumbag.

With Sevilla down to ten men, Barcelona would get themselves back into the game through none other than the Cule turned Gunner turned Cule. Fabregas scores his second of the match, in the 88th, saving a point for Barcelona! Again, not without controversy, as Tello appeared to make contact with the ball with his hand, but it was (rightfully) ruled incidental by the refs. The blame has to lay on Sevilla, as they were trying to bring the ball out of the back, surrounded by Barcelona players with only minutes left in the game. A wide clearance would have avoided the situation, but some nice buildup after the contact allowed Fabregas to finish from close range, Leo Messi with the assist.

With 4 minutes of injury time added, Barca would complete the come back through substitute David Villa. A give and go with Messi in the box sprung Villa free to finish from 6 yards.

Barcelona continues their perfect start, 6 games out of 6 and really puts the pressure on Madrid with EL CLASSICO! coming next Sunday. However, Barcelona must first travel to Portugal midweek for a Champions League encounter again Benfica.

¡Visca Blaugrana!

With so much drama in the LBC, it's kinda hard being the only FCB.

Barcelona 2 - Granada 0

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Promoted outfit comes to Nou Camp, Barca coast to an easy victory, it's all be written before. Maybe there is something in the world's water supply, but teammates are getting testy all over the world. It seems like Leo Messi and David Villa may be no different. It's not difficult to imagine some tension. David Villa, Spain's all time leading scorer who has made a career playing a center forward comes to Barca and now has to learn to play on the wing, because Messi is untouchable. Of course the Spanish sports media has a record of blowing things out of proportion, and it wasn't a bust up at all. It was a broken down play, and Messi felt Villa could have made the pass. Looking at the play, yes, he could have, but he was surrounded by 5 defenders, and wasn't a drop in the bucket pass.

It was a frustrating night over all for Barcelona, Granada did what all teams do, put 15 behind the ball, and waited for counter attacks, and there were a few nervy spots where Valdes had to come through. I'm not sure if Valdes gets too much credit for his role, or not enough. He is perfect for Barcas system. He can make a few absolutely incredible saves in a game, but if you really put him under pressure, he will make mistakes and cost them the game. It took nearly the full 90 minutes for Barca to crack the nut and it came from Xavi Hernandez.

Who apparently went Gangnam style. Barcelona put it away during injury time with a Messi cross into the box that was deflected in off a Granada defender to secure all three point and continue their perfect record in the league.

Alex Song has fit into the club nicely, here he is on the clubs invisible elliptical machine.

This weekend FCB have their first stern test of the regular season as the travel to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan to take on 4th place Sevilla. Visca Barca!

Victory in Europe!

So i've spent the last 15 minutes looking for a picture for the FCB wacky, wavy, inflatable tube men that they fire up after goals to no avail. Instead, I will continue the theme of Barcelona players giving no fucks about gravity.

Europe has started! Spartak Moscow visited the Camp Nou midweek to begin the CL group stages. It was a slightly nervy affair to begin Tito's European career. Barcelona got off to a solid start with a beautiful Tello goal just 15' into the game. Central defense seems to be the constant thorn in the side of this Barca squad. Pique went down with an injury just before Tello's goal, forcing a CD pairing of Mascherano and Alex Song. Yipes. Spartak exposed the Barca defense forcing Dani Alves into giving up an own goal following a disastrous clearing in the box. However, Alves shows he certainly is in sync with his keeper, with their synchronized tumbles and recovery following the goal. Stuff worth watching the video for. Spartak grabbed the lead an hour in when Romulo finished a counter-attack off by slipping through the defense and slotting past Valdes in a goal given far too easy, and a goal you usually see Barcelona scoring, not giving up. With a 2-1 lead and Spartak happy to defend, it looked like Barcelona's long unbeaten European home run might come to an end. The last home loss was against Rubin Kazan, a 2-1 defeat in the CL group stage in 2009. With 20 minutes left if was the talisman to the rescue as Messi poked in a gimme after a nice cutting run by Tello. With a point in hand, Barca wanted all three to start the European campaign and in the 80th minute, Messi struck again, this time heading from close range to seal the win for FCB. Highlights! Not in English, not even in Spanish, but hey, it's in HD. Unai Emery, former Valencia coach and Spartak made a game of it, and the away fixture will be difficult, but we travel there before winter really settles in, so I expect at least a point from that fixture.

With a perfect record in the league and in Europe, I don't want to say there is a defensive 'crisis', but a back four of Adriano, Song, Mascherano, and Alves doesn't quite instill a lot of confidence. Abidal is still recovering from his liver transplant, and Puyol might be out until mid-October.  Piques injury appears to be a foot sprain and might keep him out for the next two league games as well as the trip to Benfica. Hopefully he will return before the Classico. Jordi Alba should be returning shortly to help on the wing. I expect Marc Bantra to get a look in the league game against Granada on Saturday, but Barcelona should already be looking at who is available during the winter window.

Barcelona host Granada this Saturday and look to keep their perfect domestic record in tact. Week 5 in La Liga has some good games on the docket, with Mallorca hosting Valencia, Malaga traveling to Athletic Bilbao, and Real Madrid still looking for their first away win at Rayo Vallecano. I can only hope their nightmare continues.

See you next time!

Liga de Campones. Oh, and Barca went to Madrid, and won!

Life has been hectic, and thanks to BeIN not being carried on Time Warner, my ability to watch Barcelona live has been difficult. Last weekend saw what could have been a tricky away fixture go Barca's way. Traveling to Getafe coming off an international break that saw Messi, Villa, and Dani Alves on the bench to start the game. An early Adriano strike gave Barca the lead going into the half, and they refused to let the Burger Kings into the game. Messi brought his invisible bike (which he now rides with no hands) and scored two off the bench, with Villa getting on the score sheet as well. A late own goal courtesy of Javier Mascherano gave Getafe a glimmer of hope, but it would not be their day in the Capitol.

Oh look, I can add videos too! Interactive Blog, ENGAGE!

Looking ahead, in La Liga, Barcelona will enjoy a spell of 10 days off as this weekend they do not play a league game, having drawn a Wednesday Champions League match against Spartak Moscow, set to kick off in a few short hours.

A quick look at the top and bottom of the La Liga table
1. Barcelona       12 pts  4-0-0
2. Malaga           10 pts  3-1-0
3. Mallorca         8 pts    2-2-0
4. Sevilla            8 pts    2-2-0
5. Ath. Madrid   7 pts     2-1-0
6. Rayo Vall.      7 pts     2-1-1

Where's Real Madrid? Surely I have forgotten the Blancos, no?

Oh, here they are.

12. Real Madrid   4 pts 1-1-2

I'll be back after a Barcelona win to kick off the 2012-2013 Champions League!

Victory!, and CL predictions.

Yes, as if he doesn't have everything in the world, Leo Messi has an invisible bike, and he rides it during league games. (also, even though it's super easy, i just learned how to put in pictures. chances are I will abuse this feature.)

I was on holiday this weekend, so I missed out on the Valencia match, but from all reports, and having watched Adriano's super strike, it was a deserved win for Barca. These 1-0 wins always make me nervous, more so when team strikes woodwork 2 or 3 times, and finds a counterattack leaves them with a single point. This was the same Los Che who gave Madrid fits, holding them to a draw, and they surely deserve better than their current 17th place standing, only 3 game into the season.

The 2012-2013 UEFA CL Draw has came and went. I wanted to wait until after the weekend, for the last deadline transfers to come through and then address the draw, rather than speculate on who might go where, case in point, Hulk, whom everyone believed was going to Chelsea, ends up in Zenit, who then stops their pursuit of MUFCs Nani, whom everyone assumed was headed to Zenit himself. So, onwards, to the draw and predictions.

Group A: Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Paris St Germain, Dinamo Zagreb.

Speaking of the Brazilian attacker, his shipping off to Zenit will most likely affect Porto's ability to get out of the group stage. Portuguese teams are very difficult at home, but you need points on the road to advance. PSG would be a massive disappointment if they did not go through, but in a fairly weak group I do not expect them to finish anywhere other than first. PSG and Kiev to advance.

Group B: Arsenal, Schalke, Olympiakos, Montpellier.

Arsenal through, provided they can find the net, but even then they shouldn't have too difficult a time. I don't know if Schalke has the manpower for Europe anymore, and the Greeks can be tough to crack at home. Frogs are frogs. Arsenal and the Greeks to advance.

Group C: AC Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, Anderlecht, Malaga.

Deceptive group. With Zenit getting crazy on the last day of the transfer window, they sealed a place in the knock out rounds. Anderlecht will hopefully enjoy their short stay in the Champions League, leaving the top two places to be hotly contested. Milan seem to have gotten off to a fine start in Serie A, with a significant shake up in the starting XI, seeing Ibra leave, and bringing in the likes of Cassano, Bojan, and De Jong. It's crazy to pick against AC Milan, as they always over perform in the CL, so I will take them and Zenit, leaving big spending Malaga out.

Group D: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund.

I guess this is the 'group of death', although i don't see anyone but Madrid and City going through. Dortmund offloaded Kagawa, and Ajax is a good club, but the Dutch domestic league is quite a ways away from Liga and the EPL.

Group E: Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, FC Nordsjaelland.

This could be an interesting group, for whatever reason, nobody I know is high on Juve, despite their incredible year in Serie A last season. Di Matteo is off to a good start domestically, but this will be his first time managing a group stage along with the regular EPL schedule. Juve get stuck traveling to Donesk in December for their last group stage game. If they don't have their spot tied up by then, they could be in big trouble. Chelsea and Juve to advance.

Group F: Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille, BATE Borisov.

Poor suffering Valencia will be the story in this group. Early in La Liga they held Madrid to a draw and Barcelona to a single goal, but find themselves 17th in the table early on. Soldado is a fantastic striker, and I expect him to be near the top in group stage goals. Valencia should make up for their terrible group stage showing last year by making it to the knock out rounds. Should be Bayern and Valencia, no problem.

Group G: Barcelona, Benfica, Spartak Moscow, Celtic.

Poor Celtic. They finally make it to the group stage and draw Barcelona. The two clubs share some history, mostly Catholicism and the hatred of Protestants. Expect the crowds to be electric for these two games. Barcelona face another trip to Russia, although in early November, hopefully the temps won't be so cold as to affect the play. Barcelona clearly goes through, but the other three are a crapshoot. With the Russian domestic schedule, it will probably hurt Moscow more than help. As much as I want Celtic to advance, i see the sneaky shitbag cunt Portuguese getting through.

Group H: Manchester United, Braga, Galatasaray, CFR Cluj.

Oh look, Manchester United draws another group of death! For whatever reason, I like Cluj to nip a spot out of this group. United and the Romanians.

Barcelona are on international break, but are back against Getafe next weekend, before starting the CL campaign against Spartak Moscow. The Burger Kings beat Madrid early in the Liga season and may be solely responsible for Christina current bout of depression.