Oh. Hi, Barcelona.

By: Al | February 28th, 2009

I’m not excited to see Atlético face Barcelona any more, to be quite honest. This is the final showdown against FC Barcelona this season, unless a Champions League miracle happens and we meet in the next round, which is nightmare-worthy. To make ourselves feel better, we were finally proved that Barcelona isn’t invincible after all, and their funny (but unfortunate) loss last weekend gave inferior teams at least some hope that this team could be defeated. As a realist, I have to admit that a “Barça in the slumps” is better than a hungry Atleti squad.

Atletico probably isn’t going to win tomorrow. Even if Barça just came off a loss in the Liga and a 1-1 draw against Lyon, it doesn’t make them any less dangerous than they really are. The Atlético folk have underestimated them 3 times so far into the season, and if you tally up all the goals scored so far into the season, Barcelona wins 11-3. (Another useless statistic: Victor Valdes has been scored on 16 times by Atlético during his career).

I could sit here and praise Barça all day, but I’m tired of them already. They’re at least fun to watch, and I respect the fact that they have so many youth products in their first team. They’re the “lesser of the evils” within the G14 because they’re not as money hungry as other teams.

I’m not going to go too into detail about Barcelona. Everyone knows by now…

-Watch out for Messi
-Eto’o likes to score
-Dani Alves plays as a striker when he plays a defender
-Rafa Marquez is a stud

I can’t stress enough how important this match is. We can look at its importance in three ways:

If Barcelona wins, it will be the fourth time they beat us this season, and three losses are already humiliating enough. Villarreal and Valencia may pick up points and will distance themselves further from us. On a positive note, Real Madrid’s chase to Barça will be delayed, which is good because we don’t want them to win.

If Atlético wins, we will be on Cloud 9. We will prove to everybody that we are truly a great team (which no one likes to believe) by defeating the first place team. Barca fans will start to get nervous and will type long analysis reports as if they are going through a crisis. Abel Resino will be hailed as a tactical genius (hah) and Enrique Cerezo will tell the press one more time that Kun Aguero is going nowhere. Also, the annoying smirk on Joan Laporta’s face will be wiped off for a few days.

If both teams draw, it will be a mixture of both previously-mentioned scenarios. Assuming Real Madrid wins at Espanyol (which I doubt), that will cut Barca’s lead to 5 points and their fans will type long analysis reports as if they are going through a crisis. Villarreal and Valencia may pick up points and will distance themselves further from us. Abel Resino will leave us waiting for more and our confidence won’t change a bit.

On the Atlético side of things…

One of the reasons that I don’t think Atlético will win tomorrow is because of Abel Resino. His “push players up” offensive approach only did wonders once, when we demolished Recreativo a few weeks ago, and since then the team still hasn’t improved much. Atlético absolutely cannot try to push any defender up since the wings are one of Barcelona’s strongest areas. No need to “park the bus” but just leave the offense to Simao and Maxi.

And please Abel, don’t substitute Kun Aguero early this time. If there’s anyone on the pitch that will be hungriest to win, it’ll be him. Who cares if baby Benjamin kept him up all night, play him play him play him.

Prediction: Barcelona win. No score prediction from me, but we’re a disaster waiting to happen (or has already happened) and Barcelona will try to bounce back after the Espanyol loss.

Roster:

PORTEROS
1 Coupet.
25 Leo Franco.

DEFENSAS
2 Seitaridis.
3 Antonio López.
5 Heitinga.
17 Ujfalusi.
22 Pablo Ibáñez.

CENTROCAMPISTAS
8 Raúl García.
11 Maxi Rodríguez.
12 Paulo Assunção.
16 Éver Banega.
18 Maniche.
19 Miguel de las Cuevas.
20 Simão.
24 Ignacio Camacho.

DELANTEROS
7 Forlán.
10 Kun Agüero.
14 Sinama-Pongolle.

If we’re lucky, we’ll see another newspaper front page that looks like this:

“i’m a barca fan, but…”

As Barcelona readers like to stop by this blog, “mi casa es tu casa” for this match. You can use this post as a comment box and say whatever you want. Have a seat on the couch, chips and drinks are on the table, and don’t mind that pretty lady that just walked out of the bathroom. I’ve never seen her before, I swear.