OK, OK. BARCELONA are good at football. We get the message.
Anybody who saw last season’s Champions League semi-final between Barca and Real will know that there is no such thing as a “friendly” or a meaningless encounter between the two.
And, although the Supercopa de España is essentially Spain’s two-legged equivalent of the Charity Shield, both sides put on a thrilling display of individual skill and attacking football in the Camp Nou last night.
There was even a little bit of violence.
In the end, an 88th-minute goal from Leo Messi gave Barca a 3-2 win on the night and a 5-4 win on aggregate — but those numbers don’t even begin to tell the whole story.
If you haven’t seen the game or the highlights yet, here’s some of what you’re missing:
- 15 mins: Lionel Messi plays an inch-perfect through ball to Andres Iniesta, who delicately chips Iker Casillas for the game’s opening goal.
- 45 mins: Gerard Pique finds himself in the Real Madrid penalty area and suddenly decides that most appropriate thing to do is to backheel the ball. It was.
- 88 mins: Barca new boy Cesc Fabregas (ever heard of him?), Adriano and Messi combine for the game’s winning goal.
- 94 mins: Marcelo, who presumably has a soft spot for Arsenal, assaults Fabregas. He is sent off. Villa and Ozil decide to weigh in. They’re sent off as well. Presumably feeling left out, Jose Mourinho sticks his finger in the eye of Barca’s assistant coach Tito Vilanova for good measure.
I, for one, can’t wait to see what these two sides come up with when there’s something at stake.
