Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Real Madrid v. Barcelona (1st Leg) (Champions League Semi-Finals)

I'm so excited! They're just about to kick off. You can follow the Guardian's live-blog here.

29 comments:

  1. Now remember that Barcelona basically plays very much the way Spain played during the World Cup -- they like to poke the ball around and around the goal with very precise, short passing, trying to break down the defense for an easy shot. This can take forever. You should also know that Jose Mourinho, the manager of Real Madrid, is just about the best defensive manager in the world. Last year, when Mourinho was at InterMilan, he beat Barca by jumping out to a 3-1 lead in the home leg, and then hanging on for a 1-0 loss in the road leg (even though Inter had to play most of the game with only 10 men), and thereby went through 3-2 on aggregate.

    I think the result of all this is that unless someone scores early, this will be a very cautious game -- the real drama will take place in the second leg at Barca.

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  2. 12 minutes in and so far almost nothing has happened.

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  3. Nothing has happened through 20 minutes.

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  4. Welcome to thetoddler. Please pass along any thoughts.

    Here's what I think so far. Barca is so good at controlling the ball that Real is finding it impossible to get anything going on offense. But Real's defense is not letting Barca get close enough to act as a real scoring threat. So for most of the game (we're now 32 minutes in), Barca has just kicked the ball around in the middle of the pitch, far from either goal.

    This is incredibly boring. But you have to understand that high-level soccer teams on the Continent make UNC's basketball team look like a bunch of street-ballers. Clubs like Barca and Real Madrid have a plan and they stick to that plan -- no matter how boring it may seem to us in the English-speaking world.

    What we really need is for something to go wrong -- somebody scores on a fluke, or there's a penalty, or something odd happens -- just so these teams will have to try a different approach.

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  5. hooray! i'm so excited to go check the "traffic" tab.

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  6. six page views from spain today--hooray!

    14 from iran! what the heck? pink floyd must be huge there.

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  7. Still no score after 40 minutes.

    Remember that in last year's World Cup, Spain won four consecutive knock-out matches by identical scores of 1-0. Spain scored their goals in the 63d minute, the 83d minute, the 73d minute, and the 116th minute. So Barca will not grow impatient. They will just keep playing their game and hope Real Madrid eventually makes a mistake. And if they have to go back to Barca tied 0-0, they can probably live with that.

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  8. Now we're getting a lot of flopping and complaining to the officials, as each of these teams tries to get someone sent off or win a free kick. Given that Real Madrid and Barca are the UNC and Duke of European soccer, this is hardly surprising.

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  9. OK, so it's still 0-0 at the half.

    My guess is that Madrid will not want to walk away with a 0-0 draw that would force them to win on the road. I think that at some point, they will have to press forward and really try to score. That's when things could get interesting.

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  10. 57 minutes gone. Still no score.

    The teams got into a fight as they left the field at half time, and one of the Madrid players has received a booking that will keep him out of the second leg, but not much else has happened. On the Guardian's web page, the English (who hate this type of soccer almost as much as Kentuckians hated the four corners) are complaining mightily.

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  11. I'm no soccer expert, but things were rowdy at the soccer bars (is there anything else?) already this afternoon ...

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  12. OK, so Barca finally got the red card they've been wanting. Barca have complained and complained and complained about Madrid's defense for the last 50 minutes, and they finally convinced the referee to throw one of Madrid's players out of the game. I didn't see that, but Barca does manage to get a lot of players thrown out of games.

    Oh, and now Mourinho (the Madrid manager) has been banished from the sidelines for complaining about the officials.

    Welcome to Europe.

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  13. very difficult watching in spanish ...

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  14. i love how he can still watch from the stands.

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  15. 64 minutes gone. No score. But now Barca has a man advantage. Now they should go for the kill. An away goal or two here would put this match away.

    Oh, a Madrid player was touched by a Barca guy. He throws himself to the ground in agony. The Madrid fans scream for a red card. Play goes on.

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  16. In English, the British announcers (who hate this type of soccer) are whining and moaning about how the flopping, fighting, and whining are distracting from the game.

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  17. Although Mourinho has been banned from the sideline, he is sending written messages to his team from the stands.

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  18. 67 minutes gone. Still no score. Barca turning up the heat now. And still throwing themselves on the ground for more penalties.

    Barca really is the best team in the world (which is why everyone tries to slow them down), but they make Duke's basketball team look like noble sportsmen.

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  19. At this point, all Madrid can really do is plonk all their remaining guys around their goal and hope for a scoreless draw. Which is what they are doing.

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  20. Of course, based on the evidence I've seen so far, it is very unlikely that Madrid will have 11 guys for the whole match at Barca. They better try to score quickly.

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  21. 71 minutes gone.

    Here's a typical play. David Villa, one of the best players in the world and a huge star for Barca, is dribbling toward the goal about 40 feet away. There are three or four Madrid guys around him. Suddenly Villa throws himself to the ground as if he was shot, and pleads for a penalty. The referee, knowing that he has already given Barca the gift of being able to play against 10 men, waves play on.

    That play, or something like it, has happened dozens of times in the last 40 minutes.

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  22. And that's your ballgame.

    With 76 minutes gone, Lionel Messi, who is the best player in the world, scores a beautiful goal off a crossing pass. He was closely marked, but still manage to bang the ball into the net.

    Now Barcalona will just run out the clock, and take their 1-0 lead (and their away goal) back to Barca. The only way Madrid can advance is to beat Barca in Barca -- and that's just not ever going to happen.

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  23. Now when Man Utd plays Barca in the final, they will try a different approach. The English teams always try to overcome Continental patience and skill with passion and effort. Given that the final is being played in London, United will also have the support of the crowd. But in my opinion, this type of approach will have no chance against Barca. I predict at least one red card for United and a 2-0 victory for Barca.

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  24. hey, what's your take on tapas, toddler? leftovers, right?

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  25. That was really pretty. Out of nowhere, Messi takes the ball, dribbles through the entire Madrid defense -- exhausted now after playing with only 10 men -- and bangs the clinching goal into the net. That puts Barca up 2-0 and effectively puts Barca in the final. The second leg will now be just a formality.

    Barcelona won the European Cup in 1992, 2006, and 2009. This will be their fourth title, which will tie them with Bayern Munich and Ajax of Amsterdam. Real Madrid will has the most titles, with nine. But they haven't won the crown since 2002, and this loss -- on their home ground -- will hurt a lot.

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  26. For the record, I think the rule whereby a team can be forced to play with only 10 men for the remainder of the game is just about the worst rule in all of sports. This game was totally decided by that referee's decision -- and that sort of thing happens all the time in soccer.

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  27. Game over, in more ways than one. Barca beats Madrid's 10 men by the score of 2-0, and what had promised to be a dramatic semi-final is now settled.

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