======================================================
by Philipina A. Marcelo
With no sleep - at all - from the previous night, blame it on 'dedication to work' (yeah, right! ugh!) and killer stomach ache I staggered home on Monday afternoon, checked via BBC World News if the looking-like-he's-stoned strongman Gaddafi had already woken up to reality over there in Libya (hmm, still stubbornly holding on to power), and then I prepared to hit the bed - at 5 pm. I passed out before my back hit the linens! *sigh* I was barely aware of the pounding rain late in the night... and at about 2:00 AM, an image of Lionel Messi shooting a beautiful goal past Iker Casillas, with the on-his-knees Cristiano Ronaldo at his heel - from the Supercopa final - pulled me back to consciousness. Dang, live telecast of the Joan Gamper Trophy final at Camp Nou! Naturally, that hit me like a caffeine punch! And so, morning prayers, and then... game on!
After Cesc Fabregas hit his first "grown-up goal" for FC Barcelona - the first of five by Pep Guardiola's side's rout of Italy's SSC Napoli - to help Barça claim their 35th Joan Gamper Trophy, I got the feeling that it was going to be a fun night - well, early morning here in Manila. And it was! :)
***
Five "smash hits"... and they're up, up, and away!
Barça marched on the pitch with "the other little genius", Andrés Iniesta,
Captain Iniesta, flying high!wearing the captain's arm band. Of course, the "pale assassin" looked every inch "it", too - nice touch there, Pep! :) Cesc was in the first XI, with Manuel Pinto manning the Barça goal, and the brilliant young fellow, Thiago Alcantara, roaming the midfield. While the Barça first XI mainstays from last season - David Villa spearheading the attack crew, Gerard Piqué, leading the defense crew with Adriano sharing the responsibility - were in the first XI, there was no Messi or a Xavi to send the "usual" anxiety to the men from Italy. If the fans had any doubt on Pep Guardiola's Joan Gamper campaign first XI, it wasn't at all obvious. I was excited to see them "dance" on the Camp Nou pitch, "just a friendly" match notwithstanding. And they did, too - dance on the pitch!
The 2:00 AM priceless fun began with a Fabregas goal on the 25th minute. Set up by Iniesta and fed by Adriano (who was playing like a Dani Alves + Javier Mascherano out there) with a solid assist via a graceful cross, Cesc got away from his marker and fired the first goal! Aw, gosh... what can I say, all of us
Cesc Fabregas, making his first goal in Blaugrana
shirt... as a grown-up.know he will be brilliant in whatever shirt he'd choose to wear, right? It's just that he's best suited with a Blaugrana shirt. :) Barça did great doing all they could to get this brilliant culé back in Camp Nou, that's for sure. While I think it was worth the long wait, I will always feel a little bit sad for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, of course, as I'm sure Cesc is, especially after that Gunners loss in the hands of the visiting Liverpool squad at The Emirates Stadium last weekend. Oh, dear... but, I guess... a culé will always be a culé and it's heart will always be restless until it's settled at home: Camp Nou.
Picking up where Cesc left off, Seydou Keita went for help from Captain Iniesta, sending a long pass to the "pale assassin" behind him before speeding towards the goal, through a crack in the Napoli defense. With the most perfect timing possible, he then jumped for a beautiful header to send a well-calculated Iniesta overhead return that completely eluded Napoli's goalkeeper, Morgan De Sanctis.
Seydou Keita, heading a big one home - lovely. Just fantastic! The men went to half-time break with the score at 2-0, for Barça.
In the second-half, several Blaugrana attempts merely collided with the Napoli goal's frame, including two big ones from Pedro Rodríguez... and it sent Guardiola's mouth open in disbelief! While errors mounted, it didn't look like Napoli were about to give Barça a chase... although I'm sure they were trying. Nevertheless, Guardiola loaded the deadly Barça gun with his "big bullets". Lionel Messi came on for Cesc Fabregas - to the loud cheers from fans, appreciation for Cesc, excitement for La Pulga's entry. Later, the "High Priest of Midfield", Xavi, came on for Thiago, and the fans went ecstatic! :)
Messi made his presence felt right away with a curved free-kick shot over a five-man wall that was intercepted by De Sanctis... but not to
Messi & Pedro: deadly bullets, thriller when together.safety. The quick-as-a-bullet Pedro caught the rebound and gave it a powerful header to find the back of the goal, redeeming himself beautifully from his previous uncharacteristic misses, 3-0. That was followed quickly by a beautiful Messi-to-Xavi on-the-run pass through heavy traffic going into the Napoli thoroughfare. Xavi, with his usual "20/20 vision" and precision passing, zeroed in and fired to the speeding Pedro on the left wing. Pedro caught the ball beautifully, ran with it fast and pretty before issuing a delectable cross that Messi brought home to an incredible finish, 4-0! Too awesome! Camp Nou went crazy... and so did I!
Not contented with a 4-0 lead, Barça kept going. The last goal was scored by the Camp Nou's "resident genius", Lionel Messi, in keeping with Barça's relentless overachieving attitude - almost to the "embarrasment" of Club President, Sandro Rosell, in deference to the visitors. :) Messi drove home a nice through-ball from Eric Abidal with his fave left kick on a nimble "mini jump" from the left side of the goal through two defenders - too cute, it was a delight to watch! :)
***
What the (exciting) future holds... at least, from one fan's point of view
Hmmm... looks like Barça is "coming together" now for the season. They were totally "in the zone" out there... unlike in both legs of their Supercopa tie with Real Madrid CF in the previous week where they were merely being their natural brilliant selves, but lacking in their usual fantastic rhythm as an extraordinary team on the pitch. But, apparently, that was enough to beat Los Blancos though, even when the Mourinho men brought
Guardiola's vision: "Something new, something old."
This season's Barça is all about "variety" - in attack.their for-desperate-measure "destroyers" game with them! :) I guess I'm just one "very spoiled" Barça fan who has gotten so used to entertaining football to come with brilliant winning everytime the Blaugranas step on the pitch.
What is exciting about Barça's showing today is that the latest line-up (which includes the all-of-a-sudden looking like "all grown-up" Sergi Roberto and Andreu Fontàs from Barça B!), with their solid talents and the flexibility of most to perform well in various roles, will give Pep Guardiola lots of attacking options - hopefully, better than last season, when Pep struggled to fill in injury-induced gaps in his First XI in crucial matches. But Pep's strength as a coach is his being such a visionary playmaker - a natural gift Barça sharpened during Pep's own time as the squad's playmaker and captain. Pep could "tweak" and take advantage of his men's talents by making traditional positions in conventional formation on the pitch as flexible avenues for his men to be creative - and effective, too. Rather than weakening in the face of injury-induced deprivation of his line-up's stalwarts, that approach gave his team the element of surprise that proved hard enough to figure out for most clubs they faced - yes, including Real Madrid! Now, with that strategy and with more capable men in his stable, he could, yet again, revolutionize football - Barça style. So, yeah, lots of reasons to fix my work sked to tolerate "reasonable busyness" only so there'd be "enough time" to enjoy fave hobby - appreciating Barça football! :)
All the best, Pep! All the best, Barça!
Alright, that's all the fun I could have today. Back to work....
***
Photo credits: Photos were grabbed from the Zimbio website - thanks!
