Village Idiot

Same, really nice mix of teams in there. Yeah, I like that apart from the usual suspects (Manu, Barça, Arsenal, Bayern...) there are some fresh faces who could reasonably make it through to the semis with a lucky tie.

I get the feeling we are getting Arsenal next round. With all the Cesc thing it would be extra-spicy. I would love it to be honest. I would also like to get Lyon, and show Madrid how it's done

We can't even get relegated man! Thinking ahead of the next season?

No chance of Girondins winning this. Way too many better teams in the competition and it's not like they are being that good. For some reason Arsenal are my dark horses. Nobody seems to take their chances seriously. I know they tend to bottle the big games but when they are up for it they are impressive.

Must be terrible,that. Yeah, for a moment I thought we had gone 442, it was 424 luckily. And bojan gets his after just coming in 4-0

Still trying to see how are we forming up with Zlatan, Pedro, Messi and Henry all in the pitch.

Must be a decent bet if it comes off, how much?

Messi nets the third.

Yellow to Jens Lehmann for being Jens Lehmann.

Yes. I think his man management and motivation skills are great and are what inspired our side last year Pedro! 2-0 This should seal it. And what a lovely ball from Messi to the side.

Fucking hell what a strike!

Wow, actual singing at the Camp Nou. We are taking this seriously.

I thought Spanish sport papers are normally reliable? But they believe this crap? Spanish sport papers are bull mate, they are the only thing close to The Sun or the Mirror in our press (we don't have regular sensationalist press thank god). I seem to recall a newspaper breaking the Beckham to real madrid story months before it happend. A broken clock is right twice day. Today Marca is opening with a "Kun to Real Madrid" story. In the past week they have had an Ashley Cole to Madrid story, a Rooney to Madrid story, a Silva to Madrid story... and FC Barcelona papers are just slightly less spaz in linking every player in the planet to us. Pretty sure that at least one will come up right by sheer probability.

Zlatan benched for today's game. Henry takes his place as centreforward. Xavi out with a muscle problem.

I thought Spanish sport papers are normally reliable? But they believe this crap? Spanish sport papers are bull mate, they are the only thing close to The Sun or the Mirror in our press (we don't have regular sensationalist press thank god).

Good news magpies, you are on Marca's pages today Bad news, they are having a laugh at you because of this Zidane thing

I agree with you. We are greatly missing Henry's contribution this year. Pedro has stepped up incredibly, but he's still nowhere a player like Henry was last year. He contributed 19 goals from the wing, which is incredible, highest goalscorer in Europe from that position I think. That's why I have changed my opinion on Silva. Great player, but not a goalthreat. I'd cream my pants if we got somebody like Torres to play there, or Villa. It will also solve the problem that we really have nobody to replace our CF when Ibra's out/drops form (we have had only one reliable CF since god-knows-when, I remember Ronaldinho playing there when Eto'o was out and we didn't replace Larsson).

No. He isn't a big name here and has never been linked to us. Our most spoken targets for that area are Silva, Ribery and Di María. Another usually mentioned option is shipping Iniesta there permanently with the signing of Cesc. Modric is a great player, but on the evidence of this season I'd like somebody a bit more direct. Currently only Messi runs at players in our team. Good. He was linked to you lot before he came to us, and he's a Barca fan. Out of those options i'd go with Ribery before Cesc tbh. Not saying he's a better player but he's more direct and no point shifting Iniesta out of position for a whole season (i know he's played that role before but still). He developed his career there actually, mostly because he couldn't get many games in the centre with Xavi and Deco. But he is a diminished player in the wing in my opinion.

No. He isn't a big name here and has never been linked to us. Our most spoken targets for that area are Silva, Ribery and Di María. Another usually mentioned option is shipping Iniesta there permanently with the signing of Cesc. Modric is a great player, but on the evidence of this season I'd like somebody a bit more direct. Currently only Messi runs at players in our team.

Not that I know of. All in all poor lad, he was genuinely talented. Although I can see Real Madrid's side, they are paying a salary to a worker that can't perform what he was signed for. But it's bad PR, particularly when he is one of your own. They should maybe offer him a coaching position. They guy hasn't actually sit on his arse these two years and has collected a number of coaching badges already.

This just in. Spanish Labour court has not given a disability ruling to De La Red, so Real Madrid will have to pay him the entirety of his contract. Also, Barça has had to pay €40m to the taxmaster after being found guilty of tax evasion (that was under our board of 15 years ago, though!). Any link? If that's true, justice exists... at least in this case. It's on today's Marca paper edition, but it's not on their website. I guess it will get posted there in the Spanish morning. And if you mean the tax thing, it has been posted in Barça's treasurer twitter (I sort of know him since he actually lives in NYC). To be honest, Josep Lluís Nuñez already got done by the taxmaster in his private businesses, so it is not surprising that his stewardship of Barça would have been surrounded by similar irregularities. He still did a lot of good.

This just in. Spanish Labour court has not given a disability ruling to De La Red, so Real Madrid will have to pay him the entirety of his contract. Also, Barça has had to pay €40m to the taxmaster after being found guilty of tax evasion (that was under our board of 15 years ago, though!).

Brooklyn is ridiculous as well. At least he wasn't conceieved in Slough or Runcorn though. Dunno, I guess people named after places aren't as rare in the US. I know a Madison, a Dallas, a Cleveland, a Devon...

Guti when asked at the time said Cruz was a girls name. It is.