Village Idiot

Aouate has very good reflexes, but all the game he's been doing this "pull a great save but let the ball bounce inside the 6 yard box" business. Good for Henry, he needed a goal.

Yay! Pedro! That keeper is a bit dodgy when handling the ball.

He's still not fully recovered from his last injury, he played against Kazan but I understand Guardiola wants to play it safe with him.

1-1 Bah.

Awesome by Zlatan assisting Pedro for the 1-0.

No Xavi, Iniesta or Messi on the starting lineup... jesus.

Arsenal seems to be pulling the foot off the pedal now, they do that a lot although 3 goal advantage should be more than enough this time.

Mallorca are on top form, but they play positive football and we seem to only be struggling against sides that play deep and leave no space on the last third (Kazan, Osasuna, Almería...). We should win.

I dont think you'll get him until he's past his best imo. He seems to value the fact that Arsenal saw what Barca didnt. Mmmm? He was highly rated by us. He saw more opportunities at Arsenal, but that doesn't mean we didn't think he was special.

Bah, we won't get Cesc for less than 60 million at this pace

Can't watch this one in the US apparently, was sorta getting addicted like last one. Good luck.

Yeah, but that's a name on itself, we just call them "Barça-Madrid" "Madrid-Atlético" or "the derby" if you are talking to other fans of your team or your local rivals ("you won't get a sniff at the derby" and such). But lately we are starting to see all this "Derby Madrileño" "El Clásico" thing on the press, I assume by influence of the English media and the globalization of the game. I guess we are just getting on with the times and all this branding malarkey. EDIT: Silly topic but I need very few excuses to procastinate.

I thought that was the name of Boca v River. It was probably f***ing Sky. Yeah, that was my impression too. But it's starting to get used in the press around here (fucking Marca), although it really has zero tradition. We don't really have a story of naming our derbies/rivalry matches like you do.

Zlatan's work rate and Iniesta's aerial prowess will win the game for us, surely. By the way, who came up with the name "El Clásico"? We sure as hell did not. Only have heard that nickname in the very few last seasons.

Cronaldo has seen his injury worsened and will spend a further month in the sidelines, potentially missing El Clásico. He has, however, dodged surgery for now (that would sideline him for 3 months...). Spanish TV showed a guy a few months ago claiming that he had put a hex on him and that he would barely play until Christmas unless Florentino paid him $$$$$$. Voodoo blackmail! So awesome.

Just watched the Wham - Villa highlights. That DaCosta guy surely was wearing jetboots on the penalty play.

f***ing hell! I think Barca would have won without Ibrahimovic fwiw, but that's by-the-by I guess. im the mad man fo realz I just stared at the Ranger photo in your signature as I read that post. It scared me.

Nah, I don't think Eto'o would have been more effectual against that deep defense.

Hey, I always thought that Russian teams are very hard to beat at their turfs. We certainly should have won our home game, but a draw away it's not a shameful result in the least.

I think you're a fantastic poster VI, and it's not your fault of course, but I just can't help having a little chuckle whenever you've got any gripes about being a Barca fan. Have you seen the name of our f***ing ground man? As I say though I'm not having a pop whatsoever, and you always post interesting stuff. Read about the ground renaming, sad stuff for you lot, but hold in there and better times will come for sure. Still puzzled about the deal though, why is he naming it after his own company, he's not getting any extra quid that way? And yeah, I'm privileged of being a Barça fan, but any football fan with a semblance of a spine always gets pissed off when his team doesn't win a game.

Frustrating stuff from us, and a repeat from our last games: we have the ball a lot, but can't make stuff happen in the final third, and then we get pretty vulnerable to quick breaks.

Thanks.

José Enrique is doing an online interview this afternoon for Marca. Do you want me to try to sneak a question to him?

Roman Abramovich's food tab: http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/what-rich-people-eat-cci

This can be pretty big or fall flat on its face. The Spanish government is trying again (after failing to get enough votes this summer) to take down the "Beckham act" and bring back the income tax of foreign footballers from 24% to 43% The LFP (Liga Fútbol Profesional, the analogous organization to your Fotball League) has already said it will do anything in its hand to stop it from happening.