Everyone knows how horror movies go, nowadays. You know, mysterious happenings, characters making unexplainably bad decisions, the victims you saw coming from a mile off, the comic relief and their badly-timed puns… you know. For all that some of us spend half the time looking between our fingers, there is little on the genre that surprises us anymore.
See? It doubles as a horror movie poster, too.
Sounds familiar, right? Read the rest of this entry »
March 8th, 2012
By: Ade C. | 
22 Comments
Days like today are difficult for bloggers and sports journalists
alike. We sit in the dark, leafing through our thesauruses (Ray Hudson
edition, natch) and wonder what we can say that hasn’t been said before
already. What adjectives can you use, what metaphor won’t sound trite,
what comparison won’t completely fail to convey what happened?Damn Messi…
He doesn't even look sorry...
March 6th, 2012
By: Ramzi | 9 Comments
Each of you can take a bite!
But let’s not forget that one of the main reasons why Leverkusen failed to win in the first leg was that they spent the first half trying not to lose. When they decided to actually try hard enough in the second half they caused damage and threatened Valdes goal in many occasions. For that reason, I don’t take this game for granted just yet.
Let’s not forget that if Leverkusen scores first and then shut down all the paths to their goal, they can drive Barca players crazy, knowing that time is in the Germans’ favor , and while trying to score the draw they need to be aware that conceding another goal can through Barcelona’s season out of the window. On this level, this is not an unlikely scenario. Only when Barcelona opens the score at home they can feel they have the upper hand in the game. Read the rest of this entry »
March 4th, 2012
By: kage | 21 Comments
Seydou Being Leo
In an exciting, strange, frustrating and exhilarating match, Barcelona F.C. without the world’s best player overcame Sporting Gijon 3-1 — despite playing half the match with ten men (and a few minutes with nine).
I had the intro for this piece all written, in my head. I was going to recall a terrible novel from 40 years ago, a bestseller based on a movie (yes) called Love Story. The narrator of that book asks, “What can you say about a … girl who died?” And had Barca lost or even drawn against Sporting at home, you would have to say that Yes, she’s a goner. But what can you say about a girl who doesn’t die? About a ten-man team that dominates and outscores an opponent, against all odds, because it has to? This one is a love story.
Read the rest of this entry »
March 2nd, 2012
By: Ade C. | 12 Comments
Chances are, if you’ve been a Barça fan in the last few years, you’ve
heard something about the lines of, “Six titles in one season? Pfffft,
that’s nothing. You guys have Messi, that’s like cheating…”. And forget
about trying to point the fat lot of good that having Messi has done for
Argentina; jealous fans from other clubs have decreed that winning a
boatload of trophies is only impressive if you’re lugging around someone
like Andy Carroll or Fernando Torres. Which, admittedly, would be
mightily impressive indeed, but doesn’t exactly detract from Barça’s
accomplishments.
So, what do human beings do when they're not playing football?
February 28th, 2012
By: fcbfandrivel | 10 Comments
Alexis Sanchez recently mentioned that he is learning a lot from his
team mates, playing for a team like FC Barcelona. This obviously got us
thinking. What could Alexis possibly be learning? Forgive our
skepticism, but every time we think of Alexis’s teammates, we think of
this.
Read the rest of this entry »
February 27th, 2012
By: Natasha | 8 Comments
And it wasn't too stormy in the Calderón after all...sorry, can't resist all these terrible puns.
Read the rest of this entry »
February 24th, 2012
By: kage | 12 Comments
Jekyll, meet Hyde; Hyde, this is Jekyll.
How do you preview a game between two sides that both alternate between flip and flop? Barcelona, of course, have an other-worldly record at home (unbeaten, with a goal difference of 50 to 4) and have pretty much embodied the word mediocre on the road (more draws than wins; just a plus-five goal differential; the last three games on the road in Spain have brought two draws and a loss). They’ve whupped up on European heavyweights like Bayer Leverkusen and Milan away, but chomped on the ashes of defeat at Osasuna and Getafe.
But if Barcelona seems like a study in paradox, check out Atlético Madrid on the far side of the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
February 21st, 2012
By: Yazan | 9 Comments
Beware - Barca are back!
It was about a week ago that Barça met Valencia. A week ago Barça were “doomed,” players were “out of form,” Pep was useless, and Pique should be hanged. How much can a week change things around? Well a lot it seems, Barça really had a rollercoaster of emotions this past week.
Read the rest of this entry »
February 18th, 2012
By: Natasha | 7 Comments
Tomorrow evening, Barça will face Valencia for the third time in the
month. If the match goes the way of the second leg, we have nothing to
worry about. If it goes the way of the first leg…well…lets not even
consider the consequences.
Right, stop enjoying yourself so much, you have a match to play! Apart from you, Pinto. And you too, Dani.
