The Week To Come

Few people will be disconnected this week. One has had it in the bloodstream for some time, and finally the day has arrived. Although it has been slightly diluted with all these international games, that almost no supporter of Barça cares about (apart from getting their players whole back home). First we have Sevilla and there is a lust of revenge. Harsh words, but the club including the players will want to show that Monaco was little more than an accident. There are certain teams that Barcelona traditionally suffers against and one of them is Sevilla. It will be very hard to get a result, as Sevilla have a united team who have played together for some time. They have a mixture of technical talent and hardworking grut.
The game will not be shown on television, which will make everyone who can't attend glued to their radios, it will be almost conceptual or perhaps romantic, having to imagine the action. Sevilla has not reached a television contract and one would have thought that this game would be ideal to get what they want, but no. It is not on television.
Barcelona will want to win, but they also have to keep an eye on the week, that is very important. The result will mean a lot in terms of confidence and getting back together after the long break of internationals. These results are always important. It is kind of a game that can set the future results. If a huge loss is made it can knock the confidence, if the result is too good, it might breed far too much confidence, if too much energy is wasted, it will make the team tired, but they also need to get the mechanism. Ronaldinho will want to prove that he is not on a downward spiral, but what was a temporary slope, due to lack of match fitness. A few days later there is Chelsea. This game feels very different to previous ones, first as it is not about life and death, but there is also a surprising silence, very little has been written, few stories invented. It is almost worrying calm, like the calm before the storm. I believe however the game is very important. Barcelona will need the points if they don't want to suffer in the following games, as they only have four points, but both teams will want to bang hard on the table and show who is the Big Club in Europe. Barcelona that they are the European Championships, but also Chelsea that they deserve to win it and will win it. Chelsea have signed two star players, Ballack and Schevschenko and so far they have not really gelled into the team, a point they will want to proof. It is one of the games which the whole world watches and that kind of exposure is important to gain future fans. We can't forget the ego of Mourinho either. I doubt that Rijkaard has much to proove as he is not really a man controlled by the flood of his testosterone against other testosterone. I can't deny that beating Chelsea convincingly will be a sweet one. I think it will be a tight result in Stamford Bridge, could go either way. It will be very special for Eidur Smari Gudjohnsen, making sure he did make the correct decision. He will have a much more central place, due to Samuel's injury, who will be very much missed. His fighting spirit is just not equivalent to anyone else's. Eto'o always turns up in these games, he even multiplies in the ones against Madrid, whom Barça play in seven days. With Eto'o's abscence it will be up to Ronaldinho to perform, but he has always done so when he is Really Needed. the awards are coming up, making it important to get shown. This years game against Madrid do lack the last wo years "spikeness" where two ears ago it was Samuel's first game against Madrid with a Barcelona shirt, it was just around the time Madrid were in the middle of their post-galactico depression and last year it had all the edginess of the week where the government was discussing the new constitution (giving the Catalans greater freedom and some Castillians were claiming it was going to break the united Spain). It was extremely tense on the political front and like in the best clasicos it meant something more than football. Barcelona totally humiliated Madrid, where Madrid fans even rose to their feet to applaud Ronaldinho's second goal. It was a goal for the museum, where Ronaldinho slalomed through half of the Madrid team (for the second time), but it is almost unheard of Barcelona being applauded at Bernabeu (last time was when Maradona played for Barcelona). The cals is diluted due to playing the second enemy a few days before, but it will be interesting to see Rijkaard vs. Capello. Defence against attack.
Madrid are in a vicious circus of a chaotic board situation, where former candidates are asking for recounting of the votes. Fans are not very pleased (a mild observation) with the way the team plays, in short it is not very harmonious. If Barcelona humiliate Madrid again, the stadium will blow up.

I almost believe the Sevilla game will be very important to set the week, to gain confidence, to get a positive result against Chelsea is good for world wide exposure (and could possibly be crucial) and authority, but beating Madrid always has a sense of satisfaction. But I might just be dreaming.

Images:
Saviola and Eidur Smari
Los ojos del Frank