Merry Christmas everyone! Here in the land of Jedi Soccer, joy and satisfaction are the order of the moment, as we bask in tonight's glorious victory of Barcelona FC over arch-rivals Real Madrid by the astonishing and deeply satisfying score of 5 - 0 in El Clasico, the World's Most Important Soccer Derby. Coming on the heels of Barca's 8-0 annihilation of Almeria last week, we have now witnessded these Jedi Knights of Football score no less than 13 goals in the last two matches, without giving up a single opposing goal, a true football Tour de Force.
The scoring began at the 10 minute mark with Xavi Hernandez scoring from a pretty Andres Iniesta though ball. Seven minutes later, Barcelona made it 2-0 when David Villa placed the ball in the six-yard box. Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas uncharacteristically failed to deal with it, and Pedro had an easy finish. After this, Real Madrid settled down and produced a few chances, most notably a free kick by Cristiano Ronaldo going wide of the post. And that was it for the first half.
Madrid Manager Jose Mourinho substituted Lassana Diarra for Mesut Ozil to begin the second half, in an attempt to jam the midfield and stop Lionel Messi, but the change had no effect as Barca continued to dominate possession with their patented fluent "Total Football" style of play. In the 59th minute, Barcelona made it 3–0 with a beautifully placed pass by Messi, in-between Real's defenders Pepe and Carvalho. Barca srtiker David Villa beat the offside trap and slammed the ball in the net in stylish fashion. Minutes later Messi and Villa linked up again with the latter outpacing the defense before he calmly slipping the ball through Casillas's legs to make it 4–0. A final 'Insult to Injury' goal was scored in stoppage time when Barca substitute Jeffren Suarez chipped the ball into the net to end the scoring and the match with a Triumphe Deluxe for Barcelona. And Messi Wan Kenobi didn't even score. He didn't have to.
Barcelona now moves into La Liga's top spot with 34 points, ahead of Real Madrid who remain in second place on 32 points. Trailing a further five points back of Real is Villarreal on 27 points.
Is there football club anywhere on the planet, that can match the power, skill and beauty of FC Barcelona at the present moment? All things must fade, most especially championship-calibre sports teams; but for now, these are Days of Glory for FC Barcelona and its followers.
It's More Than a Club. It's Jedi Soccer. Barca Rules.
“LIKE A JEDI KNIGHT— no, better than that— A TEMPLAR KNIGHT. This is a FLASH OF PURE INSPIRATION, and let me tip my hat to the genesis of this goal: Ibarra. Lionel only absolutely LIGHTS IT UP here, he LIFTS OFF IT, FLAMETHROWERS IT PAST poor Reny Vega. It’s just as well Reny didn’t get a hand to that because it would have TAKEN IT OFF HIS WRIST. Superlative football and an out of this world BERNINI SCULPTURE of a finish." GOL TV Commentator Ray Hudson
