Barca news: inconveniently timed international dates edition

Excitingly enough, competitive football is back in La Liga. Here's what's been going on ahead of Barca's opener away against Racing Santander.

squad news

The international break came and went with the fans holding their breath for no further injuries, and thankfully that's exactly what happened.

Unfortunately, Gabi Milito will not be available for selection for the first game against Racing Santander, since he has a suspension from last season which will be carried over, thanks to a yellow card in his last game for Zaragoza which carried him to the five-card threshold. It's a pity for Gabi, who received fairly good reviews for his 30-minute cameo in Germany, but it's just as well, as he's only played those 30 minutes of pre-season action, and the minutes he played for Argentina against Norway were at left-back (criminal misuse, surely).

So given the injury to Puyol, Rijkaard's options are Marquez, Thuram and Oleguer. Marquez is 1) not fully up to competitive level, having played only 45 minutes of the pre-season due to his extended holidays (like Milito and Messi) and 2) crucial backup for Yaya Toure in midfield, so you'd think that he'd be unlikely to start. Thuram is carrying a knock from the Bayern game and was excused from playing for France. It looks like he'll be fit in time to start, from what I've been hearing alongside Marquez instead of Oleguer, which is a bit strange. Thuram himself has been in great form in preseason, and he should get his opportunities before Puyol makes his comeback.

Other absentees include Edmilson with his long-term injury, and Gudjohnsen who is still struggling to get fit. Bojan Krkic is busy taking the U17 World Cup by storm, and Gio Dos Santos doesn't get his Spanish citizenship papers until the 28th of August, so he can't play until then. And then there's Deco, who was not quite fit but came through 90 minutes for Portugal fine, so it looks like he might actually start alongside Iniesta. Seems kind of insane given Xavi's excellent preseason form, but I guess psychologically it's good for Deco to see that he hasn't been left out of the team's plans for the season.

Speaking of injuries and Barca's absent captain, Puyol did turn up to get his photo taken for UEFA the other day along with Edmilson. This was not in fact the first time Puyol met the new arrivals, as he has been diligent as ever and hobbled in on his crutches (hopefully having taken the journey by car first, although with him you never know) to come and greet the new guys on the first day of training with the full squad before the tour.

There's some news on his recovery as well, featuring hilarious quotes from the poor club doctors trying to stop Puyol from overworking himself. Even given what they're saying though, I doubt he'll try to make one of his early comebacks, since the knee is a delicate area when it comes to recovery. It's probably better to play it safe for the sake of his career, since he's already increasingly injury-prone.

It looks like Henry will start on the bench in favour of the old school trident, which is a move I'd entirely approve of except for one thing: Eto'o had to fly to Japan for Cameroon's game against the host nation, and he looked really tired during the game. Then he had to fly back, and he hasn't looked fully sharp in preseason anyway, so I'm a bit worried. Having Sammy back to full fitness would beat signing anybody, but it's been a year since he got that horrible injury and I suppose we just have to be patient with these things.

Projected starting line-up: Valdes; Zambrotta, Thuram, Marquez, Abidal; Toure, Deco, Iniesta; Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Messi

transfers

I've already paid tribute to the departing Belletti, but I didn't mention that Maxi Lopez has also left, for FC Moscow in a deal worth 2 million dollars. I think his entire transfer was a bit of a mistake by Barca, and the player himself desperately needed more time in the Argentinian league before moving abroad, let alone to a club like Barcelona where he was expected to step for Henrik Larsson. This is a good move for him to develop as a player, as he was never going to do that sitting on the bench, and I'm glad to see him going out on a good note. He'll join 3 other Argentinian players at the Russian club, including rising star Maxi Moralez, who had such a great U20 World Cup just a few months ago to help Argentina bring the title home for a record 6th time.

But back to Mr Lopez. I will always treasure the memory of his one great game for us: 04-05, Champions League round of 16, Barca v Chelsea, scored one and set one up to win the game: the definition of an impact substitute. Thanks, Maxi, and good luck.

It was good to see an article in Sport (and you won't read that phrase very often) defending the possibility of Deco fighting his way back into the starting 11, after all the negative press he's gotten for stating that he'd leave if the club didn't require him anymore. Yes, he sometimes says stupid things, and his behaviour last season hasn't always been exemplary, but I've been over why Deco must not be sold so many times on this blog, I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

More than the positive reasons I've stated before, there's the fact that if he does go, Xavi and Iniesta will have no cover, and that's a recipe for disaster if I've ever seen one. Even with Deco there, I think we could still do with another midfielder to fully cover those 2 positions. (At this point, I kind of miss Mark van Bommel. He was never that great for us, and his playing style is not always pleasant, but he's a true Barca supporter, and at least he added some steel in midfield that we badly missed last season.)

other news

I'd like to note that Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Messi and Henry have now all come out and more or less said that they'd accept being benched for some games, if not happily, then out of respect for the decision-making powers of the coach. Let's see how well this goes. Personally, and I'll elaborate on the reasons for this in a later post, I'm part of the growing group who want to stick by R-E-M up front, at least at first.

Congratulations to Frank Rijkaard for being the second longest serving coach of Barcelona, at least in terms of consecutive years, just after a certain legendary Dutchman by the name of Johan Cruyff. Couldn't happen to a nicer man, and I mean that in terms of both the honour and the baggage that goes with it. Speaking of which, the official web site has a nice interview with him.

The Joan Gamper trophy is going to be as fun-packed as ever. My only concern: did the management not think about the possible consequences of inviting Inter to our annual warm-and-fuzzy fest? The team itself is fine and fits the bill, considering the invitees of recent years (AC Milan, Juventus and Bayern respectively), but a certain Mr Luis Figo is still playing for them. I'm just worried about the friendly match which is supposed to welcome the new arrivals to the squad turning less than friendly. But hey, hopefully I'm just being paranoid, and that unpleasant business is long forgotten.

(My favourite Figo quote - other than the tragicomic irony of 'white babies, salute the champions', of course - is his comment after his first acrimonious return to the Camp Nou in a white shirt. Describing the fun-packed experience of being pelted with all sorts of objects and an atmosphere which was said by Roberto Carlos to be the most intense he had ever played in, he said sarcastically that it was: "...one of the richest experiences of my life.")

former Barca players section

Congratulations are due to Ludovic Giuly, who won the Italian Super Cup with Roma by beating Inter 1-0 off a De Rossi penalty.

Congratulations are also due to Henrik Larsson's Helsingborg, who got a fairly good result by drawing their UEFA Cup qualifier 1-1 away to Irish club Drogheda United. I don't even need to tell you who scored (again) to put the Swedish club in the lead before their opponents clawed one back, do I? The second leg is being played on the 30th of August.

By the way, there's a great new interview with Henke in the Times. I'm honestly so pleased that he's enjoying the twilight of his career so much and indeed still making a valuable contribution to his team. It will be interesting to see what kind of player his son Jordan makes.

Who wants a decent striker?

It seems like a lot of Europe's big names do this season. Some of them have already done their business: Barca with Henry, Inter with Suazo (if that deal sticks), Bayern with Toni, Chelsea with Pizarro, Juventus with Iaquinta. Then there are the big clubs still looking for someone to lead their frontline.

AC Milan

Yeah, they've got a player who used to be the world's greatest striker in Ronaldo, but Inzaghi isn't getting any younger, Gilardino isn't a sure thing, especially in the Champions League and Oliveira's just been useless since his move from Spain. Hence their stalkerish pursuit of Samuel Eto'o, despite the player repeatedly rebuffing their advances. Might I note once again that this behaviour is still on-going from Milan, despite repeated statements from both the club and the player that he is not for sale.

Update: those pesky Milan suits never give up, do they? Here's an article quoting vice president Galliani, who restates his interest despite Barca and Eto'o's frequent 'back off' signals. Geez, they're really like a persistent suitor who can't take no for an answer. Worth reading for the hilarious quote from Laporta about the possible personal consequences for him if he sells Ronaldinho.

Fortunately, coach Ancelotti is more realistic and further contends that they'll be fine even if they don't sign anyone.

Those Sheva rumours never go away, but since Chelsea are apparently suing people for saying that he's going to go back to Milan now, I'm guessing that's not likely to happen. The latest seems to be a rumoured bid for David Villa, which is highly unlikely to come off given who they're dealing with. Valencia are a big club, and for the most part they are not a selling club. Especially not their best player.

Arsenal

Having lost Henry, the search for a striker would seem to be a priority for Arsenal. The most persistant rumours involve Nicolas Anelka, now of Bolton. Given his past history with Arsenal, opinion seems to be divided on the appropriateness of his return. He's certainly a talented player, but I don't know what Bolton think of selling and therefore won't comment on the likeliness of this transfer. (Tabloids of England, Spain, and Italy need to 1) learn to fact check, and 2) learn to say 'we don't know'.)

While we're on the subject of Arsenal, there's a lot of debate about the club's future going on right now. I wouldn't presume to comment, but I did like this Guardian piece about Cesc Fabregas and his potential leadership role within the team. Fabregas is probably the former Barca youth player I would most like to come back and play for us again someday, but I wish him a long and successful spell at Arsenal before that.

Update: here's another Guardian piece, this time on the possible replacements for Henry.

By the way, AS (otherwise known as Real Madrid's mouthpiece in the same way that Sport is Barca's) is apparently perpetuating the ridiculous rumour that Arsenal were offered Eto'o in a swap deal with Henry and refused in favour of getting the cash. Really? 1) Barca are not keen to offload Eto'o since he's the president's pal, and 2) you're telling me Arsenal wouldn't like getting a younger, and also a proven big name striker if they had to lose Henry? 3) There's no way anybody would be prying Eto'o off Barca's hands with just the 17 million pounds we eventually paid for Henry.

Lastly, here's Henry's last interview given to Arsenal's official website. It's clear he's trying to make the farewell as amiable as possible, and who can blame him for that given his many years of glory at the club? He's probably given his best years to Arsenal, after all.

Liverpool

It has been said many, many times by various commentators, but Liverpool really need a top-class striker. They've got a great, world-class midfield, a solid defence that I envy, but watching the Champions League final their lack of a lethal finisher was painfully apparent. And no, much as I like Peter Crouch, he is not that man. Same applies to the hard-working Dirk Kuyt.

Given Rafa Benitez's Spanish connections, everyone assumes he's going to sign Fernando Torres of Atletico Madrid or David Villa. I already covered the unlikely nature of the Villa deal above.

Like the other clubs covered here, Liverpool has its own draws because of the nature of the club as an institution of European football. They're also apparently very popular in Spain, so that's convenient if you're trying to sign Spanish players. I bring this up because I've see the photo in which Fernando Torres' captain's armband slips and the words 'You'll Never Walk Alone' are revealed to be printed on the reverse side. The Torres to England rumours do seem to run every summer, but this time I think it might be for real. His buy-out clause is not prohibitive and though he loves the club, their failure to clinch an UEFA Cup spot this season has got to be galling. If he wants to go, the club have said they will not stop him. He's not had a great season, though. Maybe Benitez would bring the best out of him.

Update: Atletico claim that they've received no bids for Torres so far.

Liverpool have also been linked to Diego Forlan of Villarreal. The thing about Forlan is that his club have a very clear transfer policy regarding him: meet his buy-out clause. Luckily for any would-be suitors, it's not prohibitive. I'm just not sure Liverpool are actually interested.

Manchester United

They've already done several pieces of big, flashy business in this transfer window, but apparently they're not quite done. Given the injury-prone nature of Louis Saha, the effects of cruel age on Ole Gunnar Solskjær and the possibility of Alan Smith leaving the club, United could do with someone to lead the line.

There have been tons of rumours linking them with many different strikers, but as none of them seem substantial so far I won't mention any. One note on the Fabio Quagliarella saga - Udinese don't seem very keen to sell now that they own the player entirely, so that would seem to be that.

Real Madrid

I thought Real would have been set next season, at least striker-wise, but apparently Ruud van Nistelrooy's injury sustained on the last day of the season has got those in charge of the Bernabeu thinking otherwise. Actually, we're not sure who is going to be managing Real next season just yet, so that could be a barrier towards any significant moves until the Capello-Schuster mess is sorted out. Then again, transfer policy at Real - as it is at other Spanish clubs - isn't entirely dictated by the coach.

Van Nistelrooy's injury isn't very serious, but it is the type of muscle problem which is prone to recur, and while he's still a fine player he isn't getting any younger. The same could be said for Raul, although his value is of course greater than his tangible contributions on the pitch. Higuain and Robinho are talents rather than established names, and Cassano has just fallen apart completely. They won the title with this group, so they may not necessarily need anyone new, but they've got to be planning for possible injury problems next season.

They've been persistently linked to Barca's departing striker Javier Saviola in the Madrid press. If those reports are true I would personally be very unhappy, but then Barca did make the decision to let him go. Where he goes now is his own business.

By the way, I was quite impressed with this Capello interview. Ignore all that talk about Kaka, since everyone knows that already. The way he spoke about why people might not have warmed to his style (which says to me that he 'gets' Spanish football) and his pride in Real's title triumph and the fans' reactions was quite refreshing. You might not agree with him, but at least he says what he thinks and doesn't whine a lot about refereeing.

Argentine striker Cavenaghi to leave Spartak Moscow: yay!

Much longer posts on the Champions League to come, but I had to post about this. Cavenaghi is one of my favourite young Argentinean players, and he had such a bright future ahead of him before foolishly choosing (or some shadowy investment group choosing for him) to go to Russia. In terms of sheer talent, he's probably the best young prospect Argentina have to succeed Crespo in the future. (There's also his successor at River, Gonzalo Higuain, but we don't know if he's going to play for Argentina or France yet.)

I'm forever moaning about him rotting in Russia, so to hear that he's now free to find himself another club (and that he's looking at Spain or Italy) is fantastic. He really did not settle at Spartak after being so brilliant for River and for Argentina at youth level, and this is a real chance to get his career back on track. Looking at the trouble he had adapting in Russia, I'd say he should try to find a Spanish club to play for. Given his complete lack of form for the past 2 seasons, it's probably asking a bit much for Barcelona or Real Madrid to come calling, but that's even better. Cavenaghi's only 23, he doesn't need that kind of pressure. Any struggling club in La Liga willing to take a bet on a young, talented player - for free! - could really strike gold, if they're brave enough to go for it. God knows there are enough clubs in La Liga who desperately need goalscorers.

Here's a crazy, Championship Manager-esque idea, just for laughs: Mallorca have Maxi Lopez - who Cavenaghi kept on the bench at River - on loan from Barcelona. He's not exactly in free-scoring form there, but neither is the rest of his team. Maybe they're looking for someone. Even better, Cavenaghi's old mate from River, former first choice goalkeeper for both club and country German Lux is joining the club. It could be a nice little reunion. But first Cavenaghi has to prove his best goalscoring days have not passed him by already at the age of 23.

Barca v Villarreal and the day's other action - the brief version

Barca 4-0 Villarreal

More comprehensive match report to come, but for now, the quick version - keeping in mind that these two are my first and second teams, respectively.

thumbs up
Ronaldinho. Simply the best. He now has 50 goals for Barca. And leading the scoring charts in Spain, no less.

Here's Villarreal's Argentine keeper Barbosa on his second goal:

"At least I will appear in all the shots of that goal," he said sheepishly.

"When he received the ball, I had no idea that he was going to try 'la Chilena.' [what South Americans call the overhead kick] This is the first time I have played against him, and the truth is that he has had an absolutely gigantic game."

thumbs down
Bookings for goal celebrations. After a goal like that? Are you kidding me?

thumbs up
Andres Iniesta. If Ronnie hadn't scored that wondergoal, people would be talking about his volley.

More goals in this season than his previous ones put together - and only a couple of months in. So far this season he has 3 goals in the league, 2 goals in the Champions League, and 4 assists (all in the league). Brilliant stuff in general. Thank God he didn't go to Real Madrid.

(This is really hard for me as Xavi is one of my favourite players ever, and he's playing well, too. But in this form Iniesta must start if he's not too knackered to. Rijkaard knows that. If only we had the same wonderful selection headaches up front as we do in midfield.)

By the way, that wrist-kissing celebration after his goal in Sofia was apparently in honour of his girlfriend Anna (awww). He did a bit of club-badge smacking this time around, which from him - been with the club since he was 12 - is only fair enough.

In the last few seasons, an Iniesta goal celebration would be a collector's item, since it was so rare. This season he's scoring so often that he's going to have to start putting thought into them.

thumbs down
You know, if he were say, Brazilian and pretty enough to do ads for Armani (instead of an appearance that earns him the nicknames Draculinho and Casper), the football press would be drooling over 'the next superstar' or something like that endlessly right now.

thumbs up
Gudjohnsen scoring again.

thumbs down
Gudjohnsen going down far too easily for the penalty. If he was pulled, it was a very little pull. Seriously, stop it. You can't blame the ref when the player is the one doing it.

thumbs up
That second half display.

thumbs down
Giuly remarking the other day that Barca are now used to starting badly. That's not something you want to get used to, especially against top teams.

thumbs up
A great team performance from Barca, full of hard work and determination but also good football. Pretty much everybody played well. Complacency, what complacency?

thumbs down
As for Villarreal...well, I'll let their classy coach Pellegrini take it:

"It was an even game before the penalty. After Barca took the lead with the penalty it affected the mind of our players, and they took their opportunities then. Perhaps we didn't play well after going down 0-1, but that has nothing to do with Riquelme not being there. But Villarreal do seem like a different team without Roman."

A fair post-match assessment, without any whining or ungraciousness. Good stuff. That last sentence is especially true. Come on, Roman, your team needs you, and they need the real you.

thumbs up
Having phrases like 'great display of attacking football' associated with Barca again. I'd almost forgotten what that felt like.

thumbs down
Wishing that the phrases associated with Villarreal after they beat Inter last season would come back.

quick comments on other matches

thumbs up
Real Sociedad. Finally off the bottom of the table with their hard fought point away to Atletico, although they still haven't won in the league and may very well be back on the bottom after this round finishes. They are looking better, especially in defence.

thumbs down
Atletico Madrid. Just...what? How?

thumbs up
Paolo Maldini. What will Milan do when he retires?

thumbs down
The Milan strike force might as well go on strike, for all the goals they've been scoring.

thumbs up
Tevez's performance for West Ham.

thumbs down
Him storming off in a huff after being substituted. Carlitos, you can do that after you've scored 10 goals in the Premiership.

thumbs up
Gareth Southgate, Martin O'Neill, Steve Coppell, and Chris Coleman, for their (mostly) gracious acceptance of the fact that the referee is a human being in their post-match interviews. It's nice to see so much common sense breaking out.

thumbs down
Jose Mourinho. He's already started complaining about referees, and Chelsea hasn't even lost to Manchester United yet.

Quote of the day

"Gourcuff could be my Messi. Yes, Ronaldinho has Messi and I have Gourcuff!"

From the one and only Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, commonly known as Kaka. Okay, man. Whatever you say.

La Liga preview and other random bits

La Liga Previews

My two favourite teams play each other on Saturday. I'd find it a lot harder to decide who to cheer for if Riquelme was going to play, but he isn't. Understandably, Roman wants to be present at the birth of his third child. Captain Alvarez picked up an injury in last week's match and will not be available. A shame, as he's been playing well. Also missing for Villarreal are long-term injury victims Pires, Gonzalo and now Nihat.

On the Barca side of things, Motta has a fever of all things and Marquez is nursing a knock from the Levski game. Both are okay to play, but are left out for precautionary reasons. This means that Thuram (or, for a surprise, Oleguer) and Edmilson should probably start. However, Belletti is available after sitting out quite a few weeks because of various injuries. Other than that, long-term injury victims Messi, Eto'o and Saviola are also unavailable, although word on the latter is that he will make a faster than expected recovery from his muscle problem.

It's fair to say that so far this season the form of the Submarines have given me more grief than the form of Barca. It's been incredibly frustrating at times to watch them struggle at a mediocre level when you know what they are capable of. While the same might be said of Barca at times, at least the blaugrana league position does not reflect that. (If you want to see a big side who are really having problems, look down and read my post on AC Milan.) The difference being that Rijkaard's side know how to focus, work hard and grind out results every week even when things aren't going smoothly. This is a game Barca will be looking to take full points from, despite the difficulties Villarreal have given them in the past, especially away in El Madrigal. It won't be easy, but going by past record, it should at least be entertaining.

The big game, though, will be Valencia v Real. Unfortunately David Villa has been added to the incredibly long injury list at Valencia, but there are conflicting reports on whether or not he will play. Doctor's orders recommended at least 7 more days of rest, that's all I'll say. If I were coach Flores I'd use a 4-5-1, kind of like the one he used against Barca, but with Morientes alone up front. (No matter how important this game is, it's not worth risking losing Villa for longer.) Assuming, of course, that he can find 5 fit midfielders. After all, 'El Moro' has a record of scoring against his old club.

Guti is unavailable for Real, being both suspended and injured. The only other relevant injuries for Real (meaning players who are even remotely likely to start) are Ronaldo, facing a late fitness test, and Helguera, who is doubtful.

This is a big game for Valencia, no doubt about that, but it's also a chance for Real to shut the mouths of some critics. If they can win by a comfortable margin, then it would be difficult for anyone to doubt them as a genuine, consistent force this season. Only the most purist of Real supporters would be booing Capello's style after that.

The other interesting game between two 'big' sides is Celta hosting Real Zaragoza. Personally, I'm hoping that Zaragoza end up in Europe next season, because players like Aimar, the Milito brothers, and D'Alessandro deserve to be seen on a bigger stage. But Celta are in Europe now, which could affect their league form this season. They're a great counter-attacking side away from home, but in their own stadium they're obliged to come out and play more, which could create gaps for Zaragoza - also great on the counter - to exploit. Should be a cracker.

a (very short) note on Frank Rijkaard

Ronaldinho says that he can't imagine a Barca without Rijkaard. You hear that, club suits?

Random headline fun

"Messi and Mascherano Followed By Inter"

That's not 'following' in Messi's case. That's called stalking, especially when Barca have pretty much slapped a huge, neon yellow, blinking 'hands off' sign on the young Argentine. Moratti kind of creeps me out when he goes on about how the only player he goes crazy for is Messi, how he dreams about bringing Messi to Inter, etc etc - and he does it all the time.

The State of AC Milan and a rant about the big teams

Poor Milan. By which - for once - I don't mean Inter. They just can't catch a break. While results in the Champions League have been satisfactory, they're only a few points off the relegation places in Serie A. The size of the gap between them and leaders Inter (22 points) means that they can't even blame the points deduction for their league position. They've simply not won games.

And now injuries are mounting up too. The latest is that Dida will be out for 2 to 3 months. His substitute is the Australian Kalac who you may recall dropping a clanger in Australia's game with Croatia which nearly costs the Aussies qualification for the knockout rounds.

The likes of Maldini and Gilardino have been coming out to defend the team and say that things will improve, while even their frightening overlord president Berlusconi (whose name I can never spell, sigh) have been saying nice things about a team whose results must really be annoying him.

Everyone blames their problems on bad luck. That's BS, if you'll excuse me for saying so. It's sad when teams dominate matches but fail to capitalize, but it's also no one else's fault but your own. Happens to the best teams - watch any goal-less draw Barca were involved in last season (there's not that many to choose from), or Manchester United's loss to Celtic, or Real Madrid's recent home loss to Celta. I could go on. But there's no point in people moaning about it when it happens. Sure, it would be nice if the side that played more football actually won the game, but there are other things to take into account. Think about it from the 'smaller' team's perspective. They deserve some reward for their organisation and their labours, as long as they don't play like thugs. Counter-attacking football has its moments of beauty.

I've gotten off topic here, but to summarise the point of this little rant: If you - you in this case being a 'big' team - dominate a match but don't score enough goals to win it, then it's your own damn fault. Stop blaming everything from the referee to the Feng Shui.

what a weekend of football results around Europe!

An amazing weekend in terms of results as the league leaders of Germany, Spain, France and 2 of the English big four stumbled in their respective leagues. Congratulations are in order to plucky Cottbus, who held Werder Bremen to a 1-1 draw; Deportivo, who battled out a 1-1 draw with Barcelona; Rennes, who beat Lyon 1-0 with the dismissal of their captain and star midfielder Juninho; West Ham, who upset Arsenal 1-0, and last but certainly not least Spurs who beat Chelsea 2-1, as captain John Terry was sent off.

There were also unexpected defeats to Real Madrid, who went down 2-1 at home to Celta and Milan, who lost to Atalanta, but I no longer consider the latter to be in the Serie A race at all, so that's that. Congralutions also to Sevilla who now go top of La Liga, one point clear of Barcelona off the back of their win over Osasuna - more about that in my La Liga round-up to come.

I know many of these results were born of controversial refereeing decisions - or at least the managers will say so, Wenger, Mourinho and Ancelotti alongst those who have already started complaining. Some of them are even correct to do so. But as Frank Rijkaard said before Barca-Chelsea, it's the loser who complains about the result. When the rub of the green goes against you - and it usually doesn't go against a big team, we all know that - that's sad, but ultimately you can't blame the match officials for everything.

A related question is whether Champions League fatigue is one of the reasons for this. I think there's probably a good case for it - Chelsea can be forgiven for being a bit exhausted both emotionally and physically after that epic battle against Barca, and so on. It's interesting to note that Manchester United, who rested several starters and lost their CL game against Copenhagen, went on and won their weekend Premiership game.

In conclusion, it's good to see several of the big leagues opening up a bit. There are real title races going on now in most of the big leagues - maybe not France, as Lyon's lead is far too big, but definitely Germany, Spain, Italy and even England. Good to see.


Currently working on: that 'state of affairs' post about Argentina, and one about Barca's little rabbit, Javier Saviola. And of course a La Liga round-up.

Argentine Player Watch

It's a return to writing about something cheerful - my regular feature keeping an eye on how Argentinean players are doing in various European leagues.

The much-maligned Julio Cruz was the hero for Internationale, scoring both goals as they beat Spartak Moscow 2-1 at the San Siro. I say much maligned because you may remember him as the player Argentina coach Jose Pekerman subbed in for Hernan Crespo against Germany in the World Cup, to no effect. A lot of people believe that Messi should have been used instead. I don't think that's what Pekerman got wrong at all, as Cruz was taken along to the World Cup to be Crespo's substitute, so it was a straight swap. Besides, if the substitution did happen, it would have left the hated Messi-Tevez strike combo, which as we've seen so far does not work at all.

In any case, I felt that Cruz was unfairly maligned, since at 32 years old it was sure to be his last World Cup, and he had more than earned an appearance by becoming Internationale's top scorer for the 05-06 season despite making mostly super-sub appearances. An uncomplaining hard-worker, his attitude about the whole situation was excellent, so it's great to see him get off to a good start this season by saving Inter's ass in the Champions League, at least for another game.

In other striker related news, my favourite Argentinean target man Diego Milito of Real Zaragoza is now joint top scorer of the Spanish League with 5 goals in 6 rounds of football. I think he actually missed a couple of matches due to injury, as well, which makes it even more impressive. In the absence of Eto'o for most of the season, I'd love for Milito to become top scorer this season, as long as he refrains from scoring a hat-trick against Barca again, of course. Although he's perfectly welcome to knock 4 past Real Madrid in the same match as he did last season. I've argued for his inclusion in the Argentinean National Team enough times to sound like a broken record, but there's no reason why he shouldn't be involved.

Lastly, this is from a couple of weeks ago, but the Guardian's occasional Argentine columnist Marcelo Mora y Araujo - who translated Maradona's autobiography into English, by the way - wrote an excellent piece about the situation of Tevez and Mascherano at West Ham, including a nice little interview with Mascherano in which he comes off as nice a person as ever.

Argentine Watch

Looks like there are going to be some changes to the line-up I posted earlier for the friendly against Spain. Gabriel Heinze has injured himself playing for Manchester United and he'll be out for about three weeks. Hernan Crespo got a muscular injury in Inter's draw with Cagliari. I'm not sure how long he'll be out for.

Both injuries are terrible news, especially since they're both so important to the team. They are two of the three big name recalls (Ayala being the other one) who for one for reason or another couldn't make it to the game against Brazil, who would have bought some much needed experience and steadying influence to a young side. Gabri Milito could cover for Heinze just fine, but Crespo doesn't really have a proper replacement right now. I would prefer Diego Milito be called up as replacement this time, since he seems to be over his injury and scoring goals again, but that seems unlikely since Basile called up Saviola to replace Cesar Delgado last time - two completely different players, to my mind, but hey, I'm not a famous and successful coach.

There's also a lot to discuss regarding the state of Tevez and Mascherano at West Ham, but that'll need a separate post. Also coming up, reports of Bremen-Barca and the 5th round La Liga games. I've been away for a bit, so expect a flood of posts soon.