A small diversion this week, this match report involves itself less with the Hearts v Livi game and more with the game i actually went to.
By all accounts Hearts scraped a 3 - 2 win away to Livi, Roman Bednar coming off the bench to grab a late late winner.
So to the other game - Barcelona 3 Deportivo La Coruna 2
I was sat in my hotel room killing a few minutes before we set off to the game, reading a Lonely Planet guide to Barcelona, that a workmate lent me. I migrated obviously to the pages devoted to Barca, here comes the history lesson....
Back in the day, around 1898 to 1900 there were four teams that grew up around the Barcelona area, two survive to this day.
The first of those four is
Societat Espanyola de Futbol They have changed their name numerous times but always retained the 'Espanyol' bit, this reflects their origin. Espanyol were, out of this group of four teams, the team of Spaniards.
The other three teams were -
l'Irish
L'Hispania
Barcelona
The origins of L'Irish is pretty self evident, the team was originated by a bunch of Irish immigrants or workers or whatever.
L'Hispania was set up by a similar bunch of Scotsmen !
Barcelona was set up by another bunch of immigrant workers, this time......................English !!! Gmmmph
So i skipped along to the local shop, bought my Deportivo scarf and jumped the bus up to the Nou Camp.
Never noticed before but check out Barca's crest
We got done a bit for tickets i think but what the hell. Delays in travel meant we didn't get into our hotel until after 12 on Friday night. My brain was frazzled as i asked the guy at the hotel reception about the best way to get tickets for the game. He claimed that the game was more or less a sell out and there were only 100euro tickets left (about £70). So i agreed to pay him the 200euro's assuming he got the tickets for me. At the same time another bloke was picking up his tickets, he got 12 and agreed to sell me 2 for 60euro's each. Great i thought. These tickets got us seats in the highest part of the stadium and were no doubt the cheapest seats in the house, not 60euros thats for sure. Any roads who cares really, still a fantastic view in a stunning stadium.
A game of subbuteo before kick-off
So to the game........ yip it's just like watching the Jambo's on a Saturday afternoon.
Err no
Barca started like they play a different game from the rest of the planet, it all began from the kick-off, the ball was rolled out to Ronaldhino on the left touchline, two players were on him so he back heeled it 30 yards down the line for, maybe Decco to pick up. Maybe Decco may be not, i was about 5 miles away up in the gods.
1 minute later and Ronaldhino is this time tearing through the middle and there are fouls piling in all around him. The refs whistle blows and i think maybe Deportivo stop playing for a split second and Barca are through on goal and slam the ball into the top left. The ref dissallowed the goal and sent the ball back to 30 yards out for the foul. The goal should have stood i think so the free kick seemed like small compensation. There was only one thing to do really so Ronaldhino did exactly that, he curled the ball into exactly the same spot that the goal went in.
Barca 1 DePortivo 0.
And the crowd go Barca, Barca, Barca
The game continues with Barca playing some quite incredible football, there is nothing new here - they get eons more time on the ball than you do in the UK but still what they do with it is just sublime when compared to our blood and snaughters version of this game.
Henrik Larrson was a hero for Celtic for a good 5 years or so then left when we all thought he had passed his best and joined well he joined Barca. He is a bit of a local hero in Barcelona too, he played an hour of the game, maybe he has lost a tiny bit of his pace but the football brain is still there. The best example was an early ball to the far post and Larsson, he had a chance of scoring, a good chance of scoring, the ball was coming in hard and fast and the angle was getting tighter and tighter, but still he had a good shout at heading in on the back post. 99.99% of players would have done just that and some would have scored. At the very last second, he changed his mind and managed to get his nect round the ball to knock it back into the path of Eto'o for a stone wall goal. Eto'o does not have Larrsons brain and couldn't believe the ball landed at this feet 6 yards out with no one near him - so he made an arse of it.
DePortivo continued to chase shadows but Barca seemed content to play football without necessarily scoring any goals. A surprise corner from DePortivo's first attack was not dealt with so Barca were punished with an easily headed goal. No one, including the DePortivo players could quite believe it.
Barca 1 DePortivo 1.
And the crowd go Barca, Barca, Barca
Ten minutes later and DePortivo have a free kick 40 yards out, they cheekily ping the ball over the back line for two strikers to run onto unhindred, one of them slots the ball home. No one, including the DePortivo players could quite believe it.
Barca 1 DePortivo 2.
And the crowd go Barca, Barca, Barca
The crowd get slightly agitated and Barca respond with a bit more urgency ( but not much ). I could tell that DePortivo didn't really believe in themselves even though they seemed to be able to score any time they felt like it. A corner to Barca with 5 minutes to the end of the first half is pinged to the back post for Larrson to nip it in. Everyone, including the DePortivo players could believe it.
Barca 2 DePortivo 2.
And the crowd go Barca, Barca, Barca
DePortivo's response to the situation in the second half was to put thereselves about a bit, i thought the ref was in danger of losing control for a while. There was one time where all 22 players were rucking together, no real fighting but handbags and hair that sort of thing. The ref just walked away and let them get on with it and booked a few of them when they were done, bizarre. Barca just played with an heir of innevitability. Not exactly overwhelming pressure but pretty much contant, they eventually wore down the defence and Eto'o popped up with the winner with 25 minutes to go.
Barca 3 DePortivo 2.
And the crowd go Barca, Barca, Barca
All in all pretty much scripted and i got the impression Barca were holding back in the end given they are playing Chelsea this week.
The football was fantastic and the spactacle is brilliant, but the game lacked a bit of something that you get in the UK that they don't have. Venom i think. I guess i would like to see a Real Madrid game or even the Chelsea game this week to see how worked up a Barca crowd can get this one was a bit of a damp squib in that sense. Even at 2 - 1 down the crowd seemed to expect the victory would come in the end and so did not show the kind of delight you would get at Tynecastle if we had played a similar get out of jail free card.
The rest of the weekend in Barcelona was alright as well.
D
