Armchair Supporter

My hero

I watched Real Madrid vs Barcelona on Saturday night in the one bar in Moutiers that's open with my 'neutral' Spanish flatmate. (By the way, Canal+ showed the game in full, but an hour later than the actual kick-off, a most curious set-up, the game actually having been over for an hour but you're still there following the action as if it were live).

What a game. What a player. What a team. Plenty of chances, a high tempo, incredible technique, [in cliche mode] football truly was the winner *grins*.

Ronaldinho was magnificent, I thought he looked disinterested in the first half, but the two goals he scored were sublime. How exactly do you stop him? You can't stand up to him or he's past you in a shot. But he's so fast too and if you commit yourself to a tackle, he's away in the other direction.

What impressed me most was the Real fans applauding Ronaldinho after his second goal. I've only ever seen this before once, when Ronaldo took Man Utd apart at Old Trafford one night. Truly fair play *lump in throat appears*. Though one suspects they wouldn't have reacted in the same way if Eto'o had scored two such goals.

Next up is Lille vs Benfica on Wednesday in the Champions League...