Thursday 29 August 2013

How to Win Without Winning

30000 Euros is how much Barcelona CF played the Barcelona public transit company to keep the system running for an extra hour, in order to provide some service, after regular closing hours, to fans going home after the Barcelona - Atletico Madrid super cup encounter, second leg.

They won't regret that decision -- and I really don't know why the hell the Spanish federation is now scheduling so many matches to start at 11 PM, Spanish time - because it's not just this one! - but they must know what they're doing, I guess -- because Barcelona (barely) edged out by Simeone's team to snatch the Spanish Super Cup.

No big thanks to Messi, though.

The Argentinian, now proven to be an infamously bad penalty taker, has missed yet another spot kick. This one, in the 89th minute.

It would have almost surely meant the win for Barcelona, who had much better chances than Atletico in the second half.

The Madrid team, on the other hand, had better chances in the first half, when Victor Valdes saved the Catalan giants more than twice from going down in the goal count. Unfortunately for Atletico, its players didn't have the same spark in the second half, when they became impatient, nervous, and even completely cracked down (such as Filipe Luis and Turan, who both got red-carded by the referee).

So, Barca wins the trophy without actually winning any of the matches.

Nobody can say that Atletico Madrid outplayed them, but I think it's safe to say that Barcelona is no longer the team to beat in Europe. Or in the world, because it's probably the same thing.
I don't know who is, or if there even is one, but a team who wins trophies without winning matches is more lucky than extremely good.

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