Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Who is the Most In-Form of Them All?

One can always count on a little bit of oneupsmanship between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Back in week three of the freshly christened La Liga season, Barcelona strolled into Asturias and rudely smacked the lollipop from the mouth of “we’re just happy to be here” Sporting Gijon to the tune of 6-1. As if through some sort of genetic disposition, Real saw this wounded pup as the perfect chance to stick it to their Clasico rivals and welcomed a “still pretty happy to be here, but not so much anymore” Sporting to the Bernabeu with a 7-1 drubbing. Checkmate.

By mid-European evening on Sunday, the cries of Liverpool as the fairest of them all were ringing loud and ringing true. But one kinda gets the feeling Barcelona were paying attention, as they took this opportunity to one-up the squad that four-upped their most despised rivals. Or maybe they just one-upped the second best Spanish side in the world.

* – The Reds started one less Spaniard than Barcelona & Real Madrid combined on the sabbath (6 to 5). Go figure.

After Liverpool had spent their afternoon making Aston Villa look extraordinarily unextraordinary and Stevie G had perfected his finishing skills from 12 yards, one could certainly make the claim that they were current kings of European form. Four-nil to Real Madrid, four – flipping four – to one at Old Trafford, of all places, and now a commanding five-zilch win against formerly top four side Villa left no room for doubts. Two world class clubs and one very good brushed aside like drunken riff raff with a +12 differential in 13 days. At the moment, they’re a bit better than good.

Enter Barcelona, whose game began just after Liverpool’s had ended. With Gerrard’s third coming at the 65th minute, enough time may have been left in the hour glass to hear the shouts beginning, but Barca likely more important matters at hand – a damn shame, as nothing would please more than Pep sauntering up to the post game presser to triumphantly utter three stinging words: “Screw you, Rafa”. (Or the Spanish equivalent.)

By the hour mark, they’d hit six past a surprisingly plucky Malaga side which had lost three times in the last three months. This on the heels of their 5-2 trouncing of Lyon and a tricky 2-0 win over Almeria in which the scoreline belied their true dominance. Diego Alves, Almeria’s keeper, put in a performance which had the earth above Lev Yashin’s grave crumbling with thunderous applause, and Barca could so easily have hit 7 were a morphed Iker Buffon between the sticks. And there was that whole 35 pass thing, too.

With Manchester United stuttering, Guus still testing recipes, Real doing their best to forget Liverpool even exist, Bayern capable of losing to 1860’s reserve side on a bad day and the whole of Italy still napping til South Africa 2010, two teams have emerged from the rubble as Europe’s most dominant. There’s still much to go, but if these last two weeks are any indication, the Champions League Final might just be a two-legged affair – neither of which take place in Rome.

Which begs the question….as current form goes, who is the fairest of them all?

Which is the most in-form side?
( surveys)

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Category: English Premier League, Spain La Liga