El Classico Part One

Round one of this Spanish slugfest goes to the Catalans thanks to a fantastic Zlatan Ibrahimovic volley. I still believe that unless more creativity is engineered by their midfield, Real Madrid will always have problems with teams the caliber of Barca. Real needs the magic of a Laudrap, and in Xabi Alonso they possess a player capable of true artistry. But until Alonso settles in and plays like he did last year for Liverpool, Real will simply trail Barcelona. Real’s chances came, but they came almost in the spirit of one on one match-ups. On a side bar it was funny listening to Linda Cohen trying to pronounce Ibrahimovic’s name on Sportcenter tonight.