I always watch Revista because Graham Hunter and Balague tell me things I don’t know.
Last week I missed it. I don’t know how I missed the show, but I missed it.
Graham Hunter lives in Barcelona. He knows everything about Pep Guardiola and his players.
I watched Barcelona’s recent games with Real Zaragoza, Osasuna and Mallorca.
On Saturday there was a moment of outrageous showboating by Ibrahimovic when a fast right wing cross came over. He let the ball hit his back and it flew to a teammate who had a fierce shot saved.
Last night on Revista, Graham said, “We showed a little clip there that was the exact way to analyse Zlatan Ibrahimovic. That lovely pass off his back, he knew exactly what he was doing. That’s the show.
“Pep said to him, Stop trying to score wonder-goals! Get the ball in the net! Three goals he scored, a penalty, a tap-in against Osasuna, a tap-in against Mallorca.”
Balague said Arsenal are very good in the first 20 minutes and also very strong in the last 20 minutes.
Graham said Barcelona’s key man will be keeper Victor Valdes, not Messi.
He said Valdes always steps up to the plate in big games, as he did against Chelsea last season.
By saying all that, Hunter and Balague are giving Arsenal a lot of respect. Let’s see whether Arsenal justify that respect.
The boys reckoned Pedro, 22, will start. Pedro is fast and direct and has scored 17 goals already this season. I rate him highly.
They also said that Pep might keep Iniesta for the Real Madrid game at the Nou Camp, which comes right after the Arsenal second leg there.
On Arsenal, I can’t tell you anything you don’t already know.
We’ll find out at 6.45 pm whether Fabregas is playing.
Overall, this is a nice tidy football week because four is a number I can handle.
A bigger number than that is too complicated for this old beatnik.
Eight teams, four games.
Bayern Munich 2 Man Utd 1
Lyon 3 Bordeaux 1
Arsenal v Barcelona
Inter Milan v CSKA Moscow.
Yes, four is a good number. Easy to grasp, easy to write about.