Last night I put my feet up on the coffee table, switched on Barcelona-Valencia, nibbled gently from bowl of Thai Sweet Chilli crisps.
Wow!
I wish I\’d been there.
What an amazing, throbbing, thrilling spectacle.
Valencia’s first mistake was score first.
When an early cross into space found the run of Piatti, he stabbed in just before the ball bounced. Valencia, still dynamic after all these years, know how to hit runners with crossfield passes.
0-1 in 9 minutes.
Valencia are third, Barcelona second.
Then Barcelona hit back and it was tidal, completely tidal, wave after wave after wave of attacks, 10 shots in half an hour, 21 shots in 62 minutes.
They just kept coming, and coming, and coming again. And Brazilian keeper Diego Alves made save after save as Barcelona roared forward with tigerish ferocity, fluid and ruthless as ever.
Their concertina of ball-recovery has never been better.
They were relentless, they never said: OK, you have the ball for a while.
My man Alexis had a bad game but it didn\’t matter because Twinklefeet was unreal, his inimitable scooting powerglide as compelling and penetrative as it has ever been.
Pundits say : Don\’t burn him out, Pep, give him a rest.
But he doesn\’t want a rest.
On this evidence, Lionel Messi\’s energy-level is as superhuman as his skills.
He scored in 22 and 27 and 76 and 85 .
Then Xavi, a late sub, flicked in for 5-1.