Well, most of the world missed the first ten minutes of the match thanks to ESPN3 telling us to 'Please stand by' but the 35 minutes we did get to see were... alright, I guess. Barcelona are clearly the better side, having struck the crossbar twice in addition to David Villa's opening goal, but Chivas de Guadalajara weren't too bad, giving the European champions a reasonably stern test and nearly scoring a couple of times as well.
Barcelona Vs. Chivas De Guadalajara, 2011 International Friendly: 1-0 Blaugranas At Halftime
The reason, of course, that Chivas are even comparable to Barcelona on the day is that Pep Guardiola is fielding a grand total of four regular first-teamers in his lineup today, and two of them are defenders. Only Villa and Xavi are present from Barcelona’s fearsome attacking corps, and he’s provided the greatest threat, scoring once after breaking the offside trap and running past Luis Michel, and then hitting the bar while trying a rather cheeky lob towards the end of the first half.
Anyway, not Barcelona at their best, but this isn’t really Barcelona at all, so hey, it’s all good. Look for the score to be a lot higher in the second half.
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