Hooray for glorified friendlies! Last week we got the thrilling FA Community Shield in which Manchester United came from two goals down to defeat Manchester City and win absolutely nothing. Spain does them one better though, playing their competition between last year's La Liga champion and last year's Copa del Rey champion in two legs. That's right, you get to see two meaningless matches! It all starts on Sunday with the first leg at the Bernabeu, where Real Madrid will host Barcelona.
Real Madrid Vs. Barcelona, Spanish Supercup 2011: Preview
The Supercup is just a glorified friendly, but with Real Madrid and Barcelona squaring off there is bound to be some bad blood
The question is whether it is possible for two teams to play each other too many times. If anyone could push the envelope on playing each other over and over it would be Madrid and Barcelona, but between two league matches, a Copa del Rey final and two UEFA Champions League matches, the rivals played five teams last season. Now they will play two more time, although neither match this week has anything near as much on the line as they did in any of their five matches a year ago.
Both sides are working in new players and this Supercup will be their final chances to get them a run out before the matches start to really matter. Jose Mourinho continued his habit of making huge changes to get his team's ready to compete in his second year at the club, bringing in Fabio Coentrao, Raphael Varane, Nuri Sahin, Hamit Altintop and Jose Maria Callejon. Barcelona didn't spare an expense either, signing Alexis Sanchez and reportedly finalizing a deal for Cesc Fabregas.
Nobody is going to call the Supercup a highly competitive match, but any time Madrid and Barcelona square off there is always some intensity just because of the rivalry. Add in the intrigue of seeing how the two teams work in their new players and maybe the matches are actually worth watching. Just don’t try to say that the matches matter.
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