"Epoustouflant": Is there any other way to describe glorious Barcelona's 2008 vintage?

Spanish Football / Dave Farrar / 29 October 2008 / Leave a Comment

Dave Farrar rhapsodises about those amazing men from the Camp Nou - who look primed for a double assault on the Champions League and La Liga.

The French sports newspaper L'Equipe is loved and hated for many reasons, but one thing that they get right pretty consistently is their front page headline. They favour the dramatic, and there have been many famous examples, but it was a less well known one that has had real resonance this week. In April 1999, Barcelona destroyed Chelsea, 5-1 after extra time in the Champions League quarter finals, and the headline simply said: "Epoustouflant Barcelone."

Epoustouflant is one of those words that barely needs translating: it literally means mind boggling or astounding, and, pretentious though it may seem, it is the best word that I can think of to describe the style and the grandeur with which Barcelona are playing at the moment, and indeed to describe the La Liga matches which we are being treated to on Saturday and Sunday nights on Sky Sports.

The Premier League in England may be looking more and more intriguing by the week, and it will be great to have a title race which includes more than two-and-a-half clubs, but it's hard to get excited by Liverpool's terrific, but attritional, performance at Stamford Bridge, when, five hours later, you sit down to watch Villareal's 4-4 draw with Atletico Madrid - a game in which both teams threw away a two goal lead. That match was followed last weekend by Bernd Schuster's fragile Real Madrid winning 3-2 against Athletic Bilbao, and was preceded the night before by Barcelona's dismissal of sixth placed Almeria by five goals to nil.

For those of you who didn't see the Barcelona game, then make sure that you get hold of a copy: rarely have I seen a team destroyed as Almeria were in the first half hour at the Camp Nou. Barcelona are playing at the moment as if no one is worthy of being on the same pitch as them, they are the most thrilling team in a spectacular league, and they and Real in particular are the heroes of every over 2.5 goal punter.

Since their opening two games of the season, in which Barcelona looked tired and couldn't find their rhythm, eight of their ten matches have featured over 2.5 goals, and six of them over 3.5. Pep Guardiola's team conform to the style of Barca teams of the past, in that they seem to enjoy scoring goals: they set out to win games, of course they do, but that appears almost secondary to the primary task of entertainment. Arsenal are often accused, lazily in my view, of trying to "walk the ball in". Barcelona do the same, and on Saturday night, with their frighteningly quick passing, they managed to do just that, leaving Samuel Eto'o to tap the ball home.

If Barca are currently top of the bill in terms of entertainment, then Real Madrid aren't far behind: nine of Real's 11 games in all comeptitions have featured over 2.5 goals, and the two which didn't both had two goals. I don't think that Schuster's team is in the same class as Guardiola's, but their defensive weakness means that their games are rarely dull, and the stats back that up.

You may argue that you won't make a profit backing the overs in Barcelona and Real games, but you'd be wrong this season, as prices of between [1.48] and [1.9] would have been winners 17 out of 23 times. Although the prices are contracting I still think that both clubs offer intriguing possibilities, and the overs prices are worth a look, particularly if the game stays goalless for 20 minutes, which has happened this season on four or five occasions. Both Barcelona and Real can often score in bursts, and can provide some serious value in terms of trading.

Barcelona are trading at [2.08] to win La Liga, and that price is hard to argue with, given their superiority, and the likelihood of other challengers falling away. And remember that from a Champions League perspective, a demotivated and inferior Barca side reached the semi-finals of last year's competition and pushed the eventual winners all the way. This year's vintage is tightly knit and in a different class to the team which narrowly failed last season: the price of [7.0] for Barca to win a third European Cup could turn out to be one of the biggest pieces of value of the whole season.

A date for your diaries: Barcelona play Real Madrid on Sunday the 14th December and, regardless of whatever else you have in your diary, make sure that you keep the evening free. It could be the game of the European season, and L'Equipe may be forced to think of some new words to describe the wild imagination and showstopping style of La Liga.