Getafe 0 - 1 Barcelona

Wow, another magical performance by Barca and they now lead Real Madrid by 9 points. At least for next couple of hours. The lone goal by Messi did the job tonight. To say that score line totally undermines Barca's performance is an understatement. Two otherwise given penalties were denied by the referee. Another Messi's goal was ruled off-side. Etoo missed a sitter. The scoreline should have read 4-0 or 5-0. One would have thought it would be another of those games a team totally dominates and fails to get a result. Luckily and deservedly Barca avoided that.

However, Barca kept another clean sheet and played a superb first half. Only a determined Getafe looked like posing a few problems in second half. It was big test for Barca's motivation to continue their business and they withstood it. They have a tough mid-week encounter with Sevilla and it should be a cracker.

Messi was absolutely mesmerising yet again and only a spirited goalkeeper kept Getafe in the game after first 45 minutes. Iniesta played very well and Xavi continued his play maker role like only he does.

For now, they should enjoy the win and prepare for the upcoming challenges in the next ten days before they play Chelsea in Champions League.

IPL 2009

So the second season of IPL starts today. Chennai super kings are chasing 166 set by Mumbai. Sachin played well, paced his inning nicely. 166 looks like a decent score to defend. I am supporting Mumbai Indians today. Let's see what happens. Should be a close finish. Harbhajan bowled a couple of good overs and troubled Hayden.

Despite last year's success, I guess the excitement level is low with all the matches taking place in South Africa. On a positive side, a good time to take a vacation in SA. I remember watching last yeat's first match at Cosmo's sports bar and totally enjoying McCullum ripping Bangalore team apart. And they couldn't recover after that.

Royal challengers signed Pietersen and made him captain. I still believe Flintoff would have been a better signing with Zaheer Khan leaving for Mumbai Indians. My friends don't agree with me on this. That doesn't change my opinion though.

I have made lots of plans for this week, gotta work on assignments and dissertation. I keep telling myself there's still time. It's running out fast nonetheless. Time to get back to the game and work, hopefully. So long.