FanNation

I never thought I'd say this. but to tell you the truth I'm getting a bit tired of the parade of "It-sucks-to-be-Barca" stories floating around the media lately.

It was fun. Now it's just getting redundant with the continuous speculations of where Henry, 'Dinho, Xavi, Zambrotta, Frank Rijkaard, Gio dos Santos, Messi and the gang will wind up next season. It was laughable. Now it's depressing.

However, I have to make an exception here. Barcelona hit an all-time low today as they fell 4-1 (!!!!!) to rivals and La Liga Champs Real Madrid in the El Clasico (the Classic?) derby.

I actually LOL'ed (I'm following the trend to relate to younger readers. You'll stop laughing when it works.) when I saw the scoreline and told myself that Rijkaard & Co. just shoved the dagger into their stomachs that ended their short La Liga existance. They'd been flirting with utter failure for weeks, but losing in the semifinal of the Champions League was the end, and their disapointing loss to Real proves to be the icing on the nightmarish cake that Barcelona call their 2008 season.

Enough metaphors. Let's get to facts.

Things only got worse for Barcelona after they were beaten by Manchester United in the Champions League semifinal. Perhaps they could use a curse to blame this seaon's complete failure on. It works for the Cubs.

Ugly From Start to Finish

Real Madrid came out cool and calm, to say the least, dominating possesion and making Barcelona look silly from the first wistle. Raul capitalized and grabbed a goal in the 13th minute after Wesley Sneidjer's pass deflected into his path near the edge of the box.

It took Madrid eight minutes to grab a second, when Guti's free kick found Arjen Robben unmarked from six yards out, where he easily slotted home past Victor Valez. Madrid ended the half 2-0, though it could have been much more. Robben, Raul, Gago and Guti all came near scoring before the break, while Barca's only chances came from rushed shots from Bojan and Thierry Henry.

Madrid never skipped a beat after the break and immediately got back into their groove, with Diarra coming dangerously close to scoring shortly after the break, only to be stopped by Xavi.

It was 3-0, though, when Gonzalo Higuain scored in the 63rd minute, less than a minute after his subsitution. (57 seconds after to be exact). Also scoring after his subsitution was Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who scored from the spot after two minutes on the pitch.

Leo Messi characteristically kept his head up despite the 4-0 deficit and came dangerously close to scoring late in the match, with Iker Casillas saving the clean sheet by a fingertip. The clean sheet didn't last, though, and Barcelona got some consolation in the 87th minute when Henry picked up a goal with an impressive shot from 20 yards out that showed a quick flash of his former brilliance in England.

Real Madrid's peak of form couldn't have come at a worse time for struggling Barcelona. who are now seven points behind second place Villarreal.

The Four Fatasticos

With this loss, we can finally close the book on the saga of the Four Fantasticos, Barcelona's four attacking options in Ronaldinho, Messi, Samuel Eto'o and Henry, that were supposed to take the world by force, rewrite history and change the way soccer managers attacked forever.

When Henry was brought to Spain last summer for 16.1 million pounds (over $32 million), the soccer world buzzed with excitment with the thought of the newly dubbed "Four Fantasticos" and dreamt of the stack of trophies the Fantasticos would win for years to come.

Ironically, the dream has turned into a cruel nightmare that is the complete opposite of what soccer experts and novices alike predicted just a few months ago. It's a dream most Barcelona fans want to wake up from so they can travel back to the sleepy little pretend world where the Fantasticos guide Barcelona to the Champions League final and win La Liga in impressing fashion.

Wake up today and they'll find 25% of the Four Fantasticos living up to expectations. Leo Messi has managed to produce consistantly throughout the whole season, while Eto'o and Ronaldinho have been fueding and Henry has been quiet for the majority of the season, scoring only 7 goals in 25 appearances. Ronaldinho has spent much of his time arguing with manager Frank Rijkaard as well, not to mention finding time to party and gain weight before his season ending injury in late March. Yes, of all the Fantasticos, Ronaldinho, who was held in such high regard in the footballing community before taking a nose dive after the '06 World Cup, will be looked back as the most disapointing of the Fantasticos. Not only did he not produce, but he made noise with coaches and teammates and caused havoc in the Spanish media with his party life.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on most grading scales 25% is a massive F.

To put the icing in the cake (pardon me for using the expression twice), it looks like 75% of the Fantasticos will be leaving Barcelona this summer, with Ronaldinho undoubtedly looking into the hottest clubs in Milan, Tottenham Hotspur expressing great interest in signing Samuel Eto'o and Henry contemplating a move to the MLS, if not back to Arsenal. 

And that's fine with most soccer fans, including myself. The road of the Fantasticos has been a long and winding, not to mention cruel and hard to watch, and Real Madrid's 4-1 trashing on Wednesday was the mercy kill that Barcelona needed to put them out of their misery.

Some good can be seen out of this mess, actually. "The Four Fantasticos" sounded to me like a cheezy Spanish version of the Justice League. Glad I don't need to hear that anymore...

The Four Fantasticos: (Left to Right) Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho and Leo Messi