TheUNInterrupted:A Sports Odyssey

...AND SO IT BEGINS? THE RETURN OF BARCELONA?                   Well well well....                  That Barcelona CAN play football eh?                  My my how I love to praise and wax lyrically about beautiful Barca-ball, and though we haven't had many chances to do that in a long time thanks to the disturbance of Ernesto Valverde and Josep Maria Bartomeu, the players have done what I really hoped they would do: get together, communicate, focus, work out the issues on the pitch and maximize their sky-high potential.                Many have said they "used Lionel Messi's Ballon D'or presentation in the pre-game to amp themselves up", but their expressions of quiet focus and confidence were glued to their faces in the warm-up as well...something has changed behind the scenes in the Barcelona dressing room and we don't think it has a damn thing to do with Ernesto Valverde.                What a performance it was in the first 55 minutes of

ASSISTKINGS QUARTERLY  VOL. VI             As the winter months come harsh and slow, the matches also come thick and fast...to the point we wonder how all of us can maintain the commitment, the drive, the passion...wait, who are we kidding,  the obsession all year long?             For the elite football reporter probably copious amounts of espresso and cocaine, for the typical blogger Cheetos and Grammarly and for some, reefer helps.              But herein is a place where obsession never dies, excitement never wavers and the uncorking of our collective sporting unconsciousness is the only pursuit. 10. BRUNO FERNANDES (SPORTING) 9 assists   KEY PASSES  -TOTAL: 47  -PER 90: 1.8 (EUR) 3.5 (LIGANOS) UDGC: 2 KEY PASSES ON TO POST: 1 (Bolasie)                     Bruno "Mr. Transfer-Market Hostage" Fernandes has taken Europe by storm, as they say, but he's doing it against lesser competition it must be said, for both club and country.