El Gran Duelo/The Big Match

I love the way the Spanish press sum up individual players' performances in one word. The numeric rating says one thing but the words say so much more. I am certainly not a numbers man!

The match was Madrid v. Barcelona in Madrid last night. The hosts who appear in the top line here (goalkeeper to the left) were overwhelmed four goals to nil. It could have been eight nil! I've never seen such low ratings for a team and certainly not for one that has won the European Cup ten times!

Here's my attempt to translate but the words are so rich and not all easy to bring across - I am not being literal in all cases:

Top line left to right: exposed, statuesque, flattened, led a dance, overwhelmed, insignificant, inoperative, missing, unproductive, crude and impotent.

Bottom line left to right: decisive, leach-like, superb, injured, incisive (like a knife), intelligent, sacrificed (gave way to Messi), magical, immense, powerful and defining.

Who said pictures were worth a thousand words!