Congratulations, Lille! You have been officially awarded the prestigious title of Pissy French Bitches 2007 (previous holders: Arsenal). They are now (a) blaming Man United for the over-crowding in the away end and (b) claiming that the game should be replayed because the referee let Giggs's goal stand. Both of which are bullshit.

Let's start with the free-kick. Yes, quite often the referee tells the teams that they have to wait for the whistle to restart play. He didn't do that this time. So when Lille spent too much time faffing around setting up their wall and Giggs took advantage of that, they have only themselves to blame. It's understandable that they feel hard done by, especially since they'd previously had a goal disallowed for a push on Vidic, but reacting as if they were going to take their ball and go home is needlessly petulant. It's the sort of behaviour I'd expect in my rec league (where, instead of referees, you call your own fouls and the teams award each other "spirit points" after the game; yeah, it works about as well as you'd expect), not from professional footballers.

As much attention as is being paid to this -- and when I finally saw the game, I was a little disappointed, because I was expecting a bigger kerfuffle -- the more serious issue is the trouble with the away fans. There are conflicting reports as to what exactly happened, but basically: there were too many fans in the away section of the stands, possibly because of people using fake tickets, possibly because of stadium staff not actually checking tickets and just letting people in. Some of those fans felt that they were in danger of being crushed and tried to climb out, and the security people dealt with this by spraying tear gas at the crowd. Which, as you can imagine, was a big help. The whole thing is just boggling to me. I mean, having to segregate away fans behind wire fences is boggling enough in the first place, considering that I'm used to North American stadiums where you can sit anywhere. I can accept that it's necessary in other places, but if you're going to do it, isn't the point to make it less dangerous for the fans, rather than more so?

Right, so: Massive organizational fuck-ups aside, what about the game? Well, United started brightly enough, with lots of possession, but not enough of it was in the final third of the pitch. Although they lined up in the 4-4-2 I was hoping for (hallelujah!), they were lacking the final ball to the strikers or players really driving forward from midfield. Lille did a good job of harrying them and closing down space in the midfield; I thought Jean Makoun was their best player and it's easy to see why United were interested in him. Gradually, though, it was looking as if the game would peter out into a scoreless draw, until Giggs stepped up to give United a crucial away goal. I hope they'll go all out to win the return leg at Old Trafford, because I thought a lot of their problem on Tuesday was due to their usual caution in European away games, despite the purportedly attacking formation.

I finally got around to watching the England-Spain game, and now I kind of wish I hadn't, because they were terrible. Spain weren't in top form either, but nevertheless they were the better team, largely because they demonstrated the ability to pass the ball more two or three times in a row without giving up possession.

I could talk about all the problems with the team at the moment -- inane tactics, strikers who can't score, the complete absence of left-footed players. But instead of dwelling on that, I'm trying to think about the things that actually went right:

1. Ben Foster looked solid in his international debut (in the "not sucking" sense, rather than just the "ate too many pies" sense that Paul Robinson usually does);

2. Steven Gerrard, also, did not entirely suck;

3. Jonathan Woodgate and Keiron Dyer made it through the game without any of their limbs spontaneously falling off;

4. No Jermaine Jenas;

and finally,

5. The worse Steve McClaren does as manager, the more likely it is that they'll sack him sooner rather than later.

On Friday, Steve McClaren named his squad for England's friendly against Spain at Old Trafford next week:

Goalkeepers: Robinson (Tottenham), Foster (Watford), Kirkland (Wigan)

Defenders: Gary Neville (Man Utd), Phil Neville (Everton), Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd), Woodgate (Middlesbrough), Bridge (Chelsea), Terry (Chelsea), Carragher (Liverpool), Dawson (Tottenham), Richards (Man City)

Midfielders: Lennon (Tottenham), Gerrard (Liverpool), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Carrick (Man Utd), Downing (Middlesbrough), Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Parker (Newcastle), Lampard (Chelsea), Barry (Aston Villa), Barton (Man City), Jenas (Tottenham), Dyer (Newcastle)

Forwards: Rooney (Man Utd), Crouch (Liverpool), Defoe (Tottenham), Johnson (Everton)

Joey Barton gets his first senior call-up, which, if nothing else, will serve to irritate Frank Lampard, so I approve of that. Jonathan Woodgate and Kieron Dyer are being rewarded for managing to stay healthy for two whole months in a row. Which is more than, say, John Terry has managed recently, so there you go.

It's also nice to see Gareth Barry finally earning another cap, after putting in some good performances this season. He gets the "random left-footed player" spot over Kieran Richardson, who's been sent back down to the U21s, along with Scott Carson and Theo Walcott.

With 28 players in all, it's a rather bloated squad, although I suspect that quite a few of them will pull out. And 12 of those players are midfielders, which says to me that McClaren still hasn't figured out what the hell to do with his midfield, so he's going to throw everything he's got at the problem and hope that something sticks.

Spain's squad for the game:

Goalkeepers: Reina (Liverpool), Casillas (Real Madrid)

Defenders: Lopez (Atletico Madrid), Ibanez (Atletico Madrid), Puyol (Barcelona), Capdevila (Deportivo La Coruna), Ramos (Real Madrid), Navarro (Sevilla)

Midfielders: Fabregas (Arsenal), Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), Lopez (Celta Vigo), Alonso (Liverpool), Albelda (Valencia), David (Valencia)

Strikers: Torres (Atletico Madrid), Arizmendi (Deportivo La Coruna), Angulo (Valencia), Morientes (Valencia), Villa (Valencia).

Luis Aragones has named a relatively small squad -- only 20 players. What's notable, though, is that five of them are strikers, whereas England only has four. This is partly because Spain usually plays with three up front, but it also highlights the lack of quality strikers in England at the moment. (Healthy, ones, at least.)

As for how the game will go, it's hard to say. For one thing, it's a friendly, so the normal rules don't really apply. And for another, both England and Spain tend to veer from being quite competent to aggressive mediocrity. It's really a question of which team will turn up on the given day. But for the record, the last time they met -- a friendly in Madrid in November 2004 -- Spain won 1-0.

I've never been much of a fan of Real Madrid -- the galatico policy, the revolving door of managers, the attempts to tap up every well-known player on the planet, the self-proclaimed status as the best club in the world, etc., etc. So I've been deriving a certain amount of pleasure from watching them undergo one of their periodic meltdowns.

This week it's president Ramon Calderon's turn, as he attempts to piss off as many people as possible in one fell swoop. (I pity Real's PR staff; they must want to kill themselves on a daily basis.)

Calderon made a speech to university students on Tuesday, which was recorded without his knowing and then broadcast on the radio, in which he made the following oh-so-flattering observations.

On Real players:

"There is vanity, egoism and they all think they are superstars. Real Madrid players never pay for anything. You (students) have education and culture and that's something that they in general don't possess."

Not that he's wrong, here, exactly. But honesty is not always the best policy -- especially, I suspect, when dealing with footballers and their fragile egos.

On the fans:

"It's a stadium where people go as if they were going to the theater. The people don't support the team, not like in Italy and England."

Calderon has clearly never been to a game at Highbury. Also, way to keep the fans on your side there. Because it's not like their support is important or anything.

On Real's public spat with David Beckham:

"He's going to Hollywood to be half a film star. Our technical staff were right not to extend his contract and that has been proved by the fact that no other technical staff in the world wanted him except Los Angeles."

I'm pretty sure there were a few other clubs interested too. Like AC Milan, for one. Maybe Calderon thinks that don't have a technical staff? (Incidentally, the classless way that Real have handled the Beckham saga has placed me firmly on Goldenballs' side; who knew?)

Oh, and while he was at it, Calderon also accused former club president Florentine Perez of deliberately sabotaging his attempt to sign Kaka from AC Milan. The Italians don't seem too bothered, though, since they're reportedly looking to take Ronaldo off Calderon's hands on a free transfer.

That's provided Ronaldo doesn't follow Beckham's lead and move to MLS instead, where Red Bull New York are waving a big pile of cheeseburgers under his nose.

Anyway, the whole thing is rather entertaining, and I can't wait to see what's next. I'm betting on a fight between Calderon and coach Fabio Capello, so that he has an excuse for sacking Capello and replacing him with Jose Mourinho next season. And then I can consolidate my hate in one handy place.

So much for my prediction that Barcelona would win. Maybe I jinxed them?

Barcelona started calmly, passing the ball around the way you know they always do, but Inter had a few decent early chances, and the first corner of the game fell to them. (Although they only had two in the whole match, versus Barca's 11 -- all of which were wasted in Arsenal-esque fashion.)

The Catalans then had a couple of decent shouts for a penalty, as first Eidur Gudjohnsen and then a minute later Ronaldinho were taken down in the box, but they got nothing from the ref.

Barcelona also had several good chances to score, for Gudjohnsen, Deco and Ronaldinho. Perhaps the best one came with a free kick on the edge of the box, which Ronaldinho sent low through the wall (I wonder if he was trying the same thing as he did against Werder Bremen), but it was easily saved by the keeper.

It was scoreless at halftime, as Internacional brought Fabian Vargas on for Alex, while for Barcelona Belleti replaced Gianluca Zambrotta, who'd picked up an injury at the end of the first half. I think this might have hurt Barça in the second half, because some of their most effective moves had been coming from Zambrotta bombing down the right wing in support of Ludivic Giuly, while Inter tried to stifle Ronaldinho on the left.

Barcelona had several more good chances, though -- trying to develop their play through the midfield, while Inter sat back and waited for a chance to break with a long ball or a diagonal pass out to the wings. From the 75th minute on, most of the pressure was coming from Barça -- perhaps realizing that they didn't want this to go to extra time.

But it was Internacional who eventually broke the deadlock. With Carles Puyoly backing off him, Iarley played Adriano through with only Marquez to beat. He skipped past the tackle and slotted the ball home. Cue the Inter bench erupting and a herd of players in neon orange jackets stampeding onto the field.

Then it was just a question of Inter protecting their lead for the last five minutes, although they didn't seem all that inclined to just sit back and soak up the pressure. First Deco almost equalized with another of his trademark shots from 30 yards out, but Clemer just got a hand to it, and then Ronaldinho was knocked over in the D to win a free kick in a dangerous position, which he curled barely inches wide.

Overall, it was a much more even game than I expected, and I suppose that Internacional deserved the win as much as anyone. Certainly Frank Rijkaard seemed to spend his whole post-match press conference talking about how Inter were so much better prepared and whatnot. (I've decided that's his whole role as a manager: being deprecating about the team in interviews. That and pacing around in front of the bench looking pensive. It's a tough job, really -- especially when you've got hair like that.)

And finally, some notes on a few of the other key figures tonight:

The fans
The other bloggers have already commented on this, but although the Barcelona fans definitely outnumbered the Internacional contingent, there were only one or two pockets of them that were actually making some noise. I suspect those were the travelling supporters rather than the local ones -- the rest of the crowd mostly restrained themselves to booing vociferously every time Ronaldinho was tackled or an Inter player went down injured. I was disappointed that there wasn't a bigger group of Inter fans, because the ones that I saw were all completely mental, and I think that would've improved the atmosphere a lot. (I was also disappointed that they didn't try to invade the pitch at the end of the game, but that's another story.)

Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho had quite a few good moments in the first half, but nothing to show for it. It seemed to me that he was trying to be too tricky -- maybe playing to the fans like he did in the semi-final -- rather than trying to just play. And he sort of vanished in the second half, as Inter got better at shutting him down.

Pato
Pato didn't look intimidated by the game, considering that this was only his third professional match. He was more than willing to shoot every chance he got -- although some of those chances, I think he would've been better to pass instead. There were also a few sloppy touches on the ball that looked to me like they came from a combination of inexperience and overconfidence. All in all, he wasn't as effective tonight, and it wasn't a complete surprised when he was subbed off in the 60th minute. I suppose you could say that the Duck had his wings clipped.

(Also, it has just occurred to me that his yellow boots sort of look like a duck's feet. I wonder if he does that on purpose.)

This is it: the one we've been waiting for since the beginning of the tournament.

I've heard quite a few people arguing that Internactional are going to pull off a surprise win tonight. But I think Barcelona should still be the favourites (although the team is still trying to play down their chances just in case they don't win).

Internacional, of course, aren't going to be pushovers the way Club America were on Thursday. And I'm sure the Brazilians will be determined to step up their game after they didn't exactly impress in their semi-final. But they had to rely on their young guns -- Pato and Luiz Adriano -- to win their last game, and somehow I doubt that they have the quality and experience to match Ronaldinho and co. tonight.

I've got a perfect record with my predictions so far, and I think Barcelona are going to win this one. In a couple of hours, we'll find out if I'm right.

In the meantime, we've got a performance from some J-pop group I've never heard of, and a bunch of giant balloons on the pitch that I'm guessing are meant to represent the six football confederations. God love FIFA.

Okay, now I get all the hype about Barcelona. Because they really are just stupidly good. They put on quite a show for the fans last night against Club America. The Mexican team battled bravely, but they were inevitably outclassed.

Barcelona started with probably their strongest 11, with the possible exception of Iniesta in place of Xavi -- although I think even that is justified, based on their current form. Club America, on the other hand, left Cuauhtemoc Blanco on the bench to start, but even the Mexican legend couldn't help them when he came on at halftime, with his team already two goals down.

From the opening, Barcelona showed none of the skittishness that Internacional suffered from in their semi-final, passing the ball around confidently. But in fact the first chance of the game fell to Club America, as Claudio Lopez was played through on goal tripped up by Victor Valdez in the box. No penalty, though -- and I think that if it had been given, or if he'd been able to put his shot on target, we could've seen a different game.

Instead, Club America spent most of the first 45 minutes camped out in their own half. The first goal came just over 10 minutes in, with Eidur Gudjohnsen finishing off a beautiful passing move by Barcelona -- complete with a tricksy backheel from Ronaldinho.

Club America started to work themselves back into the game eventually, but then. but then in Barcelona struck again in the 30th minute from a corner which Rafael Marquez bundled into the net at the far post. Although the Aguilas had a few chances to catch Barça on the break, they were usually snuffed out either by the defenders or the linesman's flag.

Barcelona started the second half just as strongly, with some of their best moves coming from Ludovic Giuly scampering down the right wing. And one of those moves ultimately led to their third goal: Giuly's shot was parried by Ochoa and fell to Ronaldinho, who had more than enough time to gather it calmly and place it past the keeper.

It was all Barça in the closing minutes, putting on quite the display of exhibition football -- all little flicks and dummies -- while the poor Club America players just chased them around. The icing on the cake was a goal for Deco, set up by -- who else? -- Ronaldinho, who shrugged off a couple of defenders and laid the ball off for him to blast into the far corner.

For me, the impressive thing about Ronaldinho was not just the tricks but his physical presence on the ball -- I don't know how many times in this game he had a swarm of defenders around him but still managed to wriggle free with a combination of skill and strength to get the shot or the pass away.

If I had a complaints, it's that I would've liked to hear more noise from the supporters. Before kickoff, the Barcelona fans behind the goal had all these giant banners unfurled in the stands, but that seemed to be the extent of their participation -- other than oohing and aahing every time Ronaldinho had the ball. All the noise was coming from a tiny pocket of Club America supporters in the corner, who didn't stop singing and drumming for the entire 90 minutes. There may not have been many of them, but they were certainly loud. (Well, I guess they needed something to distract them from their team's performance.)

And finally, the Bad Hair of the Day Award. This time it goes to the man, the master: Ronaldinho. Yes, he's probably number one in the world in this department, too. (Runner-up: Carles Puyol and his heavy metal mullet.)

Just over an hour to the game, and the stadium is starting to fill up with fans. The vast majority seem to be supporting Barcelona -- I don't think I saw a single Club America jersey -- although they don't look particularly Spanish, either.

So will their team come through for them tonight? Well, it depends on which Barcelona -- and especially which Ronaldinho -- shows up. Their attack has been blunted with injuries to Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi, but Ronaldinho can more than make up for that if he's on his game -- as he has been recently.

Everyone knows about Barça's stellar record. They've won La Liga 18 times, the Copa del Rey 24 times, and the Champions League twice, along with a boatload of other trophies, but the Club World Cup is the one that still eludes the Blaugrana.

Club America are also no stranger to big games, with 10 Mexican league titles and 5 CONCACAF Champions Cup trophies, and they're unlikely to be daunted by the Yokohama stadium, since their home is the 100,000-seater Azteca. But the Aguilas will be relying on the aging talents of Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Claudio Lopez, and I don't think it's going to be enough.

The verdict: Barcelona are the heavy favourites tonight -- provided they've recovered from their jetlag and the strain of getting through the Champions League group stage recently.

Oh, and the really important issue of the uniforms: America are the home side, tonight, so I expect that Barça will be wearing those blindingly orange away kits -- the ones that make them look like giant pylons. They're truly fugly, but still not enough to disguise how beautifully Barcelona can play. Personally, I can't wait for kickoff.

Edit: The teams just came out for the warmup, and Club America are in head-to-toe yellow, while Barcelona are in their traditional blue and red stripes. They're definitely going to win tonight, in that case.