You hear that?

Barcelona's extra-terrestrials try to figure out how the hell they just got shellacked by a team of mere earthlings.




That thud you just heard off in the distance was the sound of the two top teams in Europe crashing back down to Earth in the first weeks of this young season. Barcelona, back-to-back la Liga champs and reigning Champions League title-holders, and Chelsea, back-to-back kings of the Premiership, have already been rudely reminded that their successes of yesteryear are no guarantee to expect more of the same this year. Not to mention, the consensus predictions of more trophies to come will not exactly instill the humility necessary to get the squads working hard. Frank Rijkaard and Jose Mourinho, the respective coaches of Barca and Chelski, have already gone on record as suggesting some humble pie for their star-studded squads. Still, the best recipe for humility is a loss and both teams have already suffered setbacks. Barca, in fact, have already tasted the nasty sting of defeat even though la Liga doesn't start until this weekend - on Thursday, Barca's stars raked in one UEFA award after another for their performances last year; on Friday, the Blaugrana went down 0-3 to fellow Spanish side Sevilla in the European Supercup, the annual match-up of Champions League and UEFA Cup winners. Up in England, the Blues, having already lost to Liverpool in the Charity Shield, contrived to do the unthinkable: blow a one-goal lead (in the past a surefire victory for Mourinho's boys) late in the game and fall 1-2 at the hands of Middlesborough, a mid-table team if ever there was one. Of course, it's still only August and there is no guarantee that these setbacks are an early taste of things to come (after all, both Barca and Chelsea won over the weekend, the former coming from behind to beat Celta 3-2 and the latter downing Blackburn 2-0), but maybe, just maybe, we're seeing yet another case of a team enjoying too much success too soon and quickly becoming a victim of their own arrogant expectations of automatic victories. Remember that it only took Real Madrid a short three months in 2003 for the wheels to come off: coming off a Champions League title in '01 and a la Liga crown in '02, los Galacticos looked to be cruising to more titles as the season entered its home stretch, but no sooner had a squad replete with stars like Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo, Beckham and Raul been upset 2-3 by Real Zaragoza in the Kings Cup, then all of a sudden los Blancos were eliminated by Monaco in the Champions League and embarking on a lengthy losing streak in la Liga. No trophies would be hoisted that year by Real, nor in the next two seasons. From an unstoppable squad to a bunch of losers in just a few months, Real's collapse should serve as a warning sign to Barca and Chelsea, as should Brazil's national team. This summer everyone had el Selecao pencilled in as World Cup champs before a ball had been kicked, but they appeared over-confident, ill-prepared, and ripe for an upset - sure enough, out they went at the hands of France. At least Barca and Chelsea are not in a single-elimination tourney at the moment, so they've got plenty of time to sort it out; if they don't, then rest assured that much-improved teams like Real Madrid and Liverpool will be ready to pounce. And if the defeats of last week are any indication, there could be some titles surprisingly changing hands this year. Watch this space.