BARCA PROVIDES A STARRY NIGHT.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

One morning last week at the Beverly Hills Hotel, up the hall from where a terrycloth-draped guest was asking the pool attendant how many brands of eye cream he could sample, a conversation was overheard that said a lot about soccer in Hollywood.

``Did you know,'' a woman said brightly, ``the entire Manchester United soccer team is staying here?''

``So,'' said the man with her, ``David Beckham?''

They sounded vaguely excited about their brush with football greatness.

Never mind that it wasn't Manchester United camping in Beverly Hills and training at UCLA last week, it was Man U's English Premier League rival Chelsea. Or that if Manchester United had been here, it probably would not have brought Beckham, since he moved to Real Madrid three years ago.

The confusion is understandable.

With accelerating frequency, Europe's most famous clubs have been taking star turns through Los Angeles, each heralded as the New York Yankees of Soccer.

Sunday night, Barcelona played the L.A. game on its summer U.S. tour, Ronaldinho coming on in the second half to almost literally ignite the Coliseum, the Brazilian creating the Barca goal in a 1-1 draw with Guadalajara in front of 92,650 at the Coliseum.

Barcelona got to town Friday just after Chelsea left L.A. for Chicago to lose to the MLS All-Stars 1-0 on Saturday.

Last summer, it was Real Madrid and Beckham coming to Home Depot Center to beat the Galaxy 2-0, the fans getting their money's worth when England's Michael Owen opened the scoring off a back-heel pass from France's Zinedine Zidane.

And two summers earlier it had been Manchester United coming to the Coliseum to put a second-half whupping on Mexico's Club America 3-1, Holland's Ruud van Nistelrooy sweeping home the first goal.

Manchester United was the first of the European giants to try to stamp its brand on the hearts and minds of Southern Californians. Apparently it succeeded, because when the woman at the Beverly Hills Hotel heard a big English soccer team was checking in, she just assumed it was Man U.

Let's settle the confusion.

Who really is the biggest club in the biggest sport?

It's Barcelona, the one we watched Sunday, capping a doubleheader that began with an MLS game for Chivas USA and the New England Revolution and set a Coliseum record for soccer attendance, edging the crowd for a Mexico-Argentina match a few years back.

``We're playing the top team in the world today, with the biggest stars,'' said Antonio Cue, president and part-owner of Chivas USA, whose parent club from Guadalajara was the Barcelona sparring partner.

Barcelona rules Europe these days, having beaten Arsenal for the last spring's Champions League title, and recently receiving the No. 1 seeding for the upcoming tournament. (As for our other visitors, Real Madrid is No. 2, Manchester United No. 6, Chelsea No. 12 in UEFA rankings without the scandalized Italian clubs.)

This is pre-season stuff for Barcelona, which opens its La Liga schedule in three weeks. It made 11 substitutions, and Ronaldinho played only the second 45 minutes. He entered the game just after the sun had fallen below the rim of the Coliseum's closed end, and flashbulbs dotted the stadium every time the man in red-and-blue jersey No. 10 put a boot to the ball. Smoke from the Guadalajara fans' flares and fireworks in Exposition Park created the impression that Ronaldinho had set the night ablaze. He had.

It was reminiscent of a year ago, when the Galaxy played Washington Generals to Real Madrid's Globetrotters, giving Zidane just the room he needed to put on the footwork show everybody came to see. This time, in the 74th minute, it was Ronaldinho putting a pass through to Barcelona newcomer Eidur Gudjohnsen, who blasted a shot off the left post, then left-footed the rebound home.

The World Cup gets more play among casual soccer fans in the United States, who get the Olympian spirit of the national teams' championship.

But club football is the thing for the aficionados, who follow a hundred Yankees-Red Sox sagas, feast on a global hot stove league.

England's Premier League opens in two weeks, understandably the focus of the English-speaking soccer world, and its big four of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool are warming up with verbal penalty kicks that make the coaches in any American sport sound like mealy-mouthed diplomats.

This week, Chelsea midfielder Claude Makalele postulated that after the purchases of Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, ``we are not invincible now, but almost'' and ``rival defenders are scared of us.'' This seemed to be in response to Man U boss Sir Alex Ferguson calling Chelsea an ``old team'' and saying, ``I am producing a team that will last years.''

Easy, gents. You have a long season to settle this. And besides, that's big talk from clubs that currently aren't the biggest.

Barcelona is the biggest in Europe right now, and it was the biggest in Los Angeles this summer, which is starting to feel like the same thing.

heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com

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Photo:

Barcelona's Jordi Gomez fights for the ball against Guadalajara's Edgar Meija during the exhibition soccer game Sunday at the Coliseum. The game attracted more than 92,000 fans.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer