Barcelona Match Preview
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FC Barcelona would be looking to start the new year in the same way in which they have ended the last year. With a huge ten point lead and a bigger fight between teams for the second spot, there is only one team which can prevent Barca from the Championship - i.e FC Barcelona itself. There is a high chance that players would become a bit complacent and would not focus on the pitch; but then with Guardiola in charge the chances of that happening now is very rare. FC Barcelona players have shown enough commitment on the field and on the training ground this season. The best example would be Eto and Keita cutting short their vacation to train early. Against Mallorca Iniesta is expected to start the match; how much the lack of match practice is going to affect him is yet to be seen. Lionel Messi and Daniel Alves both arrived late from vacation and it is very difficult to see them starting the line-up. As usual Guardiola has not yet named his squad. But there may be certain surprises in his mind.
Valdes would retain his position at goal. Abidal would be preferred as the Left-Back; but with the chances of Alves starting very remote, Puyol may be asked to fill the Right- Back role. In that case Marquez and Pique would join in the centre of defense. But I would prefer Puyol being pushed to centre and some one from B-Team making taking the position of Right-Back. The centre of defense would be ideally made up of Xavi, Toure and Iniesta. Up front Eto and Henry should be teaming with either Bojan or Pedro. Real Mallorca are no push-over; but still with the form displayed by FC Barcelona it is difficult to see him Mallorca taking anything out of this match. Mallorca would be using the usual style of ten men behind the ball to stop Barca; but how much they will succeed only time will tell. My prediction is FC Barcelona running away with the match with a 5-1 victory.
Written by Bibin on January 3rd, 2009 with no comments.
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FC Barcelona would be playing their last match of 2008 against Villareal at El Madrigal. FC Barcelona enter this match clearly knowing the fact that a victory at Villareal’s home would take them eleven points clear of their rival. Real Madrid continued with their recovery under Ramos with a hard fought home win against Valencia. That lose of Valencia means Athletico Madrid who won against espanyol hold the second spot. A victory for Villareal would take them to the second spot. Barcelona would love to end this 2008 in a great note with a victory against Villareal; that would do justice to the way they played and fought in recent matches. Traditionally FC barcelona have struggled at El Madrigal and would like to correct that here. This is going to be a really tough match for Guardiola and there were questions asked about the squad after the Real Madrid encounter. Especially Messi, after a not so brilliant Classico performance he wanted to get things right back on track.
The squad selected for the Villareal travel is ValdĂ©s, Henry, Xavi, PiquĂ©, Puyol, Cáceres, Sylvinho, Bojan, Eto’o, Messi, Hleb, Dani Alves, Abidal, Keita, Gudjohnsen, TourĂ©, Pinto, Sergio Busquets and VĂctor Sánchez. Marquez is injured and hence rested; there were reports of Iniesta being given green signal by Medical staff but he is also rested. The side should be similiar to the recent starting eleven. Valdes should start at the Goal. Abidal, Puyol, Pique and Alves should make the defense. Xavi, Toure and Busquets would be making up a very tough midfield. Eto, Henry and Messi would be the attacking trio. Messi has to lift his game as the midfield would be packed with more defensive minded players. This would be a tough match and expect a tough Barcelona victory with a score line of 1-2.
Written by Bibin on December 21st, 2008 with no comments.
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Camp Nou prepares to host the biggest game of this season so far, El Classico. Yesterday FIFA has shorlisted both Messi and Xavi for the FIFA World Player of the Year final list. Guardiola is once again upto his best with the squad announcement. As usual he has delayed the squad announcement to keep everyone guessing; but this time he has added another twist to the usual tale. He pointed out a possibility of Iniesta making into the squad for “The Classic”. Guardiola told the press that Iniesta will train along with the other members of squad in today morning and his inclusion will be decided after that. Now that’s Guardiola’s way of keeping everyone guessing. Barcelona’s current form has raised huge expectation among Barca fans, who dearly want revenge for the last season’s 4-1 defeat at Bernebeu. BUt it will be foolhardly to dismiss Real Madrid’s chances in this match. Madrid players along with their new coach would be motivated to silence their critics and there is no better way to do that with a win in Nou Camp. FC Barcelona players has to take the match very seriously; if they do that this could be a cake walk as half of the Madrid side is out injured. But then as we have seen in many occassion in the past, over confidence and complacency could be FC Barcelona’s biggest enemies. As Di Stefano mentioned “All the pressure would be on Barcelona”. Real Madrid would be without any pressure as nobody give them a chance to beat in-form Barcelona at Camp Nou. So there could be a chance of the Barcelona side melting under the huge pressure.
To predict the line-up against Real Madrid is pretty simple. There is no way that Guardiola is going to change the line-up that demolished Valencia. So we can expect Abidal, Puyol Marquez and Alves to guard the defense ahead of Valdes. Xavi, Toure and Gudjonsen will form the midfield. And the deadly trio of Messi, Eto and Henry will be form the forward line-up. For everyone this match is about attack; there is no doubt thet we will see goals in plenty. But for me the key would be theree players - Alves, Toure and Abidal. If they produce a performance as similiar against Valencia, then we would be shutting off Real Madrid completely. My predition for the match is a 6-2 victory for Barcelona. Ok, it may sound pretty impossible, then Real Madrid’s defense has looked suspect whole of this season.
Written by Bibin on December 12th, 2008 with no comments.
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FC Barcelona looks to extend their unbeaten streak of 20 matches in tonight’s encounter against Shaktar Donetsk. But that may seem highly unlikely after Guardiola decided to rest eight of his regular starters. That seems like the wisest choice as the El Classico is round the corner and you don’t want to have any of your main players to get injured. Abidal, Eto, Keita and Gudjonsen are the players included in the squad who have a genuine chance of making into the line-up against Madrid. That looks fine for me - as Eto was suspended against Valencia and you don’t want a player to be rusty; Abidal just came from injury and it would be great to get some match time under his belt as he is destined to start at Bernebeu. The squad selected for the night by GUardiola have a bunch of youngsters from Barca Atletic and it would be great result if they can hold to a draw. Shaktar already have demonstrated their enormous physical presence when both the team met at Shaktar’s home. They also have a chance to qualify for the UEFA cup and hence they will be motivated and that means Barca has to use the entire pitch to overcome that.
The squad picked by Guardiola is Jorquera, Pinto, MartĂn Cáceres, PiquĂ©, Sylvinho, Botia, Abidal, Victor Sanchez, Gudjohnsen, Sergio Busquets, Keita, Victor Vazquez, Abraham, Xavi Torres, Hleb, Bojan, Eto’o, Pedro. We can expect Guardiola selecting Jorquera ahead of Pinto in the goal. But the defensive formation baffles me. Abidal, Pique and Caceres is sure to start. Victor Sanchez should be the preffered Right Back. Busquets, Keita and Gudjonsen should form a formidable midfield line-up. Eto should be partnering Hleb and Bojan up front to form a formidable attack. This side would be able to defeat Shaktar if they use the full length of the pitch. Maybe we can have Vasquez or Abrahams in place of Keita or Busquets to give more attacking option in the middle. I hope to see Bojan making a definitive statement in this match.
Written by Bibin on December 8th, 2008 with no comments.
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With Fc Barcelona’s prolific scoring machine, Samuel Eto missing in the game, every fan will be looking upto Lionnel Messi to churn up another magical performance to see them past Valencia. Valencia is in the midst of a financial trouble but that would be the last thing that would be on the mind of their players. Valencia visits Camp Nou this night lying in third in the standings with a five points difference seperating them. Valencia would be hoping to cut down the lead whereas FC Barcelona would be aspiring to repeat last week’s performance and move further away from contenders. Valencia’s away form has been good this season, they are yet to be beaten away from the home. FC Barcelona’s home form has not been that good as their away form. In the past thsi fixture has yielded some great games. Guardiola has been very cautious and has restrained from naming the squad early. Eric Abidal has been given the green light but the chances of Guardiola starting with him is very unlikely. The key would be how he will for the front line up. Bojan and Hleb are contenders for that fron line-up and it is yet to see whom he will prefer.
Guardiola is certain to start with Valdes in the Goal. Valdes has some nightmarish experience against Villa in the past. Hope he does not repeat any of them. The defense should remain unchanged with a combination of Alves, Pique, Marquez and Puyol. The midfield would ideally feature two attacking players in the form of Gudjonsen and Xavi along with the the big Ivorian Yaya Toure. The forward line up would be made up of Messi, Henry and Hleb. I would love to see Bojan in the Centre role but that seems very unlikely. Valencia has some great players in their squad, they would be missing the likes of Edu and David Silva, a player in which the Catalan’s are interested; then there is the prolific scorer David Villa, Marquez and Pique would have a tough time to deal with him and then there is Joaquin. Even then the home advantage of FC Barcelona should come to their rescue and they should atleast score three goals.
Written by Bibin on December 6th, 2008 with no comments.
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FC Barcelona’s quest for the La Liga title enters a very delicate and important phase with tonight’s match against Sevilla. FC Barcelona has been in tremendous form and would be looking to increase their unbeaten record at Sevilla. This has to be Guardiola’s buggest test of this season and considering the tough matches which is to follow , a victory at Sevilla would indeed make matters easy. This match has already been billed as the contest between the teams which have the best defensive record and offensive record in the league. Sevilla has let in only eight goals until this seaso; FC Barcelona is not trailing badly here with only conceding nine goals till now. But where Barca’s superiority is the amount of goals scored this season; Barca has scored 37 goals to Sevilla’s 18. This would be first visit for Keita and Alves who moved from Sevilla to Barcelona this summer. Both the players have been included in the squad along with Toure and Puyol who both were rested. The squad selected by Guardiola is ValdĂ©s, Pinto, Henry, Márquez, Xavi, PiquĂ©, Puyol, Cáceres, Sylvinho, Bojan, Eto’o, Messi, Hleb, Dani Alves, Keita, Gudjohnsen, TourĂ© Yaya, Busquets.
Valdes is definite to start the match at Goal. But the defense could be a bit tricky to predict. My prediction would be Puyol and Marquez joining hands in the centre with Alves and Caceres on each side. BUt Guardiola could bring in Pique and move Puyol to left. The midfield cou8ld be quite tricky; Guardiola could be tempted to slot in two defensive minded player to shore up the defense. But my opinion is to put Gudjonsen along with Xavi and Toure in the middle. Now against such tough and important match it should be a child’s play to predict the front line - Messi, Eto and Henry. Barca could be seriously tested in today’s match but I believe they will prevail and my prediction is 1-3. But it would be very much essesntial for Barca to take the initiative pretty early in the match. They cannot go behind in this match; if that happens we could be chasing the game for majority of the match.
Written by Bibin on November 29th, 2008 with no comments.
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The clash between Sporting Lisbon and Fc Barcelona could be one of the most insignificant match of this round. With bot teams qualified for the knock-out stage, it could be the time for the coaches to give the lesser known players some playing time. But this match is more tricky for FC Barcelona than Sporting. Barca would like to top the group and avoid other top ranking clubs in the second round. Hence we can expect Guardiola to put up a good competitive side for this match. Taking a deviation to his usual policy; Guardiola announce the squad well in advance. Messi and Marquez have been included in the side but Puyol and Toure are rested. That is a very good move considering those two gentlemen would be sure starters against Sevilla. Messi could be expected to start but Guardiola is expected to rest Eto, Valdes etc. The squad announced is ValdĂ©s, Pinto, Alves, Sylvinho, Cáceres, Márquez, PiquĂ©, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Sergio Busquets, VĂctor Sánchez, Keita, Hleb, Pedro, Messi, Henry, Bojan and Eto’o.
I expect Guardiola to Pinto a start in place of Valdes. Pique, Caceres, Marquez and Sylvinho should make up the defensive line. The midfield is pretty tricky with Keita and Busquests expected to start with Victor Sanchez. Bojan should replace Eto on the centre of pitch with Henry on left and Pedro on the right. This could be a very tricky tie and we could do us a world of good if we come out undefeated.
Written by Bibin on November 25th, 2008 with no comments.
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FC Barcelona would be looking to their winning streak to 10 consecutive matches when they welcome Getafe in La Liga tonight.There is a high chance that Lionel Messi would not be starting on today’s match. Messi left Friday’s training session with a pain in the quadriceps in his right leg. Eventhough the club doctor’s examination has ruled out any serious injury; the club is expected not to rush the star especially considering the series of tough matches coming. Pedro is expected to be included in the team as a cover to Messi. Guardiola is expected to make the call for inclusion of Messi just before the match starts. Getafe Lies 13th in the table and are going to real tough times. Getafe makes the trip to Camp Nou with three consecutive defeats in their bag; the only fact that should be welcomed by them could be the non-availability of Messi. It also yet to see how FC Barcelona cope with the non-availability of Messi and Iniesta , two of their brightest stars of this season. The burden of carrying Barca through in this match could rest on the shoulders of Eto and Xavi.
Guardiola is expected to field his best available side for tonight’s match. With Villareal losing yesterday, this is the best time to clearly move ahead of rivals. Alves, Marquez, Pique and Puyol is supposed tom guard the defense in front of Valdes. There could be chance of Caceres being slotted as a left back especially after his performance as a left-back for Uruguay. The midfield for me should be made of Toure, Xavi and Gudjonsen. There is no point in slotting two defensive minded players in that midfield especially at home. The forward would be potentially made up of Et, Bojan and Henry. If Bojan comes into the side Guardiola should use him on the right side. There is no point in moving Eto from middle to right in order to bring in Bojan. Even with Messi absent Barca should be able to produce a convincing victory. I predict a scoreline of 3-0 in the match.
Written by Bibin on November 23rd, 2008 with no comments.
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As a contrast to his recent ways Pep Guardiola has decided to announce his squad for the match against Recreativo De Huelva in Nuevo Colombino stadium. After the uninspiring win against Benidorm Pep has announced the strongest side available for the visit to Recreativo. Recreativo lies in the relegation zone as of now and could be hard done by this visit of Barca. But the teams which made us struggle this season are Numancia, Benidorm, FC Basel etc. A combination of team selection and complacency are to be blamed for the recent uninspiring results against FC Basel and Benidorm. I now believe that we need three out of our fantastic four (Xavi, Messi, Iniesta and Eto) to make the greatest of impressions against opponents. The squad announced for tonight’s match is ValdĂ©s, Pinto, Alves, Sylvinho, Cáceres, Puyol, Márquez, PiquĂ©, Sergio B., TourĂ© Yaya, Keita, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Hleb, Messi, Eto’o, Bojan and Henry.
Pep Guardiola is not expected to experiment with his side for today’s match. This has been already a tricky week for the big clubs in the La Liga. Real Madrid lose to Valladoid and Valencia’s catapulation at the hands of Gijon means that we have a clear cut chance to increase the lead on the top of table. Villareal is yet to play but a clear cut lead from Valencia and Madrid would ease out all the tension when we get ready to face them pretty soon. Puyol, Marquez, Pique and Alves is expected to form the defense ahead of Valdes. Xavi, Toure and Gudjonsen should form the midfield troika. Messi, Eto and Henry would be the attacking force ahead of the pitch. Puyol playing the left-back role should be a blessing in disguise for Guardiola in the future. When Milito returns he could form the centre defense partnership of Marquez and Milito in the middle. Last season Marquez and Milito showed good understanding of each other; but Milito when partnered with Puyol was a disaster. Whatever those are things for the future; I expect FC Barcelona to produce another sincillating performance and prerdict a score line of 2-6.
Written by Bibin on November 16th, 2008 with no comments.
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Pep Guardiola has yet again delayed the naming of the squad against Benidorm till the time of the match. This looks like his way of keeping his players focussed. Whatever we might say it have worked in this season. FC Barcelona goes into this match in a kind of tricky position. They have won the away leg with a goal margin and are the hot favourite to proceed to next step. Already the Copa Del Rey had one big casuality in the form of Real Madrid; Madrid was outsed by an injury time goal by Real Union. As I mentioned in my previous post Copa Del Rey Awakes, for the smaller teams all match is like the final match. Today’s match is Benidorm ultimate match and they can be expected to throw everything at Barca.
Pep Guardiola may not be fielding a under-strength side in tonight’s match. With Madrid already out and Villareal likely to follow suit; he might be tempted not to give players from B team a start. Benidorm did really well in their home leg; but they may soon find out it is completely different playing FC Barcelona at Nou Camp. We can expect Messi, Xavi and Eto starting in the substitute bench today. So most probably Bojan, Hleb and Henry would be starting the match. Gudjonsen should be teaming with Victor Sanchez and Toure/ Busquests in the midfield. Caceres, Sylvinho, Pique and Alves should form the defense ahead of Pinto. Jorquerra is ruled out of some stomach bug. I expect a tough match but FC barcelona should be winning comfortably by atleast a couple of goals.
Written by Bibin on November 12th, 2008 with no comments.
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FC Barcelona would be looking to start the new year in the same way in which they have ended the last year. With a huge ten point lead and a bigger fight between teams for the second spot, there is only one team which can prevent Barca from the Championship - i.e FC Barcelona itself. There is a high chance that players would become a bit complacent and would not focus on the pitch; but then with Guardiola in charge the chances of that happening now is very rare. FC Barcelona players have shown enough commitment on the field and on the training ground this season. The best example would be Eto and Keita cutting short their vacation to train early. Against Mallorca Iniesta is expected to start the match; how much the lack of match practice is going to affect him is yet to be seen. Lionel Messi and Daniel Alves both arrived late from vacation and it is very difficult to see them starting the line-up. As usual Guardiola has not yet named his squad. But there may be certain surprises in his mind.
