UEFA champions league
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FC Barcelona once again got an easy draw compared to their opponents in the Champions League second round. FC Barcelona has been drawn against the French Champions Olympique Lyonnais. Like FC Barcelona Lyon is on the top of their respective League. When I say that Lyon would be an easy draw, it just mean that out of the all possible opponents Lyon would be the easiest (no insult to Lyonis meant here). It would be a Herculean task for Barcelona to get past the French Champion. They got quality players like Benzema, Juninho, Govou in their line-up. But I already metioned in my previous post Champions League Opponent that I would prefer to play Lyon compared to an Inter or Chelsea. Lyon would be playing a much more open game rather than the other two opponents and that increases FC Barcelona’s chances of proceeding to the next round.Last season FC Barcelona and Lyon met in the group stage; Barca won the home leg comfortaby but drew in the away leg. FC barcelona has scored 18 goals in their Champions League campaign and Lyon are not far behind scoring 14 goal; that makes this the most exciting tie of the second round.
Fc barcelona would be playing the second leg at home and that would be a serious advantage. The other tie ups are:
Chelsea v Juventus
Villarreal v Panathinaikos
Sporting Lisbon v Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid v Porto
Lyon v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Liverpool
Arsenal v Roma
Inter Milan v Manchester United
There are some serious rivals being joined once again in thos ties, like the Mourinho vs Ferguson rivalry, Madrid would be facing Liverpool and to make things worse would be playing the second leg away; Villareal looks to have got a much easier draw - but when you put this into perspective that Panathinaikos quialified ahead of Inter; that makes thing tricky. Athletico Madird also looks to have a good draw against Porto but plays the second leg away.
Written by Bibin on December 20th, 2008 with no comments.
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FC Barcelona is destined to have a tricky opponent in the first knock-out round of the Champions League. Since FC Barcelona has topped the group they will be playing one of the team which came second in their respective froup. But that is no sigh of relief as the potential opponents of Barca are Arsenal, Inter Milan, Lyon and Chelsea. Now that’s pretty tough. I would personally like to have Lyon facing us rather than any of the other team. BUt if history is taken into consideration, this could turn out to be yet another Mourinho versus FC Barcelona match.
Real Madrid who is Barca’s next opponent in the League did play well and demolish a Zenit team. We have seen many times that a change of manager works wonder atleast in short term and hence the team should take the Real Madrid match more seriously. Even with all their apparent problems and injuries nobody will deny their resolve. They have grinded many results with astonishing come back this season and it would be good for Barcelona to take them very seriously. The recent statements regarding this made by many players sounds good; everyone of them want revenge for the twin loses of last season. It seeems everyone in the squad is ready to put that extra effort to avenge that defeat.
Written by Bibin on December 11th, 2008 with no comments.
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All good things comes to end so does FC Barcelona’s unbeaten run. A substantially understrength Barca side has been beaten by a highly competitive Shaktar Donetsk side; Shaktar now have qualified for the UEFA cup. There is no need to ring any alrm bells as none of the starting eleven players would be starting against Real Madrid. In the preivew to the match I have written that the match will be decided how we handle the physical strength of Shaktar player’s. Shaktar made most of their oppurtunity from counter attacks. Guardiola gave Jorquera the oppurtunity to guard the goal. Ahead of him Caceres, Sanchez, Pique and Sylvinho formed the defense. The midfield was made up of Vasquez, Keita and Busquets. Pedro, Bojan and Hleb made the front three.
Galdkiy scored twice in the 31st and 58th minute to take Shatar two goals up before Sylvinho pulled one back in the 59th minute. In the 75th minute Fernandinho increased the lead back for Shaktar. Eventhough Busquets reduced the lead in the 85th minute, Barca never managed that crucial goal to keep their unbeaten streak alive. From the player’s perspective Pedro showed much enthusiasm and skill; Bojan was really hard working but a very physical Shaktar team kept him on bay. Caceres and Jorquera had a forgettable night, both were at fault for most of Shaktar goals. Sylvinho showed that he is a handy back up to have in the left back position.
Written by Bibin on December 10th, 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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FC Barcelona assured themselves of the top spot in their group and hopefully increased their chance of meeting an easier challenge in the second round with an emphatic 2-5 victory against Sporting Lisbon. With both team assured of a second round place the only thing that was at stake was the top spot. There is no guarantee that we will have a easy second round opponent; but there is a high chance of that happening. Hnery, Pique, Messi and Bojan all got into the score sheet; a Caneira own goal completes the tally for Barca. For Lisbon it was Veloso and Leidson who scored the goals. Guardiola fielded a very strong side at Portugal. Valdes guarded the goal; in front fo him Alves, Marquez, Pique and Caceres formed the defensive line; the midfield was made up of Xavi, Busquests and Gudjonsen; Messi,Henry and Hleb formed the forward line.The presence of two attack minded players helped FC Barcelona but there is no question of the fact that Messi was the main reason for such emphatic display. This victory would go well for a great display at Sevilla this weekend.
FC Barcelona dominated proceedings from the begining. In the 13th minute Busquets stole the ball from Lisbon and the ball reached Messi on the right; Messi unleashed his trademark dribbling run upto the goal line and pulled back the ball to Henry who completed the formalities. The second goal came in the 17th minute when Pique latched on to the end of a Xavi cross from corner. FC Barcelona went with a two goal lead to the half time. In the second half Henry was replaced by Bojan. In the 49th minute Alves played in Messi with a quickly taken free kick who rounded off Rui Patricio before slotting Barca’s third of the night. Guardiola immediately took Messi off and put Pedro in his place. That move looked to have backfired with Sporting pulling two goals back in quick time. First it was Veloso who curled a free kick into the corner; the second came from Leidson after a Marquez’s mistake. The recovery was short lived with Barca increasing their lead courtesy of a Caneira own goal after he tried to clear the ball off Busquets. In the 73rd minute Bojan was brough down by Patricio; he was expelled and a penalty was awarded. Bojan slotted the penalty to take Barca’s tally to five goal and a welcome personal relief too.
Written by Bibin on November 27th, 2008 with no comments.
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UEFA Champions League
Atletico Madrid 1 -1 Liverpool
Marred by some strange refereeing decision and the injury of Fernando Torres, the mouth watering encounter between Atletico and Liverpool was bogged down to a predictable draw at the Vicente Calderon.
It was almost like a high school gathering. There were links and ties to each of their clubs some way or the other. Or perhaps it’s just Liverpool fielding a lot of Spanish players than Atletico themselves.
With Torres’ eagerly anticipated homecoming thwarted by injury, the game lost further shine when Sergio Aguero was dropped to the bench and the home side fielding two inexperienced teenagers.
For the visitors, it’s a surprising sight to see Dirk Kuyt starting on the bench despite his recent goalscoring exploit in the Premiership as well as in Europe. It meant that Robbie Keane was up front on his own, with Gerrard in support. A very cautious formation.
But Liverpool took hold of the game almost immediately and was having a stroll in the park for the first half of the game. Though Atletico threatened on occasions, with Forlan flashing a left foot shot just wide, Liverpool were in total control and every time they attacked, they definitely looked threatening.
The controversial goal came in the 14th minute when Gerrard played a superb through-ball for Robbie Keane, who had an easy task of putting it into the net. Replays show that Keane was a yard offside. Just one of the few major decision which the linesman misjudged.
Then Keane should have doubled the lead, if only he wasn’t that over-confident of himself. Gerrard whipped in a perfect cross for the Irish striker but instead of smashing home, he tried to flick it off his boot but missed it totally.
Shame. If only he scored.
Atletico then came out of the second half a totally different team, with Javier Aguire replacing former Liverpool forward, Luis Garcia, with his wonderkid, Kun Aguero. Though he didn’t manage to get off the mark in his game, his impact was evident.
With his presence perhaps, Atletico showed more intent and urgency in their play. At times, Liverpool looked outnumbered in defence, with Kun, Forlan, Sinama-Pongolle, Maniche marauding forward looking for the equaliser.
Both Liverpool and Atletico had goals ruled out for offside, erroneously. Just one of those night for the referee.
Then Simao came really close when he was unmarked on the left flank and he rifled it against the post. Pepe Reina did extremely well with a fingertip save. Signs of things to come. Because the Portugese winger, whom was supposed to sign for Liverpool in his Benfica days, sent the home fans into rapture.
A long ball was uncharacteristically misjudged by Jamie Carragher and choas ensued in the Liverpool penalty box. Forlan eventually laid off the ball for Simao to fire home. A costly mistake from the experienced man.
A fair result for both teams, with such affinity and ties between them. Both teams had good spells in the game and the 1-1 draw was a fair reflection of the game, though some of the linesman’s decision were questionable.
Written by DROGBALLS on October 23rd, 2008 with no comments.
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FC Barcelona resume their Champions League quest against FC Basel away from Home. FC Basel lies at the bottom of Group C and this would be the perfect oppurtunity for Barca to take a giant step towards qualification. Barca fans would be hoping that their players would be able to round off the match much earlier than like the Shaktar match. Guardiola will be missing the service of Keita as he has been confirmed to be out of the game for two weeks. But this should not worry Guardiola as Xavi and Caqceres returns into the squad.Gudjonsen and Pedro both are continuing their recovery program along with Milito and is missing from the squad. The squad picked by Guardiola for FC Basel match is ValdĂ©s, Pinto, Alves, VĂctor Sánchez, Puyol, Márquez, MartĂn Cáceres, PiquĂ©, Abidal, Sylvinho, Busquets, TourĂ©, Iniesta, Xavi, Bojan, Hleb, Henry, Eto’o and Messi.
Messi, Eto and Iniesta is expected to rejoin for the match. The midfield could threw up some surprise. Xavi is the only certainity there. With the absence of Keita and Gudjonsen, Victor Sanchez stands a good chance to making his Champions League debut. Toure or Busquests would play the holding midfielder role; may be Busquests would be preferred as Toure is carrying a knock from last match. Another possibility would be Iniesta dropping back to the middle with henry taking up the front left position; in that case Victor Sanchez is definitely going to miss out on a start. The back four ideally would be made up of Abidal, Alves, Puyol and Pique.
Written by Bibin on October 21st, 2008 with no comments.
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I’m gonna do a round-up of some of the best goals Steven Gerrard had scored in his 400 odd games at Liverpool…
BUT! It’s probably easier to put up all 100 of them here than to pick 10 and call them ‘the top 10 Gerrard goals’ because so many of them are just sheer beauty and you just can’t seemed to rank them up. It’s like putting 100 Angelina Jolies in your face and ask you to pick from 1 to 10!
So in no order, we go through the…let’s just say…highly important goals that he scored in his Liverpool career.
Starting off with…where he started, with the jersey number 28.
1999-00: vs Sheffield Wednesday
This is where it all started. A familiar rampaging run through the heart of the Sheffield Wed defence. A sign of things to come? Most definitely. How exciting was it then, to watch the young number 28?
2005-06: vs West Ham United (FA Cup Final)
Nobody ever forgets this. This IS the Steven Gerrard final, written all over it. It epitomizes what Gerrard is about. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, pulling Liverpool out of however deep the shit is and a tinge of arrogance in his celebration. 3-2 down and he nicely timed it right on the mark when the stadium announcer blared out how much time was left.
It must have rung in his ears ‘this is how little time you have to change it, so why not?’ And God, did he let fly an absolute cracker that no Liverpool fans will forget for the next 20 years and more.
2004-05: vs Middlesbrough
I don’t want to comment much. Just watch.
2000-01: vs Man United
Nothing better than to score against those scums, eh? And a nice one as well, looping over Fabien Barthez, albeit not that difficult….
2004-05: vs AC Milan (Champions League Final)
Another one that nobody forgets. One of those finals which should be captured in films and sold to Hollywood and outdo any shitty Ben Stiller flick. 3-0 down at half time and nobody gave us a chance. Hell, nobody gave us a chance at the start.
But he came, he saw and he headed in the first of 3 within 6 minutes. I’ll always remember those arms flailing in the air and the look of confidence in him. It’s as if he knew we were going to win. It’s unfair to show just the goal he score so I’ll put up the whole video.
2005-06: vs Aston Villa
Cracking goal! Finished with aplomb, just like any of his ‘usual’ goals and that, is out of this world.
2005-06: vs Everton
Again, it was scored against a bitter rival. Not just that but here, I am running out of speculatives to describe all his goals. Honest…
2007-08: vs Newcastle
A similar freekick to his 100th goal. Outside the box and an absolute thunderbolt. Even Shay Given was made hapless with that kind of shot.
2004-05: vs Olympiakos
The goal that made Andy Gray cream in his pants. ‘OWWWW YOU BEAUTY!!’ Indeed. If it didn’t go in, I don’t think we’ll make it as far as the Champions League final and winning it. Probably one of the most important and spectacular goals ever scored by the skipper.
2000-01: vs Alaves (UEFA Cup Final)
Sadly, I can’t find a video on it. But it speaks volume as a young Steven Gerrard parading his talent on a big stage (it was for Liverpool, back then) and to score in a cup final was pretty good.
Hope that you like it. I don’t have time to make it all into a compilation but well, let this post bring you guys back some good memories. Nothing will take away the joy I experienced when Mr. G scored that goal in the FA Cup final.
What about yours?
Written by DROGBALLS on October 3rd, 2008 with no comments.
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Keane Breaks Duck As Liverpool Strolled To Victory
UEFA Champions League
LIVERPOOL 3 -1 PSV Eindhoven
Scorers:
LIV - Kuyt (4min), Keane (34min), Gerrard (76min);
PSV - Koevermans (78min);
It was a memorable night at Anfield even though fans turned up, expecting yet another routine win by Rafa Benitez’s boys. A controlled, discipline performance was expected and what we saw last night was exactly that.
But hell, even Robbie Keane scored this time.
The Irishman finally broke his scoring duck of 11 games as he connected with a fantastic Fernando Torres cross and directed it into the bottom right corner of Andreas Isaksson’s net. He finally could do his cartwheel celebration but this time, donning the jersey of the club he supported as a boy.
It was one of those nights where your gut feeling just tells you things and it happened. I’m sure everyone’s pleased that Keane opened his account in a European night. His quality is proven but it just needed that touch of luck.
Earlier on, he was expecting a penalty as he was brought down by Timmy Simmons but the referee wasn’t interested. And we thought it was not going to be his night, again.
Well, let’s not forget about another milestone set by a great Liverpool player last night. It’s none other than captain Steven Gerrard.
Only the 16th player to carry the honour of scoring 100 goals for Liverpool in Europe, Gerrard fired in his 100th with his usual thunderbolt right-in-the-back-of-the-net style. A freekick from 30 yards out didn’t stop the skipper from sending out a homing-missile like shot into the net. It was as if the ball itself had in mind where to go.
Beautifully taken.
It was an icing on the cake for Liverpool as they strolled through the game without even moving out of gear 2 and looked comfortable and untroubled throughout. Though the gloss was removed when PSV hit back with a goal that somehow silenced the Kop, it was still a disciplined and controlled performance, just like any other Liverpool games recently.
Scoring early, as I mentioned before, is a boon or bane for clubs and thankfully, Liverpool didn’t slip into complacency mode after Dirk Kuyt giving the home side the lead in just under 3 minutes.
How we always said that the Reds were profligate and impotent with cornerkicks, we finally made it work out last night. Gerrard’s outswinger, Torres’ ingenious movement and Kuyt’s followup.
Isaksson should have done better. Looked more a routine save to me than anything. Who knows what might happen if it didn’t go in.
But that’s not the point. It probably round up a pretty satisfying week for the Liverpool fans as we taught our poorer neighbours, Everton, a good football lesson and getting all 3 points in the Champions League is definitely good news.
In the best start of the season we’ve seen in quite a while, it remains to be seen how consistent Liverpool can get. But seeing Rafa dropping his usual chop-and-change tactic, there might be a shift of ideology from the Spanish manager.
Probably, he begin to realise the mistake that he has been making for the past few seasons….
Written by DROGBALLS on October 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
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FC Barcelona started their Champions League campaign with a 3-1 victory against Sporting Lisbon. Goals from Marquez, Eto and Xavi made sure that Barcelona shrugg off their bad start in the League with a good disciplined performance. Pep Guardiola has already shown signs that he is not going to wait for things to happen; instead he is going to make it happen. FC Barcelona changed their formation from the usual 4-3-3 to a 3-4-3 formation. It was more like a 3-1-3-3 formation where Alves played as a Right winger ahead of three man defense but behind three man midfield. This made sure that Barcelona wasn’t caught that often on counter. The defense was made up of Puyol on the left, Marquez on the centre and Pique on the right. In the midfield Keita joined the creative force of Xavi and Iniesta. The forward line up was back to the familiar Henry, Eto and Messi combination.
FC Barcelona started the game quite confidently resting the majority of possesion early on. In the 2nd minute Iniesta saw his shot going just wide from outside the box. In the next minute Eto wasted a splendid cross from Henry in the left; he failed to control the ball; had he done that Barca would have been one up early on. In the 11th minute Alves who had a great game found Xavi in the box; but Xavi shot wide from a promising position. In the early minutes it was clear that the three forward weren’t looking sharp. Especially Messi, who looked more like disinterested. In the 20th minute FC Barcelona goes one up when Marquez scored from the corner. It was good to see Barca approaching the corner a different way. xavi who took the corner sent the ball to the wide of far post. Marquez then headed the ball into the net. Marquez was clearly trying to reach Keita who was in the centre; but poor defending caused the ball to reach the back of net. After the goal as in Racing game Barcelona dropped the tempo a bit; but their back three and midfield were solid. In the 38th minute Messi fails to control a great pass from Iniesta. It was the third time it was happening with Messi just in the first half. In the 40th minute Henry Shot high from a beautiful pass from Iniesta. Then in the 45th minute Messi cut past two defender with a wonderful run; but he was too greedy tried to take too many defenders rather than passing to other players wasted a golden chance which he himself created. He was justifying Maradona’s accusation that he is being too greedy.
After the break FC Barcelona was lucky not to concede a goal when Marquez was compeltely beaten by an aerial ball. Puyol was in the right place to intercept and get the ball to safety. In the 52nd minute Barcelona almost conceded a goal from a familiar position - the corner. One th counter Eto saw his shot deflected wide. Then in the 59th minute FC Barcelona was awarded the most stupid penalty I have seen in my life time. Eto jumped to head a cross from Alves; he was no where near the ball and fell down with the smallest of nudgest. Eto duly converted from the penalty to give FC Barcelona a two goal advantage. In the 66th minute Toure was brought in place of Eto, surprisingly Messi was not replaced. In 72nd minute Sporting scores from a free kick from the right of the box. Absolutely poor defending; usually we never use to pick the guy who scores, but this time there were two players around him, they both missed the cross. Guardiola by this time has allowed the game to drift a lot from Barcelona’s control. But he immediately brought in pedro in place of Henry. That changed the tempo and Barcelona was in complete control in last fifteen minutes. Messi who looked like sleeping on the pitch came back to life in the last ten minutes. In the 81st minute, Messi made a wonderful run in to the box taking on two defenders; but his final shot was very well saved by the Goal Keeper. In the 85th minute Messi goes for another great run from the centre of the pitch and passes to Iniesta but he shot wide. Iniesta made ammence for that missed oppurtunity with an inch perfect pass to Xavi in the minute, which Xavi converted to take the lead back to two goals.
No way you can say that this was a clinical performance. I believe they played well against Racing than this one. But still it was a marked improvement and more over the players showed that they can scrap a win comfortably. The most positive of the game was that they did that with none of the three forwards in complete control of their game. Messi in particular was the worst player on the pitch. He looked lazy, appeared not interested and too greedy at many times. Alves, Marquez, Puyol and Pique had a solid game. Iniesta was the creative force. Guardiola immediately needs to talk to Messi and get things straight. If he is not commited then Pedro is a very good option down that right side. Marquez always baffles me, he is like a King on the ground but the moment the balls goes in air he becomes a pauper. And it was surprising to see that the fan’s man of the match was Lionel Messi. Come on, Barca fans, wake up.
Written by Bibin on September 16th, 2008 with no comments.
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