The way October has turned up, surprised everyone! Especially people like myself, who predicted a tough October looking at our September form. But the team surprised us all, winning most of the challenges in October. And they did the most with Messi out and the scary international break in between, sweeten the results much further. If we discard the hiccup against Valencia, the month was near perfect for Barcelona Football Club.
It's been tough going for Ousmane Dembélé at Barca from the moment he has stepped foot on Camp Nou. despite being just 21 years of age, a lot was expected from him. It is safe to say that he was disappointed by the output he has produced, considered the trust many had him in. But then is it all only his fault?
The biggest obstacle for Dembélé's career at Barcelona is the huge price tag with which he came in. It is unfair to hold the cost of his acquisition against him while judging him, partly it was the circumstances fault. Neymar was brought at an enormous price by PSG which completely inflated the market and simply hyped Dembélé price also.
It feels quite strange to say this, but Barcelona Football Team looked a very balanced side without Lionel Messi in it. It's not like our Talisman creates an imbalance or make them struggle ones he comes back to the side. On the contrary, he helps his teammates more than they help himself.
Regardless of that one has to admit that in his absence in the team, the side looked really good. And all of it is down to one person - Ernesto Valverde. It's not Messi's absence which has worked wonders, instead, it's Valverde's change in leadership style which has made the thing work wonder.
Luis Saurez seriously like to play against Real Madrid. If my numbers are right, he has nine goals and four assists in his brief 'El Clasico' career. Check the GIF Photos of Luis Saurez in action against Real Madrid below:
Barcelona produced a mesmerizing performance against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou winning the goal by scoring five against their arch-rival. Saurez scored a hat trick and Coutinho and Vidal completed the scoreline for Barca.
Check out the highlights below:
Barcelona Football Club humiliated Real Madrid with a 5-1 thrashing at the Camp Nou to go two points clear at the top.
Sensational has to be the word that aptly describe what transpired at the Camp Nou tonight. May be even that would not describe the feeling of each Barcelona fans now. How quickly things changed; a few weeks back we were struggling to impose ourselves in the league. Now we have opened up a two point lead at the top and produced two sensation displays back to back.
Once again it was Luis Saurez, who brilliantly led the attack in the absence of Messi with a stunning hat-trick. From struggling for goals in recent matches, he simply turned around the table now to score four in two.
This Clasico has so much at stake for both Managers with completely different perspectives. For Real Madrid's Lopetegui, this could be the last chance.
Spanish League has been on for a quite ride this season in contrast to the previous seasons. There is not a single team from the Capital Side in the top four going into the season's first 'El Clasico'. That in itself is a rarity of serious kinds, and then think that the top two spots are occupied by the Two Catalan Giants. What a situation for the rebel Republic.
The more you analyze, the more memorable this victory is becoming. It may be because of the pre-act that preceded the episode. We never expected such a controlled performance from our boys, especially the defense. The defense looked absolutely composed and in control, a far cry from what we experienced in the previous matches.
The match prepares the team well for the upcoming 'Clasico' and the impact of it has to be a positive one for sure. There has been many positives from this and we will take a look of the same here.
A Brilliant display of controlled and balanced football saw a Messi less Barcelona emerging winner in their Home Match against Inter Milan at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona Football Team produced one of the most balanced and controlled performances of this season to see off a spirited Inter Milan side in the third match of this season's Group stages. Now with this victory, Barcelona have secured nine points from their three matches and that should literally guarantee them a place in next round.
Unless we screw up things dramatically we should be able to top the group from now on. On a tricky night, when everyone was questioning how Barca will handle the absence of Messi; goals from Rafinha and Alba settled the matters. The defeat has not foiled Inter's chances of qualification as the other match in the group ended with a 2-2 draw.
FC Barcelona secured another three points in their UEFA Champions League group Stage Match, winning 2-0 against Inter Milan at home. Goals from Rafinha and Alba helped Barca to a comfortable victory, courtesy of which Barca's progress to next round is more or less guaranteed.
Despite the absence of Lionel Messi, Everyone expects Barcelona to do enough to secure a vital three points when they host Inter Milan at the Camp Nou.
Yet another must win match is staring at us, despite winning the first two group stage matched pretty convincingly. Lionel Messi's absence would be the most talking point of the night and it will take enormous effort for the players to just keep their focus on the task when they face Inter Milan at the Camp Nou.
Inter Milan like Barcelona have won the first two group stage matches and sits comfortably in the second position in the league. The performance in the Group stages has been a huge surprise to many; a lot of people expected Tottenham to do well. Instead, it's Inter which is giving Barcelona the toughest fight.
Every crisis is an opportunity in disguise and for Barca, Messi's absence due to injury may be the crucial one which could define the destiny of the season.
Losing your most talismanic player in one of the most crucial time of the season is never a good thing. No amount of inspirational words nor confidence evoking statements from Management or Players are not going to make it any less bearable. Lionel Messi has been the pivot on which this Barcelona despite it's short comings have been performing. And losing his presence in some of the most crucial matches of the season is like cutting half of the team out!
Calling a routine, or maybe not so a routine victory over Sevilla as one of the 'Most Valuable' could be a bit far fetched. But in the small scheme of things, this victory mattered much more than everyone realizes. Just imagine failing to win that match, what could be the impact of the same on Barca's important fixture week.
Losing Messi for three weeks is a huge blow, but had it been coupled with another failure to win, the entire preparation for a midweek encounter with Inter Milan would have gone for a toss. That match is very much important in the grand scheme of the group, a victory there would more or less secure the top spot for FC Barcelona.
Lionel Messi played only 17 minutes against Sevilla but in that 17 minutes, he decided the fate of the game. His injury lay off is a huge worry for all Football fans. Check out the GIFs of Lionel Messi in action against Sevilla below:
Ter Stegen was in unbelievable form against Sevilla pulling out some spectacular saves. Check out the GIFs of Ter Stegan below:
FC Barcelona secured a crucial 4-2 victory against Sevilla at the Camp Nou to go on top of La Liga. The victory was dampened by the injury to Lionel Messi, but still was one of the most important victories of the season.
Check out the highlights of the match below:
Barcelona's victory over Sevilla took them to top of La Liga table, but Lionel Messi injury completely dampens the spirit.
Barcelona Football Club regained the top spot in the La Liga table with a quite amazing 4-2 victory over the then first placed Sevilla FC. But the victory mattered less at the moment as everyone was concerned about only one thing - Lionel Messi injury. Messi's night ended in just 17 minutes after getting injured, but by then he had scored once and assisted the other.
The very fact that Messi scripted this victory in just the first few minutes in the match shows his impact on Barca this season. Now with him injured and destined to miss the Clasico, the odds of Barca's victory in 'El Clasico' has come down substantially as per www.novibet.co.uk.
The cost of continuing with a clueless, uninspiring and non-innovative Coach at the helm will be too much for Barcelona Football Club to pay in the latter part of the season.
Barcelona Football Club by tradition is a club which takes it time to make decisions; not in my memory I can remember a situation where a Coach has been booted off mid way to the season. Then Barcelona also didn't face a situation like this that often! We have been without a victory in last four games in the League and that in itself is a crisis of sorts at Barca.
The next match for Barca will be the one against League Leaders Sevilla at the Camp Nou. On the last matchday, we surrendered the League Top position to Sevilla and it would be a tough act to get that back; even at the Camp Nou. Sevilla away from home has been in some for scoring thirteen goals and conceded five.
Barcelona Football Club continued their stumbling way of defending the La Liga title with a 1-1 draw against Valencia at the Mestalla. I am not sure whether this way is proper for defending the title. Regardless of What I think, Valverde likes this style. He is on a mission of proving his critics right and he is doing a great job in getting it done!
Let's look at the three points we could take back home from this match. May be there ain't much, but with Valverde in change there is no Guarantee of anything better in future.
FC Barcelona continued their winless streak in the league to the fourth consecutive match with a 1-1 draw against Valencia at the Estadio de Mestalla.
Barcelona Football Club continued their winless run in league to an unprecedented fourth match in a row. I cannot remember a situation like this happening in recent times. Like last match, we had to rely of Lionel Messi's heroics to save at least a point from the match. But unlike last week, this time this performance cost us the top spot on the table.
Sevilla FC who earlier moved to top of table, cemented their position at top after Barca's draw. Barca's next match after the International break will be against leader's Sevilla, which means there is a huge possibility of the winless streak extending to a fifth game.
Lionel Messi once again saved Barca from another defeat with a spectacular goal against valencia. Check out te GIFs of Lionel Messi from the match.
FC Barcelona was held to another draw in the league by Valencia at the Mestella. The result saw Barca losing their top spot on the table to the high flying Sevilla FC. It's quite strange how things have changed. It took a miraculous intervention by Messi to get Barac atleast a point in this match.
Check out the highlights from the match below:
FC Barcelona will be looking to move ahead of the pack when they face Valencia away from home tonight. Their hope would be that the Spirit of Wembley would see them past an opponent who is struggling at the moment.
Barcelona Football Club cannot miss the opportunity which the 'turn of circumstances' have presented itself to them. With Real Madrid ending up losing against Alves, who finds themselves third in the table suddenly; Barcelona Football club needs to tighten up and grab three points on offer. Any failure to do so, could see the likes of Sevilla and Atletico Madrid leaping past us on the table.
In past few weeks, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have been doing each other big time favours by not grabbing the gifted oppurtunities. Will Barcelona reciprocate the favour once again this time?
FC Barcelona produced a sensational display to win 4-2 against Tottenham at the Wembley. Lionel Messi was in sensational form scoring two goals and tormenting every one of Tottenham players.
Check out all the GIF images from last night's match below:
Lionel Messi was in Inspirational form in Barca's 4-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at the Wembley. He was involved in every one of Barca's Play throughout the night.
Once again Lionel Messi dominated Wembley, a Stadium which simply lifts his game. Lionel Messi's inspirational form catapulted Barcelona Football Club to a 4-2 victory against Tottenham Hotspur. With this victory we remain at top of the group and along with Inter looks like the favourites to go through the group.
Messi scored twice and produced the chances which resulted in the other two goals. It's quite strange that Messi won't be credited for the assist of any of these; this shows why Statistics are useless in capturing genius. Footballing fraternity needs to come up with better statistical way for capturing Messi's effect in a match.
FC Barcelona produced a quite inspiring performances at the Wembley against Tottenham. The 4-2 victory saw Barca securing all three points from the match and now leading the table with six points. Lionel Messi was in inspirational form, linking everywhere and played a part in all goals including scoring two.
Check out the Highlights videos from last night's match below:
For FC Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur, tonight's match at the Wembley will be crucial for qualifying from one of the toughest Groups in this season's Champions League Group Stage.
Barcelona Football Club would be hoping that in Stadium whgere two of the most famous European Triumphs of FC Barcelona took place, is able to bring in a revival of fortunes for the side. And they need a serious change in fortunes after picking up just two points from their last three matches in the League. From going with 100% percent record, they are suddenly three matches without a win. That extending to a fourth match is unthinkable at the point.
There will not be a single match which can be deemed as an easy outing for Barca in October. But then we made a hash of things even with our September easy matches!.
Looking at the fixture list for October as a Barcelona Football Club fan is quite scary at the present moment. Then on the positive side (it's better to start with something positive, may be the only positive), we only have to play five matches this month. Before rejoicing on that, it's all because of the International break sandwiched between the fixtures.
What comes after that break really sends chills down the spine! Out of the eighteen points available for the month of September, we managed to secure only eleven points. Considering the oppositions we were facing last moth it was a very poor return. Out of the six teams, only two normally used to trouble us.
FC Barcelona struggled against Athletic Bilabo at Camp Nou on the night of 29th September 2018. It took a late goal from substitute Munir to secure Barca a draw which helped them maintain their top spot on the table.
Check out all the actions from the match below in GIF format.
