Sevilla Up Next

Rikaard will be looking for a good result in the first leg Spanish Cup match against Sevilla. Barcelona will be hoping that the result will be a repeat of their League match. Sevilla has been the team of La Liga for the last two seasons, but surprisingly were finding it difficult to maintain their high standards this season. But recently they were able to string up a series of good result and this along with the fact that its a home match for them, barcelona is not the best travellers should give them ample hope to win the match.

Barcelona itself is having some sort of problem, the last time they face a tough opposition (Madrid) they failed miserably. This is a cup they failed to win for some time now, that also will not adda any confidence to the bunch. But the most significant factor might be their hero of earlier victory against Sevilla, Lionel Messi is missing. But still they can produce excellent football. If last match is some indication, I believe Henry is slowly gelling with the side. Bojan needs to start ahead of Giovanni as I think he has more energy to offer. Edmillson should take Toure's position.

The main question in Rijkaard's mind will be "Whether I should go For a win?" - My answer will be employ a defensive strategy like last game and try to get out of there with a draw or worst a single goal loss. The two stage ties needs to be planned well.

Mallorca-0, Barcelona -2 , A Small Step Forward

With the not so comfortable victory against Mallorca, Barcelona seems to have put their derailing quest for the championship back on track.In a match were goal scoring oppurtunities came at a premium Barcelona emerged victorious with Marquez and Eto getting in to the scoresheet. There were lots of talks inside and outside the Barcelona camp about playing with style and playing with substance. It looks like players have chosen to play with more substance rather than style.

For the first hour of the match defence were completely on top. Both the defence looked extremely organized and were too good in cutting down any opposition chance. The first googd chance of the match went to Mallorca with Daniel Guiza showing some good skills, rounding off Milito only to see his shot go wide. He should have done better, atleast tested the Valdes. Some minutes later Iniesta returned Mallorca the favour by shooting wide after dribbling in to the box. A goal there would have changed the complexion of the complete match itself. Much of the first half the pattern continued but ended with Xavi missing from an Eto'o Pass. After the break, Bojan was introduced in place of Gudjonsen. But that didn't seem to improve a thing until from nowhere Xavi's corner found Marquez. With a Goal lead Rijkaard introduced Henry in place of Giovani and Edmilson in place of Yaya. With the goal lead Barca looked more confident and upped the tempo a little with Henry finding the net, but adjudged offside. To put the icing on the cake Eto striked in the injury time to make it 0-2. With three points in the bag barcelona will be keenly hoping madrid to start slipping soon.

Barcelona may not have played the most attractive football in the match , but still it was effective. Its good to win away from home as it will help them climb the table above all the players will be confident and motivated. There may be some criticism from the fans and media for not playing with flair. As far as i am concerned, I don't care a damn if Barcelona continues to win. Always remember that we cannot win beautifull all the time, we should be prepared to win ugly( i mean really ugly). Secondly once the players can put together a string of victories their confidence will be high and slowly the flair in their game will return as twice as effective it was early. As far the players effort were concerned everyone had a good game( not great game). Henry looked like the time off the game has helped him a lot. Bojan looked very natural. Iniesta squandered some chances but as usual he looked very good on the pitch. Marquez looke dlike the best Barca player on the pitch.

2nd Goal by Eto(Don't Miss it):

Mallorca vs Barcelona: Golazo de Eto'o
Uploaded by Gazpacho27

Highlights Of the Match:

Line Up:
Mallorca (4-4-2):
25 G. Lux,7 F. Varela,17 D. Navarro,16 J. Nunes,3 F. Navarro,23 J. Manuel Gutierrez,4 G. Pereyra,6 A. Basinas,18 J. Arango,10 A. Ibagaza,14 D. Guiza

Barcelona (4-3-3):
1 V. Valdes,5 C. Puyol,4 R. Marquez,3 G. Milito,22 E. Abidal,6 X. Hernandez,24 Y. Toure,7 E. Gudjohnsen,17 G. Dos Santos,9 S. Eto’o,8 A. Iniesta

Time To Get the Acts Together

Frank Rijkaard has expressed his disappointment about the way the team squandered the Alcoyano match. But he also added that "This result should not be exaggerated". Excuse me! Isn't this the pattern Barcelona has been showing for some time. How did we manage to lose to drew with many teams last season? If my memory serves me right, there were only few match we came back from behind and some how drawn the match. Most of the games we gave away the win in the last ten minutes. You got to admit that you have a problem and then only you can resolve it.

Anyway coming to the match in hand, Mallorca should be not a tough opposition and Barcelona should win it comfortably. But only fact that is stacked against a good Barcelona victory is Barca's dismal away record. With Ronaldinho injured, Rijkaard should get his Line-up correct here. He can have Iniesta in the Front left position and should prefer Bojan on the right. Bojan along with Giovani showed excellent promise in the match against Alcoyan (Eventhough he missed some oppurtuinity, he is just a kid!!). Gudjonsen should be start in midfield, he should resist the temptation of bring Deco in the starting lineup. I know many will disagree with leaving Deco in the bench. But the combination of Xavi and Gudjonsen was working well and should not be seperated. Deco still can come as a substitute and influence the match. Its in the barcelona back most of the time the recipe for failure is being prepared. With Zambrotta back, Puyol should be freed from that stupid Right Back role.

How Much you plan before , Battles won on the field. Barcelona team should prepare themselves to win, I mean win ugly. We cannot afford to slip down anymore. Its time the players should payback the fans with some wonderful results. I still remember the Champions League final when each player were supporting each other and we were constantly trying to destroy the Arsenal defense fort. In the end persistence paid and the fort fell.

I thought this January transfer window we will be pretty quiet, but Jorquera injury proves me wrong. Now we need to find a replacement as soon as possible. Nic from FCB News reports the local papers speculating about Sander Westerveld, Jose Manuel Pinto and Sergio Asenjo joining Barcelona.

NB: "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." - Dale Carnegie