A Job Well Done ; Barcelona-0, Sevilla-0

In a match where Barcelona were prepared to defend and attack on counter, a goal less draw looks as good as a win, particularly when you proceed for the next round of Copa Del Rey. The defending champions could not break down the Barcelona defense and had to exit the Copa del rey race much earlier than they expected. All across Barcelona forums and blogs there is a sense of disappointment in the way Barcelona went with the Job. But Let me congratulate the team and their coach for a job well done. They planned this two legged tie well and executed it to perfection.

Sevilla started the game brightly with a wonderful attack on Barcelona Goal mouth which should have (on any other day) resulted in a goal. Daniel Alves one of the best Left Wingers in the game, provided a inch perfect cross to which Chevanton could not make a decent contact. A goal there should have changed the game towards Sevilla. The first half had few chances and the only one clear cut chance was the early mentioned one. In the third minute Iniesta did well to advance from a Gudjonsen pass only to shoot wide of the post from outside the Goal post. In the 19th minute Iniesta made another wonderful run(this time inside the box) off the wonderful work by Henry again to shoot above the crossbar from a very tight angle. In the 23rd minute Sevilla missed another great chance to score a goal when Fabiano headed wide from a Chevanton Corner. He should have at least tested the Goal Keeper as he has done the difficult job of climbing above the defense.

For Barcelona the only good chance came at the 32nd minute when a poorly taken Alves free kick found Giovani. Giovani after the initial acceleration fed Henry with the perfect through ball, but unfortunately he shot wide. I though he took the shot too soon. Till that point the Barcelona team never forced the Sevilla keeper, De Sanctis to make a decent save. that honour went to Eidur Gudjonsen when he forced the keeper to make his first save from a long range shot.The keeper did look like making a mess of it.

In the second half it was clear that Barcelona were prepared to defend their lives out.But effectively they shut down the Sevilla attack completely. Sevilla were forced to retort to long range shots to find the Goal. In the 82nd minute daniel Alves looked to surprised valdes with a free kick, it dipped and Valdes was indeed surprised, but was saved by the crossbar. The arrival of fresh legs in the form of Bojan and Deco didn't change anything. Then in the 85th minute Navas scrambled the ball into Barcelona Goal, but to be adjudged offside rightly. In the injury time Bojan and Iniesta forced two good save from sevilla Goalkeeper.

Barcelona team can consider themselves to have done a very good job. there were some nervous moments, especially the Navas Goal. They could do well without those nervous moments. henry looked more comfortable when he is in the left side and Iniesta (who was the best player on the field) did well but need to improve on his scoring ability. With Messi going to return soon we might be able to turn the tables pretty soon.

Chevanton Chance and Subsequent Iniesta Shot

Sweet HeadAches

With the 4-0 away victory against Murcia, the spirits should be high in the Barcelona Camp ahead of the second leg match against Sevilla. In the form of the away Goal, Barcelona has a definite advantage in this tie. But as we have seen in the past barca also has a disastrous tendency of folding down at the crucial juncture. How much inspiration can be taken from the Murcia match will be another question, especially considering that we managed to lose to Madrid after an excellent away win against Valencia.

With that sense i will prefer the team start the preparation a little cautious. In the match against Madrid we could not carry the excellent form of the previous match because there were too many changes in the side. In this match also there will be some changes, especially centre forward position. I will come to that a little later. I expect Thuram to be replaced by Milito, apart from that and the Centre Forward position, there should not be anymore changes. Gudjonsen and Xavi looked good in the midfield role and should continue there. Marquez is the only choice available for Defensive Midfielder role. Don't even think of putting Iniesta there, especially in a match against Sevilla. Zamrotta should be the out and out choice for Right Back.

But the most significant of changes will be in the forward lineup. Many says in the forward position Rijkaard is facing a problem of plenty. Is he? I don't think so, that is the reason why I have titled the article as "Sweet Headaches". For the last two to three matches, Henry is our best player along with Marquez. Saturday he was marvelous. Many attribute his sudden change in the form to the prolonged rest he got during the injury. I do believe that rest might have done him a world of good, like in the case of Eto also. But I don't think that is the only factor contributing here. From the last two matches he is playing in a position which he was so used to at Arsenal. In Arsenal he may not have been playing so much to the left, but a little close to the centre. In the initial time in Barcelona, he donned the role of a Centre Forward and literally failed. But when he moved back to his natural position, because of Ronaldinho injury - he started giving the glimpses of old Thierry Henry. So Rijkaard should prefer him to stay at the front left. Now the question is that who will play the Sole Centre forward role. If you look at the option

1) Gudjonsen - He looks settled in the Midfield.

2) Ezquerra - He also prefers either of the flanks.

The only option left here is the two kids - Giovanni and Bojan. Out of these two, Bojan looks like a more natural Centre Forward than Giovanni. Now if you add the two injured players - Messi and Ronnie, none of them can don the role of a natural Centre Forward.

I believe that Rijkaard will move Henry to the centre of the plot. I totally disagree with that, he should move Bojan to the centre and have Iniesta at the right. Many may not agree with the my views, many believe that since Barcelona forward players interchange their position very effectively in the course of a match - they can start at any place. I don't agree with that. They all prefer to start at their favorite places. Maybe and I hope and pray, Henry proves me wrong if he is moved to that position. But I believe like a Centre back, the Centre forward is also a specialist position. Nobody can even think of pulling a defender back to open up space like Eto did in last match. Saviola would have fit to that position - but he is not here.

Now coming to the Sevilla side, watch for that Brazilian duo - Fabiano and Alves. they have hurt Barcelona in the past and could hurt us tomorrow. With the 2-0 loss at Bilbao, their spirits maybe a little low. So take the attack to them early. And like the last match Barcelona should defend up front, the forward line should keep on putting pressure on their defenders.

On the organization front Barcelona is contributing more to the society by means of tying up with United Nations Refugee agency (ACNUR). The formal agreement will be signed on January 22 in Geneva. This is in addition to the agreement with UNICEF. "The two bodies will unite their efforts to help work together with their respective programs and to build common initiatives that try and bring a new quality of life to child refugees. A delegation from the club's Fundaciò, headed by President Joan Laporta, will travel to Geneva to finalise the agreement in the ACNUR headquarters. The former Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Gutérres, will receive the delegation as his role as head of the agency." - FCBarcelona site. For the Barcelona fans these are moments of pride and honour. When almost all the clubs are running after money and more advertisement, Barcelona still care to look into the more complex social and economic issues related to the society. The founders of the club will be proud to see that the younger generation still believes in the purpose of this great club. And these measures are truly the one which makes Barcelona - More Than a Club.

Barca Getting Back to Best - Barcelona-4,Murcia-0

Real Murcia has surprised many by being in first half of the table. But their dreams of surprising barcelona was blown away by a resurgent Barcelona side,which looked like their old self in the second half. But still Murcia players walked away with their head head high. Especially in the first half they did make a match to the renowned Barcelona lineup.

As expected there was not much surprise in the Barcelona Lineup.Marquez moved forward to take up the defensive midfielder role. Puyol and Thuram started in the Back along with Zambrotta and sylvinho as full backs. Marquez was parterned in the midfield by Xavi and Gudjonsen. Bojan joined Eto and Henry to form the attacking trio. Both the teams started the match pretty brightly. Barcelona started the attack pretty decently with Eto shooting twice in the spate of two minutes. The second attempt (even though the angle was tight) was kept away by an alert Murcia keeper Notario, who had a wonderful game. Murcia was not the one to be backed down, that too that early in the match. They responded well with Valdes making a wonderful stop of De Lucas attempt. On 13th minute Xavi played a wonderful ball to Henry, which should have resulted in the first goal but only for the linesman to flag a non existent offside. Slowly, Murcia was settling down in the defense and Barcelona found it difficult to penetrate the same. The dead lock was broken in the 27th minute when Marquez sent Zambrotta down the right flank and the Italians wonderful cross was met by an excellent finish by none other than Gudjonsen. The finish may not have looked exquisite but Gudjonsen did really well to control a difficult cross from Zambrotta. Its always good to have a natural Right Back down that side, Rijkaard are you listening? The goal might have settled the nerves in Barcelona side, but there was not clear cut chance until the 42nd minute when an alert Murcia defense blocked out Puyol from getting his second goal of the season off an eto pass.

The second half also started in the same fashion of the first half. But the turning point of the match came at the 50 th minute when Valdes did well on a one on one situation against Baiano, who was played onside by Thuram. If Murcia has equalised that moment, then the fate of the match may be different. Valdes looks to me as one of the best when it comes to one on one situation, its only his positioning sense when the an aerial ball is sent in to the box make him vulnerable. The attempt by Baiano was the wake up call Barcelona players needed and they responded well. In the 51st minute dribbled into the box from the left but to see his his team mates failing to get into the end of a wonderful cross. In the 53rd minute Henry once again dribbled past a defender from the left, this time Bojan received his cross to register his 4th Goal for Barcelona. Eto did well there to pull one defender away by moving into the centre of the box. Withe the two goal advantage Barcelona was in full control of the match. There was a flurry of attempts by Barcelona players on the goal. In the 55 the minute Notario brought an excellent save to deny Xavi. In the 66th minute Eto was denied off an Henry pass, next minute Bojan rounded off defenders after a good run but to see his shot go wide.

Barcelona's persistence was rewarded in the 77th minute when Eto scored off an Henry pass whch was set up by an exquisite pass from sylvinho. In the 85th minute Eto set up zambrotta after an excellent 1-2 with Iniesta only to see Zambrotta being denied by the crossbar. In the 87th minute Eto rounded off the good performance by scoring off an excellent setup by Dos Santos. But the best moment of the match was when the crowd gave a standing ovation to Pedrito, the debutent (who got a chance because Esquerra was sick). His first touch was welcomedby huge roar in the stadium, I just loved it.

The best player for the Murcia side was their Goal Keeper Notario, if it was not for him they would have lost by some more oal. For the Catalan side , Henry was their best player. He looked so confident and he is getting back to his best.

The Goals of the match