Tough Espanyol Holds Barcelona; Barca-0,Espanyol-0

A tough and organised Espanyol defense held Barcelona for another Goal less draw ending any of Barcelona's hope of keeping the La Liga title hunt alive. How ironic is the fact that its again Espanyol which would have ended Barcelona's dream like last year. It was not at all a dull draw or a bad performance as the Goal line may suggest. Barcelona created many chances and it was only for their finishing which led them down. Many chances were thwarted by the Espanyol back four and when they were compromised kameni came up with the goods to deny Barcelona a well deserved goal. But all is no lost and if the performance is any indication we should be able to give a good account of ourselves against Manchester United.

Rijkaard started with Giovanni, Eto and Bojan front line. I thought that was the only blunder he did in the match, as it was best not to add both the kids in the starting lineup. We cannot expect them to overcome the pressures of this season. Henry started in the bench and never was used which make me ask why Ezquerra was left out, We could have started with him in the left. Eugjonsen started with Xavi and Toure in the middle - Toure had an excellent game after a long time. Abidal was replaced by Sylvinho and Puyol, who will miss Ck\hampions League tie at home aterted with Milito. The first half started very quietly, it took almost 24 minutes for Barcelona to have the first shot on target - when Gudjonsen's shot was saved by Kameni. In the next minute Zambrotta fired a shot which just clipped the bar and in the very next minute Xavi saw his header go high. There wasn't much opportunities in the rest of first half, and I do believe it was mainly we had two kids up ahead. In the lst match we saw how Gudjonsen and Ezquerra combined well.

The second half started with Rijkaard bringing in Messi and iniesta in place of Giovanni and Gudjonsen respectively. Immediately both looked like changing the face of the match. In the 48th minute Messi played a great one two with Xavi but Kameni did well to close down Messi's shot. A minute later kameni did it again to deny Eto. Barcelona kept on raiding the Espanyol defense regularly but their back four remained solid, rock solid. In the 78th minute Eto cut inside from the left and played in a terrific cross but nobody could meet it. Then Eto missed the best chance of the night when he shot wide.

Despite the fact that they couldn't score a goal, Barcelona played very well. Eto may have missed two to three clear cut chances, but on the positive side he is getting involved in the game more. Messi started well but looked a bit tired by the end. Iniesta looked great - but the most positive performance came from the defense - Milito, Zambrotta and Toure all had a great game. Marquez in the shot time he was in the defense looked solid. This performance give immense hopes for Manchester United tie.

Some Beautiful Moments from the Match

Barcelona Getting Ready for Espanyol

Barcelona is getting ready for one of the toughest week. They have to play two quality opponents in a matter of three days. First up will be Espanyol derby when they visit Nou Camp. Barcelona fans and players does not have happy memories of the last time visit of Espanyol, where the last gasp equaliser finished off Barcelona’s La Liga title dreams. This match also serves as an indicator for Barcelona's chances in the Champions League clash with Manchester United. Barcelona has to win this game well to get into the right frame of mind to receive Ferguson's boys on Wednesday.

Rijkaard will be pleased with the fact that he will have a mostly fully fit squad to choose from. Deco has returned from injury and if reports coming are true then he is the most keenest to get back his place. Messi looked good last week even though his finishing and final ball looked doubtful, but with this game he should hit the peak. we cannot afford him to take too many matches to hit the peak. Eto looked like returning back to form; Iniesta, Henry and Marquez all returned back to normal training.

How Rijkaard form the core is very much important. Gudjonsen and Ezquerra looked good in last match and should be given another chance to start with. Ezquerra, unfortunately looks like the least to make in to the team. Mostly he will be replaced by Bojan. But the major question on all Barcelona supporters’ lips will be "Will Messi start the Game?" From a La Liga perspective, Barcelona has to win this game to put some pressure on Madrid. Will putting any pressure on Madrid is useful? I don't know. But the biggest trouble for Rijkaard will be the defense, they looked like too much confused. In my last article I have pointed out the problem with the defense. If they can correct it, it would be easy for them to see off Espanyol. Barcelona has been training at El Montaya instead of La Masia. The last time they did that, it was followed by a victory against Zaragoza.

How to Overcome Manchester United?

Critics and supporters together agree on one fact in Barcelona team - that's there is nothing called a defense there. Barcelona defense looks fragile, confused and there are so many words to describe it. Add to the aerial inability we had for ages the defense looks like lost. What is the solution? The obvious answer comes as strengthen the squad with quality defenders, what???? We had the trouble with aerial ball when we won Champions League in 2006. That was the reason why we brought Zambrotta (one of the best Right Back), Abidal (one of the best in Left) and Milito. Add Toure to this we still have a great squad. If we are going to consider replacing some of these guys, where are we going to find their replacements? Puyol, Marquez and Milito are the best available Centre Backs in the world. Zambrotta, Abidal and Toure are the best available in their respective positions. So what is the conclusion? We have the essential ingredients (squad) for success; even then we can't win anything. The obvious answer is that we are doing some basic thing wrong - but nobody knows which basic factor.

Hoping to find a weakness in Manchester United ahead of Semifinal match, I watched closely the ManU vs. Arsenal match. I was expecting Christiano Ronaldo to run riot through the Arsenal line up. Nothing happened, I would clearly state that Arsenal was unlucky to lose that match and gave away goals due to some stupid defensive mistakes. Why was Christiano Ronaldo not effective on that match? Someone (I think #12) in FCBNews commented that Ronaldo is not at all a threat and Rooney is a threat. My answer is - do not rush into making assumptions, Ronaldo still remains the biggest threat of ManU. Then what did Arsenal did to negate his effect? This is the factor which might help us to move into the finals. In Barcelona team's style of play whenever an attack happens from the wings, our full backs try to move as quickly towards the wing and shut down the attack. But a full back moving forward to cut down the space of an attacker from the wings can be easily rounded off by a quality player, as forwards’ tend to be more agile than Defenders. When the full backs are rounded off and the forward gets the space ahead our centre backs naturally move to the wings to close down the space leaving tons of spaces inside the box and making the defense looks like a joke. But there was something which Arsenal defense did which made Ronaldo quiet. Whenever a ManU player received the ball in the left or right side, instead of moving close to the player, Arsenal full backs drew themselves back to the edge of box forming a close line with the centre backs - this cut down the spaces available in the centre. But this also left out too much space for the player to work with, but the close line that defenders formed made it basically ineffective the aerial ball in to the centre as a well placed CB can deal with it more confidently. Even if the attacking player makes a move from the wing he was less effective as there is little space at the centre, and he can be closed effectively by a more attacking player who is retrieving back to his half. When I saw this for the first time I thought it would be crazy to leave so much space with players but every aerial ball was dealt properly and it also give enough cushion for the Goal Keeper. If we look at all the goals conceded by our team in most cases our defense looks out of place. Stay Close has been the Motto of defense for ages and I don't understand why we are not doing that. If you can't do this then Ronaldo will run riot.

Again this is my opinion about the problems in the side, this might sound stupid (it may be stupid itself), but one thing you have to ponder is why these quality defender plays so well for their countries and looks like totally lost when playing for Barcelona.