Barcelona Getting Ready for Racing Santander

After one week of international duties, FC Barcelona stars are back in Nou Camp today to take on Racing Santander. With the shock defeat in the season's opener from Numancia, Guardiola would be hoping for a serious comeback from the side. One more sloppy performance would see the fans viciously vying for his head. Racing who had a much better night with a 1-1 draw against FC Barcelona could be coming all out in this encounter. Last season Barcelona could muster up a win with a solitary goal from Henry. Guardiola has announced a 20 men squad consisting of Valdes, Pinto, Puyol, Alves, Pique, Abidal, Sylvinho, Touré Yaya, Busquets, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Víctor Sánchez, Henry, Bojan, Hleb, Eto'o, Messi. But if Sport.es is to be believed Guardiola has already left out Henry and Sylvinho from the 20 member squad. Now this is quite surprising after Guardiola himself saying that Henry will find his form back and also taking into consideration about the fact that Messi may not start in the eleven.

Messi, who was criticized by Maradona for being selfish and greedy, can only be expected to start from the bench after arriving late from International duty. Guardiola is expected to put faith in Abidal again as he has no other option, if Sylvinho is ruled out. Abidal can be expected to form alliance with captain Puyol, Pique and Alves in the defense. The midfield option baffles me, but most probably would remain unchanged with Xavi, Iniesta and Toure. In that case Bojan, Hleb and Eto should take charge upfront. Another option is slotting Keita/Gudjonsen in place of Iniesta in midfield and moving Iniesta upward to the left.

Would the Absence of a Genuine second striker Hurt Barca?

Rijkaard's two acquisition from the English Premier League was aimed at providing a genuine back up for the club's perennial poacher Samuel Eto. In the first case, that is arrival of Eidur Gudjonsen Rijkaard managed to upset Samuel Eto. In Henry's case it did upset Ronaldinho more than Samuel Eto. I am not stating here that Rijkaard brought these gentlemen to unsettle Eto. Eto was on all occasion one of Rijkaard's favourite; but these moves indeed did upset him. But very soon everyone understood clearly that these Gentleman cannot play a strikers role. Hnery's acquisition baffles everone as he prefers to play as a second striker or in the wide left. The wide left option was filled by Ronaldinho at that time and Henry could only be expected to play a second fiddle to him.

But these all are things in the past. Ronaldinho has moved to A C Milan since then and FC Barcelona have made a series of acquisition to strengthen the squad. Keita, Pique, caceres, Alves all joined the new Barca of Guardiola. But the question in everyone's mind would be - "Is that enough for Barca?" Mr.Txiki has indicated that FC Barcelona essentially needs to strenghtenn the far left position with the departure of Ronaldinho. Arshavin, Silva etc were discussed as a possible signing to cover that void. But my firm belief is that the void which was left was at the front of the formation. Simply put we don't have anyone to look up to in that substitute bench as a replacement for Eto. There is no one who can be called a genuine centre striker. Bojan is nearest we have in that position; but then he is too young and inexperienced to handle the role alone. If Eto is able to remain injury free for the majority of the season, FC Barcelona may not even find the need for a replacement. But in these hectic schedule that could be like asking too much. Bojan needs his time to learn the full aspect of the game. If you look at the squad we have replacement for almost all the position baring Centre Striker and Right Back. Atleast in Puyol we can have a make shift RB who can do the job atleast 50% of the time. But we canot ask the same to anyone in that Centre Striker role. Henry is no good and looks much more comfortable in far left; Gudjonsen looks more comfortable in midfield; Messi, his position is far right and there is no sense in making a move to centre of the attacking formation. A Pavylichenko or a Berbatov would not have hurt; but then atleast till the mid season transfer market opens we cannot expect a decent centre striker. For that to happen, the management should change their Transfer Policy. They should concentrate on the best player they can buy for that position, not the best star they can buy for the club. We really have enough stars already.

International Results

The second round of the international stopping is almost over and here are some results involving Barcelona players. First, to my favourite national side - Argentina. Argentina was robbed of a win by last minute goal by Peru's Johan Fano. This is the third consecutive draw for Basile's kids. He may have to take note of this as they are going the same "Barcelona Way", with lots of possesion but not much shots on goal. Lionnel Messi had a forgettful night. Argentina who controlled most of the game went ahead with a Cambiasso header in the 84th minute. But the Argentinian hearts were shattered in the last minute of injury time when Fano found the net from a wonderful Vargas pass. Now its proves that phrase right - "It ain't over, till it's over". Argentina lies in the third postion behind Paraguay and Brazil; they should not have any problem in qualifying and may be can top the group also. But it's better to address these small problem as early as possible. It is also surprising why Di Maria wasn't given any playing time in this match. Martin Caceres's Uruguay was also held to a golless draw by Ecuador. Caceres featured in the starting eleven. Uruguay lies in the fifth position.

Coming to Europe, Iceland suffered a 2-1 defeat in the hands of Scotland at home. Scotland went ahead in the 18th minute from a Kirk Broadfoot goal. Barry Robson doubled the lead in the 59th minute; Gudjonsen grabbed the consolation goal for Iceland from the penalty spot. With this victory Iceland lies in the bottom of table. Hleb in contrast to Gudjonsen had a wonderful night with scoring in a 3-1 win against Andorra. Belarus went ahead in the 36th minute from Verkhovstov's Goal. Andorra's Marc Pujol equalised in the 66th minute, but Rodionov and Hleb's Goal gave Belarus a comfortable victory. Belarus lies third behind England and Ukraine. Meanwhile, France got back to track with a 2-1 victory over Serbia. Thierry Henry along with Anelka scored for France. Spain comfortabley destroyed Armenia with a score line of four to nothing. Iniesta, Xavi and Puyol started in the game in which Bojan was introduced in the 65th minute in place of Cazorla. David Villa scored twice along with Capedevila and Senna to make it 4-0 against hapless Armenians.