FC Barcelona Destroys Real valladoid; FC Barcelona-6, Valladoid-0

FC Barcelona put their rampaging train back on track after a small technical snag against Basel with an explosive performance against Real Valladoid. Real Valladoid could not find a single answer to the attacking powers of Barca and saw the host putting six goals past them. Eto scored four times in the first half, Gudjonsen and Henry compleetd the scoring list. The surprising fact about this season is whenever we think FC barcelona has reached their highest level of play they simply raise the bars. The performance is yet to improve as Xavi didn't have a great game yesterday and Iniesta was out injured. Guardiola looks like have decided Puyol as Left back in the absence of Abidal, and he will not regret that decision. Alves, Marquez, Pique and Puyol formed the defense ahead of Valdes. Toure was slotted in as the defensive midfielder. Gudjonsen and Xavi paired to be the creative heads in the midfield. Henry, Eto and Messi formed the attacking trio.

It was Real Valldoid who had the first atatck of the match.In the 2nd minute Valladoid free kick from the right corner of box was collected well by Valdes in the second attempt. That woke up Barca and they replied immediately with Gudjonsen heading high from a great cross from Xavi in the 8th minute. In the 12th minute Eto entered into the scoring chart; Daniel Alves played a sensational ball in behind the defense, Eto rounded off the defenders and scored through the legs of Goal Keeper Sergio. In the 22nd minute Marquez guarded ball well to Valdes hands after a great pass put Valladoid in an atatcking position. In the 23rd minute Valdes had to make an great intervention to stop Valladoid from having the shot after a Pique mistake. FC Barcelona looked like a bit rattled by the much more crowded valladoid midfield and was giving away ball cheaply. In the 26th minute Messi sets up on an excellent run on the counter; Messi then provided a great pass to Eto whose shot was well stopped by an advancing Goal Keeper Sergio. In the 30th minute Etos scored again to calm Barca nerves after an excelelnt all round play. Messi provided a great pass to Eto in the edge of box; who lobs the ball over the defense to Henry; the resulting shot from Henry was saved bu Sergio but the rebound fell perfectly for Eto to finish. In the 36th minute Henry should have made it 3-0 but his first touch on an excellent pass from Messi was pathetic which gave time to Segio to block the ball. In the 40th minute Henry wasted another great chance from another excellent pass from Eto. But for all the disappointment Eto made it 3-0 in the next minute after rounding off Goal keeper from an excellent pass from Messi.In the 44th minute Eto made it four for the night with the easiest of finish.It was once again excellent play from Messi who run past defenders; Messi shot hit the defender and fell perfectly for Eto.

In the second half everyone expected FC Barcelona to slowed down the tempo. To an extent they did but they didn't abandon the idea of attacking play. In the 70th minute Marquez was taken off and Ceceres replaced him. In 72nd minute Gudjonsen brought the match back to life with an excellent finish after the defense gave the ball stupidly to Henry who placed it to Gudjonsen. In the next minute Gudjonsen was taken off and was replaced by Keita. In the 76th minute Eto was taken off and in came Hleb. The Belarusian started getting involved in every move from the right. Hleb was instrumental in the sixth goal after playing a neat one-two with Messi he squared the ball to Henry for easiest of tappings.

This was an excellent performance and it came on a day when the midfield general Xavi was having an off-day. That shows the variety of atatcking options. The only thing Guardiola have to be careful is that to make sure that they don't get carried away with these results. They should be still win some games very tough and ugly.

FC Barcelona vs Real Valladoid Preview

A draw against FC Basel at home is not at all a disaster, especially when the team is virtually assured of a 2nd round place and the team does not star much of the regualar team members. But going by last season's performance Barca fans are more than a bit cautious. They have seen that FC Barcelona tend to continue with this disappointing runs and sincerely want to get things straight as early as possible. Guardiola could not hope for a better team to get things back on track than Real Valladoid. They might have surprised all by defeating Sevilla last week, but their performance away from home are really suspect.Guardiola have once again delayed the naming of squad till the morning of match. This time this could be to know who all are completely fit. Keita has been given the "All Clear" by the medical staff for today's match. Guardiola could be in for some confusion over the starting eleven.

Valdes as usual is expected to guard the goal. The defense should be made up of Puyol, Marquez, Alves and Sylvinho. Guardiola might be tempted to put Puyol on the far left of the pitch; but it is better to try out Sylvinho now as Abidal is sure to miss atleast thre weeks of action. The midfield would be ideally made up of Busquests, Xavi and Toure. Victor Sanchez also could be slotted in place of Busquests inorder to give more attacking thrust to the team. There is no doubt of who would make up the front three, it has to be Henry, Eto and Messi. FC Barcelona fans who would be at the Camp Nou and all over the world would be expecting to see a much better display from their team compared to the disappointing performance against FC Basel. I predict FC Barcelona winning this encounter by three goals with a scoreline of 4-1.

Injury Problems Ahead

The clubs's medical team has assessed Eric Abidal's injury. The club doctor have decided to continue with the same treatment and ruled out surgery at this point of time. The recovery is expected to take three weeks in normal scenarion; and if he does not recover well after this three weeks, they might consider the possibility of a surgery. If that happens the Abidal could be out of the game for a pretty long time. What disappoints me the most is the time of the injury. If this injury has occured a month ago none of us would have complained; but in the recent matches he was getting better and fulfilling his promises and now this happens. Guardiola would have to rely on Sylvinho in the left side of the pitch or he could still use Puyol again there. But I would prefer Guardiola using Sylvinho as there is a possibility that Abidal could take more time to recover or could take more time to find his form back.

Add to this Iniesta injury; Guardiola could be in for the toughest of tests. Iniesta had solved FC Barcelona's incompetency in far left position of the pitch and now that is going to haunt Guardiola again. Henry looked like finally getting into his grove; but that could be another faulty sign like last season. Hleb could be used there but he has not made a compelling case to guarantee that position. Keita has started training but is not fully fit and cannot be expected to take part in this week's match. The absence of Keita and Iniesta means the midfield would be stretched ofr creative ideas this week. Gudjonsen could come back but is sure not to start. Now that leaves Victor Sanchez a sure certainity. In the defense the team is missing two members - Abidal and Milito. It is still not clear when Milito would come back. Pique is carrying a knock but should be able to feature in next week's match.