FC Barcelona Marches On; Villareal-1,Barca-2

Barcelona moved ten points clear of their nearest rival with a hard fought win at El Madrigal. Goals from Keita and Henry helped Barca to continue their unbeaten streak after Barca have gone behind from a goal from Cani. To make things worse Barca's Pique was sent off and had to hold off with ten men in the final ten minutes. But overall it was a very satisfying, tough and hard fought victory. Pep Guardiola chose Busquets ahead of Toure. Alves, Pique, Puyol and Alves formed the back four. The midfield as expected were packed with defensive players with Xavi partnering, Busquets and Keita. Henry, Messi and Eto formed front three. Messi had another quiet game by his standard but it was good to see Xavi hitting top form.

Barca as expected dominated possession from the beginining, but couldn't break an organised defense. Majority of the chances in the first half fell to Henry and he did waste a few of them. There were questioned raised about Barcelona's ability to respond after going behind against quality team; that should temporarily subsidise now. Just after the breakCani put Villareal forward with a neat finish afetr the defense failed to keep hold of him. Barca responded vigourously and was rewarded by the goal in the 54th minute when Keita lept bravely in front of Diego Lopez to head into the empty net. Then in the 66th minute Henry put Barca ahead with a great volley from a Xavi cross. Then in the 74th minute Pique was sent off picking his second card in a space of three minutes. Reduced to Ten men Guardiola brought Caceres for Henry and re-organised the defense. With the one man advantage Villareal started pressing in the final moments and should have equalised but Nihat and Franco wasted their chances.

Villareal vs FC Barcelona Preview

FC Barcelona would be playing their last match of 2008 against Villareal at El Madrigal. FC Barcelona enter this match clearly knowing the fact that a victory at Villareal's home would take them eleven points clear of their rival. Real Madrid continued with their recovery under Ramos with a hard fought home win against Valencia. That lose of Valencia means Athletico Madrid who won against espanyol hold the second spot. A victory for Villareal would take them to the second spot. Barcelona would love to end this 2008 in a great note with a victory against Villareal; that would do justice to the way they played and fought in recent matches. Traditionally FC barcelona have struggled at El Madrigal and would like to correct that here. This is going to be a really tough match for Guardiola and there were questions asked about the squad after the Real Madrid encounter. Especially Messi, after a not so brilliant Classico performance he wanted to get things right back on track.

The squad selected for the Villareal travel is Valdés, Henry, Xavi, Piqué, Puyol, Cáceres, Sylvinho, Bojan, Eto'o, Messi, Hleb, Dani Alves, Abidal, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Touré, Pinto, Sergio Busquets and Víctor Sánchez. Marquez is injured and hence rested; there were reports of Iniesta being given green signal by Medical staff but he is also rested. The side should be similiar to the recent starting eleven. Valdes should start at the Goal. Abidal, Puyol, Pique and Alves should make the defense. Xavi, Toure and Busquets would be making up a very tough midfield. Eto, Henry and Messi would be the attacking trio. Messi has to lift his game as the midfield would be packed with more defensive minded players. This would be a tough match and expect a tough Barcelona victory with a score line of 1-2.

Xavi Extends Contract till 2014

Xavi Hernandez has signed a new deal which would keep him with the club till 2014. And if some club manage to convince him to move away they would have to sell out a whooping 80 million Euros as buyout clause. This ia a welcome relief for Barca who took sometime to ready this contract. This also effectively ends the rumours of Xavi moving out of Barca. Actually Guardiola had made it clear from the onset that Xavi is the most important part in his puzzle. Exact contract compensation is not known but it is rumoured that Xavi will become the third highest paid player in barca after Messi and Eto. Xavi has reitered his dream to retire at Barca. I know one person who would not be happy with handing out lengthy contract to players is Cryuff. But with the tough competition out there FC Barcelona have to shell out a deal which is better or on par with others can offer. It is rumoured that he will make 7.5 million Euros per year.

Xavi Hernandez is one of the most prized outout of Barca's excellent youth system. Xavi made his debut in first team on August 18,1998 against RCD Mallorca. He quicly went to become an essential part of FC barcelona's title team. Xavi is considered an ideal replacement for Guardiola, the current Catalan coach. Xavi has become a essential part of the Spanish national team. He was elected as the player of the Tournament at the Euro-2008 when an under achieveing Spanish side fianlly won a trophy. He has scored 29 goals for Barcelona and 8 for Spain; and created numerous goals for his team mates.