FC Barcelona vs Espanyol Pictures from Copa Del Rey QF 2nd Leg

FC Barcelona Survives Scare to AdVance to Copa Semi Final; FC Barcelona-3, Espanyol-2

FC Barcelona kept their dream of an unprecedented treble well alive with a 3-2 victory against Espanyol, not before being scared out of their skin by a resurgent Espanyol side. FC Barcelona put themselves in the spot of trouble with reckless defending and time wasting which affected their tempo. Bojan struk in either half and Pique added the the third to give Barca a comfortable three goal lead. But Espantol always play tough against their City rivals, and they pulled two goals back through Coro and Callejon. Now FC Barcelona faces Mallorca in the semi finals. The first leg of the same will be held next week at the Camp Nou and the return leg will be on 4th of March. Guardiola chose to field a very strong side; the side may have missed the likes of Eto, Iniesta and Henry in the starting eleven but stil was a very competitive side. Pinto did took over from Valdes in the goal. Alves, Puyol, Pique and Sylvinho formed the defense. Busquets played the holding midfielder role and along with Xavi and Gudjohnsen formed the midfield. Messi, Bojan and Hleb formed the front troika.

FC Barcelona started the game well but a determined Espanyol defense held them back. The first real chance came in the 18th minute when Gudjohnsen headed the ball into the net from a Xavi delivery; but he was ruled offside. Xavi had the next best oppurtunity in the 27th minute withn another header from an Alves cross, but Espanyol keeper pulled out a good save. But in the 35th minute the Espanyol goal keeper was at the receiving end when Bojan tapped the ball in to goal after Cristian fumbled a seemingly harmless shot from Sylvinho. Just before the break Barca should have gone two nil ahead with another Gudjohnsen header from a Xavi delivery; but this time again Cristian pulled out a much better save. After the restart Bojan put FC barcelona 2-0 up with an excellent finish. Xavi played a lovely ball to Bojan on the left side of the box, Bojan chipped the ball past an advancing goal keeper to show his talent. Then in the 56th minute Pique added one more with a header from an Alves cross to take FC Barcelona 3-0 up. After that we relaxed a bit and that resulted in Espanyol scoring twice. The first goal had a bit of luck associated with it, Coro's shot took an unfortunate deflection of Busquets and landed in the goal. But the second from Callejon was due to the mistakle from Pinto, he looked like covered Callejon's powerful shot but somehow let it go through his hand. Iniesta and Eto was brought in, Iniesta made sure that Barca finished off the game without much of a scare.

Pinto's performance in the match was a bit off colour. The biggest dissappointment would be Hleb who wasted another chance to cement his place. Bojan looked getting back to normal, the second goal would have done him a world of good. Busquets was majestic throughout the match and I feel the Defensive midfielder role is the best covered position in Barca at this moment with Toure and Busquets matching each other.

FC Barcelona vs Espanyol, Copa Del Rey QF Second Leg Preview

FC Barcelona could be up for their most toughest test of this seaon when they take on Espanyol at the Camp Nou tonight. Espanyol is fighting a relegation battle and should not worry FC Barcelona in normal circumstances. Then a knock-out match is no normal circumstances. Till this day whenever FC Barcelona went to play we had the assurance of having another match to correct the performance, if something goes wrong. But not with tonight's match. With virtually no gains from the first leg at Espanyol FC Barcelona has to see off a spirited Espanyol side, who looks very well organised under their new coach. Guardiola would have to field a very strong side for today's match. Some section of FC Barcelona fans may disagree with that. In their opinion Copa Del Rey does not generate any interest and FC Barcelona should avoid the temptation to field big players in the game. But I have to differ witrh them; may be it is the most non-glamorous of all the trophies which we are chasing this season, but still the sheer fact that we haven't won this competition for some time should have made us more eager to land this trophy.

As usual Guardiola has not yet announced the squad. Keita and Marquez are carrying knocks but are declared fit to play tonight. Pinto should take over from Valdes at the goal. Alves, Puyol, Pique and Sylvinho would ideally make up the back four. The midfiedl should be made up of Xavi, Busquets and Gudjohnsen. Iniesta and Bojan should join Messi to form the front trio. FC Barcelona would be favourite to win this leg; but this would be that kind of match where both the team have equal chances. FC Barcelona needs to take control of the game early and finish off the game early, that's why I would go with a strong starting eleven. FC Barcelona needs to win this match to go through, whereas Espanyol needs only a goal scoring draw. I predict a Barca victory by a margin of 3-0.