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.

Thierry Henry Part 2

When Thierry Henry arrived in Barcelona, everyone was of the opinion that he was a year late. He was supposed to make the switch from Arsenal to FC Barcelona a year earlier, but it took he deferred the decision after the bitter loss at the hand of FC Barcelona in the Champions League final. So many including myself have disagreed on his signing; I personally believed and still believe that his signing at that time did more to increase the unrest in the dressing room rather than the harmony. Eto was supposed to struggle to hold on to his position after the French international's arrival. But soon after his arrival the fairytale bubble started to burst. He did struggle to hold on to his position; this coupled with Ronaldinho's troubled season means FC Barcelona went off the title chase from the beginning. May be it is not fair to say that he struggled; after all he scored 19 goals from 47 appearances in the season. Add to it 11 assists that is really an impressive tally for any player except Thierry Henry. Thierry Henry's exploit with Arsenal made sure that the expectation remained sky high when he arrived at FC Barcelona. And you cannot deny the fact that he struggled especially in terms of making his presence felt in the team.

But then this season has been a complete revelation. He along with the other two of the fantastic trio has scored seventy percent of goals of this season. Thierry Henry has already have 14 goals from 24 appearances so far this season. What made this turn around possible? Many argue that he took one year to come to terms with the style of play in La Liga and especially FC Barcelona. He had a turbulent last one year in terms of personal affairs and since it is settled for good, many argue we are able to see a changed Henry. But is it all? I think there is more to this change and it should be more of a mental change. The start of the season it was clear that Guardiola would prefer Henry over Eto anytime, but still Henry lost his place to another budding superstar Andres Iniesta. It is not a shame to have lost the position to Iniesta, who according to me is the second most talented player we have got. Henry did voice his displeasure in the begining but slowly came to terms with reality of the situation. For me he has convinced himself that he may not reach back to his glory days, and that resulted in a sea change in his attitude. He started contributing so much for his team mates. He no longer complaints that he is played out of position in FC Barcelona, instead he made the left flank his own. And it is no surprise that many of our moves now comes from the left flank where a 31 year old Henry is running like hell. And it is no surprise that he has contributed more to his team mates performances than during his times in Arsenal. At 31 Thierry Henry will never reach back his peak, and that realisation by the French Man could prolong his career for long. He could do a Ryan Giggs for sure if he keep on adjusting to the realities of his age and time. At this moment he lies joint fourth in the Pichichi list along with Higuain and Forlan. He is the most oldest player in the top five of that list at this moment.