Getafe vs Barca Preview

Joseph Guardiola has announced a 19 men squad who will travel to Getafe tomorrow. Both Jorquera and Pinto are included in the squad as Valdes is carrying a slight knock and may not fearture in tomorrow's encounter. Getafe is the only team in La Liga whom the Blaugrana has not yet beaten this season. Last time when the two sides met at Camp Nou the scores were equal. The squad for tomorrow's clash is Valdés, Pinto, Jorquera, Alves, Abidal, Sylvinho, Puyol, Piqué, Márquez, Touré Yaya, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Keita, Iniesta, Messi, Bojan, Eto'o ,Henry. There were reports of Guardiola devising a strategy to rotate the players so that everyone remain fresh, so we can indeed expect some changes in the squad. Caceres and Hleb didn't make into the squad. Getafe always have been a tough place for Barcelona to travel. The Copa Del Rey reversal two seasons back still remains fresh in memory.

FC Barcelona can expect a tough fight at Getafe, especially with getafe managing to defeat Sevilla last week. Debutant keeper Stojkovic was in tremendous form and would have to be on top to stop the inform Barcelona attack. Getafe lies 14th in the table after successfully managing out to pull out of relegation zone in recent weeks. I expect Guardiola to give Valdes a well deserved rest, Pinto would be my choice to replace Valdes. Alves, Marquez, Puyol and Abidal should form the defense. Pique should get some rest after some hectic weeks. Xavi, Toure and Iniesta should form the midfield. Henry, Eto and Bojan should form the attacking trio. Messi should start from the bench as he needs to be fresh for the mid-week clash against Sevilla. He can come in the second half if necessary. This one could be a very tough battle, but barca's current form should see them through. My prediction is 3-1 victory for Barca.

Decoding Chelsea

In one of the most craziest match of this year's Champions League, Chelsea saw off the Liverpool challenge to book a semi-final showdown with FC Barcelona. A clash between two top England clubs usually promises everything other than goals. But this one was different with 12 goals being scored in two legs. Uncharacteristically the two sides defense were guilty for majority of the goals and unusually Pepe Reina and Cech were also guily of few. When the draw was made, many pundits gave Bayern a better chance of progressing to the semi's than Chelsea. Chelsea had a zig-zag season, while Liverpool were the inform team. The destruction of Real Madrid at Anfield and Manchester United at Old Trafford made them favourites to win this year's Champions League. But Guus Hiddink managed Chelsea to do the unthinkable and they did it in a completely different way.

Guus Hiddink already said that - If Chelsea is going to play like the way they did against Liverpool, they are bound to have a tough night against FC Barcelona. Chelsea definitely hold the upper hand in the clash as they play the second leg at home. And they would be hoping to exploit the aerial weakness of Barca like they did against Liverpool. FC Barcelona undoubtedly has been the inform team this year but they definitely have the aerial weakness which Chelsea would be looking to exploit. But what worries FC Barcelona the most would be the return of Drogba back to form. He always have been a tough nut for us to crack and Puyol definitely is going to have a tough time ahead. Lampard looks in good form and he is the one through which most of the attacks are going to come. Also Barca needs to wary of the master-tactician named Guus Hiddink.

One good thing for Barca is that this Chelsea is not the ideal squad for Hiddink's tactics. Hiddink is known to be a person who employs wingers with devastating effect. But still he has manged fairly well with this Chelsea side. This will be the first visit of Deco to his old club. But there are some definite pleasing news for Barca. First of all is the absence of Ashley Cole for the first leg. With Cole suspended, there is no recognised left back for Chelsea to play in that position. Stopping Messi without a recognised Left-Back is going to be tough, add to this Daniel Alves, a Right Back who regularly find himself in opposition penalty box. As far as I am concerned, the fact that there is no recognised wingers in this Chelsea side is one fact which will make Barca happy. Our fullbacks are known to go deep upfront and this creates a possibility of getting caught in defense, especially with Alves. Malouda is good in the right wing but has not been in great form recently. This means that Messi will have more than decent support from Dani Alves on the right.

Most of the attack from Chelsea is going to come from the centre. We will see many long balls being flotted into Barca's box again and again. Guardiola could be tempted to go in for a bit more defensive midfield against Chelsea. But I fgirmly believe that he should not give into that kind of temptation. Against Chelsea we need to have our midfield completely dominating the proceedings. For this we need the deadly duo of Xavi and Iniesta playing in the centre. With the kind of form these two players are in, this is the best bet to unsettle Chelsea. Hiddink will definitely employ Essien and Mikel together to negate these two genius. But then they will have a tough time dealing with them.

Uncharacteristically Chelsea has been quite uncomfortable this season in the defense. This is good news for Barca. And the fact that Cech is not in great form also could help Barca. But the success of Barca against Chelsea will depend on how we cut the balls from centre to Drogba and Anelka. And for this one man becomes crucial - Yaya Toure. There is no reason why we should think that he will fail in that, he has been exceptional this season. FC Barcelona has to take a sizeable lead into the second leg. Fot this Messi and Alves should definitely exploit Chelsea's vulnerability on the left flank.

Make or Break Time Ahead

With the completion of the Champions League Quarter Finals, we are entering the most crucial phase of this season. With the visit to Getafe on Saturday we would be commencing a series of tough matches which would decide the fate of FC Barcelona's La Liga challenge. Pep Guardiola and his boy's were able to withstand all of the challenges thrown at them this season, but do they have it in them for another series of the same? There is a chance for Barca to end up trophyless this season, but it is difficult to see this talented and determined side threw it all away at this late stage. On the contrary, there is a good chance of Barca winning more than one trophy. But all these will depend on how we tackle the coming weeks.

The tough phase start with Barca's weekend trip to Getafe. Getafe has been a pretty terrible place for Barcelona to travel. The most recent horrible memory is the loss in Copa Del Rey which made the 5-2 home victory seem little. After the Getafe clash FC Barcelona will host Sevilla at home in the mid-week. Again a very tough game but Barca hold a definitive advantage of playing at home. Then comes Valencia on the next sunday away from home. Valencia is having a wayward season and Barca should be able to capitalise on it. Then comes the much awaited trip to Bernebeu. It is the time to take some revenge for last season's humiliating loss. And the next sunday we will again host Villareal at home where we will hold the advantage. In between to make matter worse, we have the Champions League semi-final clash against Chelsea. Those two matches comes sandwiched in between the Valencia, Real Madrid and Villareal matches.

Of these matches Getafe, Valencia and Madrid ones are tougher as they are away from home. Sevilla and Villareal are two great teams but winning against the Barca side at Camp Nou could be a big ask. What we don't want is another injury to key players. Again Real Madrid also have to play the same oponents to take their defense of title forward. Madrid have tough visits to Villareal and Sevilla to counter and teh 'El Classico'. Barca might drop some point in these matches but then I expect Real Madrid also to do the same. With such tough schedule ahead every Barcelona player should be at their best to see off the challenges at the League and also in Europe. The return of Abidal is a welcome sign and his form in yesterday's match was also promising. Guardiola would be rotating the squad a bit in the coming weeks, and it is time for the fringe players to grab their oppurtunity.