FC Barcelona Player Rating against Sevilla on 22/04/09

Valdes - 6.5 - Had a decent night. Kept another clean sheet. Now he has not conceded a goal for 632 minutes in the league. Looked a bgit more nervous in the end but was sloid otherwise.

Abidal - 7 - Was solid throughout the match. It's true that capel did get past him at some time. But that's ok. Otherwise did very well in defense and did contribute somewhat upfront.

Marquez - 6.5 - Another confident display. Did well throughout the match. Was the culprit in leaving Kone free for the header, luckily for him Kone wasted the chance. Had a long range shot brushing the bar.

Pique - 7 - Was better than his counterpart. Did well throughout except in some occasion against Capel. Had a great chance to enter the scoresheet but wasted it.

Alves - 7.5 - Left lots of spaces in defense but linked really well in attack. May be he was missing messi a bit.

Xavi - 9 - Another brilliant performance from the General. His understanding with Iniesta is out of this world. Took his goal really well. Was involved in most of Barca attack.

Toure - 8 - Great performance. Never noticed him in the entire match but was solid in cutting most of Sevilla moves. He gave Xavi the freedom to venture forward.

Keita - 7 - Had a decent game. Had a blocked shot. He has no problem going forward.

Iniesta - 9.5 - One goal and three assist, what can we say more. May be we will still demand more from him. Actuall he should had three more assist if xavi, Eto and Pique took their easy chances well. The best thing is he is improving in every match. This performance will force Barca fans to recognise that he is as good as Messi.

Eto - 8 - Wasted some chances but took his goal.Was involved very much in attack. It was good to see he getting involved after a couple of poor matches.

Henry - 8.5 - Two of the goals came after Henry stole the ball and that said everything about his performance. Converted his goal well from a tight angle.

Substitutes : Hleb (6), Bojan (6) and Sylvinho (6)

Man Of The Match - Andres Iniesta

Iniesta's day Out; Fc barcelona-4, Sevilla-0

FC Barcelona restored their lead on top with an emphatic victory over the Andulucian side, Sevilla at home. Barca scored 4 goals within an hour mark to completely rout a sorry looking Sevilla side, who were condemned to their third straight league defeat. Real Madrid player Marcelo has last week claimed that we will draw against Sevilla and Valencia and also will lose against Real Madrid and Deportivo. With Sevilla victory now Marcelo would be forced to change his plans. It was indeed Iniesta's day out. Everyone knew how talented Iniesta was but everyone doubted his ability to lead the attack. He undone those doubters with a magnificent display scoring one and assisting three goals in a 4-0 victory. Iniesta scored the first one and Eto the second in the first half; Xavi and Henry scored in the second half to take it 4-0. Guardiola decided to rest Messi and Iniest aplayed in that position. As expected Eto and Henry joined him upfront. The midfield was made up of Xavi, Toure and Keita. The defense was formed by Alves, Pique, Marquez and Abidal. As usual Valdes kept the goal.

The game started in the perfect way for Barca with Iniesta scoring in the third minute. Henry robbed the ball from Sevilla player and played it to Iniesta, Iniesta continued his run and curled his shot past goal keeper into the top right corner. In the 5th minute Iniesta won the ball, runs at defender and was brought down just outside the box. Alves took the resultant free kick but was deflected just high off the bar by the wall. In the 8th minute Iniesta played the ball to Eto, Eto took a clever touch inside the box taking the ball away from the defenders and making space but his final shot went high. In the 12th minute Sevilla's Capel send in a great cross from the right, Alves was guilty of leaving a Sevilla player unmarked on the left, luckily he put his shot wide off goal. In the 14th minute Alves send in a great shot but went wide off near post. Then in the 17th minute Eto put Barca 2-0 ahead. It was a classic Barca move with almost all of the team getting involved. As expected the goal was made by the little geniuses of Xavi and Iniesta. Iniesta played the ball to xavi and continued his run into box; Xavi immediately played the ball bact to Iniesta who squared it to Eto for an easy finish. Then in the 24th minute Henry's low shoft was defelcted for a corner. Xavi took a short corner placing the ball to Iniesta, who send in a great cross which found Pique infront of the goal but he shot high. Then in the 35th minute in a rare counter Capel send in a great cross into the centre but luckily Kone send the header wide. The defending for that cross was pretty poor and that would give enough hope to Chelsea. Then in the 37th minute Xavi wasted an excellent oppurtunity to go 3-0 ahead. Iniesta send in a great ball to Xavi who was unmarked in the box, but his chip over Goalie went wide. Then in the 44th minute Iniesta gave the ball to Eto, Eto did well to turn and shoot forcing a save from goalie; the rebound fell to Henry buit Goal Keeper, Varas did well to save that too.

FC Barcelona went 3-0 ahead early in the second half. In the 49th minute Henry robbe the ball and surged forward; he passed the ball to Eto in the centre who gave it to Iniest on the right, Iniesta placed the ball to Xavi who send in a great shot into the right corner of the goal. In the 52nd minute Marquez saw his long range shot from 30 yards out brushing the crossbar. In the 54th minute Barca completed the tally when Henry slotted the ball past Varas from a very tight angle in the left and once again Iniesta played a delightful ball to Henry. In the 60th minute Guardiola decided to bring on Hleb to give Iniesta some deserving rest. The Camp Nou faithfuls gave him a standing ovation. In the 66th minute Keita had a shot blocked by Goal Keeper, Varas. In the 74th minute Xavi was taken off and Bojan was brought in. In the 82nd minute Marquez was replaced by Sylvinho. The game neded with Eto seeing his shot blocked by Varas after the defender gave the ball away with a stupid backpass.

Sevilla with their quality wingers was supposed to be a danger for Barca. But we negotiated them well. Capal did trouble our defense but that was on very few occasions. The good thing was that we won well against a quality opponent and that without Messi. We once again managed to shut down Real Madrid's chances. Messi was successful in getting some rest ahead of some gruelling schedule and that is good for FC Barcelona. The only negative was the yellow card for Alves and Abidal. Abidal looked very good in the left flank and I have to say that he is finally showing his true qualities.

FC Barcelona vs Sevilla Preview

Latest Update : Messi Misses Training due to Stomach Pain, but still is expected to make the squad.
FC Barcelona would be knowing exactly what result need to get against Sevilla to maintain or increase their lead at top. Real Madrid is playing tonight and according to Marcelo, he expects Barcelona to drop points in this fixture. Sevilla meanwhile is in a losing streak first losing to Getafe and now losing to Valencia on Sunday. Earlier this season FC Barcelona destroyed Sevilla at their home ground by a scoreline of 0-3. Lionel Messi scored twice and Eto once to seal that encounter. Sevilla surely would be up for revenge in this leg but their task is going to be a real tough one. FC Barcelona showed an uncharacteristic slopiness infront of goal in last week encounter against Getafe. A repeat of the same attitude infront of goal could be costly in this leg. Even though this is a tough encounter, we need to win it as early as possible for giving some essential players some rest. Iniesta, Pique and Xavi has been playing non-stop for sometime and they need to rest their legs before other crucial encounters.

GUardiola is expected to name the squad pretty late, but then that has been in the case with every home match. But I don't see any reason why we will not name our strongest squad against Sevilla. Kanoute and Fabiano is very much the danger and we don't have the privilage to relax against them. Valdes is expected to guard the goal and will be looking to extend the clean sheet record to seventh consecutive match. For that he need hell lot of help from his defense which most probably would feature Alves, Pique, Puyol and Abidal. Yaya Toure is expected to return as the defensive midfielder after being rested for the match against Getafe. Iniesta and Xavi for me should start in the midfield. And against Sevilla we should have our best atatck line, which is Messi, Eto and Henry. I am expecting a Barca to cruise through this match. Iniesta looked in top form last week and surprisingly he is still improving, and that's a better news. Messi, for the last two matches looked really good but wasn't helped by slopiness from Eto. By the way Eto cannot have three bad games in a row and hence I expect him to do well in this match. Ok, my prediction is a 2-0 victory for Barca.