Spanish Super Cup 1st Leg Preview

Athletic Bilbao vs Barca Preview

In contrast to the other major leagues in Europe, the Spanish Super Cup is a two legged affair. The first leg will be held tonight at San Mamés ; the second leg will held at the Camp Nou next sunday. Guardiola has announced the squad which is travelling to face Athletic Bilbao - Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Maxwell, Abidal, Puyol, Piqué, Fontàs, Muniesa, Touré, Keita, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Busquets, Bojan, Pedro, Jeffren, Henry and Jonathan Dos Santos. Messi has been left out of squad as he is still nursing a strained left thigh. Meanwhile it is also decided that Messi will miss the League opener agains Gijon as he has been given permission to fly out to prepare for Argentina vs Brazil match. Along with Messi, Iniesta, Ibrahmovic and Marquez are also out of squad carrying different injuries. With so many huge stars missing Barca will be hoping to get a decent result which they can defend next week at home.

Guardiola will most probably chose Pinto ahead of Valdes at the goal. Alves, Pique, Puyol and Abidal should form the defense. Xavi, Toure and Busquets should form the midfield. Pedro, Bojan and Henry should form the attacking pair. Absence of Iniesta and Messi may not be a huge factor when playing against Bilbao; but complacency could be a big factor. Even with this somewhat weak line-up, I expect Barca to come up with a narrow victory. My prediction is a 2-0 victory away from home.

Do We Really Need Cesc Fabregas?

Ok, Arsenal fans could up in arms against me for posting this. But relax guys there is no chance of this completeing this season. But it is always good to have a debate on a subject which matters most to Catalans. Guardiola and Laporta both have made clear their hopes of signing the Catalan. Cesc Fabregas, naturally is a catalan and is a product of Barca's youth academy and therefore naturally will fit into Barca's scheme of things. But at reported asking of 45 million Euros, Barca management will stay away from him for atleast this year. Not because he lacks quality, but for that amount he will be an extra-vaganza. If FC Barcelona manages to sign Cesc back, it is not yet clear whether he will get a regular start. Many of the fans would disagree, I also agrees that he is of highest quality. Naturally if he has to start then we have to shift Iniesta to front left, competing with Henry. But is that a solution. I have earlier written a post of why the Xavi - Iniesta Duo is the best in the world - Andres Iniesta vs Xavi Hernandez; The Dangerous Duo. Now ideally we will not like to unsettle that combination. Fabregas and Xavi are similiar kind of players and moving Iniesta out of that midfield will take a lot of variety from that midfield. Just see how Spain struggled with the absence of Iniesta recently. Fabregas and Xavi relies heavily on giving those wonderful defense splitting passes but Iniesta is one of the most naturally gifted dribblers and provide the pace to the midfield and to an extend the surprise. That is why Iniesta and Xavi together is a great combination than Xavi and Fabregas. But also I believe that a Fabregas and Iniesta combination in the midfield will be as dangerous as Xavi - Iniesta duo.

Now that is what bothers me - Fabregas is the ideal replacement for Xavi. Xavi at 29 will have some more playing years left in him; Fabregas who is 22 will be an ideal choice for the future. But if we somehow sign him now I don't think we will be able to give him enough playing time that does justice to his talent. But then the real dileama is that he is the best replacement for Iniesta and Xavi available at this moment in the world. And with him available we will be able to rotate the midfield more and keep the little masters out of injury from long time. But then the real problem will be he may not get a starting place in the biggest matches, let's say a crucial El Classico encounter or a Champions League final. That is the reason why I believe we may not go for him at the quoted amount but at a lower rate around 30 million it is good to bring him back. Again there is a chance that by the time Xavi fades off we might have a suitable replacement coming from the youth setup. But for now I believe he will be best served at Arsenal but I don't see him staying there in the future.

Looking Forward For A Great Season

Wow! what a season we had? Three trophies (I think "all the trophies", sounds better) after two season where we longed for a piece of silverware. To top it all we played a brand of football which made us everyone's second loved team. With the emergence of English Premier Leageu as the strongest, everyone said beauty and success don't go hand in hand. But we proved everyone wrong with a style which was so fun to watch. Now back to ground reality!! We have won everything this season and we will have six trophies to fight for this season - Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup, La Liga, Copa Del Rey, UEFA Champions League and the World Club Championship. Already war cries has been made by Barcalona faithfuls about a possibility of winning an unprecedented six trophies. Such was the success of last season that no one will question Barcelona's credentials for the same. But it will be too much for the squad to take, a call to win an unprecedented six tophies. The best option at the moment looks like the Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Out of that the Spanish cup for me is a bit easier than the UEFA Super Cup. First of all it is a two leg affair and secondly we play the second leg at home. UEFA Super Cup could be a much tougher affair as we will be facing a physically superior Shaktar side. Shaktar last season defeated us at the Camp Nou and away from home our victory wasn't convincing at all.

The Super Cups may not hold much significance about the success of next season. It is more related to the good season we had last year. But eventhen we all would like to boast about them in the final tally. This year's La Liga looks more tough than last season. With Barcelona's unprecedented sucess, Real Madrid was forced to buy their way back to prominenence. This Real Madrid side looks dangerous but Barca hold the upper hand as we are working with a successful setup. Barca's major change in personal; has been the swap of Eto and Ibra, but we all expect Ibra to fit into the setup sooner. But it is yet to see how Real madrid will balance their side. In Europe once again the challenge from the English sides will be the toughest for Barca. Italy don't look like to pose a big challeneg, but Madrid and English clubs will be tougher this season. To make Barca's life more worse, we can except every team to adopt the "Park The Bus" strategy against us. So in the end this could turn out to be a much more productive season for the team. But all will depend on how well Gaurdiola can manage the team and drive them away from being complacent.