Athletic Bilbao vs Barca Preview

The last two times Barca returned from international break, we failed to win our away games and subsequently had a bad result in the Champions League encounters. We always have struggled after an international break, but this time it is a make or break time for Barca. We cannot afford to lose or draw against Bilbao as it will definitely show in our all important encounter against Inter on Tuesday. Guardiola has announced his squad which will travel to San Mames - Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Márquez, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Bojan, Pinto, Henry, Keita, Sergio Busquets, Pedro, Maxwell, Txigrinski, Jeffren, Jonathan dos Santos. Ibrahmovic has been sidelined with a thigh injury. Meanwhile Abidal and Toure both have been diagnosed with H1N1 flu and will be out of action for at least a week. Toure getting flu has come at a very bad time as he was a surety to start in the match against Inter.

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Tough Week Ahead

After an extended vacation, I am back writing the blog. The coming week could turn out to be the most important week for FC Barcelona this season. After achieving a historic treble, no team would like to be thrown out of UEFA Champions League in the group stage, but the chances are pretty high for that to happen. First there is a visit to San Mamés Stadium tomorrow. Then it will be the all importnat clash between Inter and Barca at Camp Nou, a game which Barca has to win to keep their hopes alive. Then it will be the El Classico that will be on next week. There is no doubt about which one is the most importnat clash - the Inter clash. A failure to win against Inter will see Barca most probably crashing out of the Champions League. Inter meanwhile would be very happy with a draw and will most probably employing tactics to yield such a result. El Classico, may not be as important as the Inter clash; but from the historic point of view no Barcelona side can afford to take that match lightly. To make matters worse these matches come after the international break and it has to be seen how the team cope with the break.

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Complicating The Qualification Task; Rubin-0, Barca-0

FC Barcelona has essentially put their Champions League qualification at risk by drawing against the Russian champions. With this draw we stand at second in standing and have a chance to end the night at third in overall standing if there is anything other than a draw in the match against Inter and Kiev. Barca now have to win their remaining two matches to go through to the next round. A failure to see off the Ukranian Champions will effectively kick us out of the competition. FC Barcelona struggled to come to terms fully with the slowness of the pitch and it didn't aid their attacking play. At Kiev the condition will be similiar to Kazan's so Guardiola needs to think up something big to get the team through. Guardiola with his stupid idea of not using his substitutions early is not aiding the team at all. Tonight Henry was introduced in the 82nd minute, too late to make any impact. Guardiola started Alves , Puyol, Pique and Abidal in the defnse. The midfield was made up of Keita, Toure and Xavi. The attacking trio were Iniesta, Ibrahmovic and Messi.

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