Deportivo vs Barca Highlights on 05/12/09

Deportivo -1, Barca - 3

FC Barcelona retained their lead at top of five points with a 3-1 comfortable victory against Deportivo at the Riazor. Messi gave Barca a deserving lead in the 27th minute but Deportivo equalised in the 39th minute. Secons half goals from Messi and Ibrahmovic then gave Barca a truly deserving victory. This was Messi's first match after winning the Balon d'Or and he gave a performance intune with the award. He easily could have got a hat-trick last night but was let down by his own finishing. Guardiola's choice of defensive midfielder might have sent enough message for Yaya Toure about his future. Busquets was preferred in place of Toure and he played his part well in Deportivo goal. Meanwhile Barca had their strongest possible line-up except for Toure. Alves, Pique, Puyol and Abidal lined up in defense infront of Valdes. Iniesta and Xavi formed the midfield along with Busquets. Henry, Ibrahmovic and Messi formed the attacking trio.

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Vote For UEFA Team Of The Year

UEFA has started the process of selecting UEFA Team of the Year on their website. You can pick your best Eleven ast UEFA Team of the Year. Eleven Barca players have been nominated for this year's award. Manchester United has six players in the list. The Barca players on the list are Valdés, Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Txigrinski, Abidal, Touré, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Ibrahimovic. Meanwhile ex-barca player Samuel Eto'o has also made into nomination list. I am not so happy with the way the formation has been selected. UEFA has gone for a traditional 4-4-2 formation while selecting the eleven. But what makes me angry is that there is no defensive midfielder position, a role which has become the most important one in modern day football. They have the central midfield, attacking midfield, right midfield and the left midfield position. The central midfield role should have been the defensive midfielder. Right now we have Xavi and Yaya Toure together in the central midfield role; it is clear that Yaya after having a great lst season, will not get any vote because he is paired with Xavi. Chelsea's Michael Essien mysteriously finds no place in the nomination list. My selection is on the picture have a look.