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Apr 15, 2010

FC Barcelona took a firm step towards retaining their La Liga crown with a comfortable 3-0 victory over visiting Deportivo La Coruna side. First half goal from Bojan and two second half strikes from Pedro and Toure helped Barca increase their lead on top to six points. Real Madrid who play tonight could cut that lead back to three. Guardiola went with the 4-2-3-1 formation for this encounter. The defense had Alves, Marquez, Pique and Maxwell infront of Valdes. Xavi and Toure paired infront of the defense and infront of them Jeffren, Messi and Pedro lined up. Bojan remained ahead of Messi as a sole striker. Sometimes I feel keeping Xavi so far behind the pitch would hamper his effectiveness, but the little maestro is proving me again and again.

Apr 14, 2010

My last post on Valdes and Spanish National Team ended with a hope that Valdes somehow manages to get into the World Cup squad. How things have changed drastically. When I wrote my previous post I was conviced that Del Bosque was never going to pick Valdes for Spain. Such has been Valdes' performance since my post, Vicente del Bosque can no longer overlook Valdes for the World Cup squad. Last week's El Clasico saw Valdes comfortably seeing off any danger from one of the most attacking teams in La Liga. Prior to that we saw some exceptionally solid acts against the likes of Arsenal and a host of Spanish side. Valdes has been always considered as an error-prone keeper, hence it is quite surprising that I can't remember the last mistake he did. Yes, he has been playing in an error-free way for some time, completely unlike the Valdes we know. Hence it is no surprise that he is leading the Zamoras list by a comfortable margin.

Andres Iniesta has been ruled out of action with a calf tear in his right leg. The medical staffs have confirmed that he has suffered total rupture of the right femoral biceps muscle, and could be out for action for four weeks. With this injury Iniesta will will be missing the Champions League semi-final against Inter Milan. He is also set to miss a set of La Liga matches - Deportivo, Espanyol, Xerez, Villarreal, Tenerife and Sevilla. FC Barcelona has coped well with Iniesta's absence but against a team like Inter Milan, his service could be very crucial. Iniesta has been plagued by injuries this season and with World Cup fast approaching no one wants to take any risk. He is expected to return for Champions League final, if Barca get past Inter. Keita and Toure could be very good cover for Iniesta, but they both cannot match Iniesta for skill. Let's hope we can get past Inter without "San Andres".

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