Real Madrid vs Barca Champions League Semi-Final 1st Leg Preview

What a difference ten days make? When this El Clasico series began we were firmly the hot favourite and buzzing with confidence. But two matches into the series we suddenly are the slight underdog and not only some serious doubts have started to creep in. Guardiola could be seriously thinking about what he has done to irk the footballing Gods. The ever increasing list of injuries is quite worrying for anyone at this moment we have four players out injured - Abidal, Adriano, Maxwell and Bojan. All our normal left back options are in that list. To make matters worse, there are serious doubts about fitness of Andres Iniesta. Going by the latest news Iniesta may actually make the starting eleven as he has recovered from that injury concern. Guardiola has announced a list of 20 players who has already made their way to Real Madrid. the squad list is Valdes, Pinto, Pique, Milito, Puyol, Alves, Iniesta, Xavi, Mascherano, Busquets, Afellay, Pedro, Villa , Messi, Jeffren, Keita, Fontas and Barca B start Thiago, Montoya and Sergi Roberto. The good news is Milito and Puyol making the list, especially our Captain Carles Puyol being fit.

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FC Barcelona - 2, Osasuna - 0

FC Barcelona secured three precious point tonight at the Camp Nou with a not so inspiring performance against Osasuna. Goals from David Villa and Lionel Messi maintained Barca's eight point lead on top ahead of the big away leg of Champions League this Wednesday. Real Madrid who played earlier at Valencia, has cut the lead back to five points with a spectacular 6-3 thrashing. Valencia players were so focussed on giving that Guard of Honour, that they were all over the pitch once that match started. So our effort naturally was to have the lead restore to eleven ahead of the crucial Champiosn league encounter with Real Madrid. Osasuna were lying at sixteenth position and that meant they will fight tooth and nails to stay afloat. Guardiola rested Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and Pedro for this match, actually they started on the bench. Puyol and Pique were ommitted from the squad. The defense had Alves, Mascherano, Milito and Maxwell infront of Valdes. The midfield had Busquets, Thiago and Keita formed the midfield. Jeffren, Villa and Afellay made the front trio.

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Regrouping After a Miserable Defeat

It took me almost a day to come to terms with the defat and start looking at what all went wrong in the match. Victories and defeats are a part and parcel of this gane. This unique team has made us all hook onto victories that we at times find it difficult to come to terms with defeat. The bottomline is that yesterday the best team won. Yup, Real Madrid was the better team when you take the overall game into perspective and they deserved the triumph. All the players have expressed an eagerness to get over this result as soon as possible and start afresh in the pursuit of La Liga and Champions League title. We were rocked yet again by another injury news. This time it is Adriano, who in recent outings were our best defender and now would be out for atleast 3-4 weeks. Now that's driving me crazy to see Adriano going out when Puyol is coming back to the team.

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