FC Barcelona - 2, Deportivo - 0

FC Barcelona extended their lead at the top of La Liga to fourteen points with a fighting 2-0 victory against Deportivo at the Camp Nou. A first half goal from Alexis and another one from Messi late in second half secured us the all three points. Messi has now scored 40 times in the league this season.The match may have been a usual La Liga encounter, but there was no denial of the fact that everyone's thoughts were on the Milan clash on Tuesday. Considering the importance of the task ahead on Tuesday against Milan it wasn't much of a surprise to see a lot of important players being rested. So the first eleven which was picked to face Deportivo were Pinto, (who replaced Valdes who is suspended for four matches), Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Adriano, Cesc, Song, Thiago, Alexis, Villa and Tello. The bench had Masip, Pique, Alba, Busquets, Iniesta, Pedro and Messi. The fact that both Villa and Puyol started was a source of encouragement, but I had my doubts whether this is an indication whether they will not start against Milan?

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Taking Stock of a Disastrous Fortnight

• With consecutive defeats to Milan, Real Madrid and again Real Madrid, Barca has endured the most difficult week in recent times.
• With innovation coming from strategy or tactics, the team appeared completely lost on the field.

When Adriano was brought down by Ramos in the penalty box in the dying moments of the La Liga encounter at Santiago Bernebeu, every Barca fan shouted Penalty. But that wasn't the case to be. The referee Miguel Perez waved off the penalty claims. That was a penalty, a stone cold penalty. But every Barca fan should stop shouting and thank Miguel Perez for denying that. One could measure a bit of injustice in the decision(hence the Valdes reaction), but how our season will shape this season and may be coming season depended on that decision. Thank God for not giving that penalty. Had it been given, Cules would have gone back justifying the 2-2 draw as a just result. The bottom line was that not even in a single one of the recent defeats - 2-0 against Milan, 3-1 against Real in Copa and 2-1 against Real in League, we looked like a team which can claim as the "Best in the World". We looked static, tired, devoid of ideas and passion and more dangerously looked seriously disinterested. A 2-2 result would have masked all these problems once again. Many were dismissive of the Copa defeat, saying that Copa was a not so important cup. The danger signs were already there but we failed to see it, or simply put Messi was masking the entire fault by his own virtuoso Performance.

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FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid Cops Del Rey SF 2nd Leg Preview

• FC Barcelona Goes into the 2nd Leg as slight favorite courtesy of the away goal and home advantage.
• The formation to be used has been the biggest talking point coming into this match

FC Barcelona will be hosting the second leg of Copa Del Rey 2012-13 semi-final against arch-rivals Real Madrid on Tuesday night at the Camp Nou. As you all already knew, the first leg ended in another Real Madrid - Barca stalemate with each sides scoring one each.Now in any normal season, coming from your fierce opponent's den with an away goal and a draw will be considered as a very good result. But then this ain't a normal season. This season we could not help ourselves from conceding at least one goal in every match. There is a total sense of helplessness when we concede every match. So suddenly a 1-1 result which was very much in our favor, looks like a 2-1 in their favor. So suddenly this has become a must win match. But on a positive note, Real Madrid's away form has not been any great this season. Hence we may come back to the old 1-1 situation. Regardless of our defensive fragility, the fact that the first leg ended on 1-1, Real Madrid may be forced to come out and chase the game. If that happens it should be a very open game.

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