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Apr 11, 2014

The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions

Lionel Messi is suddenly in the midst of all things Barca, not sure he would like that! There are cries in internet blogs and boards about need to sell him. Sure he was crap against Atletico Madrid, he wasn't the only one! But they only want him to be sold? They say Pep Guardiola took the brave decision of selling Ronaldinho and current Barca management should take similar decision with the Argentinian captain. They easily forget that two weeks ago they were all sitting back enjoying the Clasico victory which was fashioned by the star player almost alone. I do agree that Iniesta was brilliant in that match but let's take the big moments - first goal created by Messi, Second goal created by his sheer will and scored too, third created by a brilliant Messi through ball and scored the penalty. But still they wanted to sell him because he was crap against Atletico Madrid. He wasn't alone in that Iniesta was really poor but somehow all the blame is for Messi to shoulder. When Neymar was playing really poor no one asked him to be sold out. And they want to do that to a man who single handily has fashioned some of the greatest story this team has seen.

Apr 10, 2014

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.

With FC Barcelona's elimination from the UEFA Champions League, it appears the World as we know has come to an end! Not really, nothing changes; life goes on so do football. We now need to focus fully on the Copa Del Rey final and the league where we could get a chance to extract revenge on Atletico Madrid. With this defeat Barca's attempt to appear in a seventh consecutive semi-final has come to an end. Seven consecutive semi-finals and two championship is no mean task, but many believe that this team still has so much to offer. That's the reason why the elimination at the hands of Atletico surprised many. But whoever have closely watched Simeone's Atletico, it never surprised. Many thought than an upset is possible especially with the second leg at the Vicente Calderon. Let’s look at the reasons why Barca failed or better put Atletico won the tie.

Barca's hope for another Champions League Semi-Final appearance were thrashed by an excellent Atletico side who were as good as in defense as in offense. The 1-0 score line did not portray what happened in the game. Had Atletico had a bit more luck, they would have been 4-5 goals up by half time. After all, they struck the crossbar four times by the time the interval came. FC Barcelona were poor throughout. For the initial the term Barca defense only appeared on paper as it was nowhere to be seen on the pitch. To be honest the offensive side was also in a similar situation with Messi and Iniesta having one of their worst nights in recent memory. Questions will be asked about Martino's selection choice, especially the false-9 experiment with Cesc Fabregas simply was wasted as I have mentioned in the match preview. There wasn't much surprise in Barcelona line-up for this must win game. Alba,Mascherano, Bartra and Alves made the defense. Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta formed the midfield. cesc Fabregas was deployed in a false-9 role with Messi on the righ and Neymar on the left. Atletico meanwhile, had to leave out Diego Costa from the squad. Their line-up had Courtois, Juanfran, Godin, Miranda, Fillipe, Tiago, Gabi, Koke, Raul Garcia, Adrian and Villa.

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