Strolling On; Athletic Bilbao-0, FC Barcelona-1

FC Barcelona extended their winning streak to seven matches in all competition with a single goal victory against Athletic Bilbao. Samuel Eto'o strike in the 56th minute was enough to see past a spirited Bilbao challenge. Victor Valdes would be delighted with his performance as he was able to keep a clean sheet for first time in this season. Guardiola rested Puyol and Messi for the match. That threw up some interesting combination. Alves, Marquez, Pique and Abidal formed the back four ahead of custodian Victor Valdes. The midfield was made up of Victor Sanchez, Toure and Keita. Iniesta moved to the right in the absence of Messi and Henry and Eto took their usual position.

The home side started putting pressure on Barca from the start. Just after the start Athletic Bilbao won a free kick which resulted in Valdes pulling out an excellent acrobatic save to keep the ball out. FC Barcelona replied soon enough through Eto who turned inside of his marker but his shot was saved by Iraizoz. In the 22nd minute Valdes agains have to pull out another excellent save from a Yeste free kick. In the 29th minute Keita got injured and was replaced by Busquests. In the rest of half there were only some half chances which involved Eto - first his shot was saved and just before the break his header went agonisingly wide.

In the second half Iniesta started switching to the left more often and that started showing results. In 48th minute Victor Sanchez shot high from and Iniesta cross. Then in the 57th minute FC Barcelona took the lead from a splendid strike from Eto. Henry dribbled past defender and placed the ball on to Eto who got past the defender and blasted a fierry shot. FC Barcelona next best chance came with Iniesta's cross getting diverted to goal by defender. Then Eto had a decent chance but he shot wide. Overall this was a pretty decent game. For the second game running Abidal did well.

Athletic Bilbao vs FC Barcelona Preview

Xavi Hernandes has been ruled out of today's match against Athletic Bilbao. His ommision has been explained as a precautionery measure in the official club website. Xavi is making googd progress from a harmstring problem and should feature in the mid-week Champions League encounter with Basel. The squad chosen are Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Víctor Sánchez, Puyol, Márquez, Piqué, Abidal, Sylvinho, Busquets, Touré Yaya, Keita, Iniesta, Bojan, Hleb, Henry, Eto'o and Messi. Notably Hleb makes a comeback and should see some time in the pitch. But the absence of Xavi throws up the usual combination used by Guardiola. In the absence of Xavi the creative spearhead role in the midfield should be done byu Andres Iniesta. Keita may be inadequete to do that role. That opens up a place for Thierry Henry on the left side of the attacking trio.

Athletic Bilbao lies fifteenth in the La Liga table. Barcelona in the last game has thrashed a far superior Atletico Madrid side and Athletic Bilbao should not come as tough. But how many times we have seen FC Barcelona failing miserably after an international break. Alves is back and should start at the right back position. Puyol is expected to start along with either Pique or Marquez. Abidal will be starting as left back with enough confidence from his performance against Atletico Madrid. The midfield most probably would be made of Keita, Iniesta and Toure. The forward trio will be Henry, Messi and Eto. FC Barcelona fans would be expecting great things from their side after the Atletico Madrid thrashing. But my advice - keep your expectation low; a 1-0 or a 2-1 victory would be as good as last match.

Do Messi deserve the Ballon d'Or?

Goal.com has already running a poll to gather support for Lionel Messi as the choice of this years Ballon D'Or. The early statistics suggests that huge number of soccer fans are in favour of seeing Lionel Messi win it. Even I wish to see him holding the Ballon d'Or. But the biggest question is "Does he really deserve the Ballon D'Or. The huge number of support for Lionel Messi is due to the fact that he is having a great season now and looks like getting better each day. But does that justify giving him the award. Not for me. The award is presented for the achievements of the past season. It is already billed as a match up between Messi and Ronaldo. But it is rather starnge to match up Ronaldo's achievement of last season to Messi's. Christiano Ronaldo was instrumental in winning the Champions League and English Premier League for manchester United. In contrast Lionel Messi couldn't help Barcelona in winning anything.

I am not blaming Messi for last seasons failure. He was really unfortunate to miss the majority of the season through injury. Or rather I would say FC Barcelona was unfortunate to miss him for long time. But that is not Christiano Ronaldo's problem. He has been great last season; eventhough he was overshadowed by Messi in the Semi Final legs. For me the real competition to Ronaldo in this years Ballon D 'Or should be Iker Cassilas. I haven't seen the list nor I am sure whether the official list has been released; but there are reports of Iniesta's name missing in the list. If that is true then it is really unfortunate. He was great through last season and had a great Euro 2008. He deserved to be in that list more than Lionel Messi. Now coming back to the Iker Cassilas vs Ronaldo match up - Iker has won the La Liga and Euro cup whereas Ronaldo has the Premier league and Champions league. You cannot match these titles to each other. If Ronaldo was the catalyst in last season's great run of Manchester United; so was casillas for Spain and Real Madrid.Historically Goal Keepers are over looked for this prestigous prize; but this year that may not be the case. What might go against Christiano Ronaldo would the fact that this year was a Euro Cup year and his biggest competition led his team to the title. Even though he is a Real madrid player, this is one footballer I love. May be its time that Goal Keepers get the respect they deserve.

Mark My word guys - next year it will be Messi or Iniesta.