FC Barcelona moved back to the top of La Liga witha 4-1 win against Athletic Bilbao and will remain there for atleast 24 hours. Bojan who started in place of Ibrahimovic, who got injured in warm-up scored twice and Messi and Jeffren scored one each for Barca. Susaeta scored the consolation goal for Athletic Bilbao. This victory is more sweet considering that many of the regular starters were rested for this encounter and still Barca was able to dominate the game. I have criticised Guardiola's strange tactics many times and this match also I was clueless when I saw Chygrynskiy and Pique in the centre of defense. Not that they did a bad job, but with Chygrynskiy unavailable for Europe, it was stupidity not to give Marquez some playing time. Puyol and Abidal as expected played the full back roles. Guardiola once again adopted the 4-2-3-1 formation, which was very efefctive against Athletic. Toure and Busquets played the pivot roles behind the midfield made up of Jeffren, Messi and Maxwell. That was the first time Maxwell played in midfield and showed his use as a utility player. Bojan played as the striker infront of Messi.
Apr 4, 2010
FC Barcelona - 4, Athletic Bilbao - 1
FC Barcelona moved back to the top of La Liga witha 4-1 win against Athletic Bilbao and will remain there for atleast 24 hours. Bojan who started in place of Ibrahimovic, who got injured in warm-up scored twice and Messi and Jeffren scored one each for Barca. Susaeta scored the consolation goal for Athletic Bilbao. This victory is more sweet considering that many of the regular starters were rested for this encounter and still Barca was able to dominate the game. I have criticised Guardiola's strange tactics many times and this match also I was clueless when I saw Chygrynskiy and Pique in the centre of defense. Not that they did a bad job, but with Chygrynskiy unavailable for Europe, it was stupidity not to give Marquez some playing time. Puyol and Abidal as expected played the full back roles. Guardiola once again adopted the 4-2-3-1 formation, which was very efefctive against Athletic. Toure and Busquets played the pivot roles behind the midfield made up of Jeffren, Messi and Maxwell. That was the first time Maxwell played in midfield and showed his use as a utility player. Bojan played as the striker infront of Messi.
Apr 3, 2010
FC Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao Preview
For the past few days the entire focus of FC Barcelona was on to the clash against Arsenal. Tonight the focus shifts back to the league where FC Barcelona will host sixth placed Athletic Bilbao at the Camp Nou. With such a tough title race on with Real Madrid, Barca cannot afford to relax a bit. How I wish we hadn't surrendered the healthy lead we had in the league earlier? For Barca it is also a chance to regain the focus after squandering away a 2-0 lead at the Emirates. This match is all about making a bold statement ahead of the Champions League 2nd Leg. And with the Classico happening next Saturday, Barca don't want to conceded any ground to Real Madrid. Guardiola has the entire squad available to him, bar Alves and Iniesta. The former is suspended for this match after picking up a deliberate yellow card his fifth, and the latter is still recovering from injury. Meanwhile Athletic Bilbao will be without Iker Muniain, De Cerio and Pablo Orbaiz. The previous encounter between Barca and Athletic ended in a draw - Barca Drew at Athletic .
Apr 1, 2010
Honours Even at The Emirates, Arsenal -2, Barca - 2
A spectacular last twenty minutes performance by Arsenal inspired by Theo walcott saw Barca relinquishing a healthy two goal lead and eventually drawing the game. Everyone thought that two second half goals from Ibrahimovic were enough for Barca to seal the tie but late goals from Walcott and Fabregas left the honours even at Emirates. This draw has made the second leg tie at the Camp Nou very interesting; Barca hold a upper hand with the two away goals, but as I have posted earlier those may amount to nothing as Arsenal will be coming out in full force to attack Barca. To complicate matters, Barca will be without their regular choice centre defenders for the second leg. Pique was shown a yellow card which makes him ineligible for the second leg, whereas Puyol was shown a straight red. Arsenal also has Cesc Fabregas suspended for the second leg. To the build up of this game I have emphasised on the need to stay focussed on the task, but after the second goal we took the eye of the game and that resulted in the draw. Guardiola has been experimenting with his 4-2-3-1 formation for long. He employed the same tactic in this match also. I have many times expressed that such a tactic puts under immense pressure on counter, and I was proven right in last twenty minutes. The formation worked for the first half an hour as Arsenal was struggling to get into the game, but eventually they adapted and kept Messi out of the game by closing him down. In such a formation it is easy to do that. It is necessary for the team to start with the customary 4-3-3 formation in the second leg, so that we can use the width of the pitch. Guardiola started witha squad as expected. Alves, Puyol, Pique and Maxwell lined up in the defense. Xavi and Toure played in the midfield and ahead of them was the triangle of Keita, Messi and Pedro and Ibrahimovic further up.
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