Rubin Kazan Holds Barca Again - Barca-1,Rubin Kazan-1

FC Barcelona failed once again to register a victory against the Russian side Rubin Kazan. That is quite an understatement, as Barca trailed for large part of the match. A first half penalty gave Rubin Kazan the lead but a second half penalty from Villa equalised for Barca. We once again had the most of the possession and had some seriously good chances to put the match to rest. But faile dto take any. With a 5-4-1 formation Rubin kazan's idea was to choke Barca and had to admit that they seriously managed it for the most part of game. Contrary to expectation Guardiola brought in Mascherano in place of Keita. We thus had a mmidfield of Xavi, Mascherano and Busquets and it was destined to lack creativity and it did show up throughout the first half. The defense had the now familiar look of Pique, Puyol, Alves and Maxwell. The attack had Villa, Pedro and Iniesta.

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Rubin Kazan vs Barca Champions League Preview

The name Rubin Kazan does not invoke happy memories for Barca fans. Last season, they were the one of the few teams who managed to gain an upperhand against us. Even against Inter we had a record of two wins, 1 defeat and a draw. Rubin Kazan visited Camp Nou shocking us all with a victory, and the return visit to Russia ended with a goalless draw. That draw did raised doubts about our qualification chances. In the end Barca came out of the group on top is a totally different matter. Lionel Messi who was in doubt for this clash has got the all clear from the medical team. He has been included in the squad but is definite to start the match only from the substitute bench. It would be better if he does not play in this match. Guardiola would be pretty much happy with the effort put by his team at Athletic Bilbao. This is the third extremely difficult away visit we are making within the last two weeks. First it was to Atletico Madrid, then it was to Bilbao and we all hope this vist also end up with a similiar result. Rubin Kazan will present a considerably difficult challenge to Guardiola in terms of tactics. They are definitely going to be more physical than any of the opponents we have faced this season. More over Guardiola also hasn't have registerd a victory against them.

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Barca B - 1, Numancia - 0

Athletic Bilbao vs Barca Highlights

Athletic Bilbao-1, Barca -3

FC Barcelona moved to second place in the La Liga table behind Valencia with a 3-1 victory at San mames. Real madrid's failure to win against levante presented us with a great chance to leap forward them. In a match which saw two red card (Amorebieta, Villa) goals from Keita, Xavi and Busquets secured Barca a vital away win in one of the most toughest stadiums in Spain. Now its has to be seen how many match suspension does Villa receive for his foul. After a not so great performance against Gijon, we got to see the real Barca back on the pitch tonight. Debates will be on about the impact of the Amorebieta red card on the game, but I firmly believed that we were good to win even against eleven men. Guardiola started Adriano in the left back position, the rest of defense was as expected - Alves, Puyol and Pique. The midfield saw Keita and Xavi joining hand with Busquets. The frontline saw Iniesta, Villa and Pedro.

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