FC Barcelona - 3, Villareal - 1

Lionel Messi double secures Barca victory

FC Barcelona moved to the top of La Liga table with a comfortable 3-1 win against thrid placed Villareal. Two goals from Messi and one from Villa was enough to see off the challenge from posed by the team in Yellow. Real Madrid will play only tomorrow and that means we could remain in te top for close to 24 hours. Billed as the clash of Titans, the match did live upto its billing especially in the first half. But second half saw Barca taking full control and shut the door firmly on VillarealAS I wrote in my preview, Puyol and Abidal partnered in the centre of defense with Alves and Maxwell as full back. The midfield had the best possible combination with Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. Messi, Pedro and Villa formed the attacking trio.

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FC Barcelona vs Villareal Preview

Make Shift Barca defense ready to face Villareal

Defensive worries would be troubling Guardiola while he prepares his team to face the stern challenge of Villareal. With Milito being ruled out for six weeks and Pique being suspended, Guardiola has to turn to a make shift defense for facing a high flying Villareal team. Villareal currently lies in third place and could provide Barca with their toughest test since the start of the season. There are rumours of Marc Batra partnering Puyol in defense. Honestly against a team like Villareal, Guardiol is not going to do that. He may still get a start against Almeria, but not against Villareal. That could be suicidal. With Chygrinskiy and Toure shipped out and Caceres loned out, Abidal is the only choice left to join Puyol. Abidal has played a couple of times at centre back in the start of season. His lack of positioning has caused numerous trouble in those matches and could once again be exposed tomorrow night. Loaning out Caceres now proves to be a very stupid decision as we have no proper back up for situation like this. Guardiola did point that the reinforcement could come from the B team but has never shown courage to nurture thos kids till now.

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Getafe - 1, Barca - 3

Three seasons ago, a visit to Getafe was quite difficult. But tonight's easy 3-1 victory has officially confirmed that those times have changed. FC Barcelona started the game in the third gear and stayed in that for almost entire first half and even lowered it a notch down in second half, still Getafe didn't have any decent chance of springing a surprise. Goals from Messi, Villa and Pedro was enough for Barca to wrap all three points, eventhough they made their life difficult by taking the focus away from the game. Guardiola started with his usual defense of Maxwell, Puyol, Pique and Alves. The midfield saw Mascherano pairing Xavi and Iniesta. Messi started in middle flanked by Pedro and Villa on right and left respectively.

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Six Barca Stars Make the Balon d'Or Shortlist

Six FC Barcelona players have made into the 23 Men shortlist of FIFA Balon d'Or. Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, David Villa, Lionel Messi and Dani Alves are the Barca team members who has made it into the list. In a World Cup year this award is believed to go to a World Cup winner and that makes Xavi Hernandez the Primier Choice to Win the Opening FIFA Balon d'Or. The final 23 men list is Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlán (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Júlio César (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Müller (Germany), Mesut Özil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain). THe biggest surprise is teh absence of Diego Milito of Inter Milan in that list. But that may give an earlier indication that the performance at the World Cup is going to count the most.

AD Ceuta - 0 , Barca - 2

A young looking FC Barcelona side strolled to a 2-0 victory against third division side AD Ceuta in their opening match of this season's Copa Del Rey tournament. Goals from Maxwell and Pedro in the first half sealed a valuable away victory, which almost see us through to the next round. In the absence of a host of first team players, Bojan Krkic captained the team. Pinto has been our choice of keeper for this competition and that continued in this match also. We had a new central defense pairing with Fontas and Batra flanked on each side by the experienced Maxwell and Adriano. The midfield was much more experienced compared to defense with Thiago, Mascherano and Keita. Jeffren, Bojan and Pedro formed the attacking trio as expected.

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