May 16, 2011
Busquets Acquitted of Racism Charge
FC Barcelona is assured of the service of their regular holding midfield player, Sergie Busquets for the big Champions League final at Wembley. Busquets participation at Wembley was put under some doubt after UEFA opened alleged Racism abuse inquiry against the player. But UEFA has dismissed the allegation due to lack of strong evidence and also has cleared the player of any wrong doing. This is yet another set-back for Real madrid who has been on the endless journey to unsettle this Barcelona side. With Busquets available for selection Guardiola can field his usual midfield of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets against English Champions Manchester United. This decision most probably is not going to be welcomed in most part of the Spanish Capital. Debates will still rage on whether Busquets said those words as Real alleges. A lip reading exercise throough a video evidence will never stand up for any close scrutiny and Real madrid management fo all the people should have known that. So this was another futile exercise by the Spanish Capital side to unsettle our players.
FC Barcelona - 0, Deportivo - 0
The newly crowned Spanish La Liga Champion were held to a goal less draw by relegation threatened Deportivo La Coruna at the Camp Nou. That one point could be very crucial for Deportivo's hopes of surviving in the league. This incidently was the first goal less draw of Barca in the league this season. With the League rounded up, this was a great oppurtunity for the fringe players to get some playing time. But the night was all about celebration, doesn't matter whether we win or lose - tonight was the night when the La Liga title is offcially handed over to us. As expected Guardiola rested most of the main stars. Valdes started in goal. The defense infront of him had Marc Batra, Mascherano, Fontas and Abidal. The midfield had Thiago, Jonathan and Keita. The front three was made up of Afellay, Jeffren and Bojan. I have to admit that I would have put Oriol Romeu in the midfield to play in the usual central midfielder role.
May 12, 2011
FC Barcelona Wins 21st league Title - Levante - 1, Barca - 1
FC Barcelona won their 21st League title with a 1-1 draw at Levante with a bit of tricky performance. This was not one of the usual flowing performance by the Barca side, but it was good enough to complete a rare hat-trick of League title. The last team which did that was the dream team of Barcelona back in the 90s. A goal from Keita gave Barca the lead (unexpectedly), but Levante equalised after a complete misunderstanding between Valdes and Pique. We went into the match needing only one point to win the league and precisely did that. Messi would have been a bit unlucky not to have cut the Pichichi lead. Now Guardiola could rest a majority of stars in the coming match and shift the focus to the Wemble job. Guardiola made some changes to his usual eleven. Iniesta and Pedro started from the bench. So we had Messi, Villa and Afellay in the front attacking trio. The midfield had Keita, Busquets and Xavi. The defense had Alves, Pique, Mascherano and boy oh! boy our King Abidal. 5000 Barcelona fans took the travel to Valencia to watch this match.
May 9, 2011
A Step Closer to the Title, FC Barcelona - 2, Espanyol - 0
FC Barcelona took a huge step to retaining their La Liga title with a massive 2-0 victory against city rivals, Espanyol. With this victory we require only one more point to secure the title and we can expect the team to round that up on their trip to levante in mid-week. Iniesta opened the scoring for Barca in the 29th minute and Pique completed the scoreline with a header in the 48th minute. Guardiola rested Puyol for this all important derby match. We had Alves, Pique, Mascherano and Fontas in defense. Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets formed the trio. And we had the usual MVP up front - Messi, Villa and Pedro.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
