FC Barcelona vs Benidorm Preview

Pep Guardiola has yet again delayed the naming of the squad against Benidorm till the time of the match. This looks like his way of keeping his players focussed. Whatever we might say it have worked in this season. FC Barcelona goes into this match in a kind of tricky position. They have won the away leg with a goal margin and are the hot favourite to proceed to next step. Already the Copa Del Rey had one big casuality in the form of Real Madrid; Madrid was outsed by an injury time goal by Real Union. As I mentioned in my previous post Copa Del Rey Awakes, for the smaller teams all match is like the final match. Today's match is Benidorm ultimate match and they can be expected to throw everything at Barca.

Pep Guardiola may not be fielding a under-strength side in tonight's match. With Madrid already out and Villareal likely to follow suit; he might be tempted not to give players from B team a start. Benidorm did really well in their home leg; but they may soon find out it is completely different playing FC Barcelona at Nou Camp. We can expect Messi, Xavi and Eto starting in the substitute bench today. So most probably Bojan, Hleb and Henry would be starting the match. Gudjonsen should be teaming with Victor Sanchez and Toure/ Busquests in the midfield. Caceres, Sylvinho, Pique and Alves should form the defense ahead of Pinto. Jorquerra is ruled out of some stomach bug. I expect a tough match but FC barcelona should be winning comfortably by atleast a couple of goals.

FC Barcelona vs Real Valladoid Pictures

FC Barcelona vs Valladoid Player Rating on 08/11/08

Valdes - 8 - Great performance. He did well to keep his clean sheet . Produced some telling saves to make sure that the pressure never acme at FC Barcelon.

Alves - 7 - Another great performance going forward. Was caught at many times coming backward but was pretty competitive. You cannot complain about his defensive vulneress as he is more like an attacking right winger.

Marquez - 8.5 - What a match!!! There was a period of time in the first half prior to the second goal when Valladoid was applying immense pressure. Marquez stood tall and atleast cut down four attacking oppurtunity.

Pique - 6 - Was at fault at many times. On occasion he lost ball was lucky to see Marquez covering him on every occasion.

Puyol - 7.5 - Great game. Was great on the left flank. Did drop into middle to help the centre defenders.

Xavi - 6.5 - Did started the game well but went quiet after that. Had a decent game but more was expected of him naturally.

Toure - 7 - Did well throughout the match. May not be as good as previous matches and lost some balls cheaply but was assuring in the midfield.

Gudjonsen - 7.5 - Did complement others well. Great finish to get into scoresheet.

Messi - 9.5 - What a match!! He controleld the match and showed his true capabilities. Was a mess to deal with for the defense. Played his part in every goal.

Eto - 9.5 - Great striker to have in the team. Give the ball to him in the box he will get the goal. Leading Pichichi by some distance now.

Henry - 7 - Didn't do much of mistake and complemented well. But he kepth the scoreline to six with missing a host of chances.

Substitutes : Hleb(7), caceres (6) and Keita (6)

Man Of The Match - Samuel Eto

FC Barcelona Destroys Real valladoid; FC Barcelona-6, Valladoid-0

FC Barcelona put their rampaging train back on track after a small technical snag against Basel with an explosive performance against Real Valladoid. Real Valladoid could not find a single answer to the attacking powers of Barca and saw the host putting six goals past them. Eto scored four times in the first half, Gudjonsen and Henry compleetd the scoring list. The surprising fact about this season is whenever we think FC barcelona has reached their highest level of play they simply raise the bars. The performance is yet to improve as Xavi didn't have a great game yesterday and Iniesta was out injured. Guardiola looks like have decided Puyol as Left back in the absence of Abidal, and he will not regret that decision. Alves, Marquez, Pique and Puyol formed the defense ahead of Valdes. Toure was slotted in as the defensive midfielder. Gudjonsen and Xavi paired to be the creative heads in the midfield. Henry, Eto and Messi formed the attacking trio.

It was Real Valldoid who had the first atatck of the match.In the 2nd minute Valladoid free kick from the right corner of box was collected well by Valdes in the second attempt. That woke up Barca and they replied immediately with Gudjonsen heading high from a great cross from Xavi in the 8th minute. In the 12th minute Eto entered into the scoring chart; Daniel Alves played a sensational ball in behind the defense, Eto rounded off the defenders and scored through the legs of Goal Keeper Sergio. In the 22nd minute Marquez guarded ball well to Valdes hands after a great pass put Valladoid in an atatcking position. In the 23rd minute Valdes had to make an great intervention to stop Valladoid from having the shot after a Pique mistake. FC Barcelona looked like a bit rattled by the much more crowded valladoid midfield and was giving away ball cheaply. In the 26th minute Messi sets up on an excellent run on the counter; Messi then provided a great pass to Eto whose shot was well stopped by an advancing Goal Keeper Sergio. In the 30th minute Etos scored again to calm Barca nerves after an excelelnt all round play. Messi provided a great pass to Eto in the edge of box; who lobs the ball over the defense to Henry; the resulting shot from Henry was saved bu Sergio but the rebound fell perfectly for Eto to finish. In the 36th minute Henry should have made it 3-0 but his first touch on an excellent pass from Messi was pathetic which gave time to Segio to block the ball. In the 40th minute Henry wasted another great chance from another excellent pass from Eto. But for all the disappointment Eto made it 3-0 in the next minute after rounding off Goal keeper from an excellent pass from Messi.In the 44th minute Eto made it four for the night with the easiest of finish.It was once again excellent play from Messi who run past defenders; Messi shot hit the defender and fell perfectly for Eto.

In the second half everyone expected FC Barcelona to slowed down the tempo. To an extent they did but they didn't abandon the idea of attacking play. In the 70th minute Marquez was taken off and Ceceres replaced him. In 72nd minute Gudjonsen brought the match back to life with an excellent finish after the defense gave the ball stupidly to Henry who placed it to Gudjonsen. In the next minute Gudjonsen was taken off and was replaced by Keita. In the 76th minute Eto was taken off and in came Hleb. The Belarusian started getting involved in every move from the right. Hleb was instrumental in the sixth goal after playing a neat one-two with Messi he squared the ball to Henry for easiest of tappings.

This was an excellent performance and it came on a day when the midfield general Xavi was having an off-day. That shows the variety of atatcking options. The only thing Guardiola have to be careful is that to make sure that they don't get carried away with these results. They should be still win some games very tough and ugly.

FC Barcelona vs Real Valladoid Preview

A draw against FC Basel at home is not at all a disaster, especially when the team is virtually assured of a 2nd round place and the team does not star much of the regualar team members. But going by last season's performance Barca fans are more than a bit cautious. They have seen that FC Barcelona tend to continue with this disappointing runs and sincerely want to get things straight as early as possible. Guardiola could not hope for a better team to get things back on track than Real Valladoid. They might have surprised all by defeating Sevilla last week, but their performance away from home are really suspect.Guardiola have once again delayed the naming of squad till the morning of match. This time this could be to know who all are completely fit. Keita has been given the "All Clear" by the medical staff for today's match. Guardiola could be in for some confusion over the starting eleven.

Valdes as usual is expected to guard the goal. The defense should be made up of Puyol, Marquez, Alves and Sylvinho. Guardiola might be tempted to put Puyol on the far left of the pitch; but it is better to try out Sylvinho now as Abidal is sure to miss atleast thre weeks of action. The midfield would be ideally made up of Busquests, Xavi and Toure. Victor Sanchez also could be slotted in place of Busquests inorder to give more attacking thrust to the team. There is no doubt of who would make up the front three, it has to be Henry, Eto and Messi. FC Barcelona fans who would be at the Camp Nou and all over the world would be expecting to see a much better display from their team compared to the disappointing performance against FC Basel. I predict FC Barcelona winning this encounter by three goals with a scoreline of 4-1.

Injury Problems Ahead

The clubs's medical team has assessed Eric Abidal's injury. The club doctor have decided to continue with the same treatment and ruled out surgery at this point of time. The recovery is expected to take three weeks in normal scenarion; and if he does not recover well after this three weeks, they might consider the possibility of a surgery. If that happens the Abidal could be out of the game for a pretty long time. What disappoints me the most is the time of the injury. If this injury has occured a month ago none of us would have complained; but in the recent matches he was getting better and fulfilling his promises and now this happens. Guardiola would have to rely on Sylvinho in the left side of the pitch or he could still use Puyol again there. But I would prefer Guardiola using Sylvinho as there is a possibility that Abidal could take more time to recover or could take more time to find his form back.

Add to this Iniesta injury; Guardiola could be in for the toughest of tests. Iniesta had solved FC Barcelona's incompetency in far left position of the pitch and now that is going to haunt Guardiola again. Henry looked like finally getting into his grove; but that could be another faulty sign like last season. Hleb could be used there but he has not made a compelling case to guarantee that position. Keita has started training but is not fully fit and cannot be expected to take part in this week's match. The absence of Keita and Iniesta means the midfield would be stretched ofr creative ideas this week. Gudjonsen could come back but is sure not to start. Now that leaves Victor Sanchez a sure certainity. In the defense the team is missing two members - Abidal and Milito. It is still not clear when Milito would come back. Pique is carrying a knock but should be able to feature in next week's match.

Basel Steals a Point; FC Barcelona-1, F C Basel -1

FC Barcelona's winning streak was halted by the most unlikeliest of opponents - FC Basel. This was a match where FC Barcelona players showed signs of complacency, lacked attitude and looked more like last season. To worsen it all one of the star performers of this season, Andres Iniesta Picked up an injury and most probably would miss six weeks of action. To the build up to this match I have written that FC Barcelona would be happy to get a point out of it and secure the Knock-out stage spot. This draw has virtually ensured that and Barca became the first team to secure the spot in this year's champions league. In a way, this draw or inept performance could be God sent. This gives Guardiola enough reason and oppurtunity to raise the bar again. Guardiola have to make sure that the team does not repeat this performance ever. As expected Guardiola rested many of his regular starters. Eto, Xavi, Messi, Toure and Alves all got the much needed rest. Puyol, Marquez, Pique and Sylvinho formed the defense ahead of Valdes. Iniesta, Victor Sanchez and Busquests formed the midfield. Hleb, Henry and Bojan formed the front three.

As expected FC barcelona retained the majority of possession in the first half. They did create some chance but not any lethal ones. It was clear they were misising the likes of Xavi and Eto in the first half. Victor Sanchez and Bojan did work hard but it was too big a task for them. We can't really blame the team fully as half of them are playing for the first time together and it is difficult to gel together. In the second half Guardiola brought Messi, Eto and Xavi in. The Messi substitution did worked immediately when he scored to give Barca the lead. But slowly FC barcelona again dropped the tempo of the game and did pay for that in the 83rd minute when Derdiyok scored after a Marquez mistake. This match showed one fact that if Barca want to dominate any match that initiative has to be taken from the begining. Now how Guardiola cope up with the absence of Iniesta is yet to be seen.