Will the crisis at Valencia benefit Barca?

La Liga is indeed a strange place, there would be no shortage of stories in this great footballing arena. End of last week the entire media was concentrating on the immediate signing of Huntelaar by Real Madrid. Now it's Valencia's turn to be in the headlines. After a rather disastrous last season, it appeared that Valencia has finally turn things around with the team in contention for the title; or simply put Valencia got back to where they belong to. Now it looks like the hapiness of turning around the perforance would be over-shadowed by another bigger crisis they have to face. Valencia is reported to be in a midst of a Financial meltdown and there are huge rumours about the club going bankrupt. The report also suggest that they might be struggling to pay their player's wages and have to pay back a huge 50 million Euros by the year end. At the time their looks like some hopes are left for Valencia with their President assuring that a back up startegy is in place.

Valencia is the third most famous La Liga club after Real Madird and FC Barcelona. That makes the club too important to fail. In the summer there were rumours about the financial difficulties and everyone expected them to off load atleast two of their start players. Now if they fail to avert this crisis they would have to sell these stars for a much lesser price. This is where FC Barcelona would come to benefit from it. FC Barcelona have made it known about their intention to sign David Silva last summer. Now this presence an ideal oppurtunity for them to go for the player. In a survey conducted by Mundo Deportivo a whooping 83% of people has voted in favour of Barcelona takling steps to benefit from this financial crisis by signing Silva. But interms of the La Liga's future the failing of such a club would be disastrous; nor does the weekening of Valencia ahead of January transfer market. They are a real title contender this season and this crisis comes at the most disturbing time with Valencia taking on FC Barcelona at Camp Nou this weekend. One can only pray that they are able to come out of this crisis properly. Already there is a situation developing with David Villa - it seems Manchester City, Chelsea and Madrid all are interested.

FC Barcelona to meet Athletico Madrid

FC Barcelona has been given the tough task of dealing with Athletico Madrid in the pre-quarter stage of Copa Del Rey. The draw was made yesterday and the ther matches are Poli Ejido v Espanyol , Racing Santander v Valencia , Sporting Gijón v Valladolid , Real Unión v Betis , Sevilla v Deportivo , Osasuna v Athletic Bilbao and Mallorca v Almería. FC Barcelona have already met Athletico Madrid once this season and that ended in a 6-0 thrashing of the visitors at Camp Nou. FC Barcelona is scheduled to play the first leg at Vicente Calderon stadium on January 7th with the return game at Camp Nou on January 14th. The second leg being at home should seriously put Barca in the driver seat.

The quarter-final and semi-final draw has also been made and if Barca proceed they would meat the winner of the match between Poli Ejido and Espanyol. The winner of that match would be facing anyone of Real Union, Betis, Mallorca and Almeria.

Sevilla vs Barca Pictures on 29/11/08

Barca Player rating against Sevilla 29/11/08

Valdes - 6.5 - Was very active in the first half. Did not make any mistake and that was the reason why Barca went to the half time with a goal lead. Never was called upon in the second half. Was good in dealing with the high balls.

Alves - 6 - Looked average today, especially against Adriano. Adriano never let him off the hook in the first half. Defensively he never could tame Adriano.

Pique - 5.5 - For me he was the weakest link in the match. Always caught off guard while dealing with Kanoute and fabiano. he was lucky that those two guys weren't on the top of their game. But he was extremely lucky not to be send off.

Marquez - 7 - Did not make any mistake in the match. Made sure that he covered his partner regularly.

Puyol - 7 - Good game eventhough his problems being a right footed player on the left was exposed in this match. Regualrly came to the rescue of his centre halves.

Xavi - 7.5 - Good performance. Was kept quiet early on first half but did come to life. The header to place Messi ahead for the second goal was top class.

Toure - 8.5 - For me he was the best player on the pitch especially if you consider the consistency. Won most of challenges and did well while going forward. Another no-nonsense performance.

Keita - 5 - Poor performance. May have been over whelmed by the occasion.

Messi - 8.5 - Was quiet till the hour mark; but came to life after that. Destroyed the Sevilla defense with his excellent finish. Two season ago we were really worried about his finishing; now thinking of that makes me laugh.

Eto - 7.5 - Another great performance. But should not have picked up that yellow card. If there is a word to describe hi it sould be "Poacher".

Henry - 7 - Did occupy the left flank really well. But was let down by his own shooting. Whenever he tried to create chances for his team-mates he did well.

Substitutes:

Hleb(7), Gudjonsen(6) and Busquets(6).

Man Of the Match - Lionnel Messi

Barca Storms Past Sevilla; Sevilla-0, Barca-3

FC Barcelona notched up their tenth consecutive away victory in all competition with a truly impressive display against Sevilla. Eto scored early in the first half but the victory was sealed by the in-form magician Lionel Messi with his two second half strikes. Actually the entire match can be said as a tale of two halves. FC Barcelona went into the second half with really in back foot eventhough they were leading by a goal. But the second half performance was truly amazine and they completely shut out Sevilla. With Real Madrid losing to Getafe FC Barcelona have opened a huge six points lead with Real Madrid. Guardiola selected his strongest eleven for his toughest challenge since he took charge at Camp Nou. Alves, Pique, Marquez and Puyol formed the back four ahead of Valdes. The midfield was rather defensive with both Keita and Toure in along with Xavi. But then that was kind of a sensible decision especially considering how tough it is to play at Sevilla. The forward line was as predicted in my preview - Eto, Henry and Messi. This match did threw up some problems. Especially with Puyol; he did job on left defending hardly but was always undone by the fact that he is a roght footed player playing on the left flank.

The first half opened pretty slow; both the defenses held their base but slowly the physical strength of Sevilla players along with the tactic of playing ball high was troubling the Barcelona defense. Fabiano regularly got past his markers and it took some desoperate defending to keep him quiet. Adriano on the left flank was destrutive; every move by Sevilla in first half came through him. The Sevilla players kept Xavi and Messi under constant check. Messi was so well marked that he has to move to the centre to organise play. The first chance of the half fell to Sevilla when Luis Fabiano touch took the ball high of the bar from a great cross from guess who Adriano in the 8th minute. FC Barcelona's attacks were limited to some shots from outside the box; first it was Henry in the 13th minute who shot high then three minutes later Messi shoot wide of near post. Then in the 20th minute Eto scored to take FC Barcelona 1-0 up. Messi who dropped into the middle played a delightful ball to Xavi; Xavi's pass to alves was intercepted by Navarro and the rebound fell in path of Et; Eto did well to poach on the ball ahead of defense and scored with a great finish. In the 24th minute Fabiano wasted a great chance to equalise when he dragged the ball wide of far post after Kanoute have played him on ahead of defense. In the 28th minute Eto great shot from outside box was saved by Palop. In the 30th minute Eto picked up a silly yellow card for distracting the Goal Keeper Palop while taking a goal kick. That yellow has made sure that he will miss the next match against Valencia. In the 31st minute Henry shot from outside was saved by Palop. In the 42nd minute Kanoute was unlucky not to have equalised after his header from free kick hit the cross bar. That was the luck which Barca needed.

I feared Barca would concede more grounds in the second half; but those fears were put to rest from a great team display. The key was to holding on to possession and making the Sevilla attack frustrate. Henry was very much active on the left but his shooting left a lot to be decided. In the 58th minute Alves free kick was saved by Palop. In the 65th minute Henry shot straight at Palop after an excellent run from Messi. In the next minute Henry sent in a great cross from left Sevilla defense conceded the corner. In the 68th minute Messi sets on a great run but his shot was saved by palop. After the hour mark Messi suddenly woke up and was creating havoc on the Sevilla defemse. In the 75th minute Guardiola decided to bring on Busquets in place of a below-par Keita. In the 78th minute Xavi played Messi through with a great header but if the header was great then Messi finish was out of this world. Messi volleyed the ball past a hapless Palop. In the 79th minute Eto wastes a simple chance surprising everyone after a great run from Messi and places the ball to Eto. That should have been a simple finish. In the 86th minute Fabiano was sent off for an elbow on Busquets. In the 88th minute Gudjonsen replaced Xavi and Then after two minutes Henry was taken off for Hleb. In the 92nd minute Messi capped a brilliant performance with another excelelnt finish after Hleb played a delightful ball tp put Messi ahead of defense; Messi dragged an advancing Palop to the left and put the ball past him tin to the goal with a great finish from a very tight angle.

This sensational performance would increase the player's confidence by so much. But they need to keep their feet on ground. I wasn't that much impressed with Pique; he was lucky not to be sent off and not to have conceded a penalty. With Eto out for match against Valencia it is yet to see how the team cope with that.

Tough Run Starts; Sevilla vs Barca Preview

FC Barcelona's quest for the La Liga title enters a very delicate and important phase with tonight's match against Sevilla. FC Barcelona has been in tremendous form and would be looking to increase their unbeaten record at Sevilla. This has to be Guardiola's buggest test of this season and considering the tough matches which is to follow , a victory at Sevilla would indeed make matters easy. This match has already been billed as the contest between the teams which have the best defensive record and offensive record in the league. Sevilla has let in only eight goals until this seaso; FC Barcelona is not trailing badly here with only conceding nine goals till now. But where Barca's superiority is the amount of goals scored this season; Barca has scored 37 goals to Sevilla's 18. This would be first visit for Keita and Alves who moved from Sevilla to Barcelona this summer. Both the players have been included in the squad along with Toure and Puyol who both were rested. The squad selected by Guardiola is Valdés, Pinto, Henry, Márquez, Xavi, Piqué, Puyol, Cáceres, Sylvinho, Bojan, Eto'o, Messi, Hleb, Dani Alves, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Touré Yaya, Busquets.

Valdes is definite to start the match at Goal. But the defense could be a bit tricky to predict. My prediction would be Puyol and Marquez joining hands in the centre with Alves and Caceres on each side. BUt Guardiola could bring in Pique and move Puyol to left. The midfield cou8ld be quite tricky; Guardiola could be tempted to slot in two defensive minded player to shore up the defense. But my opinion is to put Gudjonsen along with Xavi and Toure in the middle. Now against such tough and important match it should be a child's play to predict the front line - Messi, Eto and Henry. Barca could be seriously tested in today's match but I believe they will prevail and my prediction is 1-3. But it would be very much essesntial for Barca to take the initiative pretty early in the match. They cannot go behind in this match; if that happens we could be chasing the game for majority of the match.

Sporting Lisbon vs Barca Pictures 26/11/08