FC Barcelona vs Deportivo Preview

FC Barcelona would be looking to obtain an all-time record of fifty points from the first nineteen games of a season with a win over Deportivo at Camp Nou. Tonight's match would effectively end the first half of the season which has been rather stunning as far as a Barca fan is concerned. Deportivo who are currently in the 7th position is looking to regain some lost glory. A good result at Camp Nou would help their cause; but taking FC Barcelona's recent form into consideration that looks mere impossible. Fc barcelona has there own things to worry to the build up of the match - first of all Messi, Iniesta, Busquets and Alves were reported to carry knocks from Copa Del Rey match. But luckily they all are declared fit and Guardiola would be having the entire team to select from. The second worry on Guardiola's mind would be concerning the last some matches. In all these matches we have to come from behind to seal the game. This may not be a cause of huge worry but everyone of us would love to see FC barcelona taking charge from the word go. Guardiola, true to his nature has not yet announced the squad.

Victor Valdes would be returning back to goal after his brief rest in mid week. Abidal, Puyol, Marquez and Alves should be foring the defense. I would love to see a more attacking looking midfield on the pitch tonight. Iniesta and Xavi would be partnering Toure in the midfield. Eto, Henry and Messi would form the attacking trio. If you look at some recent matches it is clear that Barca is yet to hit top form after winter break. Messi, Xavi and Alves looks like the only players who have closed to their peak. But still at Camp Nou I expect Barca to win comfrotably. My prediction would be a FC barcelona victory by a score line of 3-0. Iniesta is due to hit top form and it is essential that he return back to his usual form before the start of Champions League.

Pictures from FC Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid Second Leg

FC Barcelona Reaches Quarter Final; FC Barcelona-2, A.Madrid-1

FC Barcelona made another come-back from behind victory to oversome a determined Atletico Madrid side and coast comfortably into the Quarter Finals of the Copa Del Rey. Gudjohnsen's second half strike won Barca the match after Bojan's header cancelled out Sinama Pongolle early goal. It is good to see FC Barcelona coming from behind, but the regularity with which this is occuring is alarming and this shows a lack of intent early on in the match. Guardiola have picked mostly non-regular players for this 2nd leg encounter and them conjouring up a 2-1 victory is quite appreciable. Now FC Barcelona will be facing city rivals Espanyol in the Quarter finals. Guardiola once again put faith in Pinto ahead of Jorquerra in the goal. The defense was made up of Alves, Marquez, Caceres and Sylvinho. Toure, Busquets and Gudjohnsen formed the midfield. The front three were made up of Hleb, Bojan and Iniesta.

FC barcelona expectedly dominated the early proceedings with a disallowed Marquez goal for offside in the sixth minute. In the 20th minute Hleb played the ball to Bojan who shot staright at the Goal Keeper. Slowly Atletico was coming into the game. They took the lead in the 23rd minute when Pinto failed to clear a Simao free kick and Sinama-Pongolle headed the ball into the net. In the 29th minute Barca equalised with Bojan heading past Coupet from an excellent Sylvinho cross. We were fortunate not to have conceded once again after two Caceres mistakes. In the second half Bojan missed an easy chance from a Hleb cross. The game was finished off in the 76th minute when Gudjonsen put the ball in the net after BUsquets initial shot was blocked. Iniesta wonderfully dribbled past three defenders and squared the ball to BUsquets whose shot was blocked.

FC Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid Copa Del Rey 2nd Leg Preview

FC Barcelona enter the 2nd leg of Copa Del Rey tie against Atletico Madrid being the firm favourites to go through courtesy of a Messi inspired 1-3 victory in the first leg. But Guardiola rightly insists that the tie is far from over even with a two goal lead and three away goals. Only complacency could be the only factor which can bring down this FC Barcelona side. Atletico Madrid would be hoping that Barca players will take this tie lightly and they can catch them by surprise. But it easily said than done; last time when the Madrid side visited Camp Nou they were thrashed by a goal line of 6-0. Guardiola would be having most of his squad for selection. Xavi and Messi are not expected to start after their recent trip to Switzerland. Guardiola has not yet announced his squad, but there could be a great chance of seeing Alves and Abidal being rested. After all Alves should be the most over used player in the squad. Sylvinho had a decent outing in the first leg and can be expected to retain his place. Marquez missed the match against Osasuna and could be hoping to make a come back in to the lineup.

Pinto would be expected to guard the goal ahead of Jorquerra after a brilliant display in the first leg. Sylvinho will form the left back; but if Alves is rested then Puyol would be donning the Right back role rather than his usual Centre Back role. Pique and Marquez is expected to form the Centre of the defnese. Iniesta would form the creative head in the midfield along with Toure and Gudjonsen. Hleb, Bojan and Pedro could form a very young attacking trio. I don't expect Barca to roll over the Atletico Madrid side in this tie. My prediction would be for a 1-1 draw. This could be an excellent oppurtunity for Bojan and Hleb to showcase their skills. Bojan showed good skills once brought in in the Osasuna match. But everyone's eye would be on Iniesta; he is yet to hit top form after coming from injury. Tonight he should come good as he will get more playing time. No way this tie is over; and every Barca player should remember that. Atletico will be welcoming back Aguerra into the side. But they will be missing Maxi Rodriguez and Seitaridis due to injury and Maniche and Heitinga due to suspension.

Osasuna vs Barca pictures

Barca Player Ratings against Osasuna on 11/01/09

Valdes - 6 - Only was called upon once in the first half. But did some good saves in the second. But he is still spilling the ball and this could become a disaster against quality opponents. Could not have done anything for the two goals.

Alves - 7.5 - Was involved in the last two goals and was a constant threat on thath right flank. But did not link up that well with Messi. But still a good performance.

Pique & Puyol - 6.5 - Both the defenders struggled in the second half. One of them should have been at fault for the first Osasuna goal, mostly Pique.

Abidal - 7 - A decent showing. Didn't make much mistake but what was dissappointing that he didn't go upfront that often.

Xavi - 8.5 - The best Barca player on the pitch. Great equalising goal and it was brave of him to take that shot even though it was clear that there was a challenge coming. Excellent vision and passing throughoutb the match.

Busquets - 7.5 - Played his part well but would have been at fault if Barca had conceded that goal. He should stop play acting or should have the sense to stop it once his own team has the ball.

Keita - 5.5 - Weak link in yetserday's match. Didn't link well in attack and wasn't able to provide anything from the middle.

Messi - 8 - Good performance at parts. Great goal but he needs to keep his tempo up especially when the team is struggling to break a defense.

Eto - 7 - Apart from that great goal didn't trouble the defense much. But his workrate was awesome.

Henry - 7 - Another whole hearted performance but with no end product. Was pretty wasteful in the begining.

Substitutes :

Iniesta(6.5), Bojan (6.5) and Toure.

Man Of The Match - Xavi Hernandez

Barca struggles to get past Osasuna;Osasuna-2,Barca-3

Osasuna would curse their fate not to have won against the league leaders on yesterday's cold, foggy night. It took two late goals from Xavi and Messi for FC Barcelona to overcome the bottom placed Osasuna after their side carelessly squandered the first half lead from a stunning Eto strike. The attitude shown by the team after the winter break is a cause of worry; I may be pressing the panicking button a tad early. But we have seen in the past Barca having problems with lower placed side. But this Osasuna, especially worried the Barca defense in the second half and looked more composed in atatck than Barca after the break; which resulted in they over turning the deficit. Victor Valdes was reinstated in the goal. Alves, Abidal formed the full back on either side of Pique and Puyol. The midfield had a very defensive look and that affected the tempo of the game after the initial fifteen minutes. Busquets, Keita and Xavi joined hand in the midfield. Henry, Eto and Messi once again formed the attacking trio.

With Osasuna contend to defending FC Barcelona had a huge chunk of possession in the first half. In the 11th minute Messi sets on his copyrighted magical run skipping past defenders and almost scored an wonder goal; but his shot hit inside of post and rebounded. In the next minute it was Thierry Henry's turn to test the Osasuna Goal Keeper Roberto; Henry received the ball from Xavi, tunrs past one defender in the box but his shot from a tight angle was saved by Roberto. In the 22nd minute Roberto pulled out another save to deny Xavi from outside the box. In the 32nd minute Xavi plays a great ball to Messi in the box, it was only a last ditch intervention by Sergio prevented a certain goal. In the 41st minute Valdes made his first intervention of the match by saving a Pandianni header. Then in the last minute of normal time in first half Eto showed his class to take Barca 1-0 ahead. Messi played the ball to Eto on the edge of box; Eto who had a below average game till then fired a great shot past Roberto.

Osasuna changed their formation in the second half and came out aggressively against FC Barcelona. In the 57th minute Henry saw his shot saved by Roberto after Eto placed the ball perfectly to Henry from an Alves cross. Then in the 63rd minute Osasuna was rewarded for their positive approach. Flano head past valdes and defense from a corner to equalise for Osasuna and send the stadium into unbelivable celebrations. Guardiola immediately brought Iniesta in for Henry. In the 66th minute Eto heralds a great shot from outside the box; the goal keeper spills it and makes an excellent save to deny Messi from the rebound. Then in the 68th minute Valdes brought out a good save to deny Osasuna; if that goal would have gone in then there could have been lot of controversy. It all started with Busquets junping over a tackle and crashing to the ground; he then started his usual play acting even when Brca was in a good position to attack; Messi brought the ball to stop thinking Busquets is really injured ; but at the same time Busquets decided to end his Oscar winning performance and got up; Osasuna players stole the ball from Messi and sets up a great counter attack. There were protests from both sides and Valdes earned himself a yellow in the process. For me there was only one person to blame for the all fiasco - Busquets. To make matters worse for Barca Pandianni scored to take Osasuna in the front in the 73rd minute. There was panic in the Barca line-up for some time. GUardiola borught in BOjan for Keita in 76th minute. In the 77th mineute Valdes makes a brave intervention to deny Osasuna in increasing the lead. Then in the 80th minute Xavi equalises for Barca with a great getting injured in the process. Alves created the goal by cuuting past defenders in the box and passed the ball to Xavi. In the 84th minute Iniesta's shot from outside the box goes inches wide of the bar. Thenn in the 85th minute Messi scores from ouside the box with a tremendous shot after the Osasuna defense gave him space. Roberto had no chance in stopping it as the ball swing past him to the far right corner. In the 87th, minute Bojan and Messi combined with a great one-two but Bojan's shot was saved. In the 89th minute Guardiola brought in Toure for Eto.

When condiering that this victory is another of our come-from behind victory, this could be hailed as a great result. But there will be more concerns which Guardiola needs to answer. One of it is the time wasting we adopted after we went one goal ahead. It cut off our rhythm and finally it was due to the form of individual players and poor defending by Osasuna which helped us win this game. In the preview to this match I have written that a defensive minded midfield against a team which is contend to defending could be a mistake. I was proven right as Keita could not give the necessary impedus from the middle. Eventhough Iniesta has not hit his usual full flow it would be better to start with him in the middle against Deportivo at Camp Nou.