Messi Saves Barca yet Again; Racing-1, Barca-2

Racing coach to the build up to the game stated that "Without his teammates, Messi would not be the player he is". I wasn't upset with that statement but can't say the same of Lionel Messi. Messi came off the substitute bench with half an hour left, scored twice to over turn a 1-0 deficit and forced everyone to take notice of the fact that FC Barcelona is a different team with him in the pitch. As expected FC Barcelona struggled against an organised Racing defense but eventually the reselience which has became the trademark of Barca this season saw them extend their lead back to twelve points. This victory is very huge as we have successfully shut of Real Madrid's ray of hope. But we have our own concerns for now - both Marquez and Pique were send off late in the match and have to see what combination we features for the next match. GUardiola picked up the same squad as I predicted in the preview of the match - Racing vs Barca Preview. Alves, Abidal, Marquez and Pique formed the defense. Xavi, Toure and Busquets formed the midfield. Iniesta replaced Messi and formed the front three with Henry and Eto.

From the begining of the match our central defense was kept under constant pressure by the Racing side. In the 11th minute Valdes had to make a serious intervention to prevent Johnathan Pereira from scoring. FC barcelona could not conjure up much in the first half and had to be satisfied with three free kicks, all of them were wasted. The second half also started the same way. But in the 54th minute Pereira again got on the wrong side of Marquez who in his effort to recover brought down the striker and conceded the penalty. Zigic converted the penalty and took the home team 1-0 up. Guardiola immediately brough in Messi for Busquets and Iniesta moved back to the midfield. In the 65th minute Xavi header from a Henry cross hit the bar but Messi was there to convert the rebound. Then Messi sent Henry through but Henry's shot was deflected for a corner. Then in the 80th minute Messi put Barca ahead with after controlling the ball initailly with the chest and fired to score his second of the game and FC Barcelona's 5000 goal in the league. Barca held on to the result eventhough they lost both their centre backs to second yellow card.

Racing Santander vs Barca Preview

FC barcelona would be looking to re-instate the lead at the top to twelve points when they face Racing Santander tonight. Real Madrid has already cut the lead to nine points with a 2-0 victory over Numancia; but Barca will not be in no mood to give hope to Real Madrid. Racing Santander has already robbed Barca of two points when they drew at camp Nou earlier this season. Guardiola has already classified this encounter as vital and one match which could decide the future of the league. Racing may be lying at the tenth position, but they are no push over; they are one of the toughest place to travel. You have to agree with Guardiola that this match hence is very vital as a win here will shut Real Madrid's chance to a great extent. FC Barcelona is in such form that it is unthinkable at this moment that Racing would repeat their performance at the Camp Nou. BUt Racing is in some good form lately - they won their last two away matches at Getafe and Sevilla, not the easiest places to travel. They are undefeated at home since September and add to this the fact that Racing Santander has always been a tricky place for Barcelona, FC barcelona players have to play out of their skin to negotiate this encounter. Guardiola has announce dthe squad for Racing match - Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Marquez, Piqué, Caceres, Sylvinho, Abidal, Toure, Busquets, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Hleb, Messi, Bojan, Etoo, Henry.With a mid week encounter against Mallorca on his mind Guardiola may give some stars a bit of rest.

FC Barcelona would be missing Puyol through injury but Marquez is back fit ti face the Racing challenge. Racing would be very strong in air and set pieces, hence most probably we would seel a defensive minded midfield. Valdes wou8ld return back fresh from his short rest at the goal. Abidal, Alves, Pique and Marquez would form the defense. The midfield would most probably made up of Busquets, Toure and Xavi. The presence of Busquets would give a bit of cushion for the defense. The front three would be different from other matches. Messi has shown signs of being tired in the last match against Espanyol and hence may only start from the bench. Eto and Henry didn't start against Espanyol and is expected to return to their usual position with Iniesta joining on the right. There could be a chance of Guardiola resting Xavi; in that case Iniesta would be moving to tyhe midfield. FC Barcelona is two short of 5000 league goals and has to admit that I don't see a single reason why that record cannot be achieved tonight. This one could be a very tough match, like the one against Espanyol. But I expect Barca to win this encounter by 1-3. A victory here would seriously dampen Real Madrid spirits. The basket ball great Kobe Bryant, who himself is a great fan of FC Barcelona and Messi is in Barcelona. He has already met with club players and officials and is expected to be at the match venue.

Puyol Out FoR Ten Days

FC Barcelona will miss their inspirational captain Carles Puyol, for ten days. Puyol was substituted midway through the match and his absence resulted in Barca conceding two unnecessary goals. Test done on Puyol showed that he has suffered a "small muscle tear to the back of left thigh". The injury to Puyol will mean that Pique is going to get more playing time; but how much we are going to miss him on the pitch is yet to be seen. Marquez and Pique could form a very good partnership in the absence of Puyol. Puyol now is certain to miss the Racing Santander match, the first leg of Copa Del Rey semifinal against Mallorca and may even miss the Sporting Gijon match. Most probably Guardiola would have rested him against Mallorca and Gijon so this could not be bad.

Ok now some news from the transfer market. All the stupid speculation of Messi moving out of Barcelona has been sidelined after Messi made it clear that "Unless he is kicked out from here, he ain't going anywhere". Gudjohnsen and Toure also have put rest to rumours relating to them. So with Guardiola not interested in going for a winter signing all the focus now shifts to whom we are going to sign in the summer. Frank Ribery and Lahm does feature at the top of the list. Ribery could be a healthy addition as he is a natural winger. Lahm is seen as a cover for aging Sylvinho but is yet to be seen whether Guardiola will go for him with Abidal playing to his potential now.

FC Barcelona vs Espanyol Pictures from Copa Del Rey QF 2nd Leg

FC Barcelona Survives Scare to AdVance to Copa Semi Final; FC Barcelona-3, Espanyol-2

FC Barcelona kept their dream of an unprecedented treble well alive with a 3-2 victory against Espanyol, not before being scared out of their skin by a resurgent Espanyol side. FC Barcelona put themselves in the spot of trouble with reckless defending and time wasting which affected their tempo. Bojan struk in either half and Pique added the the third to give Barca a comfortable three goal lead. But Espantol always play tough against their City rivals, and they pulled two goals back through Coro and Callejon. Now FC Barcelona faces Mallorca in the semi finals. The first leg of the same will be held next week at the Camp Nou and the return leg will be on 4th of March. Guardiola chose to field a very strong side; the side may have missed the likes of Eto, Iniesta and Henry in the starting eleven but stil was a very competitive side. Pinto did took over from Valdes in the goal. Alves, Puyol, Pique and Sylvinho formed the defense. Busquets played the holding midfielder role and along with Xavi and Gudjohnsen formed the midfield. Messi, Bojan and Hleb formed the front troika.

FC Barcelona started the game well but a determined Espanyol defense held them back. The first real chance came in the 18th minute when Gudjohnsen headed the ball into the net from a Xavi delivery; but he was ruled offside. Xavi had the next best oppurtunity in the 27th minute withn another header from an Alves cross, but Espanyol keeper pulled out a good save. But in the 35th minute the Espanyol goal keeper was at the receiving end when Bojan tapped the ball in to goal after Cristian fumbled a seemingly harmless shot from Sylvinho. Just before the break Barca should have gone two nil ahead with another Gudjohnsen header from a Xavi delivery; but this time again Cristian pulled out a much better save. After the restart Bojan put FC barcelona 2-0 up with an excellent finish. Xavi played a lovely ball to Bojan on the left side of the box, Bojan chipped the ball past an advancing goal keeper to show his talent. Then in the 56th minute Pique added one more with a header from an Alves cross to take FC Barcelona 3-0 up. After that we relaxed a bit and that resulted in Espanyol scoring twice. The first goal had a bit of luck associated with it, Coro's shot took an unfortunate deflection of Busquets and landed in the goal. But the second from Callejon was due to the mistakle from Pinto, he looked like covered Callejon's powerful shot but somehow let it go through his hand. Iniesta and Eto was brought in, Iniesta made sure that Barca finished off the game without much of a scare.

Pinto's performance in the match was a bit off colour. The biggest dissappointment would be Hleb who wasted another chance to cement his place. Bojan looked getting back to normal, the second goal would have done him a world of good. Busquets was majestic throughout the match and I feel the Defensive midfielder role is the best covered position in Barca at this moment with Toure and Busquets matching each other.

FC Barcelona vs Espanyol, Copa Del Rey QF Second Leg Preview

FC Barcelona could be up for their most toughest test of this seaon when they take on Espanyol at the Camp Nou tonight. Espanyol is fighting a relegation battle and should not worry FC Barcelona in normal circumstances. Then a knock-out match is no normal circumstances. Till this day whenever FC Barcelona went to play we had the assurance of having another match to correct the performance, if something goes wrong. But not with tonight's match. With virtually no gains from the first leg at Espanyol FC Barcelona has to see off a spirited Espanyol side, who looks very well organised under their new coach. Guardiola would have to field a very strong side for today's match. Some section of FC Barcelona fans may disagree with that. In their opinion Copa Del Rey does not generate any interest and FC Barcelona should avoid the temptation to field big players in the game. But I have to differ witrh them; may be it is the most non-glamorous of all the trophies which we are chasing this season, but still the sheer fact that we haven't won this competition for some time should have made us more eager to land this trophy.

As usual Guardiola has not yet announced the squad. Keita and Marquez are carrying knocks but are declared fit to play tonight. Pinto should take over from Valdes at the goal. Alves, Puyol, Pique and Sylvinho would ideally make up the back four. The midfiedl should be made up of Xavi, Busquets and Gudjohnsen. Iniesta and Bojan should join Messi to form the front trio. FC Barcelona would be favourite to win this leg; but this would be that kind of match where both the team have equal chances. FC Barcelona needs to take control of the game early and finish off the game early, that's why I would go with a strong starting eleven. FC Barcelona needs to win this match to go through, whereas Espanyol needs only a goal scoring draw. I predict a Barca victory by a margin of 3-0.

Thierry Henry Part 2

When Thierry Henry arrived in Barcelona, everyone was of the opinion that he was a year late. He was supposed to make the switch from Arsenal to FC Barcelona a year earlier, but it took he deferred the decision after the bitter loss at the hand of FC Barcelona in the Champions League final. So many including myself have disagreed on his signing; I personally believed and still believe that his signing at that time did more to increase the unrest in the dressing room rather than the harmony. Eto was supposed to struggle to hold on to his position after the French international's arrival. But soon after his arrival the fairytale bubble started to burst. He did struggle to hold on to his position; this coupled with Ronaldinho's troubled season means FC Barcelona went off the title chase from the beginning. May be it is not fair to say that he struggled; after all he scored 19 goals from 47 appearances in the season. Add to it 11 assists that is really an impressive tally for any player except Thierry Henry. Thierry Henry's exploit with Arsenal made sure that the expectation remained sky high when he arrived at FC Barcelona. And you cannot deny the fact that he struggled especially in terms of making his presence felt in the team.

But then this season has been a complete revelation. He along with the other two of the fantastic trio has scored seventy percent of goals of this season. Thierry Henry has already have 14 goals from 24 appearances so far this season. What made this turn around possible? Many argue that he took one year to come to terms with the style of play in La Liga and especially FC Barcelona. He had a turbulent last one year in terms of personal affairs and since it is settled for good, many argue we are able to see a changed Henry. But is it all? I think there is more to this change and it should be more of a mental change. The start of the season it was clear that Guardiola would prefer Henry over Eto anytime, but still Henry lost his place to another budding superstar Andres Iniesta. It is not a shame to have lost the position to Iniesta, who according to me is the second most talented player we have got. Henry did voice his displeasure in the begining but slowly came to terms with reality of the situation. For me he has convinced himself that he may not reach back to his glory days, and that resulted in a sea change in his attitude. He started contributing so much for his team mates. He no longer complaints that he is played out of position in FC Barcelona, instead he made the left flank his own. And it is no surprise that many of our moves now comes from the left flank where a 31 year old Henry is running like hell. And it is no surprise that he has contributed more to his team mates performances than during his times in Arsenal. At 31 Thierry Henry will never reach back his peak, and that realisation by the French Man could prolong his career for long. He could do a Ryan Giggs for sure if he keep on adjusting to the realities of his age and time. At this moment he lies joint fourth in the Pichichi list along with Higuain and Forlan. He is the most oldest player in the top five of that list at this moment.