Another Painful Defeat; Atletico-4, Barca-3

FC Barcelona was condemned to a second successive league defeat by Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Caledron. In a match which was played at frantic pace, which saw frequent see-sawing and which saw some of the worst defending ever, Atletico was the better team by a far margin and they deserved their 4-3 victory. FC Barcelona struggled throughout the match but was successfulu to take a 2-1 lead into the half time. But they failed to hold on to the score and finally catapulted at some great football played by the Atletico forwards. For Barca Henry scored twice and Messi once; but that didn't stand up to Atletico's effort where Forlan and Aguero both scored twice. Earlier this season we destroyed Atletico with a 6-1 margin. On that day Agueroa was overshadowed by Messi but yeterday the story was different with Aguero masterminding Barca's defeat. Courtesy of this defeat, Real Madrid are just now four points behind us. Now it is going to take a colossal effort for Barca to win this league.

Guardiola chose Alves, Puyol, Marquez and Sylvinho as the defensive line infront of Valdes. Xavi, Toure and Gudjohnsen formed the midfield. the attack line was the usual Messi-Eto-Henry formation. For a second match in succession Barca lost the battle in the midfield. The match started at frantic pace with Atletico pounding Barclona defense one after the other. In the 2nd minute Maxi's clever pass send Aguero ahead of Sylvinho but his shot hit the side netting. In the next minute Eto's shot was blocked by Leo Franco after Pablo gave the ball away. In the 4th minute Valdes failed to hold onto a shot from Maxi and Heitinga knocked the ball in. Luckily for us that was ruled offside, eventhough the replays suggested otherwise. Barcelona's defense went missing in all these times and we saw reminisence of last season's defending. To make matter worse passing was pathetic, everyone was interested in giving away the ball. Then in the 17th minute against the run of play Thierry Henry put Barca ahead with a stunning shot which curled into the far netting. Henry played the ball to Eto who failed to control it, the ball came back to Henry who curled it around a hapless Leo Franco from outside the box. That goal helped Barca to settle a bit. By this time Messi started getting involved more in the match. In the 31st minute Messi produced a magica moment which took Barca 2-0 ahead. Messi receive the ball outside the box, turned around and accelerated past defender and place the ball perfectly into the far corner. In the next minute Forlan pulled one back for Atletico with a stunning long range effort from 30 yards. Victor Valdes had no chance in stopping that, but our defense were the culprit giving him space to do that. In the 37th minute Valdes produced a great save to deny Aguero after he tricked past Marquez. In the 38th minute Maxi Rodriguez wasted another chance to equalise. In the 39th minute Barca should have scored once more when Xavi sent in great pass which put Gudjohnsen through, but he blasted it wide. In the 41st minute Messi missed another chance to put Barca further ahead when he slipped after controlling the ball well. Then in the 43rd minute Messi accelerates into the box exactly like his first goal but this time he placed it wide of goal.

The second half started with Barca controlling the possesion well. But slowly we started losing focus and again was subjected to a abarage of attacks. In the 55th minute Gudjohnsen played Eto on with a great pass but the Cameroonian international shot wide of goal. We were made to pay for that miss immediately as Aguero scored in the next minute to equalise the proceedings. Agueroa rounded of Marquez and ran past Puyol before shooting low past Valdes to find the far corner. In the 60th minute Eto wasted another chance from a great Messi pass. In the 73rd minute Forlan wasted a great chance when he missed a simple header infront of goal. In the next minute Eto picks Gudjohnsen run, who looked offside to me; Gudjohnsen passed the ball to henry who scored his second of the night. In the 75th minute Gudjohnsen picks up Eto run with a great pass; Leo Franco blocked the initial Eto shot; the rebound fell to Messi who shot wide. In the 77th minute Henry bundled into Sinama in the box while defending a cross from the left; the linesman called for the penalty. Forlan converted the penalty to make it 3-3. Meantime Caceres was brought in for Sylvinho. In the 87th minute Valdes came off his line to prevent Aguero from scoring. But eventually Aguero scored in the next minute after he easily got past Alves and Puyol.

Atletico is a place we have struggled in the past. But that is not an excuse for such pathetic showing. Atletico controlled the game from the word go and we were left chasing the game. Xavi and Toure failed to win the ball in the midfield eventhough Xavi send in some delicous passes. The defense looked like non-existing. Puyol who was supposed to lead by example was pathetic so was his partner. Messi played well in the first half but went quiet because of lack of support. But the real culprit for me was Pep Guardiola; Can you believe that he made only one substitution througout the match. Eto had a pathetic match but he never thought of bringing in Bojan or Pedro in place of him. Now it will require a real show of character to stay ahead of a rampant Real Madrid. If we are going to produce performance like these then this season also we would be without any silverware. It's time for Pep to give his players piece of his mind. Players from reserve team might play better that this.

Atletico Madrid vs Barca Preview

Atletico Madrid coach Abel Resino has sounded about a possible change of tactics to contain FC Barcelona tonight. Atletico Madrid might let go off their usual attacking style and would prefer to make it compact at the back. That would put real pressure on FC barcelona side, who have been struggling for some weeks. To make matter worse Real Madrid defeated Espanyol last night and closed the gap at the top to four points. We cannot have another slip up now as it will give the momentum completely to Real Madrid. Atletico's performance in the Champions League will give enough encourangement to Barca as they were very poor at the defense. Keita has lost his appeal against the red card and would be missing this week's action. Victor Sanchez and Pedro has been called up to the squad by Guardiola. Pique is suspended for this match and it is to be seen how Guardiola organises defense in the absence of Abidal. The squad announced by Guardiola is Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Puyol, Márquez, Cáceres, Sylvinho, Victor Sanchez, Toure, Busquets, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Pedro, Messi, Hleb, Bojan, Eto'o, Henry.

I would seriously love to see Caceres at the left back position. Sylvinho is an accomplised left back but his lack of pace could trouble us. Whatever everyone will agree that Marquez and Puyol should form the central defense. So I expect Alves, Marquez, Puyol and Caceres to form the defense infront of Valdes. The midfield will also could feature a different combination from the usual one. Xavi and Toure are a certainity; but I don't expect Busquets to join them but instead prefer Gudjohnsen over there. The front three is expected to remain the same with - Messi, Eto and Henry. FC Barcelona might have to play out of their skins to win this match. But a resurgent Madrid should give the players enough reason and encouragement to go all out for a win. It is very essential for us to score the first goal and that too as early as possible. If we let in a goal then we could be seriously chasing the game. I predict a 1-2 victory for Barca. Post your predictions also.

Milito returns to Training

After a nine month long lay off following a knee surgery, Gaby Milito yesterday trained with his team mates for the first time. Andres Iniesta also resumed training, eventhough he was training in isolation. The creative midfielder will not feature in this week's away match at Atletico Madrid, but there is a huge expectation of him recovering well to feature in the Copa Del Rey match against Real Mallorca. The recent below par performance has already worried the Camp Nou faithfuls and they are seriously hoping that it changes when Iniesta is back. But there is a high chance that Guardiola will not risk Iniesta in the Copa Del Rey match and hence we will mostly see him in action only in the home match against Bilbao next weekend.

Any dates of Milito's comeback cannot be confirmed nor predicted at this moment. Mostly we might see him in action towards the end of March or early April. Abidal was the only absentee from yesterday's training session due to injury. There was also a mention of Messi having a black eye following a tackle from the Lyon match in the official website.

Champions League Review: English Clubs Perform Better

All the four English clubs are better placed to move to the next round of tournament after satisfactory results in the first leg. Barcelona also holds the upper hand to proceed to the next round; but that cannot be said about other Spanish teams - Real Madrid lost to a jam packed Liverpool at home, Atletico Madrid drew at home to FC Porto and to make things worst they conceded two away goals. Villareal also drew at home to Panathinaikos and again like the other Spanish team which played at home conceded a crucial home goal. In contrast the English clubs fared far better than any other, especially Manchester United and Liverpool. Same cannot be said about Chelsea and Arsenal as they go to crucial away matches with a solitary goal lead. But still they are better placed than other teams to proceed further.

Eventhough FC Barcelona didn't have a great game they some how managed to find an equaliser through an off colour Henry. Courtesy of that Henry header they move to the second leg being the firm favourite to proceed to the next round. Manchester United is firm favourite to proceed against Inter, Ferguson hoped that they could do a repeat of last year's semifinal. Inter not at all played well; for all the pre-match talkings of Mourinho, I thought his players were a bit confused. And once again the "Special One" has come out against the referee; the good news is UEFA has taken notice of it and most likely will serve him a touch line ban for next game. If soemthing worries Manchester United it has to be their own record. Ferguson has not done well carrying a 0-0 result to a ahome leg in Champions League, eventhough they did well against Barca. Liverpool will be doing employing the same tactic - don't let your opponents score againt you. Real Madrid is going to find it very tough to score against them in Anfield; but if Robben shows his true colour they have still hope. Still their midfield lacks the pace to overcome a defensively minded Liverpool. By the way Javier Mascherano should be adjudged the best player of this leg, had an absolutely magnificient game. The best performance of this leg has to be the 5-0 drubbing of Sporting Lisbon at Lisbon by Bayern. They surely have a big foot placed in the quarter finals.

Lyon vs FC Barcelona Pictures on 24/02/09

Barcelona Struggles Again;Lyon-1,Barca-1

FC Barcelona will consider themselves lucky after coming out of first leg of knock out stage of Champions League unhurt. The irony is that not only they weren't hurt but also managed to hold the upper hand into the return leg with a precious away goal. Many of Barca's supporters were hoping for a improved performance after two lacklustre displays against Betis and Espanyol. But Lyon wasn't the place for that and I have to admit that this was the worst we have played since the match against Numancia. Now that's a strange thing, isn't it? In the last three match including the Lyon one, we have been claiming that each one was the worst in this season. That means there is no improvement happening, but in the negative side things are getting a bit worse. Our next match is against Atletico madrid away from home; normally that would be a very dangerous visit. But seeing their defense against FC porto, I think that won't be a bad place to visit especially at this time. As expected Barca struggled against the set pieces of Lyon and went ahead with a Juninho free kick early on. Henry equalised for Barca in the second half.

To the build up of this match every one including Messi, Puyol and Guardiola has expressed their hope of bouncing back from last week. But that wasn't the case to be. When the draw was made two months back everyone written off Lyon, but they took the game to Barca and would be kicking themselves for not finishing off the game. Guardiola decided to have Puyol playing the full back role in place of Abidal. Thus Alves, Pique, Marquez and Puyol formed the defense infornt of Valdes. Toure wasn't in his usual self as the defensive midfielder and that could be attributed for the way defense struggled against Lyon. Xavi and Busquest formed the rest of midfield. The attacking trio remained unchanged and was made up of Messi, Eto and Henry.

Barca started the game well holding onto the possesion. Then in the 6th minute Juninho converted from a free kick but he could not have converted without the stupid positioning of Valdes. He simply stood there. An early goal destroyed the team's confidence and that started showing in the ball distribution. Barca's first effort came in the 14th minute when Xavi found Eto, whose clever effort hit the far post. Benzema was creating the majority of problem for Barca up front. In the 27th minute his low shot hit the far post. Lyon defense was crowded out by the Lyon defense and was having an average game. In the second half Lyon took the foot off the pedal and that resulted in eventually Barca equalising. In the 66th minute a Xavi corner kick was flicked on by Marquez and the ball fell to Henry who headed it into goal. What difference a goal makes? Suddenly Barca looked more confident. Eventhough there wasn't any special performance after that we held on well till the end.

Once again we struggled to dominate proceedings. A draw is a very good result but did we deserve that is another question. It was good to see Barca scrapping through this leg but there are things which Guardiola needs to ponder. Our passing looked suspicious and we are missing the high defensive line and pressing. The players are a bit hesistant to press upfront. Already there are cries for Iniesta to return back from injury by Barca fans. But will that change much. Ofcourse we will control the game more when he comes back but still our players should try to take the initative on the field ratehr than waiting to be handed.

Lyon vs Barca Champions League Preview

FC Barcelona would be hoping to put an end to recent lack-lustre performance with a good result at Lyon on Tuesday night. Barca have dropped five points in last two league matches and the next one is at Atletico Madrid; that doesn't eases anything. Atletico would be looking to take revenge for the drubbing they received at the hands of Barca earlier this season. Before that FC Barcelona has to successfully negotiate a tough away game at Lyon in the first leg of UEFA Champions League. Barca did struggle in the last two league matches and Lyon would be a very tough place to get things back on track. But we can expect Guardiola to get the train back on track and rolling. FC Barcelona captain Puyol has expressed his confidence in the team and its title credentials. He also emphasized on the importance of away goals against Lyon. Mean while Abidal is been confirmed to be out for eight weeks.

Guardiola has announced the squad which will be travelling to Lyon. The squad list is Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Sylvinho, Puyol, Víctor Sánchez, Cáceres, Piqué, Márquez, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Gudjohnsen, Keita, Touré Yaya, Hleb, Messi, Eto’o, Bojan and Henry. Guardiola and Messi will attend a pre-match press conference at the Gerland stadium. How will Guardiola fill the void left by Abidal on the left is to be seen? Earlier when Abidal was having a bad run we used Puyol at the left. We even tried a 3-1-3-3 fromation which was also pretty successful. But against Lyon a back line consisting of three members would be suicidal. Caceres had played the left back role once and looked confident there. Ofcourse, we surely have Sylvinho in the squad for the left back position. Whoever comes at the Left back position I would definitely love to see Marquez and Puyol partnering together at the heart of defense. I expect Valdes to be picked as Goal Keeper. Alves, Puyol, Marquez and Caceres should form the defense. Xavi, Busquets and Toure would be the ideal midfield. Messi, Eto and Henry has to be the attacking trio. It is essential for Barca to win this encounter and take all the positive to the second leg and the league.

Forgot to predict the score line.I expect a tought 0-2 victory for Barca. May sound crazy for some, due to recent poor results. But the boys will be eager to bounce back.

Post your predictions too.