FCBnews

Preview: Xerez - Barça

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 13:28:13 -0500

Barça travel to Andalucia tomorrow to play Xerez in a match that has been brought forward from the 20th December due to Barça playing in the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. Xerez are in their first season in the top flight and the two clubs have never met in an official match before - which explains why I have no photo of a previous match - but we did win a friendly match 3-6 in Jerez in 1952. Pep Guardiola has named a 19-man squad for the game but there is no place yet for Gabi Milito while Gerard piqué has been rested and Sergio Busquets is suspended for his sending off in Sunday's 1-0 win over Real Madrid.

Xerez are struggling in their first season and are currently bottom of the table with seven points. They have only managed one victory, a 2-1 win over Villarreral on October 18th and they have only scored 4 goals while conceding 21. Centre back David prieto issuspended after seeing red in the 5-1 defeat at Getafe at the weekend but coach Kuko Ziganda has Victor Sanchez available again and the Barcelona player, who is on loan to Xerez this season, may get a start in midfield though he has only played four times this season.

This is an excellent chance to go five points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga, but we should remember that we haven't won away in La Liga since the 0-2 win at Malaga on September 27th. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still not at 100% and may start again on the bench and Pep Guardiola may make a few changes to the team after the work put in during the victories over Madrid and Inter. Chygrynskiy will probably come in for Piqué while Toure Yaya should be back in the team in place of Busquets. On the subject of Toure, when asked today about Toure's declaration of not being happy, Guardiola replied that Toure hadn't said anything: could it just be another case of the press stirring up a storm in a tea-cup? Let's hope so. For tomorrow's game I think as long as we get off to a good start we should win comfortably.

Barça's squad for the game: Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Marquez, Puyol, Chygrynskiy, Abidal, Maxwell, Xavi, Toure, Keita, Johnathan dos Santos, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Ibrahiomovic, Bojan, Henry, Jeffren.

Possible starting line-up: Valdés; Alves, Puyol, Chygrynskiy, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Keita; Messi, Henry, Pedro.

My prediction: Xerez 0 Barça 3

Barça To Face Sevilla In Copa Del Rey

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 09:10:13 -0500

We are going to have our work cut out to retain the Copa del Rey this season after today's draw paired us with Sevilla in the last 16. The first game will be at Camp Nou on January 6th with the return in Seville a week later. The draw also made the pairings for the quarter finals and the semis, if we get past Sevilla we will play either Valencia or Deportivo with the first leg being away, and if we make it through we will play either Malaga, Getafe, Rayo Vallecano or Mallorca in the semi-final with the first game at Camp Nou. Whatever way you look at it, this could not be a tougher draw.

Last 16 (6 and 13 Jan):

1. Hércules - Osasuna
2. Celta - Villarreal
3. Barcelona - Sevilla
4. Recreativo Huelva - Atlético de Madrid
5. Málaga - Getafe
6. Rayo Vallecano - Mallorca
7. Alcorcón - Rácing Santander
8. Valencia - Deportivo

Quarter Finals(20 and 27 Jan):

A. Winner 8 - Winner 3
B. Winner 6 - Winner 5
C. Winner 7 - Winner 1
D. Winner 4 - Winner 2

Semi Finals (3 and 10 Feb):

Winner D - Winner C
Winner A - Winner B

Leo Messi Wins Ballon D'Or

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 08:28:47 -0500

Well, it was to be expected, and the unanimity of the vote leaves no doubt that Leo Messi is the best player in the game today. Having come 3rd in 2007 and second last year, Messi's continued development last season was reflected in the 38 goals scored and Barça's success in winning La Liga, La Copa and the Champions League. Since the change in the voting system Kaka achieved 444 votes to win in 2007, while Cristiano Ronaldo won in 2008 with 446, Messi's dominance this year has seen him earn an incredible 473 votes which left second place Cristiano Ronaldo with 233.

In previous seasons critics had argued that Messi got injured too often and was yet to play a complete season but Messi responded in the 2008/09 season with no injuries, 38 goals in all competitions, he was top scorer in the Copa del Rey and also in the Champions League. The critics said that Messi didn't perform in the big games, that he couldn't head the ball and that he never scored against English opposition; Messi responded in the Champions League final with a great performance including a headed goal against Manchester United. They said he couldn't control games and that he was too individualistic, 16 assists last season and a total dominance in the 2-6 win in the Bernabeu and in Rome proved otherwise. He has always been a fantastic player to watch but he has an added maturity now despite only being 22 which makes him the youngest player to win the Ballon d'Or since Ronaldo won it in 1997 at the age of 21.

If Messi was dominant in winning, Barça also dominated the votes with Xavi Hernandez coming in third with 170 votes, Iniesta was fourth with 149 votes, Ex-blaugrana Samuel Eto'o was fifth with 75 votes while Zlatan Ibrahimovic was seventh with 50. There were also seven votes for Thierry Henry who came 15th. Congatulations to Leo and all our players who deserve the recognition for providing us last season with what can only be descibed as the greatest season ever.

Here is the list of the top twenty:

1 Lionel Messi Argentina Barcelona 473
2 Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal Real Madrid 233
3 Xavi Hernández Spain Barcelona 170
4 Iniesta Spain Barcelona 149
5 Samuel Eto'o Cameroon Inter Milán 75
6 Kaká Brazil Real Madrid 58
7 Zlatan Ibrahimovic Sweden Barcelona 50
8 Wayne Rooney England Manchester Un. 35
9 Didier Drogba Ivory Coast Chelsea 33
10 Steven Gerrard England Liverpool 32
11 Fernando Torres Spain Liverpool 22
12 Cesc Fabregas Spain Arsenal 13
13 Edin Dzeko Bosnia Wolfsburg 12
14 Ryan Giggs Wales Manchester Unt. 11
15 Thierry Henry France Barcelona 9
16 Iker Casillas Spain Real Madrid 8
17 Luis Fabiano Brazil Sevilla
18 Nemanja Vidic Serbia Manchester Un.
19 Diego Forlan Uruguay Atlético Madrid 7
20 Yoann Gourcuff France Burdeos 6

Player Of The Month: November 2009

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:12:09 -0500

We had a few doubts during November but we finish the month unbeaten with four victories and two draws, we are top of La Liga and our Champions League group while also qualifying for the next round of the Copa del Rey (which is something not all the big teams in Spain can say!). The draw in Kazan does not look so bad now and the only other points we lost this month were against an inspired Athletic Bilbao in San Mames.

Much of our success this month was down to the performance of our defence as we only conceded three goals in six games. This is reflected in this month's winner who is none other than our heroic captain Carles Puyol. In the three most important games this month against Rubin Kazan, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, Puyol was quite simply superb, and his three vital blocks against Real Madrid will be remembered as much as Zlatan Ibrahimovic's winning goal. This is the second time Puyol has won the Fcbnews player of the month, the last time being for October 2007. Victor Valdés comes in second as he also did in October which demonstrates he is in an excellent moment of form. He saved us in Kazan with a superb save from Ryazantsev's shot and again yesterday by denying Cristiano Ronaldo. I had thought that Valdés might win it this month but his mistake from Abidal's back pass against Inter combined with Puyol's heroics see him having to settle once more for second place. Third this month sees a return to the top five for Xavi Hernandez. He had another consistent month and was excellent against Inter. Dani Alves is fourth, he scored against Athletic, though he was at fault with Athletic's goal, but he was very good against Inter and Madrid and sent in two great crosses that provided the goals for Pedro and Ibrahimovic in those games. Finally, fifth place goes to Pedro Rodriguez who was this months top scorer with four goals in four games. He may not have been used against Real Madrid but his two goals against Mallorca, the goal against Cultural added to the one he scored against Inter see him just earn fifth above other contenders such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Andres Iniesta. Ibra was good but he only played two and a half games which is why he isn't included.

So, here again is the top five for November:

Carles Puyol
Victor Valdés
Xavi Hernandez
Dani Alves
Pedro Rodriguez

If you don't agree (or if you do) please send your comments and tell us why.

Milito Gets The All Clear To Return

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:12:43 -0500

More good news today as Gabi Milito has received medical clearance to play again after finally recovering from his knee injury. Milito was injured in the Champions League semi final clash with Manchester United on April 29th 2008 and so has been missing from action for 581 days. pep Guardiola has already included him in the squad for the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi and after today's news we can hope to see him back in action soon. Milito should be congratulated for his effort and patience after a complicated recuperation in which he suffered many setbacks. Hopefully he will prove to be the best "signing" of the winter.

On a more negative note, in an interview in France Football Toure Yaya has expressed his unhappiness at not playing more minutes this season. The emergence of Sergio Busquets has made his place in the team less secure but he is still a vital part of the team. Hopefully he will see sense and realise that he is at the best club in the world and he is unlikely to have the same success anywhere else.

Barça 1 Real Madrid 0

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:07:49 -0500

A goal in the 56th minute from substitute Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave 10-man Barça an epic victory over Real Madrid to take us back to the top of La Liga on our 110th anniversary. Ibrahimovic had only been on the pitch for five minutes when he scored, but the victory was put in doubt when Sergio Busquets got himself sent off for a second yellow card for a needless handball. However, it was a heroic performance from the ten remaining players and despite a couple of scares we held out for the victory.

It was a very tough match for us as Madrid managed to suffocate us in midfield by playing an advanced defence which left little space in the zone where Xavi and Iniesta usually work their magic. Faced with such tactics we tried to find the ball over the top but the few times we tried this we were frustrated by the red-headed linesman's flag going up every time, perhaps he was annoyed at Dani Alves shouting in his face early on. The other tactic we tried was to get in crosses but in the first half our aim was off target and we had few players getting into the area to aim at.

Madrid tried to hit us on the break and created the first goalscoring chance in the 20th minute after Kaka got past Piqué, Abidal had to come across leaving Ronaldo open on the right, but when Kaka found him Ronaldo hit his shot too close to Valdés who made a vital save with his outstretched right foot. Six minutes later Ronaldo dribbled in from the right, fed Kaka who laid the ball on to Marcelo in an excellent position but Carles Puyol got across superbly to make an excellent block.

It was Madrid's best period of the game but they had no more chances in the first half except for a hopeful shot from Marcelo that gave Valdés no problem. However, we also failed to get anywhere near Iker Casillas's goal and his only work was to deal with a low cross from Andres Iniesta.

Early in the second half Ibrahimovic came on for the ineffective Thierry Henry, soon after Xavi had a chance after a great build up but his shot was blocked. Then in the 53rd minute Madrid broke away, Ronaldo cut inside Eric Abidal but when he looked likely to score Puyol made another great block. Three minutes later Keita played the ball out to the right to Dani Alves, in the first half Alves's crossing had been well off target but this time he sent in a beauty that found Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the far post and he volleyed left-footed past Casillas.

However, when Busquets was sent off in the 62nd minute for his second yellow for sticking out his arm unnecessarily in midfield things looked like they would be more complicated but Barça rose to the occasion with a heroic performance. Pep Guardiola brought on Toure Yaya but the fact that he took off Keita suggested he did not want to just sit back and defend, the idea being to stick to what we do best which is keeping possesion. In this aspect Iniesta and Messi were brilliant and we continued to look for a second. Piqué had a header just wide from Xavi's free kick when Ibrahimovic was in a better position to score, Eric Abidal came close to his first Barça goal after being put through by an excellent ball from Xavi and near the end Alves played a fantastic pass into Messi who was denied by Casillas's legs.

At the other end Madrid had their chances, Ronaldo had a header over shortly before being subbed off for Benzema. Then in the 70th minute Puyol made his third vital block this time on Benzema as he shaped to shoot from close in. They put us under pressure from three second half corners but we defended bravely and deserved to hold on. Near the end Lass lost his patience as Xavi, Iniesta and Messi played keep-ball and was also sent off.

After all the criticism after recent performances we have responded brilliantly with two vital wins over Inter Milan and Real Madrid. against Inter we played some delightful football but tonight's victory was mainly down to great courage. We looked on the ropes at times but the defence was magnificent led heroically by Carles Puyol. Xavi, Iniesta and Messi struggled in the first half but once we were in the lead and down to ten men they were magnificent in keeping the ball which was essential to keep the pressure off our defenders. We can be rightly proud of this victory against a Madrid team who played a very well organised first half, but they will be disappointed that they didn't do more when they had the one-man advantage. Pep Guardiola once again demonstrated his tactical genius by not resorting to a defensive formation after the sending off, the fact that we also played much better in the second half suggests the merit of his half time talk.

We now play Xerex on Wednesday, Deportivo on Saturday followed by the Champions League game against Dynamo Kiev. We then face Espanyol at home before flying off to Abu Dhabi for the Club World Cup where we have the small challenge of proving what most of us culés believe: that we are the best team on the planet.

Barça: Valdés 8; Alves 8, Puyol 9, Piqué 8, Abidal 7; Xavi 7.5, Busquets 4.5, Keita 7 (Toure m66, 7); Messi 8, Henry 5.5 (Ibrahimovic m51, 8), Iniesta 8.5.

Goal: m56 Ibrahimovic

Yellow cards: m33 Arboloa, m41 Albiol, m48 Lass, m50 Busquets, m62 Busquets, m69 Pepe, m79 Marcelo, m90 Lass

Red cards: m62 Busquets, m90 Lass

Attendance: 97,138

Preview: Barça - Real Madrid

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:35:16 -0500

Pep Guardiola will decide tomorrow whether to include Leo Messi in the starting line up for the 159th clasico with Real Madrid. Messi has been improving well and I feel he will be ok, perhaps Pep already knows what he will do and is keeping his cards to his chest over Messi, it will be a great psychological boost before the game for us if Messi appears on the team sheet. It seems pretty sure that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be ok, while we also have Toure Yaya back after recovering from the swine flu.

Real Madrid arrive with a one-point advantage at the top of La Liga and they are without the injured Metzelder, Guti and Van Nistlerooy. Raul Albiol faces a late fitness test but seems likely to start in defence after his knee ligament injury. Coach Manuel Pelligrini says that Madrid will try to attack so hopefully we will have a more open game than last year's 2-0 win at Camp Nou when Juande Ramos was in charge and Madrid came to defend. Madrid started the season very strongly before suffering a dip in October when they suffered defeats at the hands of Sevilla, AC Milan and Alcorcon, but since the 4-0 humiliation against the Second Division B team they are on a run of 6 wins and a draw at Milan. Make no mistake, Madrid will be a more difficult opponent than Inter Milan, they may rely more on individual flashes but with Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema and company they can always expect a few, and Barça will have to reproduce the same levels of concentration and team spirit as against Inter to win this one. In previous league encounters between the teams in Barcelona, Barça have won 45 times, Madrid 18 with 16 draws, though Madrid have the better overall record with 68 wins to Barça's 60 with 30 draws.

Tomorrow is Barça's 110th anniversary having been founded on 29th November 1899, so a win over our biggest rivals would be the perfect way to celebrate. It would be great to see a front three of Messi, Ibra and Henry start, with Andres Iniesta, who yesterday extended his contract until 2015, back in midfield, but whatever XI Guardiola decides to choose I'm sure they will be the best for the job. It is almost certain to be a much closer game than the 2-6 win at the Bernabeu in May but if we can stick to the basics I'm sure we can win it.

Possible starting XIs:

Barça: Valdés; Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Iniesta; Messi, Ibrahimovic, Henry.

Madrid: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Albiol, Pepe, Arbeloa; Lass, Xavi Alonso, Kaka, Marcelo; C. Ronaldo, Benzema.

My prediction: Barça 2 Real Madrid 1

Please send in your predictions!

Thursday Round Up

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:44:50 -0500

Some stories have come out since our victory over Inter Milan on Tuesday. One of the most interesting is the miraculous return from injury and swine flu by Eric Abidal. When Abidal picked up his muscle injury in the left thigh it was said that he would need three weeks to recover and yet he was playing ten days later. Besides this he also recoved from swine flu after going down with the virus on Friday. On Monday evening he was training apart still wearing a facemask and he didn't get the all clear to play until 7pm on the day of the game. Some of his team mates apparently couldn't believe it when Pep Guardiola announced the team. The other news on Abidal of course is that yesterday he renewed his contract with the club until 2012.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was due to start against Inter but he felt a slight twinge again in his hamstring on Monday, the club kept this secret but the chances of him aggravating the injury increased which is why he started on the bench. Leo Messi was only on the bench for psychological reasons and it has now been reported that he was never going to be risked regardless of how the game was going. Both players are continuing their respective recovery programmes with Sunday's game with Madrid in mind but I think if there are no more set-backs they will both make it in time. Dani Alves also trained separately from his team mates today having taken a knock on the ankle on Tuesday night but he should be fine by Sunday, while the good news is that Toure Yaya trained with the group and should also be fine for Sunday, though after Busquets' display on Tuesday he may not get in the starting eleven.

Other news is the announcement of the 23 players who will travel to Abu Dhabi next month for the Club World Cup. Gabi Milito has been rewarded with a place but it is unlikely he will feature while two players from Barça Atlètic, Johnathan dos Santos and 20-year-old keeper Rubén Miño, have also been included. The 23 with their squad numbers for the tournament are as follows:

Valdés (1), Alves (2), Piqué (3), Marquez (4), Puyol (5), Xavi (6), Jeffren (7), Iniesta (8), Ibrahimovic (9), Messi (10), Bojan (11), Miño (12), Pinto (13), Henry (14), Keita (15), Busquets (16), Pedro (17), Milito (18), Maxwell (19), Jonathan (20), Chygrynskiy (21), Abidal (22) y Touré Yaya (24).

Barça 2 Inter Milan 0

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:26:22 -0500

Barça responded to the pressure of the situation with a magnificent performance against Italian champions Inter Milan to take a giant step towards the last 16 of the Champions League. There was no need for either Leo Messi or Zlatan Ibrahimovic as two early goals from Gerard Piqué and Pedro Rodriguez left Inter without an answer and leave Barça almost classified as we can now only go out if we lose by more than one goal to Dynamo Kiev, and we would still go through if Inter and Rubin draw in their last game in Milan.

Right from the beginning Barça were in total control, showing excellent concentration and putting the Inter players under pressure whenever we lost possession while playing at a high tempo when we had the ball. Xavi had had an early shot deflected for a corner and then in the tenth minute Alves tried his luck with a long shot and another deflection won us another corner. Xavi took it from the left, Henry flicked on at the near post and Piqué anticipated quickly to stab a volley past Julio Cesar. It was the perfect start and Inter looked stunned, often giving the ball away with wayward passes as Barça snapped at their heels. In the 15th minute we won a free kick 25 yards out for a foul on Henry but Xavi's effort went just over.

Guardiola played an excellent tactical decision by playing Iniesta on the right where he could be closer to Xavi and a great combination between the two led to our second goal in the 26th minute. Busquets who had a fantastic game in midfield played the ball forward to Iniesta who played the ball first time to Xavi who played a fantastic first time ball out to Alves on the right and Alves's cross found Pedro at the far post and despite not getting great contact on his shot was fortunate to get a slight deflection off a defender which was enough to fool Julio Cesar and the ball found itself in the back of the net. The finish was not classic but the build-up move was pure Barça at our best.

Inter had to change their game plan and try to get forward but their only real chance of the game came after a mistake from Victor Valdés with his first touch receiving a back pass from Eric Abidal, Valdés was put under pressure and only managed to clear the ball as far as Stankovic but the Inter midfielder could not find the target with his effort from 35 yards. We had a few minutes where we lost the previous total control but it wasn't for long, then on the stroke of half-time Keita met a corner with a firm downward header but unfortunately it went straight at Julio Cesar.

In the second half we didn't need to look so much for the goal but we maintained control of the situation with some typical possession play. We did come close to a third goal in the 54th minute after Iniesta played an excellent ball through to the indefatigable Alves who sent in another fine cross and Xavi's header was brilliantly saved by Julio Cesar. Inter's keeper needed to make another save from Alves's low free kick but he had little more to do in the last 20 minutes. Barça lost the fluid play for a few minutes as Inter tried to push forward but we regained control for the last ten minutes to finish the game well. Motta's header wide in the 93rd minute was the closest Inter came to scoring in the second half.

The game was a magnificent response from the players to the critics and doubters. Perhaps the most satisfying thing was the performances of the six home grown players. Besides the two goals coming from Piqué and Pedro, Busquets was magnificent in the holding role in midfield winning back possession and always finding a team mate with a simple quick pass. Xavi and Iniesta were back to being themselves, proving once more that there are no better midfield players in the world today, while Piqué and Puyol dominated completely at the back which made it impossible for Samuel Eto'o on his return to Camp Nou to get a chance to score against his ex-team. Poor Eto'o got very little support and the one time he did get away he fired a terrible shot that ended up going out for a throw-in. The crowd applauded him before and after the game and he was whistled for his first few touches which is just as it should be, and the crowd also need to be applauded for playing their part tonight. The crowd definitely enjoyed the game and there were roars of approval for some moments of skill from the team, for Busquets for one neat little flick over his marker's head, for Iniesta for an excellent nutmeg early in the second half, and twice for Pedro for one great control and for a dummy to get past his man.

I had predicted a nail-biting win but in the end we made it look easy. The crowd also remembered José Mourinho by singing "Go to the theatre" but to Mourinho's credit he admitted that Barça had been splendid although he also complained about a possible penalty of Dani Alves on Eto'o. This is a tremendous boost to the team going into the game with Real Madrid when we should have both Messi and Ibrahimovic, but the most important thing besides the great performance was to win tonight.

Barça: Valdés 6, Alves 8.5, Piqué 8, Puyol 8, Abidal 7 (Maxwell m89, --); Xavi 9, Busquets 9, Keita 7.5; Iniesta 8.5 (Johnathan dos Santos m94, --), Henry 7, Pedro 7.5 (Bojan m85, --).

Goals: m11 Piqué 1-0, m26 Pedro

Barça yellow cards: m34 Puyol, m50 Pedro

Attendance: 93,524

Champions League Preview: Barça - Inter Milan

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:36:02 -0500

I think it would be fair to say that we go into our biggest match of the season so far in a less than perfect condition. Doubts have been growing after our recent performances and we now face Inter Milan without Abidal, Toure, Milito and Chygrynskiy while the possibilities of playing for Leo Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rafa Marquez seem to be very low. Perhaps Ibrahimovic can make it in time but I have a feeling that he will start on the bench. Marquez does not have the H1N1 virus and we will have to hope he makes a speedy recovery from whatever he does have, while it seems practically impossible that Messi will be risked despite the importance of the match. However, it is no time for excuses and we still have a decent starting line-up though the bench will not look too strong. We would do well to remember that we beat Manchester United last May despite being without Marquez, Milito, Alves and Abidal while Henry and Iniesta were not at 100%.

Inter on the other hand are pretty much at full strength except for the injured Joel Obi and Davide Santon. Coach Jose Mourinho has brought 23 players to Barcelona for the game and of course the biggest attraction will be the return to Camp Nou of Samuel Eto'o. In four previous visits to Camp Nou as an opponent Eto'o has scored three times and he will no doubt be keen to add to that tally to show Barça that we made a mistake in selling him. There may be some boos for Eto'o from the crowd but if that happens I hope that is only an attempt to help Barça win, I think the vast majority should applaud him in recognition of the five great seasons he gave us, Eto'o has said he will not celebrate if he scores as a mark of respect to the fans and I hope the fans are equally respectful to him.

Inter are currently top of Group F and will qualify if they win, however, we all know Mourinho and we can be sure they will be delighted to get a point from the game. They are also clear leaders of the Italian league with a five point advantage. Their away form is also very good and they have won their last four away games, three in the league and the 1-2 win at Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. in fact they have only lost one game all season away to Sampdoria at the end of September.

Despite this record we know that the Italian league is not as strong as it was and in the 0-0 draw between the two sides in September we saw that Barça are the better team (Click here for this blog's report on that game). We may be without some players and not be in our best moment but it is all about getting back to basics which means 100% concentration, good positioning and a fast movement of the ball. We cannot fail, a defeat will see us go out if Rubin Kazan beat Dynamo, while a draw will leave us needing to win in Kiev which will be extremely complicated. We can be sure that Pep Guardiola will not allow the players to fall into the pessimism of many of the fans, and we need to go out and show everyone why we are champions. I think it will be a nail-biter but we are capable of just sneaking it.

Possible starting XIs:

Barça: Valdés; Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Maxwell; Xavi, Busquets, Keita; Pedro, Henry, Iniesta.

Inter: Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Chivu; Zanetti, Stankovic, Motta, Sneijder; Eto'o, Diego Milito.

My prediction. Barça 1 Inter 0