Barça 0 Osasuna 1
Saturday, 23 May 09, 01:40 PM · Comments (30)
The fiesta at Camp Nou this evening to celebrate our fantastic season was spoilt today, not so much by the 0-1 defeat to Osasuna, but more so by the absurd decision by referee Rubinos Perez to send off 17-year-old debutant Marc Muniesa for foul that was never worthy of anything more than a yellow card. Pep Guardiola was also sent off for protesting the decision and Camp Nou demonstrated with one of the biggest protests against a referee seen in years. The lack of a goal makes our task of beating Madrid's 107 goals in a season more complicated and Samuel Eto'o hasseen Diego Forlan overtake him tonight in the battle for the individual pichichi top scorer's award.
With the Champions League final just four days away it was logical that Guardiola would play a weaker team with only Samuel Eto'o from Wednesday's probable XI starting. Barça didn't begin too badly and had two early chances. In the second minute Hleb sent in Pedro who turned inside before shooting widewith his left foot, then in the 8th minute Bojan tried a chip that went over. However, after this we simply went to sleep, the lack of intensity was clear as we didn't commit a foul until the 33rd minute. By then Osasuna had taken the lead when from a corner on the left Pandiani rose at the near post between Pedro and Victor Sanchez to head past Pinto. It shows that it doesn't matter whether it is our first choice defence or not we still have problems to defend corners. Samuel Eto'o had hardly had a sniff of the ball until in the 43rd minute he had his first chance but his shot was from a tight angle and Ricardo had no problem to turn the ball behindf for a corner. Just before half time Osasuna had a chance to go two up but Nekounam hit his shot over.
The second half was animated by the entrance of Muniesa who is one of our big hopes for the future. The youngster hardly put a foot wrong until the foul that led to his red card. However, our chances were still few and far between. Bojan had the best effort in the 57th minute when Abidal's cross from the left was only cleared as far as Bojan whose shot clipped the top of the crossbar. Keita had a powerful shot from outside the area that went straight at Ricardo and in the 74th minute Bojan tried his luck from a tight angle but Ricardo again turned the ball away for a corner.
Then in the 81st minute Osasuna attacked down the left, Muniesa came across and lunged in missing the ball and catching the man. Rubinos Perez reached for his cards but stunned everyone by pulling out the red and not the yellow and sent the youngster off. As Muniesa trudged off Pep Guardiola gave a sarcastic thumbs up to the ref and clapped his hands; for this crime he was also sent off. The handkerchiefs came out and the whistling was deafening from the crowd and the protest continued until the end of the game and included a fan running onto the pitch to indicate to the ref that he thought he was nuts.
Itv was a shame that the game should finish in such at way. But after the game the entire squad came out to celebrate the successes of this season. Carles Puyol was present with La Liga trophy and the players made a lap of honour with the trophy and the Copa del Rey. There were then speeches from Puyol, Guardiola, Piqué, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Messi, Valdés, Henry, Eto'o, Alves, Sylvinho, Bojan and Marquez and with the standard cries of "Visca el Barça y visca Catalunya" and promises to return on Thursday with the Champions League. Guardiola and later Sylvinho were given the bumps by the players, Pique had the crowd doing a Mexican wave, while Guardiola asked the crowd to give the players a round of applause "because they deserve it" and said that "on Wednesday they won't let you down".
Win or lose in Rome Pep Guardiola and his team have definitely not let us down this season. We should all be proud of our achievements and now we can sit back and enjoy what we all hope will be the cherry on the cake by beating Manchester United on Wednesday night.
Barça: Pinto 6; Victor Sanchez 5.5 (Jeffren m70, 6), Caceres 6, Abidal 6.5, Sylvinho 6 (Muniesa m51, 6); Hleb 6, Xavi Torres 6, Gudjohnsen 5.5; Pedro 6, Eto'o 5 (Keita m59, 6), Bojan 5.5.
Goal: m26 Pandiani 0-1
Barça cards: m33 Abidal, m38 Gudjohnsen, m71 Bojan, m81 Muniesa (red), m82 Guardiola
Attendance: 77,331
Like this blog? Help spread the word: 
30 Comments · Add yours
barcelona once again disappointed there home fans yet again damn it pep why did you have to rotate so much oh well i guess he had to rest some of them for the big day and etoo really pissed me off with his missed chances and now that is the reason why forlan is not the top goalscorer.
and by the way the ref was a fag for giving out that red card i felt sorry for muniesa and what makes it worst it was at his debut.
@Nic...fantasticly written...i agree win or lose in Rome our team never let us down...and i strongly believe it.....
The game spoiled the luxury of league winning celebration...not for the lose but for the stupid red card, sending off pep and then a fan coming into field...so. i felt a litte bad...anyway....
i was wondering whether pichichi trophy is more important than Champions League??ultimately eto lost it along with confidence..i think pedro or bojan has more confidence than eto at the moment.
though bojan was so uneffective on the left wing i never saw him dribbled pass or beat the left back...and i strongly feel gudjonson is at the end of his barca era......subbing sylvinho at 57 mins prove he gonna play in CL which is far better decision than Caceres or keita....
the scary thing is ofcourse again a set piece killer...!!!grt save by pinto from free kick...even with this team at least we deserve a draw...i think...
i think we will have a plenty of time to talk about Eto but he proved his 100% dependency on Messi and Xavi.
chill out barcalaker, we had won the leauge, its not pep's fault for rotating. not playing your key starters for wed is what any coach in the world would do. if there is anything to worry about and be dissatisfied with was the inadequacy and performances of many of our squad player.
id have to agre with neuro above and say gudi looked pretty terrible today. his lack of pace and mobility is shocking. sure he has a nice touch and can make a good pass, but in this day and age of football, u need better players of the bench. one could pick at the performances of several others but i wont. last one is caceres, same shit. fast, strong, agile, bad positioning, poor decisions, big old liabilty.
felt awful for poor munieza. what a dick ref. the kids first tackle ever as a pro, and sure it was sloopy, but a yellow card without doubt. absolute moron. and then he sent pep out for a little chirp. the amount of times ive seen fergie do similar and never get punished.
sour note on a great season, but nice to see the players get their reward now in a solid piece of silverware.
onto wed, and that match will get much discussion soon. so leave that to another day. must say though, im not loving the amount of tinkering that will be necessary.
To be fair, Eto'o received no clear chances at all this game, it wasnt his fault that he couldnt score. Last week was another story though and this is the worst possible time for him to have a bad spell with the Man U game in 4 days. Bojan played well again just like last week and looked like the leader of the offense again. I think he does better as the 2nd striker instead as a winger or cf, kinna reminds me of Villa. Eto'o only has himself to blame for losing the Pichichi this year for the countless of chances that he has blown 1v1 and I wonder how many goals Villa or Zlatan would have with all the chances he gets. I just hope to God that henry and iniesta are not too rusty for the final b/c they might need to carry the offense with etoo missing everything and with messi probably being man-marked the entire game
I was just reading terry venables column on the sun.. i don't now why i read that paper but the title got me intrigued: "barcelona can´t cope with united" he said. And after that, a page or so of absolute pure crap. The kind of crap you wouldn't even find on As or Marca. That column remind me of what we were discussing here in the week, the absolute short mind and ignorance of average english football fan.
But i gues we can all laugh at that in a few days from now
today i thought abidal was a liability at CB...i reaaaally didnt think Caceres was that bad...he has so much potential...just need so much more playing time!! we need to work him through slowly!
who cares about the loss? who cares about the records? who cares about the pichichi? who caresssss?!! we are the champs boys!
eto'o will slap himself for missing 10000 opportunities in the second half of the season!
look to the final boys...gee up
i do care about the loss, sorry i care about our win this means we are one step closer to staying in la liga, we played well and yes i am a fan of osasuna
so it looks like forlan has 31 goals, eh?
@aussi-barça,
" today i thought abidal was a liability at CB...i reaaaally didnt think Caceres was that bad...he has so much potential...just need so much more playing time!! we need to work him through slowly !"
Abidal has always been a DUMB-ASS and a disaster waiting to happen . No surprise there . Au revoír !
I also agree with you about Caceres . Guardiola should have given him more playing time !!
I think Aussie is right,
We need to leave a few things for next season?
And shit, how bad was abidal, i mean he dint even look like a footballer last night.
We really need to look into getting good replacements for some certain key positions, as the last 2 games have shown although we have a good youth squad, its missing the omph, and i think only Jeffren displays this
A new goalie (help to keep valdes sharp as he has been)
2 left backs right and centre back (Abidal just doesnt bring confidence, and does Pique have a twin?)
A cente forward and a big man (john carew would be a wonderful buy if we ever wanted a plan b. He is excellent in the air, and can be a target man, also someone like david villa, who i feel will be magical with messi and iniesta
A great article here on Iniesta - LINK
HAha nic i was just about to put it in,
Guys its a tribute to the star of our season
careful lads...all i said was he looked bad at CENTER BACK...
i love him at LEFT BACK and think we suffered in his absense earlier on.
he is good on the flank...not BRILLIANT like alves...but good...100% good enough!
regarding caceres...just look at pique, was shaky at the start but after endless minutes look at him now...same applies for caceres...PLAY HIM
@aussi-barca,
I think Abidal sucks wherever he plays either at center back or left back !!
well i have to agree with FCB-Holland....i cant see any positive wherever u let abidal play....not make that much sense....for caceres i don know..i m pretty disappointed...seems like wastage of money....anyway
Did anybody REALLY expect us to win that game? I certainly didnt, not when we are playing a team fighting for their lives and we are fielding probably our weakest 11. Its a chance to see the youngsters, maybe allow Guardiola to try out a few things and let Eto'o try and win pichichi, nothing more.
As for Abidal, come on guys, give a man his props when they are due. Just like Henry, Abidal has been twice the player he was last season and he has had some excellent games. He has had some poor games too but so has every single player in our team, no exceptions. Over the course of the season Abidal has been a fantastic LB and he deserves credit.
Dont really care about the Pichichi, Eto'o doesnt particularly deserve to win it anyways. When you think about how many chances he gets compared to the likes of Villa and Forlan he should be on 40 goals EASY. The fact that he isnt is a testament to his lack of accuracy. Dont get me wrong, Eto'o is a fantastic striker and nobody works as hard off the ball as him, nobody. Villa, Forlan, Ibra, even Torres....none of them work like Eto'o. He has given us a lot and I will always love him for it, but I think the time has come. I think Villa would be a great replacement. A front 3 of Ribery, Villa and Messi with Henry and Bojan coming off the bench is a devastating thought.
Vica Barça!
Go to get the Champions!!
Congratulations to probably the best Barca ever! What a wonderful wonderful season you guys have had. Wish you all the best for Wednesday.
A madrid fan.
To be fair Eto'o didn't have too many chances so I don't think he can be blamed for losing the Pichichi but he's been woefully out of form recently.Hopefully he'll rediscover his magic touch on the 27th and its upto Eto'o to prove that 'Form is temporary but Class is Permanent'. Its a bit too soon to be calling for his exit though in my opinion.
Its defninitely time to bid farewell to Guddy. I've never understood why he was bought in the first place because considering he's neither a midfielder and he was never a world class striker in the first place so having him on is pointless.Hleb was disappointing (again) but
I'm not convinced getting rid of him after only 1 season (and paying millions of pounds in transfer fees)is the only solution. Henry wasn't a hit in his first season and a lot of people said he was a bad buy but look at him now. Some players require more time than others to settle down in a new country/league.Maybe Hleb will come good next season.
The sending off of Muniesa was by far the most disappointing moment of the match. It was a bad tackle but a yellow card was all it was.Besides how can you give a red card to a 17 year old on his debut. Cmon Ref the crowd want to see football not your horrendous decisions. Having said that, that idiot who ran onto the field didn't help things either.
Caceres didn't appear as bad as some people say he is. Perhaps we should send him on loan to regain his confidence.We will have Milito and Marquez back next season to challenge Puyol and Pique at the centre and Henrique seems to be impressing a lot of observers with his loan spell in Germany. I think we should send some of our young defenders on loan deals to the EPL because the game is much faster and more physical over there. Pique sems to have benefitted from his time with Man U.
Hleb should only be sold if involved in a swap deal for ribery...
caceres needs to stay and play more minutes...
eto needs to stay and be challenged by whoever we buy...UNLESS we somehow get villa...then it may not be too bad selling eto.
milito's return to injury does not guarantee a return to form for the CB...however if is able to recapture his confidence and form then he will be a welcomed addition for next year.
i believe this year is only the beginning for us...and thats scary...r reckon if we lose the final (which we wont) then we'd end up so hungry for it next season. we are at the point where most of our players are too young or inexpereinced to have consistently won anything major (eto, henry, puyol, marquez, valdes, xavi aside - and maybe iniesta) so guys like messi, pique, bojan, alves, caceres, milito, toure, kieta, abidal, hleb (if he stays) will all be hungy. they are the new generation! plus any additions we may have...
i strongly feel next year we will be an even stronger, more complete team...think about it...who are we going to lose? hleb, slyvinho, guddy, maybe abidal? hopefully not eto?...players that can be replaced...by who? villa, ribery, lahm, bruno alves? to name a few!
im only saying all this because im sad i wont be able to watch such beautiful football until next season...but i believe next season we'll have more confidence, more assurance, more desire!
get ready for ROME lads...i know im excited
by the way...Massimo Busacca...swiss referee has been named for the Final...
dont know much about him or his stats with Barca
Nic you may have some...
@aussie-barca,
Here is an article about the referee .
LINK
Busacca has reffed four games involving Barça.
(gave man united a pen for Milito's handball from which Ronaldo missed)
Barça 2 Brondby 1 (uefa cup 2003/4)
Barça 2 Werder Bremen 0 (CL 2006/7)
Barça 3 Lyon 0 (CL 2007/
Barça 0 Man United 0 (CL 2007/
Damn, the 8 followed by the ) gives the sun glasses cool smiley
- you guys know what I'm trying to say
Busacca has reffed four games involving Barça.
(gave man united a pen for Milito's handball from which Ronaldo missed)
Barça 2 Brondby 1 (uefa cup 2003/4)
Barça 2 Werder Bremen 0 (CL 2006/7)
Barça 3 Lyon 0 (CL 2007/
Barça 0 Man United 0 (CL 2007/
That means we haven't lost a single match when he refereed. That's a great positive sign.
cheers nic...
gee im excited, nervous, aprehensive, anxious, confident...god i dont know what to feel any more!
There is no doubt that if both clubs are at full strength I would take Barça any day of the week . Some people make Manchester United favourite because of the fact that Barça will be missing both Alves and Abidal and the uncertainty about both Iniesta and Henry . That may sound reasonable but if MU end up losing the match despite all the advantages they will be very embarrased . Having said that I still have the feeling that MU will stick to their original strategy : park the bus !!
FCB-Holland....don worry....iniesta...xavi....messi..all they are a single piece of gold ..all they have macth winning capabiity...on their day we need only one of them...to destroy any defence in the world...i just wish Messi and Xavi at their best and link up well...thts enough...i don believe ferdinand..or vidic is well enough for them to stop if they just don get a bad day....
u know there is a phrase ... u cant change behavior in a day...thats what EPL and its teams are...u cant expect more than counter attack and long ball strategy from them..its in their blood.moreover they know wht will happen if they give messi too much space..so ultimately u can expect at 6 man circle in their defense with 3 fix for messi always.....
good that my final exam going on so i cant think too much on it..otherwise.....time would go so tensed....
barca....u rock!!!!
Eto'o shoudl leave barca...not only the under pay him but they underrate him. He is the finest striker in the world and possibly the best player too...which player didnt go through rough periods..this is a guy who came out of a year of injury and still reached the top. Not only he scores but he is a play maker as well but ofcourse no one ever sees it...people only see the beautiful pass he recieved and close thier eyes to the beautiful passes he feeds. The proof was yesterday when he scored...he shoulda been man of the match because his goal was sick and his goal boosted barcas confidence, but of course Messi's header was the highlight of the night and Xavi that we only saw twice all game long wins the man of the match because of the racist european football system.
eto'o please go to Millan they are offering hundred of millions for u. LEt Barca purchase villa or torres that would be the best thing that ever happened to him and barca will ofcourse sink.