Barça-Schalke Champions League Preview
Tuesday, 08 April 08, 09:11 PM · Comments (27)
For the third game running Frank Rijkaard has named the same 18 players for tomorrow night's Champions League quarter final second leg with Schalke 04. This means that Gabi Milito and Toure Yaya will continue in the team despite their respective physical problems and Rafa Marquez will start again on the bench ready to replace the first one who drops.
Schalke have never played an official game at Camp Nou but they did compete twice in the Joan Gamper tournament in the 1970s. In 1970 Barça beat them 1-0 in the 3rd place match with a goal from Fusté, and in 1977 Barça beat them 4-1 in the final with goals from Neeskens(2), Clares and Asensi. Last Saturday Schalke moved up to second place in the Bundesliga when an Altintop goal gave them a 1-0 home win over Hansa Rostock. Jermaine Jones should be back in Schalke's midfield after missing the first leg last Tuesday.
Rijkaard is likely to start with the same team that drew 0-0 with Getafe on Sunday though he may decide to bring back Eric Abidal at left back in place of Sylvinho. Personally I'd rather see Sylvinho continue and I'd also like to see Giovani dos Santos start on the right which would give Bojan and Eto'o the chance to interchange between the middle and the left. Giovani is the only natural replacement for Messi in this position and my patience with Thierry Henry is all used up.
The fact that many of Barça's fans seem to see this match as a foregone conclusion combined with the current unhealthy situation at the club make tomorrow night's game with Schalke 04 a potential bombshell. Failure to get through would almost certainly lead to an outpouring of indignation that would make Sunday's protest seem like a round of applause. Keeping a clean sheet could prove vital since any Schalke goal scored when the game is still in the balance could provoke an angry reaction from the crowd which will probably only serve to deflate Barça and encourage the Germans. An early Barça goal will help as long as Barça don't then sit on their lead because Camp Nou will be no place for the faint hearted if Scalke make it 1-1 with 15 minutes to go. Schalke have a very good recent record of playing in Spain: in 2001/2 they won 0-4 at Mallorca, and two seasons ago they knocked out Espanyol winning 0-3 at the Olympic stadium.
Barça's squad: Valdés, Pinto, Zambrotta, Puyol, Thuram, Marquez, Milito, Sylvinho, Abidal, Xavi, Edmilson, Toure, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Giovani, Bojan, Eto'o, Henry.
Possible starting XI: Valdés; Zambrotta, Puyol, Milito, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Iniesta; Eto'o, Bojan, Henry.
My prediction: Barça 3 Schalke 0
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Wow, haha 3-0? I think Barça will be lucky if they win with 1-0.
3-0 barcaaaaaaaa
dnzi---lucky if we win 1-0?? so if they arent lucky, u think they will be eliminated 2morrow?
2:0 for us...we can do it....I am sure....MES QUE UN CLUB...
2-0, dont know which way, but 2-0 final score
I just hope for a good display of football, Barca-style... About time for that again
27 Comments · Add yours
The presence of Gudjonsen will also give more option to deal with aerial challenge. For instance we have been getting huge number of corners in last some games, but was not make anything out of it. Gudjonsen can give some option there also.
Nice to hear your oppinion about Giovani. He should definetely be in the starting 11 instead of Henry. He could do some serious damage to a quite slow Schalke-defense.
My prediction: Barca 3-1 Schalke04