Deportivo 1 Barça 1
Saturday, 30 May 09, 03:57 PM · Comments (12)
A goal from Samuel Eto'o in the 89th minute earned Barça an undeserved 1-1 draw in Riazor tonight. Our Champions League hangover was clear for all to see and we lacked the intensity that has played a big part to our successes this season. Eto'o's goal took our season's total in the league to 105 but it wasn't quite enough to beat Real Madrid's record of 107. However, for Eto'o it was his 30th league goal which was not enough to win this year's pichichi award but he is the first player to score thirty league goals in a season for Barça since Ronaldo scored 34 in the 1996/7 season.
The game was also a chance to see the team in next season's away strip, and I have to say I was less than impressed. Colours should have names but I wouldn't know what to call that colour, it isn't orange, it's not quite pink, I think we'll just have to call it fluorescent salmon!
The game was reasonably open from the start but it was always Depor who were making the better chances. In the first half Barça played with a 4-3-1-2 formation with Hleb trying to do a Messi sitting in behind Bojan and Eto'o. But Hleb is not Messi and Gudjohnsen is not Iniesta, and both players may well have been thinking more about where they will be playing next season. Guardado had the best early chance after Bodipo flicked the ball onto him but the Mexican fired wide. In the 14th minute Depor broke away after a Barça corner, Guardado played in Pablo Alvarez who forced Pinto to make the first save of the game. Barça then went straight back up the other end but Eto'o's shot from the left was turned round the post by Arunzubia.
Bodipa had a good chance but hit his shot wide, then Keita also just missed with a low left foot drive from just outside the area. Then in the 31st minute Depor got the goal they had threatened to score: Guardado's cross from the left got a slight deflection off Caceres and the ball came to Bodipa between Piqué and Sylvinho and he headed easily past Pinto. Sylvinho and Bojan both had timid efforts before Sergio hit our crossbar in the 42nd minute.
In the second half we switched back to 4-3-3 with Hleb moving to the right wing, but things didn't improve. Bojan managed a couple of shots and a couple of times we nearly got the ball to Eto'o in the area but he couldn't find a way to get a shot on goal. Meanwhile Depor found more space in our defence and we were only saved by at least three good saves from Pinto. We finally got lucky in the 89th minute when Bojan clipped the ball through to Eto'o who controlled well with his chest before firing past Arunzubia.
There is not much more to say on the match apart from Botia and Abraham getting a chance for a first team debut in the second half and both young players played reasonably well. The game was always going to be an anticlimax after the emotions we have lived in the last few days. It is just nice that we did not end such a classic season with a defeat.
Barça: Pinto 7, Caceres 5.5, Toure 6, Piqué 6 (Botia m64, 6), Sylvinho 6; Xavi 6.5 (Abraham m77, 6), Keita 6, Gudjohnsen 5; Hleb 5, Eto'o 6.5, Bojan 6.
Goals: m31 Bodipa 1-0, m89 Eto'o 1-1.
Barça yellow: m43 Bojan
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12 Comments · Add yours
this is me being the most negative this season..
god, hleb is the personification of rock buttom.
salmon? wtf dudes? NOTHING looks good in salmon.
thank god we've won the treble, that jersey is gonna earn us a lot of flak from everywhere and thanks to the treble we can say we've won more trophies last year than most have won in 3!
CHECK OUT MESSI AND INIESTA DRUNK!!!
LINK
I liked the new uniforms...no comment on the game. I actually fell asleep midway through the first half... but saw eTO'O GOALS and it was a pretty good finish!!!
Asleep!! i fell asleep yesterday, watching the final!! but it was 3AM and it was the 6th time i watched it
will watch the game later.
ps: here in chile there is about to start a new general madness over madrid, because it seems that their new coach will be chilean (the guy from villarreal)..
it was disgusting the last time a chilean was involved in madrid, they were EVERYWHERE!!!!! much i am afraid i will have to go through that again.. give me strenght Barça
@ nic ,
" Colours should have names but I wouldn't know what to call that colour, it isn't orange, it's not quite pink, I think we'll just have to call it fluorescent salmon! "
After careful consideration I would describe the hideous colour of the new away uniforms somewhere in the grey area between " nausea " and "puke " !!
God , I hate Nike !!
@ Maria I ,
Where do you watch the game ?
If on line , can you post a LINK ?
Thanks !!
the name of the colour is "mango" according to el mundo.
aw man, season is over. Now i have to go through some barca withdrawal........waiting till august to get the next hit of this euphoric drug that is FCB. Have you seen them play this season? Intoxicating football!
Also eto'o scored! That means messi, eto'o and henry have ended the season scoring 100 goals in the entire competition. Amazing!
@FCB-Holland u can watch full match here. this site is quite good with archiving all most all important matches in full.So u can bookmark it.
LINK
But i still watch it in ITV1 website. Because the commentry is english and they analyze barca possesion in a very nice manner without biasing to Man u at all. but the problem is i got 1st haf full not the secon d half.
LINK
@ neuro11 ,
I have actually posted the same link after the game and I have the site bookmarked but it is NOT working this time . I tried several times to watch the match but you can't see any of the goals and some parts are missing .
Thanks anyway !!
im a fan of the shirt. i feel barca are innovative in their uniforms. the flourecent yellow? thats our highest ever earning shirt in a single season, and the likes of chelsea have copied us. the blue away kit from 2 yrs back was INCREDIBLE.
im gonnna get the salmon, though i think officially its been called mango, so add to my collection
Mango, salmon... Our boys look great in any color!