Valencia 2 Barça 2
Saturday, 25 April 09, 02:37 PM · Comments (49)
A goal from Thierry Henry five minutes from the end earned Barça a point tonight in Mestalla which could turn out to be vital in our quest to win our 19th La Liga title. Leo Messi gave us an early lead but after 675 minutes without conceding a goal in the league we conceded twice in three minutes just before half time and we came close to paying dearly for this lapsus.
Pep Guardiola made three changes to the team that hammered Sevilla 4-0 at Camp Nou on Wednesday. Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets and Leo Messi came in for Rafa Marquez, Toure Yaya and Thierry Henry. The three who were left out can content themselves with the thought that they will almost definitely be in the starting line-up against Chelsea on Tuesday.
The game got off to a scrappy start as neither side managed to keep hold of the ball for long. Messi had the first shot after 15 minutes but he hit well over from Iniesta's low cross. Valencia replied three minutes later when the ref blew for an inexistant foul, Villa hit a low free-kick but Valdés had it covered well. Then in the 24th minute we took the lead after a fantastic combination between Messi and Iniesta, the two exchanged four passes to split Valencia's defence ending with Iniesta drawing the keeper out before squaring to Messi who shot past three defenders. The pair made it look easy.
We then had two more quick goal attempts, Messi shooting straight at Cesar, then Eto'o shot wide from 25 yards a minute later. The game took a turn in the 30th minute when Valencia had a double penalty appeal turned down by the ref. First Silva fell easily under pressure from Messi, and soon after Villa was brought down by Puyol but the linesman had already flagged offside. For the crowd it didn't matter and from then on they protested every decision and created a heated atmosphere. Unfortunately we didn't react well as Valencia increased the pressure. While we usually know how to control such situations we let ourselves down by losing the ball too often and Xavi particularly was below his usual level.
Both Valdés and Iniesta were booked in the space of two minutes but worse was to follow. After Iniesta was booked for pulling back Villa, the free kick came in to Silva who was unmarked but Valdés managed to tip over his looping header. From the corner, however, Valdés was put under pressure by Villa but he still came out for the cross and only succeeded in colliding with Puyol, Maduro was waiting behind to head into the empty net. Then on the stroke of half time Pablo exchanged passes with Villa and burst between Alves and Puyol to stroke the ball past Valdés.
In the second half we struggled to create chances until Pep Guardiola decided to bring on Thierry Henry in the 62nd minute, Henry had three shots within six minutes of coming on and Valencia were more and more on the back foot. The Valencia players, with the support of the hostile crowd, continued to protest every decision which put pressure on the referee and made things more difficult for us. Gudjohnsen came on for the disappointing Xavi and Valencia were pushed further back as we looked for the equalizer.
Our luck finally changed in the 85th minute. Messi sent in a free kick towards Busquets who diving in did enough to put off Cesar who only succeeded in punching the ball straight to Henry who reacted quickly to steer the ball back towards goal and it was enough to beat the despairing attempts of Valencia's defenders to clear the ball and the ball found the back of the net.
Villa had one tremendous shot from a tight angle but Valdés did well to keep the ball out, but generally the last few minutes saw Valencia defending deep as we looked for a winner. The goal didn't come but we should be happy with the point. A draw playing away to the fourth team in the league can not be seen as a bad result. It may be disappointing as we can now not possibly win the league in the Bernabeu, but we should appreciate that the point means that whatever happens in the next seven days we will still be top of the league after the game in Madrid. Even if things go badly the league will still be in our hands with four games to go against Villarreal (home), Mallorca (away), Osasuna (home) and Deportivo (away). At the same time there are plenty of reasons to believe that Madrid will not win all their games as they also have to play away to Sevilla, Valencia and Villarreal. For this reason we should be satisfied with today's draw.
The team battled hard in difficult circumstances today, we were let down by mistakes in Valencia's goals and a below-par Xavi and Messi. For some reason we just didn't seem to work on the right-hand side today. On the positive side we should appreciate another dominating performance from Gerard Piqué supported well by Eric Abidal. Andres Iniesta was not at the same level as against Sevilla but he still had a good game, while Thierry Henry deserves credit as he definitely made a difference after coming on. It is also important that none of the players under threat of missing the game in Madrid received a yellow card. We now face Chelsea and Real Madrid in a crazy week, the treble is still very possible, we should enjoy the experience.
Barça: Valdés 5.5; Alves 6, Puyol 5.5, Piqué 8, Abidal 7.5; Xavi 5.5 (m76 Gudjohnsen, 6.5), Busquets 7, Keita 7 (m62 Henry, 7.5); Messi 6, Eto'o 6.5, Iniesta 7.5.
Goals: m24 Messi 0-1, m43 Maduro 1-1, m45 Pablo 2-1, m85 Henry 2-2.
Barça yellow cards: m40 Valdés, m42 Iniesta,
Like this blog? Help spread the word: 
49 Comments · Add yours
this was easily the most frustrating game ive watched this season. it was mainly just because the atmopshere was so heated, there were so many fouls, and our game definetely didnt click like normal. frankly villa should have been sent off for all the complaining he did, he was offside everyime yet bitched and bitched.
saying all that, its going to be very easy for people here to get into a panic, so lets not. one shakyish performance does nothing to tarnish our excellent season thus far. if anything our legs looked a bit tired and everything we tried seemed a fracture of a second off. messi too had one of his worst games, etoo also struggled. but, they are human, not robots.
no doubt the VV critics will come with tunnel vision and blame the ENTIRE draw on him, just because he made a poor decision going for the cross, but totally forgetting a few really solid saves and an excellent reflex save from villa's tight shot near the end. i swear, he is the only GK that has ever done that. but yes, it was all VV fault.
if criticism is due to our boys it will be on two things i think. 1. why is alves taking freekicks? he sucks at them, he never hits the target, most often he is barely close. pep is a smart guy so he really needs to put a stop to it, its getting ridiculous. 2. our corners were extremely poor today, hardly any passed the first man and we had about 10.
so yeah, we looked a bit tired, some players werent at their best. but plz lets look at the fact that valencia are not even close to a bad team, on top of that, they gave it their all. they closed down space, swarmed the ball, and played quite dirty at times. we played at their stadium, and the atmosphere was super volatile. a draw away to this team, in that environment is not an ok result, its a damn good one.
conclusion, ive never been happier with a draw. depending on madrid tomorrow (i dont think they will win), it could be a great point.
time to move on, chelsea on tue!
where all u valdez supporters.....heh!!!all the valdez lovers have to take the full responsibilty to this draw.....(if madrid wins tomoro..all the pressure we got)...he is even not a keeper...he never deserves even to play for a six a side team...thanx to henry saved us from the shame of defeat....
i always said....if we loose league...its for valdez...if we loose CL its for valdez...if we loose cup...its for valdez....this is just because all other guys doing their best and will do...upto end....but they have recover all the stupidity of VV....what a shame.....
hah!!! some vv lovers even believe vv is better than casillas....hhaha...they are more stupid than vv....
barca!!!messi!!!grt!!!
yes valdes is amazing, and maybe if the players weren't so lazy and slow today, we would have won. its crazy how u people are blaming this draw on valdes....didnt u think valencia was clearly better today?? they had a better attack, midfield, and defense. im getting used to this from barca fans though...u should support the team no matter what, if we draw or lose, u dont go and blame it on one player. its a team game and fans should always support their players no matter how many mistakes are made.
like u said, we should be happy with the point
but i really dont understand why some of our top players were suddenly poor all of a sudden, xavi lost a lot of balls, anyway hope they regain composure for the upcoming matches
and i really cannot state hw mch more i believe yaya toure would have improved the midfield, there was no way, silva and pablo n co would have waded through the centre like that with him there
and am i the only one that wasnt impressed with abidal, he was to complacent for my liking when moving the ball, hope he dosent return to his former form...as soon as valdes collected a stupid yellow card, i knew he was going to have one of those games...these are the kind of games that makes him more barca fans as enemies, i still believe he's the best we can get now and can be better if he brings 100%concentration everytime, hope this was a flash in the plan
alves certainly played as if he was tired, keeping players onside and other lazy decisions
i hope he was reserving energy for chelsea as were some other players like messi
time for sevilla to go to work on real madrid, i must confess if madrid win, i'll really be scared cos on paper now, its almost impossible for them
GO BARCA
yeah, forgot to mention the atmosphere, the crowd was impossible, a lot of times, i tot they had given a penalty against us
is madrid away to them or at home?
Ya...abidal was terrible..with his move and wrong passes as well....he s not upto the mark art all....and now we really need to win in madrdid(cz i believe madrid will win ugly tomoro again...some how they will find the net..) and i strongly believe we can win at madrid...and ya its true valencia was far better and we failed to respond with their pace and chase and also we could not play our possession game as well...but above i cant believe the type of first goal we conceded for vv....
anyway...hope this will not affect on CL game next...i am tensed of that....
Barca!!Messi!!!Grt!!!
Bboy - Valdes was to blame for conceding that one goal, you cannot escape that fact!!. Again he bottles it in a big game and makes a crucial mistake. HE IS PAID TO CLEANUP THOSE CROSSES, just like he is paid to make those saves he did!
However, the entire general result cannot be blamed on just VV as the 10 outfield players were off par by a long shot.
Lets hope Madrid stumble against Sevilla - big week ahead.
I called 2-2 in the preview post and it seemed we played like how I predicted. It was obvious were our heads were, and thats the Chelsea game. That game is in 3 days and since we at home the 1st leg it brings more pressure on the team to win on Tues. It also seemed like the players didnt go out all out on some challenges so they wouldnt get a yellow card and miss the Madrid game. I highly doubt Madrid will beat Sevilla at Sevilla tom so all our attention will be towards Chelsea and none of this "Madrid is only 4pts back" crap that Marca will print out to distract Barca. Even if Madrid win, they dont have the talent to beat us.
2-2 away at Valencia is a solid result and one that we should be happy with. The same applies to Madrid. We should go to win, but be content with a draw...especially since that match is sandwiched between Chelsea games. Mathematically, we'll still control our destiny. And if we do our jobs (winning at home and beating lower-ranked teams), we'll be champs.
VV is horrible at defending corners. Absolutely horrible.
FCBarca88
if you dont think this is vv's fault then whose is it..........if hes gonna come out on a corner or cross or anything HE SHOULD AT LEAST GET A HAND ON THE DAMN BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!
also i fully agree with you right from the beggenning i was saying "we would get so much more possession with xavi yaya and ini in the middle" but yea it jus didnt happen today
but im happy with the point we got beacause they are a very tough team and i think that valencia will take 2 or all 3 pts from madrid when the play.......
for tomorrow I'M SEVILLA FAN!!!!! hope big freddy rips their defense apart
*2nd paragraph was to layibiyi forgot to include that
two words...GO SEVILLA!
and o yea just so you guys dont get the wrong idea i'm not blaming the whole game on valdes its just that i thought he should have done better!!
i didnt say it wasnt valdes's fault, he did make a mistake, but as u said, u cant blame this result all on him, i thought the entire team wasnt the same today, xavi and iniesta both lost the ball in dangerous places in the midfield today. i can understand people blaming valdes after the espanyol game because his mistake really changed the entire game, but today was different. valencia was pressuring us the whole game and we just seemed to slow. against espanyol, we could have won if he didnt make that mistake, but i didnt think we deserved to win this, even if valdes saved that.
As long as I can remember players like Xavi and Puyol never had such an off game,Xavi has been always one of our most constant players ,but today his passing and vision were so poor( I mean 5,5
come on ), Puyol looked shaky too and I dont think he is going to be in the starting line-up against Chelsea,Messi played one of his worse game so far could not even win a one on one situation against average defenders............ the fact that Valencia managed to close down all ways to goal and shut off our key players give me a bit of a scare ........Chelsea is coming to the Camp Nou,and Hiddink surely took some vital tips from tonight's game.
Valencia played with the most organized defense I have seen against Barça this year and showed us that we too have limits.
What worries me the most though is the drop in form by most of our key players ( Messi , Puyol , Xavi, Etoo and Alves ) all were by far below their normal level ......... Hopefully that was because all the players were thinking about the C.L. game,but it seemed like fatigue played an important role tonight.
Pep and the players know that they have to give 200% on tuesday night to beat a well organized physically strong Chelsea.
Barça forever
Lets start with Valdes. Yes the 1st goal was his fault but the draw was not. The 2nd goal was worse as if little Villa can burst through Alves and Puyol, Drogba will piss on them. the 2nd goal could of been avoided with Yaya in DM as Busquets just doesnt have the frame to be an out and out DM at this minute in time. Im not critising either player, today they were caught out but we we on.
The game in general was a tight affair and 2-2 was probably fair. I dont blame Xavi for a poor game as Eto seemed jaded and has been below par in general in general play and the forwards seemed to get too isolated without options. This meant they had to try to get past their man which today just didnt happen unfortunately.
Say what you like about Henry's dribbling compared to Iniesta but his pace frightens the life out of the opposition. When he came on the opposition was forced to defend deeper as the full backs didnt venture up, and the deep defending got Messi 10 yards further forward. Messi cannot dribble from 50 yards from goal and score - however he can from 30 yards and thats what effect a fast striker can have on the opposition.
2-2 is a very good result considering the number of off form players and if Sevilla hold Madrid I think it can be called an excellent weekend!!
Keep faith, Barca gonna do it!!
And btw, did it seem like ages for Henry's goal to go in? It seemed like time stood still lol I thought the guy would clear it off the line
noooooooooooo don't blame any player.
players did thier job all the season but at this stage.
to win the lilaga you must suffer some time.
it was very important point and say to all funs this points tell us we are champoins even if we lost at barnabue.
be hapy next game chelsea.
don't concentrate sevilla vs Real madrid
we are superior any other team of this world.
our player they must be good against chelsea.
all in all we are going to become champoin.
darren - i said the goal was VV mistake. but u see here how people blame the ENTIRE result on him. like he is the only player responsible for everything. its ridiculous. he cannot win with some people, and its shameful to be so hard on a player that has served the club for so long and for the most part so well. he doesnt conceed a goal for 6 games before, 2nd club record, but that was ALL the defense, not him. so how he never wins? its either all the defense and not him, or its totally his fault. i agree the first goal was his fault, but it needs to be accepted that he isnt the tallest and is going to struggle in this situations. he just CANNNOT get every single one right. i guarantee if u go watch every game this season, he will punch out or grab 85-90% of them right, but the one he messes up, ITS A DISASTER AND HE SUCKS. like cech and reina havent been making similar mistakes lately. thats all im saying. that he is always made the scapegoat, no matter what. one mistake tonight gets put under the microscope, the rest of his contribution is totally forgotten. its about the forest, not the trees
like other observant people have said, many other players last night were below their standard (puyol, messi, etoo). and sure we missed yaya in the midfield (but layibi he was being rested for chelsea, and the gamble paid off). one player i didnt think was bad was abidal. he is never going to be the best passer but he pressed excellently and made a lot of clean and important tackles. im happy to have him back.
overall, the result was not VV fault, why not give some credit to valencia barca fans? its not always just us being great, or just us being poor, believe it or not, but another team has a role in matches! valencia worked so hard, played a bit dirty, defended and pressed smartly, and the crowd was so loud and influential on the game.
2-2 at mestalla any other yr is a good result, considering our schedule lately, this yr its a great result.
A draw against an in form club like Valencia on the road is NOT a bad result at all . I think we did enough to deserve a draw no more no less but we have to improve drastically in all aspects in order to beat Chelsea . As far as Valdes is concerned , I have expressed my opinion about him several times in the past . I am NOT a member in his fan club . Regardless of the side of the argument you might be on , let's face it valdes is NOT a worldclass keeper who would step up to save us from certain defeats or be capable of dealing with free kicks or harmless looking crosses or corners or God forbid stop a penalty . He is just an average keeper who happens to be a Barça player . Do we really need better keeper ? In my opinion , yes !!
Goals and highlights .
LINK
I asked this before and i'll ask it again.......i have noticed a dip in form of our main forward Messi. This happened after the ARGENTINA VS BOLIVIA game.......i noticed it was never a good 100% game from him after that. DOES ANYBODY SHARE my SENTIMENT????
We had an extremely diffocult away game, and the crowd was really Valencia's 12th man. They were loud and disgraceful (the middle fingers that they showed Messi after his goal)
This was a wonderful test of character for barcelona, to draw in a hostile ground. And a game we would likely have lost last season.
I have to agree with FCB Holland, and add goals like that kill a teams moral.
I am sure we can find several instances where silly mistakes from him have costed us.
So lets not lambast him, but lets atleast agree he has been the cause of some serious blunders.
Please dont mention the excellent saves he has made, the way you judge a good keeper is by how consistent he is.
Brief sproradic spells of brilliance doesnt count
WE NEED A KEEPER TO CHALLENGE FOR THE NO 1 SPOT
I watched this game last night and to be honest I can see Chelsea getting the better of Barcelona over the two legs in the Champions league.Hiddinks team are a much bigger and physical side,they will cause havoc in the Barcelona box from set pieces,who on the Barcelona team will be able to take Drogba out of the game ?
Victor Valves may be a very good shot stopper but he is very poor when it comes to crosses and high balls,this is definately a n area where Chelsea will look to exploit.
This 1 is going down to ARSHAVINISTA.
Since you've watched the recent Barca game....have you watched the recent Chelsea games. hahahahahaha.....its a mockery the way they play. Thats no football. Thats just no balls at all in the Chelsea team.
Here comes the facts.
There is never such thing as winning all the games we play...as if for Barsa...i still think we had a good result playing away to Valencia. A draw is the best result from my opinion.....atleast now the players would be raring to wake up and kill Chelsea of. Chelsea will be massacred if we play the BARSA way.
Good luck to BARSA
ps.....Arshavinista...i'd suggest you switch off your TV set when Barca is up 2-0 in the first 10 minutes. Because as a fan of Barsa, i feel bad for any team playing us when we're on top form.
To "blaugranaboy", i am a barca fan by soul...i love all the players...the reason u support valdez is never acceptable...no matter how well u play...how much u contribute...if u do small mistake in wrong time..u will never forgiven..thats football.thats how it is judged..it may not be a good way..tbut this is what is...Think of c.ronaldo..in CL final..he scored a fantoustic goal even though he would be blamed for the wrong penalty if they would loose the game...VV always do this sort of mistakes in wrong time...thats why i can never support him...
I can never forgive him for the loss to Liverpool at home in CL two season ago...he made terrible mistake on kuyts head which caused us eliminated...
Like now its a very tight schedule for all..so i am scared of his performance now...
it never counts how many he saved against small teams...even a small team striker can do hatrick sometimes...but that will not help him to be called messi...
and Arshavinista...i at least can say u will see a different barca against Chelsea...
Barca!!!Messi!!!Grt!!!
"no matter how well u play...how much u contribute...if u do small mistake in wrong time..u will never forgiven..thats football.thats how it is judged"
that is one of the most ridiculous things ive ever heard in my life, and it has nothing to do with VV. so if messi would one day in the future miss an important penalty in a game that costs us the match (which is very possible seeing he is human)he would never be forgiven? has john terry now hated by chelsea fans? plz man, that statement makes no sense.
if u dont think VV is the greatest keeper thats fine, i dont think he is worldclass either. all i said is he is unfairly blamed, every mistake he makes is blown out of proportion and all his previous excellence is forgotten. he has saved us in big games, CL final vs Arsenal, away to Real Madrid (in game we won 2-1, that performance is still the best by a gk ive ever seen). is cech a terrible keeper who will never be forgiven by his country because he dropped the ball versus turkey? ur career in football is much more than moments, bad or good.
and why is everyone exaggerating like his drop last night is some HUGE mistake that is going to cost us something. it did nothing to the overall score line. we should be happy with a draw against a team that played overall better and with more heart.
well..may be thts statement is ridiculous but i don think FCB is a museum or album to carry someone with his past success....if so ronaldinho would be here for all time..but ya..everyone has is bad time and should be given enough time to pass that out and i hope valdez got that enough and now its time for him to leave...a present performance is vital..not important wht occasionally he did in past...
and ya i agree valencia was far better but i hate ton see valdez doing stupid mistakes..thts it
Barca!!!Messi!!!Grt!!!
ok, good, becuase that statement was simply nonsense. i agree about us not being a museum, and thank god for that. im so happy r10 left.
and if u dont like VV then fine, he is always going to be an opinion based player. he makes his mistakes no doubt about it. i have never and will never deny that. what i am saying and have said millions of times is that he is one of the most focused on players whenever he does anything remotely bad. but when he has a normal, solid game, a few nice saves, then its totally forgotten as if it didnt happen. the mistake vs valencia was actually far from TERRIBLE, it happens to keepers regularly in europe. VV is an excellent shot stopper, but yes he lacks some fundamentals and makes a few wrong decisions a season. if u want him out, and many do, ur entitled to that.
either way, i dont think he is going anywhere.
Look, keepers make mistakes, all of em. Casillas and Buffon are no exceptions. Now is VV world class? No. He is a good keeper who will make good saves, with mistakes here and there. He is not a keeper like Casillas or Buffon in that he wont make 5 or 6 spectacular saves to keep us in a game. We could argue that we have one of the best in the world in every position on the pitch, except VV. That being said name me one keeper out there who is better and who is AVAILABLE. There are none. So we are stuck with VV for better or for worse.
@ Hilal,
It is always refreshing to read an open minded and objective POV . Unfortunately there are some paranoid few amongst us who think that their opinion and only their opinion is the only one that counts !!
Well FCB-Holland football is all about opinions at the end of the day. Which team is the best, which league is the best, which style is the best....it all comes down to opinions so you cannot be close minded. We all love Barca, we all think that attacking football is the best way to play, but there are plenty of people out there who believe that playing defensively and aggressively is the best way to play. You cannot be close minded in football, you have to be open to different POV's. That is why i dislike the English attitude so much, they think they are the best, they think they have the best league and they are not willing to accept any other POV. They dismiss the technical and skillful play in La Liga as weak and claim superiority through aggressiveness, pace and physicality. Personally I disagree but I can certainly see the benefits to their style of play. Most of them are too close minded to see it from our POV. I would hate to be like that. I also hope we can prove them wrong but beating 2 of their best in the next few weeks...
I forgot to comment on the game as well....got caught up in the VV debate. I do not think this is a bad result at all. Getting a draw away from home against probably the most in form side besides us is a good result. On their current form can you see Madrid beating them?? I can't. I just hope it didnt take too much out of us before the Chelsea game. On the positive side it will prepare us well, especially mentally because Chelsea will play very much the same way Valencia played, very aggressively. So would you rather go into that game having just experienced a similarly physical game or coasting to a 4-0 victory? I would def chose the former. There is nothing more dangerous than walking into a tough, physical game after getting used to walking all over teams. It will bring the players back down to earth a little, or at least I hope so.
I guess we will see come Tuesday.....
@ Hilal,
Your analysis of the EPL and Barça style of play is very interesting . I never liked the physical roughhousing , the long ball and the one touch passing crap of the English clubs . I would NOT swap our style for the EPL style any day of the week . However , we need to be prepared for clubs with different style of play . I t is unlikely that we will face a club from Serie A , lEAGUE 1 or the Bundesliga late in the CL . So we are left to deal with the EPL top four clubs . With the exception of Arsenal who play a similar style to ours but not as polished , the other three clubs would be more than happy to defend en mass and rely on the counter attack . Barça got eliminated by Chelsea , Liverpool and Manchester United despite having dominated the play and time of possesion but failed strategy-wise . We basically need to go after Chelsea from the get go and try to dominate them and score as many goals as possible. Our attackers can NOT afford to waste easy scoring opportunities . Once we succeed in doing that Chelsea will be forced to come forward and attack . A position that they are not comfortable with and would leave them vulnerable to our front three to punish them . I think in order to succeed , our defence and goalkeeper have to get better and eliminate silly mistakes My biggest worry is crosses and corners. Neither Valdes nor our defenders have a clue in defending them properly . If it came down to penalty kicks in the final for example , we have no chance . I think our best chance of getting by Chelsea is getting a big win and a decent goal advantage next tuesday. If we don't that it will be anybody's tie and we can actually lose it . I am very optimistic though !!
FUCK SEVILLA AND FUCK MADRID!!!!!!!!!!
only 4 points but we should still win the league ......I WILL BE VERY EMBARRASSED FOR US IF WE DONT WIN THE LEAGUE!!!!
it will be very difficult to beat madrid, we have a game against chelsea and they have a week to prepare for the clasico. they are playing with so much confidence now after the win against sevilla...hooever wins the league deserves it cuz both teams r playing good now. the treble was never going to be easy but we r still in control of what happens.
I think el clasico is going to be an ugly encounter . I expect Ramos and the Madrid players to turn it into a physical and dirty affair . It could even be worse than the first game we had against them in Camp Nou . So be prepared for the worst . Of course , Madrid can always count on their friendly referees to save their asses one more time !!
Hey Hey, Madrid is winning yes but it doesn't mean there better then we are ! Lets keep our cool ok ! We won Sevila 4 nothing remember. If your that nervous how do you expect the team to keep there cool. Even If were to lose to Madrid ( I don't think that will happen ) we will still be on the top the league. This just makes the Clasico Interesting. We all know that FCBarcelona Vs Real Madrid is another story regardless of there skill in any other Match. That Night is always a night to remember ! All that happened to tonight is tell the Barca Players you can't lose next Saturday, so in a way this might be good for us. If we win they will be 7 points down and then its over cause they will lose there confidence !
joe
i dont think were scared we would just be much more happier if we had a larger lead but ...........WHY DID THE SCHEDULE HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS??? we have like no time to prepare for the biggest game in spain.......BUT WE SHOULD COME OUT ON TOP IN ALL THE OTHER GAMES..........i would be happy with a draw against madrid(i think we will win though) cuz that will be 4 points with 4 games and i dont expect us to lose 2 games
Btw I think 2 goals at least from the 4-2 are offside. might be 3
. I really could be wrong ! But is sure seams that way !
i honestly do not understand how the fuck madrid keep winning. its really gotten to a point of disbelief. thankfully they have to go to both valencia and villarreal away, and i just cannot believe they will get maximum points there. el classico is going to be important, and as long as we dont lose, things should be alright. the psychological consequences of a madrid victory could be potentially dangerous. im really not enjoying this season end drama. this league should have been done and dusted much sooner. we are in for a NERVOUS 2 or 3 weeks.
i also dont understan hw madrid keep winning, ramos is one hell of a coach, we need to avoid a loss at madrid by all means....for now we focus on chelsea
valdes arguments are always funny to me and i wonder how he'll be feeling if he was reading this blog. nyway, its pep's perspective thats d determinant and he has always spoken good about valdes
Lets just go and best Chelsea and Real. If our players have the desire to win both the CL and La Liga they will go out there and win both of these critical ties.
Yes watching Real's never-say-die attitude is worrying and Chelsea could have picked another time to return to form esp. Top Drog but we have to focus on ourselves and most imp BELIEVE that we can beat them both.
Cmon Barca...Go win us some silverware.
Hi. Still can't believe Pep rested players in the biggest game of the season. Valencia took well notice of that. This wouldn't have happened with Marquez and Toure in the team.
they should be worried, not us!!! i'm more worried over chelsea to be honest..
Anyway, it's passed. And they will be against Chelsea. What worries me the most about them is that they can frustrate us in the exact same way Valencia did..not playing nice, fouling a lot, etc.. but there are some differences: first, they don't have the defense they used to have (and it's not better than valencia's defense)..second, they don't have good wingers like valencia has. They don't use the wings except for defending.. they've got a strong midfield but our players and our attacking game there is stronger. I'm only worried about that last time goal drogba uses to score...only that.
And about madrid..jeez people, relax! if happens the worst, they still got to go to valencia..and i do not see them so well prepared to beat us. Last time pepe was their best defense, and now he's not there so..we still can afford loosing there IMO, but i really really think we won't. I don't have that feeling every season, but i have it now..
Will Robben be back against us?
@ Joe-Henry,
You may have a point . I think that Madrid's first and fourth goals appeared to be offsides . That seems to happen in their favour especially when they play at home. Sevilla only have themselves to blame . They wasted too many easy scoring opportunities .
Goals.
LINK
I love my team Barca.... But they got to find a very good and perfect goal keeper the next season in order to remain a great and dangerous team. I personally feel and think that VV need some rest cuz he has really been persistent for the past 4 to 5 seasons with no rest.
Let the brother be given some time to rest and adjust himself.
@ FCB-Holland. Its not about the goals at all. Madrid was soooooooooooooooooooo Luck ! 40% Control over the ball should say it all. I ball fallen off the goal keepers hand even if non of them are offside I hate how lucky they are. I can never cheer for such a team. When they played in anything other than the League the lose ( Champions or the Cup ) At least in these days. This is way I always be a Barca fan ! Also with Getafe pure Luck. Hopefully god will give us Justice when we win next Saturday ! Its not that I hate Madrid its that there celebrating now cause its only 4 points, its getting on my nerves
I will do exactly what i did in January..not visiting spanish press websites, and not watching spanish TV..(well, i'm not in Spain so it's not so difficult) and it worked out really well, lowering my stress level to the minimum..so i suggest you to do the same this week
About Victor..sometimes i believe people has no memory..that, or they became Barça fans in 2006. I have seen all kind of overrated keepers play in his position and none of them gave consistent performances. He has done it through the years, which doesn't mean he's perfect..he still has room for improvement..in this particular game, i saw him nervous from the beggining, coming out of the goal in weird situations, but i think that was due to our defense..they weren't too solid and i think he felt unprotected, specially by Puyol (who i love but not at central defense). The easiest thing to do is always blame to him, but watching the whole game would give a different perspective.
We must support the team no matter what.
Players are human not machines they can't perform at 100% all the time.