FCBnews

Preview: Athletic Bilbao - Barça

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:47:02 -0300

Back to La Liga tomorrow with a visit to San Mames to face Athletic Bilbao (kick off 10pm). Pep Guardiola will have to make do without the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic and flu victims Eric Abidal and Toure Yaya, so Johnathan dos Santos has been called up to make up the numbers. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that nobody else goes down with the flu as we already have other players who are not at 100% after various knocks and niggles picked up in the last couple of weeks.

Athletic will probably be without Fernando Llorente who is unlikely to recover in time from a hip injury, though coach Joaquin Caparrós will not name his 18-man squad until tomorrow lunchtime. Athletic are currently 8th in the table on 16 points and of five home games they have won three (Espanyol, Villarreal and Atletico) and lost two (Sevilla and Sporting). The teams havev played 78 league games in Bilbao with Athletic winning 41, Barça 21 with 16 draws, however in recent seasons we have a better record and have only lost twice in the last ten seasons. We have already played Athletic four times in 2009 including the final of the Copa del Rey and we have won all four games. Our last visit to San Mames was in August for the first leg of the Spanish Supercopa and we won 1-2 with goals from Xavi and Pedro. If we are worried about our missing players tomorrow we should remember that for that game we were without Messi, Ibra and Iniesta (Click here for a report on that game).

Despite our problems it is time for Barça to get back to winning ways away from home, apart from the win at Cultural Leonesa in the cup we haven't won away since beating Malaga at the end of September. Also, a failure to win tomorrow will give Madrid a chance to go top before next weekend's clasico which will be an unnecessary boost for them. Henry may have played 120 minutes for France on Wednesday and be feeling a bit guilty for his handball, Keita, Puyol and Chygrynskiy may be coming back after injuries, and we may be worried about the big games against Inter and Madrid, but I'm confident we can get it right tomorrow.

Barça's 18-man squad: Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Marquez, Chygrynskiy, Maxwell, Busquets, Xavi, Keita, Iniesta, Johnathan dos Santos, Messi, Pedro, Bojan, Henry, Jeffren.

Possible starting XI: Valdés; Alves, Piqué, Chygrynskiy, Maxwell; Xavi, Busquets, Keita; Messi, Bojan, Iniesta.

My prediction: Athletic 0 Barça 2

Barça - Real Madrid Sunday 29th November Kick Off 7pm

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:02:42 -0300

The kick off time for the first Clasico this season has been fixed for 7pm on Sunday 29th November. You have been warned. Don't go making any silly family plans for that time.

Swine Flu Hits Barça

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:37:00 -0300

If we thought it was bad yesterday with the news of Zlatan Ibrahimovic's hamstring injury, today it is worse as news arrives of two cases of Swine Flu in Barça's first team squad. Eric Abidal is the first player to be confirmed as having the H1N1 viral strain of influenza A while Toure Yaya is suspected of having the virus but is waiting for conformation. We may feel relieved that Abidal has caught the bug while he is already out injured but Toure, who is thought to have picked it up while on international duty, trained with other players yesterday and may have passed on the illness. We will just have to wait and see if any of the other players get ill. Presumably if a lot of players get it then there may be a case for postponing matches but I don't suppose we'll get much help from the Spanish League who seem set on doing everything to complicate our defence of La Liga.

With the big matches coming up against Inter and Madrid this is a dreadful time for us to get hit like this. Toure is considered to be very doubtful for the Inter match but he may be ok in time for Madrid on November 29. We will just have to hope that none, or very few, of the other players go down with the virus.

Gabi Milito Back In Action

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:25:19 -0300

Excellent news this morning as Gabi Milito played his first friendly game since getting injured in the Champions League semi-final with Manchester United on April 29 2008. Milito played the first 45 minutes of a friendly game against Bolivian team Bolivar at Barça's training ground in Sant Joan Despí which Barça won 4-1. I have to admit I was beginning to think that Milito would never make it back but today's news is very encouraging. Given the length and the complications of Milito's injury it is unlikely that he will be back in the first team for a few weeks, but if all goes well he will be an excellent addition to strengthen the squad in the new year.

Monday Bits And Bobs

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:53:45 -0300

As we near the end of the year the personal awards keep coming in recognition of our excellent year. Leo Messi has been named the best player of 2009 by the French magazine Onze Mondial, and in a final list of 57 nominations Barça were the team with the most candidates, besides Messi there were nominations for Valdes, Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Xavi, Toure, Iniesta, Ibrahimovic and Henry making a total of ten players from Barça which beat Manchester United who had eight nominations.

There was also an award from the Observer Sports Monthly Magazine who named Pep Guardiola as the Best Coach of the Year. There is also an excellent article from John Carlin on Guardiola. Click here to read the article, it iswell worth a look.

The negative news today is that Eric Abidal could be out for three weeks after picking up an injury during France's victory over Ireland on Saturday. This is a really bad time as Abidal will now probably miss the crucial games at the end of the month against Inter Milan and Real Madrid. Carles Puyol and Dmytro Chyngrynskiy are also needing treatment at the moment but hopefully they will both be fit for Saturday's visit to Athletic Bilbao.

Real Madrid Seen As Biggest Threat

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:08:09 -0300

Just a quick post to give the results of the latest poll and to inform you of the new one. Asked "Who is Barça's biggest rival in La Liga this season?" there was no surprise that the majority of you voted for Real Madrid. What was perhaps a little surprising was that only 60% voted for Madrid while 21% voted for Sevilla. The other votes went to "other" with 10%, while 9% of you voted for "none". The next poll in the sidebar is for who will qualify from our Champions League group. Remember it's all very close at the moment with Inter on 6 points, Rubin and Barça on 5 points and Dynamo Kiev on 4. So get voting, and please feel free to use the comments section to discuss any of the internationals today. I just watched Brazil beat England but it was all pretty dull, hopefully Spain - Argentina will be better.

Making Sense Of The Transfer Rumours

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:42:05 -0300

I have to admit I was tempted to put a headline to this article along the lines of "Barça move for Casillas" or "Torres agrees terms with Barça", just to see how many extra visits it would create. Yes, folks, there is an international break this week which means that with newspaper inches to fill, it is time for our friends from the mainstream media to churn out any old rumour based on the smallest piece of evidence. There is nearly always something to back up the story such as Manchester City manager, Mark Hughes, being spotted at the recent Osasuna-Barça game. However, was Hughes negotiating over Robinho, watching Toure Yaya or following Osasuna's right back? The rest is nearly always speculation on the part of the press who really have nothing to lose by running the story: when they guess right they can say that they told us so, and when they get it wrong it doesn't matter because they have sold a few more papers, and they know that we, the punters, will always come back hungry for more.

So, here I am, reluctantly playing the same game as the press by writing about possible signings that deep down I don't think will happen. This week's favourite is of course the supposed interest for Robinho. My opinion on this one is there may well be interest and Barça may have put out feeleres to see if there is any possibility of getting the Brazilian cheaply. However, we need to remember that Man City paid Real Madrid €42 million for Robinho and are hardly going to let him go for much less. It would all be fine if we could get him for a knock-down €15 million but City have absolutely no need for money or for a quick sale, so the upshot is that they won't budge on the price which leaves it up to us to decide if we want to pay an exhorbitant amount for a player who really isn't as good as some people might say. While we have youngsters like Pedro, Jeffren and Gai Assulin it would really go against club policy to make such a move. Therefore I would happily make a bet with anyone, and risk my reputation if you like, that Robinho will not sign for Barça this winter.

The next ongoing rumour is that of Cesc Fabregas. the fact that it is back in the papers now is totally because of the aforementioned international break/inches to fill. I think this could be a move that does go through in the end but if it does we will be paying a lot of money. Fabregas is under contract until 2014 and is unlikely to want to push Arsenal for a move as it would make him highly unpopular with the fans and Arsenal could always refuse to sell him. So, it is no good for Barça just to want Cesc, it really comes down to whether we are willing to make an offer that Arsenal can't refuse. Seeing as it is an election year the likelihood of this is much higher, as any potential president will need to have something to offer the socis in order to gain their vote and Fabregas would undoubtedly be a vote-winner. However, it is still unlikely that the player will back any candidate while under contract with Arsenal without knowing if said candidate is going to win.

Other rumours this week have talked about Sevilla's Diego Perotti or Ajax's Luis Suarez, but for me the player who is probably most interesting is Girondins attacking midfielder Yoann Gourcuff. Girondins paid AC Milan €15 million for the French international this summer and if we upped the price a bit Girondins would probably agree to sell. However, at the moment it is all just speculation based on an interview with the player where he stated that he would like to play for Barça. Who wouldn't I ask myself.

We have also had the usual nonsense about Toure Yaya leaving, a supposed interest from Inter Milan in Leo Messi (please!), and a possible move from Arsenal for Gai Assulin (based on Assulin not yet signing a new contract). I'm not going to even bother saying anything more than I don't believe any of these players is going to leave Barça any time soon.

It is a funny thing with rumours. Last season there was the usual stuff, at one time or another we were linked to Ribery, Silva, Lahm, Zhirkov, Benzema, Villa, Forlan, Fabregas, Lampard, Adebayor...to name just a few. At the end of the day we signed Ibrahimovic, who admitedly had been mentioned as a possibility, and Maxwell and Chygrynskiy who had hardly been mentioned at all. It is the same story every year: a big pile of speculation with the hope that once in a while they get it right. For now, the Fcbnews prediction, at least for the January transfer window, is that we will sign nobody and sell nobody. When we get nearer to the summer we can talk again.

Fifa Club World Cup Draw

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:56:39 -0300

There is just under a month before the beginning of the 2009 Fifa Club World Cup which is being held in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates from December 9 to December 19, and this lunchtime the draw was made for the tournament. As there are seven teams taking part the draw is a little confusing. First there will be a play-off between the host team Al-Ahly and New Zealand team Aukland City. The winner will go into the next round and will play Mexican team Atlante FC, while in this same "quarter final" stage the Congolese team TP Mazempa play South Korea's Pohang Steelers. Barça and the Argentinian team Estudiantes come into the tournament at the semi final stage. Estudiantes will play the winner of TP Mazembe and Pohang Steelers on December 15, while Barça will play whoever gets through out of Al Ahly, Aukland and Atlante in the other semi on December 16. The Final takes place on December 19.

This of course is our chance to finish 2009 with six trophies out of six, so it would be fantastic to win. On first glance it looks most likely that we will probably have to play the Mexican team Atlante in the semi-final and if we get through it should be the Argentinians Estudiantes in the final. But football's a funny old game so there may be a surprise or two.

Barça 5 Cultural Leonesa 0 (Barça win 7-0 on aggregate)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:39:42 -0300

Five second half goals gave Barça an easy win over Cultural Leonesa to put us into the last 16 of the Copa del Rey, but the big news in the Copa tonight is the elimination of Real Madrid who could only beat little Alcorcon 1-0 and go out 1-4 on aggregate. Pep Guardiola was taking few risks that Barça would suffer a similar humilliation and the only player from Barça Atletic who started the game tonight was Johnathan dos Santos who showed his potential with an excellent assist for our second goal.

As is so often the case in games like this, there was a lack of intensity from the team in the first half. There were a lot of imprecise passes and early on a couple of loose back passes might have seen us go behind. First Pinto had to come out to clear from Maxwell's soft header back, and then Puyol passed back from the left back position and Ferran could have intercepted the ball but instead stepped over the ball in an attempt to fool Pinto but our keeper managed to react and just get his foot to the ball before it got anywhere closer to the goal.

As would be expected we dominated possession and the little danger we created generally came from Alves and Pedro on the right with one delightful back heel from Alves to Pedro whose cross was cleared by the defence, the first real intervention from Cultural's goalkeeper Calzado came in the 29th minute when Pedro's cross from the right was deflected goalwards and Calzado showed good reflexes to change direction and tip the ball around the post. As we neared half time Calzado had an easy save from a long range shot from Bojan, before making an excellent point blank save from Jeffren. A disappointing first half ended with Pedro heading over from Alves's free kick.

It wasa different story in the second half after Bojan put us ahead stabbing home Jeffren's low driven cross from close range in the 52nd minute. Two minutes later a stylish flick from Johnathan set up Bojan to dribble wide of the goalkeeper before firing into the empty net from a tight angle. Messi and Fontas came on for Jeffren and Puyol, and Messi had an immediate impact on the game. First he put Iniesta into the area, and after drawing the goalkeeper Iniesta played the ball acropss goal to Pedro who shot past two defenders to make it 3-0. A minute later a poor kick from Calzado went straight to Pedro who headed the ball forward to Messi who sped past two defenders before sending a screamer into the roof of the net.

Messi had a couple more chances to add to his goal but was twice denied by Calzado. Then in the 75th minute Messi fed Pedro on the right and Pedro's cross was met by Xavi who headed home. Messi put another chance just wide and then in the last minute Alves made a great run into the area but he was denied a deserved goal by the base of the post.

It was good to see a different attitude in the second half and one has to wonder what Guardiola said to the team at half time, but the 26,322 who turned up for the game deserved the exhibition for braving the cold. There were plenty of positives to take from this game: Alves and Messi both looked more like their usual selves and hopefully the game will help their confidence with the big games awaiting us at the end of the month; Pedro had another very good game on the right while Bojan definitely needed his goals as he has looked a bit anxious in his recent appearances; and it was good to see a couple of new boys in Johnathan dos Santos and Andreu Fontas who both gave competent performances. These cup-ties may seem like a pushover for some people, but if you think playing these "little" teams is easy, just go ask Real Madrid what they think about it.

Barça: Pinto 6.5, Alves 7.5, Marquez 6, Puyol 6 (Messi m61, 7.5), Maxwell 6, Johnathan dos Santos 6.5, Busquets 6, Iniesta 7 (Xavi m65, 7), Pedro 8, Bojan 7.5, Jeffren 6 (Fontas m59, 6.5).

Goals: m52 Bojan 1-0, m54 Bojan 2-0, m63 Pedro 3-0, m64 Messi 4-0, m75 Xavi 5-0

No Barça cards:

Attendance: 26,322

Robert Enke RIP

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:10:53 -0300

Tragic news just in. Ex Barça goalkeeper Robert Enke today took his own life by throwing himself under a train. Enke was reported to be have been suffering from depression since his two-year-old daughter Lara died in 2006. Enke played four times for Barça in the 2002/03 season but never established himself in the team. He played seven times for Germany and was currently playing for Hannover 96. It is terribly sad to lose such a young man. Enke was 32-years-old. May he rest in peace.