real vs barca
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Barcelona team news ahead of Real Madrid
Barcelona are already 16 points ahead of their great rivals
Real Madrid in the Spanish Primera Liga. Even with 12 games left after
tomorrow’s Clasico, there is very little chance of Barcelona losing the
Spanish title this season. Jordi Roura and his players will be desperate
for a good result at the Bernabeu, though, to banish the painful
memories of the recent defeats by Madrid and AC Milan.
Lionel Messi is likely to start, despite suffering from illness this week. The Argentinean star is keen to remind the jubilant fans of Madrid that Tuesday’s result was an aberration they should not get accustomed to. The Spanish cup game and the Champions league game in Milan were the two worst performances of the season by a long way by Barca, but they are determined to bounce back.
Two players who will not be in the team are Fabregas and Xavi, who are both in need of a rest. Although the Clasico tomorrow is important for confidence and morale, the really important game is against AC Milan on March 12th, and so it is vital that Xavi and Fabregas are ready for that.
David Villa has been showing good form and has been desperate for more time on the pitch, so he should get his wish tomorrow. The news from Madrid is that Ronaldo will start on the bench in order to stay fresh for the second leg against Manchester United.
Lionel Messi is likely to start, despite suffering from illness this week. The Argentinean star is keen to remind the jubilant fans of Madrid that Tuesday’s result was an aberration they should not get accustomed to. The Spanish cup game and the Champions league game in Milan were the two worst performances of the season by a long way by Barca, but they are determined to bounce back.
Two players who will not be in the team are Fabregas and Xavi, who are both in need of a rest. Although the Clasico tomorrow is important for confidence and morale, the really important game is against AC Milan on March 12th, and so it is vital that Xavi and Fabregas are ready for that.
David Villa has been showing good form and has been desperate for more time on the pitch, so he should get his wish tomorrow. The news from Madrid is that Ronaldo will start on the bench in order to stay fresh for the second leg against Manchester United.
Barcelona lose place as best in the world
Barcelona have been called the best in the world, and some
have said that the current team are the best in history. For nearly two
years now Barca have also been at the top of the world rankings for
football clubs, even when they lost the Primera Liga title of Spain to
Real Madrid last season. That run has now come to an end.
Three defeats in the last four games, two to Madrid and one to AC Milan, has seen the team slip to fifth in the rankings compiled by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. Chelsea’s cup double of last season has helped them jump to the top of the list, with Bayern Munich, Athletico Madrid and Corinthians also ahead of Barcelona.
The club will not be too concerned about these rankings, but it does highlight the mini crisis that the team is having at the minute. It is not just the losses, but the manner of them that has been so frustrating. Barcelona have always tended to concede goals, but the lack of penetration and clear chances in the last few games has been incredible.
Maybe Roura should rest the likes of Messi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Pedro and Xavi this weekend in the league. The players look tired and devoid of leadership, and they need to sort it out quickly. There is still very little danger of failing to win La Liga, but if we go out of the Champions League to AC Milan just after going out of the Copa Del Rey to Madrid, the season will suddenly seem like a disappointment.
Three defeats in the last four games, two to Madrid and one to AC Milan, has seen the team slip to fifth in the rankings compiled by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. Chelsea’s cup double of last season has helped them jump to the top of the list, with Bayern Munich, Athletico Madrid and Corinthians also ahead of Barcelona.
The club will not be too concerned about these rankings, but it does highlight the mini crisis that the team is having at the minute. It is not just the losses, but the manner of them that has been so frustrating. Barcelona have always tended to concede goals, but the lack of penetration and clear chances in the last few games has been incredible.
Maybe Roura should rest the likes of Messi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Pedro and Xavi this weekend in the league. The players look tired and devoid of leadership, and they need to sort it out quickly. There is still very little danger of failing to win La Liga, but if we go out of the Champions League to AC Milan just after going out of the Copa Del Rey to Madrid, the season will suddenly seem like a disappointment.
Barcelona to hold crisis meeting ahead of Champions League
Nobody seems to be able to put their finger on the reasons
for the recent slump in form suffered by FC Barcelona, but everyone
concerned with the club knows that it needs to be put right quickly.
Three poor games have seen Barca crash out of the Spanish cup and leave
themselves with a 2-0 deficit to overcome in the Champions League.
The players and coach have arranged an informal meeting in a restaurant outside Barcelona to discuss things in the hope to rekindle the scintillating form that has deserted them at the worst possible time. They will forgo the double training session for this meeting, which I think is a good idea and hopefully it will work.
Football writers are claiming that, all of a sudden, teams have worked out how to play against the Barcelona system, but that is ridiculous. Teams have tried the exact same tactics before and got nowhere, or simply got lucky, like Chelsea. Barca have not been at their normal level, whether it is through tiredness, complacency or something else.
We know that Barca are perfectly capable of beating AC Milan by more than two goals, as long as they are playing well. I don’t think the tactics need changing, but somehow the approach is wrong. There is a theory that the players are lacking the direction previously given to them by Tito Vilanova or Pep Guardiola, and that seems the most likely explanation. If so, there is nothing that can be done until the coach returns from his cancer treatment in America, and Barca may have to wait until next year to win the fifth European cup.
The players and coach have arranged an informal meeting in a restaurant outside Barcelona to discuss things in the hope to rekindle the scintillating form that has deserted them at the worst possible time. They will forgo the double training session for this meeting, which I think is a good idea and hopefully it will work.
Football writers are claiming that, all of a sudden, teams have worked out how to play against the Barcelona system, but that is ridiculous. Teams have tried the exact same tactics before and got nowhere, or simply got lucky, like Chelsea. Barca have not been at their normal level, whether it is through tiredness, complacency or something else.
We know that Barca are perfectly capable of beating AC Milan by more than two goals, as long as they are playing well. I don’t think the tactics need changing, but somehow the approach is wrong. There is a theory that the players are lacking the direction previously given to them by Tito Vilanova or Pep Guardiola, and that seems the most likely explanation. If so, there is nothing that can be done until the coach returns from his cancer treatment in America, and Barca may have to wait until next year to win the fifth European cup.
Neymar expected to join Barcelona this summer!!
There is no official confirmation of when, or even if, the
young Brazilian superstar Neymat will become a Barcelona player.
According to the Brazilian media, however, it is merely a matter of
when, and the consensus seems to be that the transfer will be completed
in the summer.
According to Mundodeportivo, the club have been negotiating the terms of Neymar’s arrival for the last 18 months. The 21-year old was believed to be keen to stay at his club Santos until the summer of 2014, when the World cup will be played in Rio, but the belief now is that the striker feels that the time has come to move to the big time in Europe. Neymar already has 17 goals from his 28 senior international games, and has gained enough experience at club level in Brazil.
There are plenty of clubs interested in Neymar, such as Chelsea and Manchester City in England, PSG, Real Madrid and other big hitters, but there seems to be an agreement in place with Barca, which seems to have signaled the departures of David Villa and Alexis Sanchez from the Nou Camp.
It seems like the critics who say that Barcelona is all about Messi and that if you stop him you stop the whole team, will have to think of something else.
According to Mundodeportivo, the club have been negotiating the terms of Neymar’s arrival for the last 18 months. The 21-year old was believed to be keen to stay at his club Santos until the summer of 2014, when the World cup will be played in Rio, but the belief now is that the striker feels that the time has come to move to the big time in Europe. Neymar already has 17 goals from his 28 senior international games, and has gained enough experience at club level in Brazil.
There are plenty of clubs interested in Neymar, such as Chelsea and Manchester City in England, PSG, Real Madrid and other big hitters, but there seems to be an agreement in place with Barca, which seems to have signaled the departures of David Villa and Alexis Sanchez from the Nou Camp.
It seems like the critics who say that Barcelona is all about Messi and that if you stop him you stop the whole team, will have to think of something else.
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