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January 2009 - Posts
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Barcelona kept alive their aim of a historic treble but only by the skin of their teeth making hard work of what should have been a simple victory over Espanyol.
Cheap tickets of only ten euros ensured a healthy turnout at the Camp Nou but it was to become a more stressful night than expected with first of all Jonathan Soriano missing an excellent chance to put Espanyol ahead.
Barca fielded a number of second string players and the usual edge was missing to their game in midfield and attack. They needed a mistake from the Espanyol goalkeeper to go ahead with Bojan tapping home, but then the youngster showed his true calibre with a delightful chip over the keeper for his second. Barca grabbed a third through a Pique header before the nerves really began to kick in and Espanyol scored twice, the second after a howler from stand-in keeper Pinto.
The main concern for Guardiola must have been the lack of assuredness from his second string. Pinto clearly did not feel at ease and resembled Caceres' performance in the last round of the cup against Atletico Madrid. Also the midfield failed to function with players caught in possession and forced into mistakes. Gudjohnsen had a bad night while Hleb showed willing but perhaps was to desperate to make an impression as on many occasions he tried to take on a player too many and lost the ball.
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Barcelona failed to win against Espanyol on Wednesday night for the first time since early December but Xavi denies that there is any concern and is confident there will be no drop in form.
Against Espanyol in the cup coach Pep Guardiola fielded a mainly second string team which included Pinto in goal and Caceres at centre-half. The real bad news on the night was the injury to Rafael Marquez which will rule him out for over a month.
Barca never looked like conceding a goal but neither created that many goal scoring chances, they will though be happy to go back to the Camp Nou next week and finish the contest off.
"We have a lot of reasons to be confident, the victories boost your morale and you go out onto the pitch expecting to win. We are ordered, disciplined and we play as a team, everything is going well so I have no reason to think that things will go down hill. Obviously the other teams will try to catch us but we are also thinking of increasing our lead.
Meanwhile rumours coming out of the Bernabeu that Real Madrid ex-president Florentino Perez is planning a raid on Barcelona for Lionel Messi a la Luis Figo in 2000 were laughed off by Xavi: "we are intelligent enough not to let the best player in the world leave us."
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Many Barca fans are saying that if Messi is the best player in the world then Dani Alves is the second and it's certainly true that he has really now found his form and is one of the key elements to Pep Guardiola's team.
One of the most reassuring aspects about him though is the way he has refused to get carried away even after such an impressive performance last weekend against Deportivo la Coruna.
"I am not a star, I keep myself level headed. In my life I have been able to enjoy football a lot and now I am doing so more than ever. I love this sport and now I am able to be with the players who before I have admired and now I am part of the team," he said, "It is very easy to play with Leo because he is a clever player, who knows the right to time to run with the ball, open spaces and create chances. He is a player who makes the difference, if we are the best right wing in the game? I don't know about me but he is definitely because he is the best player in the world."
Barca's next game is the derby in the cup against Espanyol and despite the problems that the team from Montjuic are suffering, Alves knows it will not be easy.
"These are always special games and it is more complex than just looking at the difference between the teams this season. We have to be careful because I am sure they will not give anything away," he said.
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Barcelona return to league action this weekend with the visit of Deportivo la Coruna after knocking out Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou in a game in which if only for the final minutes of the game Lionel Messi once again showed he is a notch above the rest.
Coach Pep Guardiola chose to rest most of the first team for the match with the team going into the game with a two-goal lead from the first leg and in truth the team struggled with Martin Caceres in particular nervous and hesitant at the back and it seemed as though his anxiety spread through the team. Boyan though cancelled out Atletico's early lead and then Gudjohnsen finished off a good run by Andres Iniesta to give Barca the win.
In the last 15 minutes Messi came on and showed with only a few touches why he is not only the best in the world but seriously if he continues to play at this level will be one of the all-time greats of the game. His touches and flicks along with his pace over a few yards makes him all but impossible to mark. On Wednesday night he the fear in the opposition is clear when he starts running and the ball and there worry is that he will be repeat the now famous goal that he scored against Getafe when he mimicked Maradona's goal against England in 1986 by running from the half-way line and leaving all in his wake.
Guardiola rightly criticised Atletico defender Perea after the game for his lunge at Messi which had more intention to injury the Argentine than anything else and these types of challenges will be the main worry for Barca as Messi has already shown himself to be prone to injury over the last few seasons.
"There are different types of kicks and some are done with the intention of harm like the other day. Messi never complains, he lifts his head and continues playing. It is the referee that has to be alert but not just for Messi but for all the players," said the Barca trainer.
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