Iniesta shines as Barcelona triumph

It must be tough playing in this Barcelona side when everything revolves around Lionel Messi. No matter how good you are there is always the little Argentian wonder kid stealing the headlines. However, in this Barcelona side there appears to be very few, if any real egos. They enjoy their football, enjoy playing together and it’s very evident which makes them such a joy to watch.

Last night it was Iniesta who stood out for me. Having missed the first leg last week he returned to the midfield alongside Xavi where he is at his best. My father watches very little football these days but sent an e-mail last week in which he described Iniesta as the ‘best European player since Platini’. Praise indeed considering some of his rivals, not forgetting his club and international team-mate Xavi who takes many of the accolades.

It is not a coincidence that when Barca lost to Inter Milan last season Iniesta was missing. He is such an integral part of the side but is hardly noticed which I find very strange. He is an amalgamation of Messi and Xavi; he can beat people so easily, can finish astutely and is also capable of providing the killer pass – as we saw last night. His understanding with Xavi appears at times to go beyond telepathic; the ball just glides effortlessly between them as they advance up the pitch without sharing a glance.

The game itself did not really come close to what people had hoped for. It was more open than the other three games but it had to be; Madrid had to go to the Camp Nou and score goals. At times the game was incredibly stretched and some of the football on display was phenomenal – from both sides. The referee dealt with the histrionics and baiting very well and should emerge with tremendous credit after his work last night.

The Madrid players were by and large a disgrace to the club, the fans and the spectators. Excluding Casillas, Higuain, Kaka, and Ozil the rest spent the entire game kicking lumps out of Barcelona players and whinging to the referee. I don’t often agree with Arsenal fans but Adebayor really is a nasty piece of work and was lucky to remain on the pitch. Although to be fair so were Alonso, Arbeloa, Carvalho, Lass, Marcelo, and Ronaldo….I could go on!

So, Barcelona have booked their place at Wembley which will be an historic return to London; the scene of their first European Cup triumph in 1992. It will be an incredible occasion and one that would not be the same if the Catalans were not there.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Part IV

Tonight is the final instalment of El Clasico for this season. Barcelona hold a two goal advantage returning to the Camp Nou where they are expected to finish off the job and advance to the Champions League final. Many will be hoping that we get to see some real football tonight after the rather fractious affair at the Bernabeu last week.

I am fascinated to see how Jose Mourinho approaches tonight’s game. There is surely no point in playing conservatively as they are already losing so will he set out his team to attack Barca with speed and precision? If I were to pick a Madrid side tonight I would start with the majority of their attacking midfielders. I would like to see only Alonso in front of the back four with Kaka, Ozil, Ronaldo and one of their strikers all starting.

It would give them incredible speed on the break which is all they are likely to achieve. With the game being played at the Camp Nou the possession stats are going to favour Barcelona by a ratio of 3:1 at least. When Madrid have the ball they need to move it quickly, and accurately to their creative players. For all Barcelona’s brilliant passing and pressing they are vulnerable and must be exploited if Real are to avoid defeat. However, going all-out attack too early could end the tie very quickly if it doesn’t go to plan.

Both clubs lost in La Liga at the weekend, but rested players so not too much notice should be taken of that. The Catalan’s welcome back Andres Iniesta to the squad after missing the first leg through injury. Also back in the squad is Eric Abidal who had surgery a mere 6 weeks ago to remove a tumour from his liver.

It should be another enthralling game, featuring some of the world’s best players. Hopefully it will not become all about bad tempered players and refereeing decisions as the last game did.

Barcelona, Guardiola and Messi reign supreme in the Bernabeu

Last night’s victory for Barcelona in the Bernebeu could not have been sweeter. After the war of words between the coaches prior to the game the Catalan giants went out and proved a significant point. They have surely now overcome their bitter rivals with the return leg at the Camp Nou still to come.

The game began very similarly to the previous two; Madrid very organised and defensive with Barcelona dominating possession. The objective from Madrid was clearly not to concede early and hope to strike on the counter attack later in the game. The level of skill and technique from both sides was outstanding, although the game was scrappier on occasions than some might have hoped.

Unfortunately there was a rather unpleasant undertone to the game that continued to affect the football. Both sets of players seemed intent on getting their opposing players cautioned or sent off. Finally, in the 62 minute the game boiled over and Pepe was dismissed for a bad tackle on Dani Alves. Whilst it was not the most malicious tackle you will ever see his foot was raised and caught the Brazilian. The referee was surrounded by Barcelona shirts and produced the red card shortly afterwards.

The sending off has been debated long and hard already but I feel he was correct to send Pepe off. The previous two games have been fiery and the Portuguese midfielder had been lucky to complete 90 minutes in the Cup final last week. Next though we had the reaction of Mourinho which resulted in him being sent to the stands. It was a shameful end for the manager whose pre and post-match comments have been simply ridiculous; I hope UEFA punish him to the full extent of their powers.

With Madrid down to 10 men the gaps began to appear and Xavi, now playing with more freedom began to dictate the play. In the 70^th minute Barcelona took the lead after a fantastic cross from Afellay for Messi to pass the ball through Casillas’ legs and into the net. The Blaugranes in the Bernebeu erupted and the noise was deafening. The reaction from Pep Guardiola was magnificent and he would have been delighted that his young starlet scored the goal.

Ten minutes later Messi produced one of the finest individual goals ever witnessed in a game of this magnitude. He picked the ball up 35 yards out and just ran at the Madrid defence. Now down to 10 men the gaps between the midfield and defence were too large and Barcelona are just too good if you let them have time and space. He moved, or rather glided through three or four white shirts before finishing with his right foot. It was simply outstanding. Once again, the reaction from the Barcelona players, staff and supporters was incredible. The tie was over.

The game will hopefully be remembered for Messi’s brilliance but has been rather overshadowed by Mourinho’s appalling behaviour. I am a huge fan of the Portuguese manager and think he is an unbelievably talented man. However, his baiting of Guardiola, his constant moaning about officials and his general demeanour last night was shocking and something you just don’t want to see.

My congratulations to everyone associated with Barcelona and I am very much hoping they add a 4^th European Cup on 28^th May.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26VpWAAjPZ0

Torres and Villa finally score again

The results yesterday would have meant little to Vicente Del Bosque, the Spanish national coach, apart from two noticeable goal scorers; Fernando Torres and David Villa.

Since Torres’ £50 million move to Chelsea he had failed to find the net in 732 minutes. The relief was there for all to see after he had smashed the ball into the bottom corner of the net; every Chelsea player proceeded to embrace him and congratulate the Spaniard. After he scored his whole game looked much improved, his touch began to return and you could almost see the confidence running through him again.

It is always said that confidence is the key element to any sport. It is essential for a striker in football; without that confidence in front of goal you can think too much and dither. A player playing with confidence simply knows where the goal is and strikes, which are key elements for both Torres and Villa, who tend to strike early to catch the goalkeeper unprepared.

Over in the Camp Nou last night David Villa was facing the prospect of going 12 games without a goal; something almost unheard of for someone so talented in front of goal. His finish was precise and laid on a plate for him by Jeffren whose magnificent ball deserved the emphatic finish it received. It has been an impressive first season at Barcelona for Villa who notched his 22^nd goal in all competitions.

It is always horrible to see top players desperately out of form. Confidence is an integral part of the game and these two strikers have looked a shadow of themselves in recent weeks. Hopefully we will see much more of El Nino and Villa in the remaining weeks of the season.

El Clasico battles commence

What an exciting three weeks we have install; Barcelona and Real Madrid will play four times in the space of 18 days which will decide their fates for this season. They are set to play in La Liga, the Copa del Rey final and the Champions League – all the games should be fascinating and should ooze quality.

The first of these four thrillers is the 2^nd La Liga game between the two Spanish giants; the first was won by Barcelona by five goals to nil at the Camp Nou. It was an incredible game which demonstrated the Catalan’s prowess and ability. Since that day Barcelona have managed to open up at eight point gap at the top of the table with seven games remaining. The Spanish league rules state that if sides finish level on points then the overall winner will be the team with the better head to head record.

It has been an incredible season for Barca already; they are on for the treble at the moment which would be their second under Pep Guardiola. They are without doubt the best club side in the world and there is reason to suggest they could be the best side in the history of the game. Three of their players were the finalists in the Ballon d’Or nominations this season which is a testament to their recent success.

Over in Madrid the entire season now hinges on these games. There is still the possibility of them walking away with the double (the league looks unlikely) which would be another feather in Mourinho’s cap. They are through to the semi-finals of the Champions League after an emphatic win over Tottenham in the quarters. The defeat at the Camp Nou will have hurt the Portuguese manager more than he would admit in public. He was completely unable to prevent the rout and he has not been in that position many times in his career.

The first game was without doubt the best game of football I have seen this season and possibly even longer. The levels of skill and technique were higher than anything you see in England and it was a pleasure to watch. Hopefully these four games will live up to expectation – I’m quite sure they will.

Spurs go out but can hold heads high

The inevitable happened last night; Spurs went out of the Champions League to Real Madrid after failing to overcome a 4 goal deficit from the first leg. Whilst they huffed and puffed they failed to break down the Madrid defence and conceded a sloppy goal to Cristiano Ronaldo which effectively ended the contest.

It has been an exciting campaign for Spurs who have scored 25 goals and conceded 17. They have clearly enjoyed playing in the Champions League and being tested against the best sides in Europe. It makes such a difference to see a team genuinely enjoying their football and the challenge. Their adventures this season remind me very much of Leeds United’s debut season when they reached the semi-finals.

The next hurdle for Real Madrid will be Barcelona who they now face 4 times in 19 days which will effectively decide their season. There was talk from the commentators last night that Mourinho’s mind will now be on Barca; I think he has thought about little else since the final whistle blew in their 5 goal humbling at the Camp Nou in November. Whilst few would back against Barcelona the fact that Madrid now have Mourinho makes a massive difference. In last season’s group stages Inter Milan lost convincingly home and away to Barca but came back to shock them in the semis.

Spurs now only have the Premier League to focus on which is actually just what they need. They have tasted Champions League football and must now ensure they participate next season. With Manchester City stumbling on Monday they have hope again, let us see what they can achieve in the next few weeks.

Arsenal vs Barcelona – a review

What a spectacle we saw on Wednesday night at the Emirates in possibly the best game of the season thus far. The level of football displayed by both sides was something to behold and in all honesty it was simply exceptional. I am not the biggest fan of Arsenal’s but to deny them praise for the way they played against Barcelona would be criminal.

The opening few minutes were breathtaking as the ball travelled from one end of the pitch to the other at tremendous speed and under impeccable control. The way the Catalan’s pass and move around the ball is staggering at points and one wonders how any team can deal with it. However, in this game they ran into a side capable of producing a similar style of football and were not afraid to produce it at the highest level.

It was hard to believe that when Villa ran onto Messi’s through ball to finish calmly that 26 minutes had elapsed before the deadlock was broken. There had been significant chances at either end with Messi and Van Persie guilty of squandering good openings. The game was scintillating and at half time I for one still thought both sides were capable of more.

The second half will forever live long in the memory of Arsenal fans who saw their side continue to compete and begin to get have a stronger influence on proceedings. The away side made changes with half an hour to go which placed less emphasis on attack and the home side took advantage. Firstly Van Persie (who had been very wasteful previously) finished from an acute angle to level the game and then after a fabulous move started by Wilshire equalised through the much maligned Arshavin.

It was a thrilling game to watch and sets the tie up perfectly for the 2^nd leg in the Camp Nou in 2 weeks time. Some of the individual performances were outstanding; Busquets, Koscielny, Messi, Xavi – who had a 93% pass completion rate and the man of the match Wilshire. The young English midfielder surpassed all expectations in this game and really announced himself to the world with an incredible display.

The tie is evenly balanced although Arsenal hold the lead at the half way stage. It will be another extraordinary game in 2 weeks time and it will be fascinating to see how both sides approach it. I still think Barcelona remain favourites but the gap has certainly closed since last season.