Espanyol vs Barcelona "Match Preview"

Without Henry, Eto, Deco, Thuram, Edmilson, Oleguer, Giovani and Sylvinho, Frank Rijkaard calls up each of Marc Crosas, Alberto Botia and Victor Sanchez to join the list facing Espanyol this Saturday. This will make the mission harder for Barcelona players while they are willing to prove themself away from the Nou Camp after successful night in the Champions league.

The start line up will not be different from the one played against Lyon, the only thing is that we might see Ronaldinho starting the match. But beside this, Frank Rijkaard will apply the same strategy.

Taking into account the history of both teams, Barcelona has better chance to win the game. But Espanyol has never been the easy opponent in the derby. Last year as we all remember Espanyol beat Barca 3-1.

Lyon 2 - 2 Barca "Match Review"

With fantastic Goal, Barca started the match very nicely after very well counter attack started from Messi then to Bojan and finished by Iniesta. Four minutes later from freekick Lyon brings the game again to the start point. In the secomd half from a penalty kick, Messi makes it 2-1 for Barca after he himslef had been brough down in the Box. Almost twenty minutes later Juninho from a penalty kick committed by Abidal, the home side equalises the game.

Xavi and Toure were the main characters in Barcelona performance, Toure appeared the way he did in the last weeks, being successful in cutting the balls from the opponent giving the freedom to Xavi to play more in the front line. The defense line didn't have so many problem, with Puyol and Milito, both were focused quit well. The only gap was coming from the right side, with Zambrotta mistakes, Frank found himself forced to replace him with Marquez, who stands next to Milito, moving Puyol to the right side. The only negative point that came from Abidal was the penalty kick in the second half, but in general his left side was not an easy path for Lyon. Bojan didn't get to touch the ball so often, but he was the main reason for the two goals that gave Barcelona the qualifying and the 1st place with 11 points.

Barca start line up didn't include Ronaldinho and Henry. Iniesta played in the left side while Bojan was in the front line as striker. Gudjohnsen took Iniesta place in the middle. But even so Barca didn't change 4-3-3 tactic.

No new tactics to be mentioned, the same way of players movment depending like usual on the wings from both side. One point was missed from Barca, shots from outside the area was not applied, except one in the first half was well done by Yaya, was saved by vercoutre. The team in general was fast enough but in the other hand side Lyon still is not Lyon last year.

Barcelona plays away in Champions League

Away from the Spanish league, Barcelona play away from home, but this time against Lyon. The French team is still far from the team that appeared last years, even if in the last weeks with better results they got to show good performance.

Everybody knows the difficulties Barca had in La Liga when they were playing away from the Nou Camp. This Game for Barca is a matter of solving the problem with playing away more than winning the three points. Especially that they need psychological preparation for the game against Espanyol.

Generally speaking, the media started talking about tactics change. From the other hand side, we all know Frank and 4-3-3 start line format. The same attack mentality will be applied, and beside the players will be asked for more effort.

Barcelona - Recreativo "Match Review"

The match was obviously between two teams who had different goals, Barcelona willing to score early to catch the match as soon as possible, Recreativo players were just kept focusing in keeping their goal empty.

First half was completely dominated by Barcelona. We could rarely see Recreativo having the ball. The main problem, that however, remained unsolved for Barca was in the Box area. With too many defenders it was hard for Henry to make any run. Messi hoped with presonal effort to open the score but he didn't get it right. While XAVI was moving forward in some occasions, he was also one of the reasons of Barcelona domination tonight. Yaya Toure could keep the balance between the lines, he was able to delay Recartivo attacks during the match. Barcelona players with too small spaces was forced to end the first half with no goals.

In the second half Messi made great run but his ball was just abit far from the right post. Barcelona was not able to use any of the corner kicks untill Milito after 64 minutes scored his first goal from corner kick was taken by Xavi. From here the match took another curve. The goal was just enough to free Barcelona players and we could see Henry moving better with more spaces. After Bojan replaced Gudjohnsen, Iniesta moved to his normal position where he could find more spaces. Three minutes after the first goal Henry received long ball from Xavi delivering it to Bojan who controled it nicely and put it in the goal making it 2-0 for the host. Barcelona after that took off the pressure and it was clear that they gaind the 3 points. In the last 10 minutes Messi won a penalty and he was able to score the 8th goal this season that he deserved, Before the final whistle Barcelona had some chances to make the score bigger but 3-0 was the final result.

From my point of view Barcelona's problem tonight was “moving without the ball”, this what made it easier for Recreativo to cut the balls especially in the first half. This also happens when Barca plays away, like Frank said "he wants more effort from the players".

Pushing Bojan was Good option for Frank, the player wants to fight for a place and he moved nicely all the time, he still has to work much more but tonight he really got to show good performance. Barca fan were happy to see him scorring at Nou Camp.

The defense was stable for Barca tonight, Puyol, Milito and Marguez had no problem in stopping Recreativo from scoring. Abidal was standing well with the defense line, but he still has to improve when he moves to the front line, same thing with Zambrotta, especially when they play against team like Recreativo.