Where do we go from here? Some may find that to be a strange question! After all despite the recent troubles we are still having a very successful season, especially with respect to many big teams. We most probably will wrap up the La Liga title in a couple of weeks and reaching the semi-final of other two competition is a very successful season for any other team.
Bayern Munich sealed their place in the final of UEFA Champions League by beating FC Barcelona 3-0 at the Camp Nou. To be honest they had almost sealed their passage in the first half, only the confirmation was left. That was done tonight. The two legged tie ended with an aggregate score of 7-0 to Bayern Munich and that was a total humiliation.
"Barça!, Orgull, Barça!", that will be the message displayed on Camp Nou Mosaic ahead of the Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich. In the end it all comes to that - The Pride. The pride of representing FC Barcelona, the pride of playing in Barca way and the very pride of not giving it up till it over.
Barça Football Club will not be having a title celebration tonight. When the match started there was as chance - if we win and Madrid dropped points late on. But it will never be happening as we were held on to a last minute equaliser against Bilbao. Once agains it was the lack of aerial defense at the center back position which put us in this mess.
It was sheer humiliation, there is no other word to describe what happened at the Allianz Arena. In the end there was a sheer releief that they put only that many goal against us. Bayern with this sensational victory not only paid rest to all our Wembley hopes but may be they have clearly emerged as the Next Big Thing in Europe.
FC Barcelona will face Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena tomorrow night in the First Leg of the UEFA Champions League 2012-13 Semi-Final. The newly crowned Bundesliga Champions will present a huge challenge for this Barca side, especially with a number of players missing especially in defense. Inspite of all the issues with the missing defenders Barca fans were given some good news or partial.
FC Barcelona kept on with their march to the La Liga title with a 1-0 victory at home against Levante. We did left it pretty late with the deciding goal from Cesc Fabregas coming in the 84th minute. The scoreline did not exactly tell the story of the game as we dominated it from the beginning. We were sloppy in the second half, but Vilanova was smart enough to make the necessary substitution in order to secure the important three points.
FC Barcelona stretched their lead on top of la Liga to sixteen points after a 3-0 away victory against Real Zaragoza. Real Madrid who are yet to play this week will have a chance to reduce it. Two goals from Tello and an splendid opener from Thiago gave us the three points in a match where a lot of our stars were rested or not available.
FC Barcelona has been paired with Bayern Munich at the semi-finals of the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League. The first leg of the tie will take place at the home of Newly crowned BundesLiga Champions on the 23rd of April. The return leg at the Camp Nou will be held on the 1st of May. The other semi-final is between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid with the first leg taking place in Germany.
What will we do without this Guy - Lionel Messi. There were debates going on about how much this Barca side depends on him. Going by the stats it looked like they could do without him, having a 78% win record when Messi does not start. But Jesus this match showed why we depend on him so much. he may not have scored but when we went down a goal, the first thing Vilanova did was to ask him to get ready.
I don't think we have ever taken as many hit in Europe as we took when we visited Paris last week. The two goal conceded and the last minute draw was not only the bad thing, what worried us more was the injuries to Messi and Mascherano. With Mascherano out we don't have any proper center back option to chose from for tomorrow night, assuming that Abidal don't start.
FC Barcelona geared up for the return leg against PSG in spectacular fashion by thrashing Mallorac 5-0 at the Camp Nou. With this win we are able to maintain our 13 point lead with just eight games to go. The team which missed majority of it's stars produced a brilliant show to win the match. The goals which were scored were simply brilliant but the moment of the match was to watch Eric Abidal coming back to action with the fans applauding him at every occasion.
The first leg of UEFA Champions League at Paris ended in a 2-2 stalemate after PSG secured a last minute equaliser. Messi gave us the lead in the first half and Xavi made it 2-1 in the ending moments of normal time, but it wasn't meant to be a victory after PSG grabbed a deserving equaliser in the end.
It had to happen, you cannot keep Barca and Ibrahimovic away from each other. We had to meet each other. He may have tamed down a bit on criticism about our boys after going to Paris Saint-Germain, but there is no lack of passion when he face us. Unfortunately for PSG he is suspended for the first leg and will only play at the Camp Nou, our backyard.
