barca - Most popular for September 2007
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Barca 2 - 1 SevillaA very important win for Barca, especially given the pre-game celebrations for the 50th birthday of
that beautiful stadium, the Camp Nou.
positives
- Henry looks better with every game. Desperately unlucky for the nth time in front of
goal, but as the man said himself, give him a month to get fitter and used to the team.
It always pains me to be writing about the departure of a canterano, a player who came up through
the youth system of the club. Thiago (pictured above with fellow canterano Messi and good friend
Ronaldinho) appeared more than 100 times for Barca B before he was promoted to the first team in
2001.
The fact that during 6 seasons in the first team he only managed 138 appearances tells its own
story about his misfortunes.
A few surprising deals did go through, but I'm sure some clubs lamented the (to them, untimely) end
of the transfer window, most notably Deportivo who were looking to get 3 more players and as far as
I know didn't succeed.
Frankly, based on their opening day performance, I can't blame Miguel Angel Lotina, but surely
somebody at that club realized the malaise there during the long months of the transfer window?
As Ray Hudson said, Barca demonstrated both sides of their personality in this game. The first half
was marked by a return to the wonderful, flowing, quick-passing football that the fans have been
missing for quite some time, while the second half was marked by the constant state of uncertainty
that characterised some games from last season. By that I mean that the players looked like they
didn't know what they were supposed to be doing out there.
The so-called 'FIFA virus' strikes again. Personally, I've got nothing against international
football - in fact, I love it - but I just wish the federations and FIFA would schedule things a
bit better. It's unfortunate that this international break comes two weeks into the La Liga (and
Serie A) season. 14 Barca players have been called up this time:
friendies
Ronaldinho (Brazil, vs Mexico and USA)
Giovani dso Santos (Mexico, vs Panama and Brazil)
Gabi Milito and Leo Messi (Argentina, vs Australia)
competitive matches
Xavi and Iniesta (Spain, Euro 08 qualifiers vs Iceland and Latvia)
Lilian Thuram, Eric Abidal and Thierry Henry (France, Euro 08 qualifiers vs Italy and Scotland)
Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy, Euro 08 qualifiers vs France and Ukraine)
Eidur Gudjohnsen (Iceland, Euro 08 qualifiers vs Spain and Northern Ireland)
Deco (Portugal, Euro 08 qualifiers vs Poland and Serbia)
Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast, African Nations Cup qualifier, Gabon)
Samuel Eto'o had his operation, and it was apparently a success.
I don't think I need to write a match report - it was the same old problems, after all. That's the
depressing part, although I'd argue that it's far from crisis time just yet. The team are in an
awkward position right now with a string of tough matches coming up that they have to get results
in, but if they can't rise to the challenge then they don't deserve to compete for any silverware
anyway.
Barcelona 3-0 LyonPositives
- 3 points against arguably our most difficult rival in the group
- Messi continues to improve all aspects of his game
- Henry really needed that goal
- Great to see Giovani and Bojan get their Champions League debut
- That defence: Zambrotta-Marquez-Milito-Abidal.
