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Sunday, February 14, 21:00 CET – Estadio Vicente Calderon, Madrid

Pique, out.
No problem, Marquez can be his back-up.
Marquez, out.
No matter, there’s always Chygrynskiy.
Chygrynskiy, out.
Apparently Abidal doesn’t mind centre back.
Abidal, out.
Well at least there’s the in form Dani Alves!
Dani Alves, out.
We all remember Toure’s heroics against Chelsea last season, he performs well in the back!
Toure, out.

Oh, and did I mention that the remaining players are up against Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan?

Some may call this a disaster, others a tragedy. Fans are beginning to fly the white flag in the lead up to what is already being touted as a pre-determined loss for the undefeated-in-La Liga Barcelona, however, is this seemingly impossible predicament really such a catastrophe, or more a blessing for a depleted Blaugrana?

What Barcelona have and are achieving is truly immense. Nothing can be said in elaboration as to describe the efforts made by the Catalan side in the past 12 months, as a phenomenal six trophies have accompanied them on their way to Spanish, European and World Championships. The most notable performance of this colossal team is without a doubt their Treble-winning season in 2008/09, where they bounced back from going two seasons without a trophy to win all three major competitions (La Liga, Copa del Rey, Champions League) in their new manager Pep Guardiola’s first season. But that was far from the thick of it. It wasn’t the trophies that will see Barcelona go down in history, but the manner in which they went about earning them.

6-1 vs Sporting, 6-1 vs Atletico, 5-0 vs Basel and Almeria.
6-0 vs Valladolid, 5-0 vs Deportivo, 5-2 vs Lyon and 6-0 vs Malaga.
4-0 vs Bayern Munich, 4-0 vs Sevilla and of course, 6-2 vs Real Madrid.

This cluster of pulsating, inspirational and explosive wins are among a catalogue of similar results inflicted by the titanic Barcelona last season as they scored over 150 goals in their 60 professional matches as their record-breaking forward line tormented defence’s left right and centre.

Barcelona has continued onward into the season 2009/10 in the same fashion, or have they?
Critics have used the aforementioned statistics as a brutal tactic to lambast the Blaugrana over ‘losing their Midas touch’ and ‘failing to reach previous standards set’. Despite having gone 21 games undefeated in La Liga, Barcelona have this season displayed evidence that proves that their cynics may not be merely attempting to ‘unsettle the giant’.
This time last year Barcelona had scored an epic 99 goals from a mere 37 matches. A statistic that embarrasses that of the current season where the Blaugrana have found the back of the net on only 75 occasions, this time from 34 games. Lacklustre draws and bland low scoring wins have become unusually common in Catalunya this season as Guardiola’s Gladiators fail to match the high scoring ‘leave-the-opponent-crying-for-mercy’ game style as was so common last season, this being the main source of the odd media attack.

However, amongst the highscoring, free-flowing and truly artistic football that was illustrated last season, there remains one facet of FC Barcelona’s game that stood resolute above the rest that made them truly able to stamp their authority as Europe’s best, thus we revisit the initial point.

It was versatility. The improvisation and adaptability that made last season’s Blaugrana so great. When Carles Puyol, Rafael Marquez and Thierry Henry were missing against Chelsea, they sent in Toure to the backlines, Iniesta to the front and for one of the first times in a big game deployed a midfield trio of Xavi, Busquets and Keita.
When Marquez, Abidal and Dani Alves were out Barcelona sent out a makeshift defence with Puyol at an unfamiliar right back, Toure once again in the centre to partner Pique as second string left back Sylvinho filled the void. Not only was it effective, it was emphatic. Four players that had not once that season played alongside one another in defence managed to hold Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney and then-FIFA World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo to a mere 2 shots on target as Barcelona held aloft the UEFA Champions League trophy.

An ability to improvise on injuries and suspensions was one, if not the greatest, of Barcelona’s key qualities that led them on their way to the Treble. And if there’s one way to prove to all their doubters that they’re still the same Blaugrana from last season, it’s tonight’s clash in the Estadio Vicente Calderón.

Close rivals Real Madrid are refusing to falter as they continue chasing Barca in hot pursuit in vulture-like fashion with one mistake from the Blaugrana enough to give Madrid the belief that they can go all the way this season. Meanwhile, Barcelona’s opponents in the game that has brought on so much preceding hype are far from challenging the top spot.

Atletico Madrid have, and will most likely for the remainder of their existence be known as ‘Real Madrid’s little brother’. Ever since their founding in 1903 Atletico have been the bridesmaid to Los Blancos as they came off second best derby after derby, league campaign after league campaign, with their greatest success coming between the 60’s and 70’s where they (Atletico) won 4 league titles, only to be outdone by Real’s cool 14.

Last winning the league 15 years ago, ‘The Mattress Makers’ have since experienced little success having failed to break into the top 3 till date, having only broken into the top 4 in the season of 2007-08 before experiencing another dramatic slump this season.

Currently sitting in a dismal 12th place, Atletico have this season conceded thrice the number of goals let in by Barcelona. Attack-wise, Barca have scored 20 more than Atletico, with the offensive trident of Pedro, Ibrahimovic and Messi having scored 33 goals between them.

And that isn’t the least of Atletico’s worries, having had crashed out of the Champions League in the group stage their form in La Liga has been nothing short of woeful. Losses early on at the hands of Malaga, Osasuna, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Deportivo accompanied by an array of last minute draws saw Los Rojiblancos crash to the bottom of the table as former saviour Abel Resino was given the axe. Recent form hasn’t done much in the way of resurrection for Atletico either, after coming off losses to Getafe and Malaga before they last week drew 1-1 with Racing Santander.

In fact, Atleti’s only success of late, in the Copa del Rey, may prove to be their achilles heel for tonight’s game.

Midweek, in reality a mere 2 days ago, Atletico Madrid qualified for the Copa del Rey final after they – despite having lost 3-2 – defeated Racing Santander in the Semis 6-3 on aggregate after having won the first leg 4-0 in the Vicente Calderon. Depleted and fatigued, Atletico Madrid will march into this game well aware of the fact that this will be the sides 4th game in a mere 10 days (A game every 2 and a half days). Recent history also proves that Atletico are unable to deal with fatigue with Los Colchoneros being unable to win on 10 occasions in matches that follow mid-week fixtures.

With both sides having equal weak spots and points of attack, it will be a matter of who can be the quickest to deliver the arrow to the heel.

Team News

Barcelona

The major talking point in Catalunya as Barca’s injury woes allow a cloud of doubt to loom over the Blaugrana’s chances in this match.
It all began with the dismissal’s of Gerard Pique and Rafael Marquez who both saw straight red in last weeks game against Getafe. Hours after the game news spread of a 3 week-long injury to Dani Alves after the Brazilian aggravated a fibrillar break in his sides pre-match warm up to the Getafe game. The next day, disaster struck once again as Ivorian centre defensive midfielder-come centre back stand in Yaya Toure suffered a break in the abductor muscle of his left leg.
Seemingly comical, Eric Abidal soon followed suit, as the Frenchman tore a muscle in his left leg before last resort Centre Back Dmytro Chygrynskiy sustained a one week injury as he pulled a leg muscle.

This is the test for Barcelona and a win here will leave a silence like no other among all the Blaugrana’s critics as Pep Guardiola’s clockwork footballing mind is put to the true test.
Carles Puyol is expected to line up and should brave it through despite having complaints of a niggling injury. Puyol has time and time again proved himself on the right and 17 year old Right Back Albert Dalmau is far too inexperienced to take on Portuguese international Simao on debut.
This leaves the centre back slot wide open. Milito’s return to form has progressed swimmingly thus far and the Argentine is a certainty to control the centre of defence whilst Maxwell will be there to cover on the left.

Enter Marc Muniesa. The fan favourite stole Culérs hearts with his dramatic entrance and exit upon debut where the promising youngster was harshly shown red after a mere 20 minutes of play leaving the Spain Under-17 skipper heading back down the dugout in tears. This may be the chance Muniesa has been waiting for as Puyol’s backup gets a chance to prove his worth.

Predicted Starting XI, Barcelona: Valdes – Puyol – Muniesa – Milito – Maxwell – Xavi – Busquets – Iniesta – Messi – Ibrahimovic – Henry

Atletico Madrid

Sadly enough Atletico have it easy with no major absences after Pablo Ibáñez was able to train normally despite having fractured his nose in training last Saturday.

Predicted Starting XI, Atletico Madrid: de Gea – Perea – Ujfaluši – Domínguez – Lopez – Assuncao – Tiago – Simao – Reyes – Aguero – Forlan

Key Players

Lionel Messi

Who else? Puyol will be needed to have the game of his career whilst Xavi must convert his every touch into an opportunity. Zlatan Ibrahimovic needs to erase any recent omens whilst Victor Valdes is essential for Barcelona to get a result tonight.
However cometh the hour, cometh the man as phenomenal FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi will be the key ingredient if Barcelona are to achieve mission impossible against Atletico Madrid. Messi has scored 7 goals in his sides last 6 outings with Atletico and its big games like these where the pin- sized Argentine blossoms. A goal thriving, brilliance surrounding Messi is a player who can change a game even when surrounded by 3 brutal markers, and expect Leo to do just that.

Sergio Aguero

‘El Kun’ burnt a distasteful image in the heads of Culés worldwide after he became the man responsible for crushing Barcelona’s 2-0 and 3-2 leads into a blockbuster 4-3 win for Atletico in which Aguero scored twice with his second a sucker punch in the 89th minute.
Since then Aguero has continuously been linked to top teams worldwide with his signature on a Chelsea contract reportedly imminent. Aguero’s efforts in big games is – like his Argentine team mate Messi – what makes him so special and the illustrious forward should be nothing short of a menace for a vulnerable Barcelona defence.

Prediction

This game deserves all the hype as it perks up to be one of the most thrilling encounters of the season.
There have been seven goals scored in every single one of the last three matches between Barcelona and Atletico so a high scoring encounter is almost definite. With Barcelona’s defensive woes coming into play the game may eventuate into either side attempting to outscore one another rather then keep each other at bay.
Xavi in the middle feeding through Messi and Ibrahimovic will be the decider as Barca’s sheer brilliance up front cancels out any problem they may encounter in the backlines.

Atletico Madrid 2 – 4 Barcelona

Leo10.

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