“You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.”

For Football Club Barcelona, the year 2009 was nothing short of phenomenal. An epic six trophies rewarded the Blaugrana who have been instantly embedded into history. For years and decades to come the story of Barcelona’s sextuple will be passed on from generation to generation as endless tales of Iniesta’s goal vs Chelsea, Toure’s wonder strike in the Copa final and Messi’s emotional chested goal against Estudiantes are forever told.

However, it is an unfortunate reality for Barcelona, as this is not 2009. This, is 2010.

A new year has risen, and with the rising of one comes the setting of another, 2009 is now in the past and should be forever classed as history. Drawing on past success will merely fog the image of immediate future for Barcelona and if one man is aware of this it will be Pep Guardiola.

The last time Barcelona played, they were playing a game every 2 days, for 28 days, fatigue was ridden across the entire Catalan camp and the World Champions would have relished in their recent 15 day break which has helped to heal some recently inflicted wounds as Barcelona gear up to play a team that has in recent years become one of their most difficult rivals.

Formerly anonymous in the La Liga race, Villareal have in recent years earnt themselves a regular European spot when it comes to the final league table. Since promotion in 2000 Villareal are yet to miss out on a spot in any form of UEFA competition having qualified for the Champions League, UEFA Cup and the UEFA Intertoto Cup respectably. However the Yellow Submarine have this season failed to impress and were lucky to dust off the scars left from a shaky start in La Liga by salvaging 4 wins in their last 5 encounters to scramble to an unstable and unconvincing 9^th place.

Meanwhile, Barcelona are also in an unstable position in La Liga as Real Madrid evaded a draw late against Valencia as well as demolishing Real Zaragoza 6-0 to narrow the gap at the top of the table to a mere 2 points meaning that Barcelona can’t slip up tonight at the Camp Nou as an immenent overtaking by an Osasuna facing Real Madrid would be sure to follow.

Team News

Seydou Keita was this week prevented from joining his Malian national team in the African Cup of Nations due to a torn thigh muscle, however his midfield counterpart Yaya Toure has departed Spain to team up with his Ivory Coast team mates.

Barcelona have also been lifted by the big news that Andres Iniesta has been given the green light to play although it is unlikely that Guardiola will allow the man that missed Barcelona’s FIFA Club World Cup triumph to play the full match as the manager may not want to risk wasting the recent rest.

Lionel Messi was earlier this week announced as a probable starter on the bench as Guardiola feels that the Argentine has had pressure heaped onto him this season and has been forced to start in an unorthodox amount of games due to other injuries.

Jeffren is also out for the Blaugrana whilst Villarreal will be without Argentine centre back Gonzalo Rodriguez after the 25 year old sustained a fortnight-long hamstring injury.

Predicted Starting XI, Barcelona: Valdes – Alves – Puyol – Pique – Abidal – Xavi – Busquets – Iniesta – Pedro – Ibrahimovic – Henry

Predicted Starting XI, Villarreal: Diego Lopez – Javi Venta – Marcano – Godin – Capdevila – Cani – Senna – Pires – Cazorla – Rossi – Llorente

Key Players

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Barcelona’s leading scorer in the league and second behind David Villa in the Pichichi the mammoth Swede has without a doubt been Barcelona’s fan favourite and star player this season having scored 4 goals in as many matches in his sides last league matches. Villarreal have a star-studded line up however a shaky defence has always been thought to be its Achilles heel and with the side this season having conceded 10 more than the Blaugrana an ‘Ibracadabra’ onslaught could well be on the cards.

Marcos Senna

The anchor and heart of Villarreal Marcos Senna’s prowess in midfield often goes unnoticed however when the injury-prone talisman is absent an obvious hole is shown in the chemistry of the Castellón sides build up and the playmaker come goalscorer should be in fine form tonight for his side and has in the past shown prowess in important matches.

Prediction

Many Culés may still have sour tastes left in their mouths when remembering recent performances against El Submarino Amarillo especially in the winter of 2008 when Barcelona’s already grim title hopes were further blackened out by a relentless Villarreal who downed the Blaugrana 2-1.

In recent years the record has been in favour of the men in yellow with Barcelona having won only twice whereas Villarreal have come away with the chocolates on 3 occasions, with the other game a draw.

When compared to Villarreal’s schedule, Barcelona’s recent break is of equal value to almost 2 and a half months, the break will bring rejuvenation to the Blaugrana camp and if one thought there form in the FCWC was impressive, prepare to be blown away.

Villarreal’s form may not be too convincing, however their star-studded line up of Senna’s, Pires’s, Llorente’s, Cazorla’s, Rossi’s and Capdevila’s are enough to pull any team across the line.

Attractive and exciting encounters are often found when these two collide, and expect another match of the same calibre. Barcelona should dominate the majority of the ball however it is to be noted that Villarreal have scored 5 goals at the Camp Nou in their last two fixtures in the Catalan stadium with most of the goals coming from a ruthless Villarreal counter attack.

Quick re-adaption will be key for Pep Guardiola’s sextuplets who must put all recent success aside and grit their teeth for what may be a frustrating fixture, a fixture in which discipline will pay dividends.

Barcelona’s consistency matched up with Villarreal’s recent struggles points to a bread and butter result in which Barcelona may need an early jolt in order to jumpstart what should be a well fought victory for the World’s greatest team.

Barcelona 2 – 0 Villarreal

Leo10.