aTuesday, February 23, 2010, 20:45 CET – Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart
UPDATED WITH VIDEO.
It could have been AC Milan, it could have been CSKA Moscow. It could have been Lyon, it could have been Bayern Munich.
It wasn’t. It was Stuttgart.
An inescapable smile crept over the faces of all Barcelona affiliates as what could be described as a ‘dream draw’ for the Catalans became a reality.
But that was then.
Former Barcelona player and Stuttgart midfielder Alexander Hleb (28) shared his thoughts about the Champions League draw with Catalan sports paper Sport. Barcelona fans might not have very good memories of Hleb, since his performances were far from required level of Barcelona. Now he has two games to prove that the Hleb we all saw in Barcelona was not the real Hleb. However, the Belarusian international is well aware of the difficulty of Stuttgart’s situation.
“When I heard that Barcelona is our opponent, I thought it was a joke. In that team each player can decide the game by himself. Barcelona is the strongest team in the planet, but anything is possible in football,” Hleb said. “If they have a bad day and we are lucky, we may have success. Within two games we can’t dominate the game against Barcelona.”
It was a dominating display by Barcelona last night against Dynamo Kiev in the ‘final’ Group F Champions League match for both teams, each with a chance to qualify. Dynamo need to win by 2-0 and was one goal away from achieving that with an early shocker, or three clear goals when the Catalan side scored their equaliser through Xavi. It was not to be for the Ukrainian side however, as Barcelona did not even give them a sniff at goal after the opener, except for one side-netting by Milevskiy. It was all Barcelona who, ironically for all their possession, was only able to secure their win 4 minutes from time.
Barcelona’s goals came courtesy of the centenarian Xavi Hernandez (min. 33) and the new ‘Ballon d’Or’, Argentine Messi (min. 86). Dynamo Kiev got the opener from a Shevchenko’s freekick but was attributed as a either a Milevskiy’s goal or a Valdes own goal (min. 3).
As has happened so many times, Barcelona maestro Xavi Hernandez had come to the rescue of the team, ever since the time of Louis van Gaal, to Frank Rijkaard and now Pep Guardiola. Xavi, fittingly did his deed for the team again on the day he was to celebrate his 100th European Cup match in the Blaugrana colours.
Since making his debut at Old Trafford on September 16, 1998, the FC Barcelona midfielder has achieved a great track record in the continent’s footballing showpiece event, and could not commemorate it better than scoring a goal that gave the team hope.
Never showing any sign of weaknesses, nor transmitting any sense of uneasiness or anxiety, even in the most desperate of time such as last night; behind after only two minutes, another goal could see the Champion out, yet he, on the contrary exudes confidence.
In the Champions League post-match press conference after the Dynamo Kiev’s match, FC Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola as usual heaped praise on his players and emphasised to the media present the significance of their qualification: “I want to especially congratulate all of my players because they have made a tremendous effort to achieve this.”
“This has been a terrible group, and we have had to overcome many adversities. The third placed team (Rubin Kazan) for example, has taken five points from us,” acknowledging that competing against the other three league champions can only make Barcelona stronger.
FC Barcelona opponent in the UEFA Champions League knockout round will be among seven of the eight group runners-up.
For this stage, one group’s winners will play against another group’s runners-up, but may not be drawn against:
i) Teams from the same association (National league),
ii) Teams from the same group (UCL group stage),
Do you still remember the anger you have at not being able to go Wembley (1992, Barcelona 1-0 Sampdoria) with your brothers? i.e. when he was eleven and was denied by his mother to watch the match at the stadium with his brothers.
Well, taken in perspective, I think that my brothers exaggerated my anger. I asked my parents and seeing that I had no choice, I resigned myself, period. Maybe I cried a little but that’s about it.
The final in Athens (1994, AC Milan 4-0 Barcelona), do you remember much about it?
FC Barcelona began Matchday 5 in danger of elimination but ended it on top of the group after defeating previous incumbents FC Internazionale Milano (2-0). Inter and FC Rubin Kazan are two points behind with FC Dynamo Kiev one further back. All four teams still with a chance of progressing, and any combination of results can determine group leader and runner-up.
The scenarios that concerns Barcelona are:
In the Champions League pre-match press conference last night, FC Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola stressed that his players will play their usual game even if a draw or a small defeat would still ensure their qualification to the next round: “We cannot stop being who we are. We will maintain our predisposition to create goals because only by scoring are our qualification that much more assured.”
The Barcelona coach stressed the importance of topping the group to secure a second-leg home-ground advantage in the knock-out stage, and warned of the danger of taking things lightly: “If we go with the idea that 0-1 serves our purpose, there is a chance in the end that we might lose by a three or four goals difference. I don’t want to transmit to my players that a 0-1 result is enough for us.”
In the Champions League pre-match press conference last night, FC Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure, trying to recant his recent statements (made with French magazine ‘France Football’), hinting at the possibility of leaving the club if he did not get enough playing time, said, “Here, they are very passionate about their football, and this team play it superbly well. I am happy at Barcelona and I know no one must think he is bigger than the club.”
Seeking to avert broadening the issue, the Ivorian player requested that reporters not to ask him about his agent, who had also demanded his increased presence within the team, and said his priority is to “keep on growing (as a player) and helps the team maintain its winning ways.”
This is a featured post, please scroll down for all the latest news.
December 9, 2009, 20:45 CET – Lobanovskiy Dynamo Stadium, Kiev
There comes a time when nothing else matters.
There comes a time when tactics are set aside, instructions are forgotten and all preceding events are left to rot in an anonymous sector of the mind.
This time has now arrived for FC Barcelona, in the form of the UEFA Champions League.
The song will play.
The whistle will sound.
And the ball will be kicked off.
FC Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola made public today a list of 20 players who will travel to Ukraine for the team’s Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev this Wednesday, reports Catalan sports papers Sport and El Mundo Deportivo.
Cup-tied Ukrainian defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy was also included in the list. (Ed. possibly to give him the opportunity to celebrate with his new team when they make the qualification, to give him that sense of belonging. )
In this heart warming Cruyff’s Corner:
Barcelona vs Inter Milan
The Envied Barcelona Style
The Dream of Inter
Guadiola’s Faith
In last night’s post-match press conference, Inter Milan’s coach, Jose Mourinho has acknowledged the superiority of the Barcelona team and agreed that his team’s Champions League rival of the night played “spectacular” football.
“The 2-0 result is a correct reflection of the match. In the first half, only one team played, Barca. They have played well, really well. Inter does not have the capacity to play against Barcelona. They press intensely from behind, and when they play the ball, they do it with very rapid passes and that makes them a truly special team,” said the Portuguese.
Queried about who he thinks will win this season’s Champions League, he answered, “I do not want to talk about favourite because someone might be offended. Perhaps Madrid, Manchester or Chelsea thinks they are the favourite. Barca is at the moment a better team than Inter but that does not mean that if we are to meet again we are unable to compete. If someone says to us that we are going to play against them in the semis or final, I would say I will accept the challenge. But (clearly) they are stronger than us.”
Speaking at the Champions League post-match press conference, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola began as always, by complimenting his players and admitting that he can now breathe a little easier: “I am delighted and I congratulate my players who have earned this victory. The group is not decided yet but we took a very important step. Had we fail to win (tonight), our qualification could be in jeopardy. To play the way we did tonight had its associated risk but I would have given my players the wrong message had I changed it.”
The coach praised the determination shown by Messi and Ibra for wanting to play last night: “I appreciate their desire to play but everything that we have achieved has been done thanks to every one of my players, from the most to the least popular. I have full confidence in this team, and that’s why even though I was anxious ahead of this match as always, at the same time I still have faith”.
With their 2-0 home win against Inter Milan last night, Barcelona not only won three points, but due to the other Group F clash between Rubin Kazan and Dynamo Kiev ending with a 0-0 stalemate, have almost secured their qualification for the last-16 round, as long as they don’t lost their last group match against Kiev by three clear goals. It was a match that did not favour Barcelona because of the absences of key players due to injury and illnesses but one Guardiola have said he will not accept as an excuse, and determined that their replacements are equally as good; and how right was he.
The goals came courtesy of Gerard Pique for Barcelona in the 10th minute and Pedro adding the second sixteen minutes later.
FC Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola did not give any clues about a possible starting lineup for tonight and have included the recently injured Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the list; waiting to see how their conditions evolve in the last hours before the match.
Meanwhile, Eric Abidal has already completed his quarantine period and will be discharged this morning, but will only play depending on the condition of his earlier thigh injury.
Guardiola has also enlisted the services of two Barca Atletic players, Andreu Fontas (20) and Jonathan dos Santos (19), to cover for the absent and doubtful players.
Inter Milan Cameroonian striker, Samuel Eto’o yesterday said he is happy to be able to return to the Camp Nou tonight and look forward to measure himself up against his former team in an interview with the Spanish state-owned television channel TVE. Here is the rest of the interview:
Pep Guardiola said the reason for you leaving the Camp Nou was that he had a ‘feeling’ about you and your relationships within the dressing room (referring to Pep Guardiola’s reply to a question about his decision to swap Eto’o for Ibrahimovic a few months ago).
But how can he have a ‘feeling’? I’m not a woman. I’m not Penelope Cruz (sarcastically). Please be fair and don’t try to manipulate matters or see something that is not there.
20:45 CET – Tuesday, November 24, 2009. Camp Nou, Barcelona
Fingers scraping against a chalkboard, a piercing scream as one is being tortured, the sounds of never ending bomb raids during a war. These sounds are among those that make a persons blood curdle, they send a shiver down ones spine and make one wish to be out of whatever situation they are in which contains one of the above.
“You know what you have to do.”
In yesterday’s Champions League pre-match press conference, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said he will only make the decision to play Messi and Ibrahimovic under the advice of the club’s doctors a few hours before the match but “will do everything possible so that they are (able to make the final 18-player list).”
Pep Guardiola however believes that his team can win against Inter without the two players in the starting line-up: “They are two very important players (to the team) but here, we have always done everything together (as a team). If they can’t play, we have other options equally capable.”
The Blaugrana coach admitted that without both players, the team would be “like the (NBA team) Lakers losing Kobe Bryant,” but will not use them as an excuse for any failure: “There’s no grief if they cannot play. If we don’t win, that is not going to be reason.”
“Zlatan will play against us. I am convinced, 99.9 percent sure,” was Inter Milan’s coach, Jose Mourinho’s reply to a reporter’s question before boarding the plane in Italy yesterday, and so begins his mind games says Madrid sports paper AS.
“It is true, we often obtain good results away from the San Siro so far this season, and it is also true that in every one of those matches we always took the lead, except against Cagliari, and that’s a fact,” he reminded.
The Italians feels confident that they have the psychological edge over Barcelona tomorrow, even though they knew their host will play vigorously as it is their Champions League survival that is at stake, and Mourinho understands this: “At the Camp Nou, the most important thing (for my players) is to keep in their head, the tactics and techniques. It will be a test of their character”.
Inter Milan’s coach, José Mourinho, did not want to give any clues as to who of his players will start in the crucial Champions League match against Barcelona next Tuesday, and has summoned 23 players to travel to Barcelona, according to news agency ‘Europa Press’.
The list contains no surprises with Eto’o, Diego and Sneijder all included.
The full list of 23 players are Goalkeepers Julio Cesar, Toldo and Paolo Orlandoni; Defenders Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Lucio, Maicon, Materazzi, Samuel and Chivu; Midfielders Stankovic, Quaresma, Motta, Sneijder, Muntari, Vieira, Krhin, Cambiasso, Mancini; and Forwards Eto’o, Suazo, Diego Milito and Mario Balotelli.
Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder had to leave the Dutch national team training camp on Friday because of a muscle problem in his right thigh. Speaking to a Dutch reporter covering the team, the player was heard saying, “I hurt the back of my right thigh. I think I could be out for (another) 10 or 15 days,” considering that he had just recovered from another injury, reports Catalan sports paper Sport.
That self-diagnosis, will therefore, almost certainly leave him out of the Champions League crucial Group F match against Barcelona on November 24 at the Camp Nou.
Inter’s coach José Mourinho is known as a master of mind games. His provocative comments have caused hostility against him across the footballing world, not least Barcelona, who was in his cross-hairs when he was the manager of Chelsea. It seems he has fired the first shot ahead of the two teams Champions League clash at the Camp Nou on 24 November, according to Catalan paper Sport.
Euphoric after the epic comeback on Wednesday in Kiev, and topping the table, a point ahead of Rubin and Barcelona, Mourinho is confident he can win at the Camp Nou and qualify for the next round.
At the post-match press conference after the Rubin’s match on Wednesday night, FC Barcelona Pep Guardiola graciously admitted that Rubin’s coach Kurban Berdyev is the better coach, when one of the journalists present asked him about it. “Clearly it was he who has won,” Pep said.
It was also well recorded that the FC Barcelona coach has complimented the Russian coach as one of the best he has met since he coached the Blaugrana team, but behind closed doors, he was also known to have criticised his opposite number when he said: “The truth is that, it is very difficult playing against a team with almost ten players in their own half with ‘Chori’ Dominguez waiting to counterattack. There are many teams that play defensively against us, but in the end we end up by beating them. With Rubin, everything is much more difficult because they are very well organised and they play with a very clear plan”.
Guardiola said he did not see the point gained in Russia as a bad result, although he admitted that it was not the result they were hoping for: “It is obvious we are going for the win, but eventually we will see if this point is worthy or not”. One thing that is for sure is to guarantee our qualification to the next round, Barcelona must “win the next six points”, adding that “if we do it we will qualify and should we eventually fail, we’ll just have to see the Champions League from our homes”.
FC Barcelona last night squandered two points when they again fail to capitalise on their possession domination in their Champions League match against Rubin Kazan with poor finishing and lack of incisive move again the culprit. Another setback right on the heel of their disappointing draw against Osasuna in the league.
Playing in sub-zero condition and thick grass pitch, Barcelona players deny that to be cause of their failure, but rather point to Rubin’s tight and disciplined formation.
As always we compile all the Spanish sports dailies reaction to the match. Continue reading »
The Barcelona goalkeeper said he was “satisfied” with the effort shown by the team in the match and reiterated the cold condition was “no excuse” for failing to win.
“The temperature made it very difficult to play. The cold was intense, but the (team) doctors have done a good job. The cold is no excuse,” the player said, painting Rubin as “a very difficult team (to compete against)”.
“We had our chances but it wasn’t to be, but I am satisfied with my work and of the whole team,” he said.
Blinking and pinching would not help. This was to be a nightmare Barcelona players and fans alike would never wake from. Barcelona had been defeated by Rubin Kazan. The relatively unknown Russian opposition took on the reigning European Champions on Barcelona’s home turf. Little did Barcelona know that this formality of a match was soon to evolve into the greatest upset so far in the 2009-10 footballing calendar.
Talks of a crisis were seemingly quashed as Barcelona thumped Zaragoza 6-1 only for the talks to be reignited with a woeful display over Osasuna in the following league fixture. Critisism has been flying from all angles with Guardiola’s men being blasted left right and centre by the relentless Spanish media.
For Barcelona, it stops now.
Continue reading »
Despite attempting to put on a brave face, Barcelona players and fans are -try as they may to hide it- nervous. Scared. Worried. Many-a-word could describe the sheer fear being felt among the Blaugrana faithful. Rubin Kazan pose a threat, they have beaten Barcelona once, Barcelona are playing in the snow, almost every player in the team has never played in snow before, a ‘crisis’ is apparently taking place and poor results are issuing from Barcelona like blood from a wounded animal.
‘Cules’ are thinking to themselves, a loss could well be on the cards for this game, we have to accept that, but what does that mean?
Speaking at yesterday’s pre-match press conference, FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi said he believes the match to be held today will not decide who gets to qualify to the next stage of the competition because of the parity that exists among the four teams, but understands that a win could ensure “calmness” within the team with two more matches to be played after this match, reports Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo.
Asked about the effects the bitter cold could have in the match (about 10 degrees below zero), Messi bluntly replied, “The winter is screwing (everything),” admitting he had never played in such adverse weather conditions. Nevertheless, recalling the speech made by his coach Pep Guardiola, Messi dismissed the cold as an inconvenience that can prevent Barcelona from playing their usual game “since we still can”.
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