Are we Witnessing the Best Barcelona Side Ever?

Messi has been instrumental in this side's success

 - Picture Courtesy of Lobo

The stats speak for themselves. 43 points after 16 weeks. Only 4 points dropped so far. 51 goals scored in that same period. Only conceeding 9 goals during thos games which is only 0.625 per game. 10 games now won consecutively, and an 100% record away in all games to boost. The aggregate score of their last five league games: 26-1. The clubs played against: Almería, Real Madrid, Osasuna, Real Sociedad and Espanyol. In that list you have the most successful club in the world, their perennial local rivals and a top-half club. This Barcelona side completed the calender year with a record 103 points. The club also have three of their players in the FIFA Ballon d'Or shortlist, which, strangely enough, consists of only three players. What is even more remarkable is that all three of those players, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Lionel Messi, were brought up in La Masia, the Barcelona youth setup. Not only that, but eight of the Barcelona first team that obliterated Real Madrid 5 - 0 came from La Masia and six of the Spain first team that won their first World Cup earlier this year came from the same youth academy. It is also important to remember that this Barcelona side is practicaly the same one that won six out of six competitions they competed in a year ago. No-one in history has rivalled that. 

So for all of the statistics and beautiful football they play, are they the greatest Barcelona side ever? The Catalan side are no strangers to great stars and teams, so they will come up under tough opponents. 

The first successful Barcelona side came about in the early twenties, spearheaded by Josep Samitier. The native from Barcelona played in central midfield, and according to many, pioneered leading from the back in the midfield general role. Up until then the key players in Spain were the forwards, who were strong and big, like Pichichi, playing the characterstically tough football found in Northern Spain. No tiki-taka found at that time. Samitier was a great all-round footballer, capable of scoring 326 goals for Barcelona while also being ruthless in the tackle. He was also the highest paid footballer in Spain by the mid-twenties.

Barcelona weren't just funding Samitier's night life, however,  they also enrolled Ricardo Zamora, a promising 19-year goalkeeper old from rivals Espanyol. Zamora was a great goalkeeper, but like Samitier, moved to Real Madrid afterwards. Zamora's performances for both clubs have led to the award to the best goalkeeper in Spain to be named after him, as 'Pichichi' is for the top scorer. 

The Barcelona side of the twenties also had a key goalscorer: Paulino Alcántara. The Philippines-born striker of part Spanish inheritance is the all time top scorer for Barcelona, having netted 357 goals in as many games.

In the three years that all of those players were together, the club won three Capionat de Catalunyas and two Copa del Reys. There was no La Liga to win, as it had been created in 1929, which Barcelona with an aging Samitier won. 

The next great team Barcelona had arrived with a Hungarian in the back of a truck: László Kubala. Born to a working-class Slovak family in Budapest, Kubala was a talented footballer with excellent dribbling skills. In his early career Kubala turned out for popular clubs in Central Europe such as Ferencváros, Slovan Bratislava and Vasas. 

He left Hungary in January 1949, as the Soviet Union consolidated its sphere of influence over Eastern Europe. Kubala, fearing Communist control, fled Hungary in the boot of a truck and arrived in Allied-control Austria. He then moved onto Italy to play for Pro Patria and Torino, just before the dreadful Superga air disaster which wiped out a whole generation of talented footballers. Soon Hungary appealed to FIFA as Kubala had fled, leaving him unable to do national service. FIFA consequently issued him with a one-year ban. 

Kubala then started a football team with Ferdinand Daučík in 1970 called 'Hungaria', which was made up of refugees from Eastern Europe. Hungaria toured Spain, and it was there that Samitier, now a scout with Barcelona, lay eyes upon the Hungarian.

Samitier wasn't the only scout watching Kubala, Real Madrid were as well. Apparantely, Samitier used his warm relationship with Dictator Franco to secured Kubala's move to Barcelona instead of the Hungarian moving to Real Madrid. This suggests that Franco didn't hate Barcelona that much, or at least valued his relationship with Samitier highly. Nevertheless, Kubala signed for Barcelona with Daučík appointed coach. Due to the one-year ban he had with FIFA, Kubala only started playing competetive football for Barcelona in 1951. 

Within his first season, Kubala had scored 26 goals in 19 games and had established himself at Barcelona. He defined the club during the 1950s, a decade that was overshadowed by Real Madrid's growing success and the Di Stéfano transfer saga. One theory for the Argentine's snub of Barcelona was because it was believed the club wouldn't be big enough for him and Kubala. Towards the end of the decade, however, Barcelona emerged from the shadows, with a certain pre-catenaccio Helenio Herrera in charge of the side. Fellow Hungarians arrived, such as the prolific Sándor Kocsis and skillfull Zoltán Czibor, both part of the Magical Magyars side that dominated the early 50s of football. 

Another member of that Barcelona side was Luis Suárez, a Spanish midfielder who was a fantastic passer of the ball. He won the Ballon d'Or in 1960 as a Barcelona player and went on with Herrera to Internazionale, were that team dominated Italian and European football. 

Barcelona won La Liga and Copa Generalísimo in 1959 and La Liga and Fairs Cup in 1960. They then went on to reach the Champions League final a year later, losing 3-2 to Benfica and the golden boot of Eusébio.

In 1988 Barcelona decided to revert to a club legend to coach the team in Johann Cruijff. With him, the Dream Team was born and some of the most successful years for Barcelona were under his tutelage. 

Cruijff blended a mix of Spanish players and luxury foreigners to help the side win its first ever European cup. In goal featured Andoni Zubizarreta, the record cap-holder for the Spanish national team and former Athletic Bilbao player. Other Basques, such as José Mari Bakero, Txiki Begiristain and Andoni Goikoetxea played for the club regularly.

The leader of the side and current manager, Josep Guardiola, was a lifelong supporter of the club and a Catalan. He joined La Masia when he was thirteen and started out on the right-wing. When Cruijff was watching him player for the youth team, he told Rexach, the youth team manager to play him in the middle. The change worked and Guardiola played the general role created earlier by Samitier to full effect, bossing the midfield. 

With the Spaniards came the addition of foreigners, some of whom were the greatest players in the world. Ronald Koeman played at centre-back for Barcelona and possessed a fierce shot coming forward. His presence in defence helped sturdy a very fluid and attacking team, carried on by Cruijff from the totalvoetbal days of the seventies. 

Hristo Stoichkov, who unlike Kubala left Eastern Europe after the 1989 revolutions, played for the Dream Team. Had Bulgaria been a Communist country, Stoichkov may not have left to play abroad, with footballers in the Eastern Bloc not allowed to leave until they were 28 years old. It is for that rule that players such as Ference Puskas played out their best years in Eastern Europe instead of moving to the richer leagues which many young players decide to do nowadays. Stoichkov was a player of fantastic technique and touch, a player that went in hand-in-hand with Cruijff's vision of football. 

Another player which did so was Michael Laudrup, a player who won the European Championship with Denmark in the same year as winning the Champions League for Barcelona. 

It was the Champions League win in 1992 in Wembley which defined this Dream Team, for they were the first Barcelona side to win the European Cup. It was thanks to a Koeman free-kick that they overcame Sampdoria in extra time.The trophy had eluded them until now, forever written next to Real Madrid's name.To win it now was a great relief for the whole club.

The success the Dream Team had was also a symbol of Barcelona's revival after the Franco years as a major cultural centre. 1992 was the year when the Olympics were held in Barcelona, were the other Dream Team which was the USA Basketball team dominating play. Artists began to flock to Catalonia and Barcelona had a successful team once again.

There has been difficulty in deciding the greatest ever Barcelona team as there will always be in judging football across time periods. Unless you have seen all of the teams mentioned, from 1920 to 2010, how can you possibly decide which is better. I myself have only been alive to see the current Barcelona side play in this list. Most of the assumptions you make on former teams are based on articles and people reminiscing. Furthermore, all the teams mentioned in this article have a honourable claim to the title. 

I, however, believe that the current Barcelona side are the best Barcelona side that has ever been. Which team can lay claim to La Liga, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España, Champions League, European Supercup and World Club Cup at the same time? Which side can have the record amount of points in La Liga? The answer is in the question. I may be biased, having lived to see this great team, but there are reasons behind it.

Talent Scout: Gylfi Sigurðsson

In the first of a new series, I will be profiling the latest 'wonderkids' in European football and rating the stars of tomorrow. Up first: Gylfi Sigurðsson

Gylfi Sigurðsson

Name: Gylfi Þór Sigurðsson

D.O.B.: 09/09/1989

Age: 21

P.O.B.: Reykjavík 

National Team: Iceland

Position: Central Midfielder/Attacking Midfielder

Club: TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (Germany)

Games (Goals) this season: 10 (5)

Previous Clubs: FH (Iceland, Youth), Breiðablik (Iceland, Youth), Reading (England), Shrewsbury Town (England, Loan), Crewe Alexandra (England, Loan)

Gylfi Sigurðsson will be a familiar name to football fans in England. He was part of the Reading team which had that remarkable FA Cup run last year, beating clubs such as Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion on their way to the quarter finals. Sigurðsson established himself in the middle of Reading's midfield and contributed with 16 goals in 32 games. He also proved to be a set-piece specialist, converting many penalties and thundering in free-kicks for the Berkshire side. Much to the disappointment of Reading's fans, however, Sigurðsson was tracked by scouts from bigger teams across Europe and eventually left at the end of August to the Bundesliga.

Sigurðsson joined Hoffenheim on the the last day of the summer transfer window for £6 million. The Bundesliga club must be credited for their successful scouting policy, unearthing talented young players such as Chinedu Obasi, Carlos Eduardo and Isaac Vorsah from all over the globe in the aim to consolidate and build on their position in the Bundesliga. Their relatively low reputation, owing to their lack of significant footballing history, has left them looking for young players from smaller nations. Sigurðsson has adapted fairly well to life in Baden-Württemberg, scoring goals against Hannover, Mainz and Kaiserslautern. Despite a goal record of one goal every two games, however,  three of these have come from set-pieces and he hasn't established himself in Hoffenheim's first team. Furthermore, not all young players who joined Hoffenheim have been successful, such as the Finn Jukka Raitala, who has only played one game for them since joining last January.


Iceland boast a talented generation of players coming through their youth system, with their U-21 team qualifying for the next European U-21 Championship, the first major tournament in the country's history. Along with Sigurðsson, that team contains Coventry's Aron Gunnarsson, Odense's Rúrik Gíslason and AZ's Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, all of which have played for the senior Icelandic side and look a good bet of finally condemning the reliance of the national team on Eiður Guðjohnsen . Sigurðsson has played an active role in that success, scoring twice against Scotland with long range strikes in a qualifier.


Sigurðsson's main attributes include his free-kick taking, his passing and his long range strikes. He is technically astute but for a central midfielder he could improve on his defensive skills to become a world-class player.


A very good video compilation on Sigurðsson

Benfica 1 - 2 Schalke 04: Match Report

Before this game, both teams had something to play for. Benfica had to ensure that Hapoel Tel-Aviv didn't gain at least two more points than them against Lyon to qualify for the Europa League as third in their group, whilst Schalke needed Lyon to not gain two more points than they did in the last match of the group stage to guarantee first place and receive an 'easier' draw for the knock-out stages. Benfica fans obviously weren't excited by the prospect of Europa League football as only a paltry 23,000 people came to watch the game in the 65,000 seater Estádio da Luz.

Starting Line Ups:

Benfica:

12 - Roberto

14 - Maxi Pereira

4 - Luisão

23 - David Luiz

18 - Fábio Coentrão 

6 - Javi García 

5 - Ruben Amorim

25 - César Peixoto

17 - Carlos Martins

30 - Javier Saviola

7 - Óscar Cardozo

Jorge Jesus employed a 4-4-2 diamond formation, with Amorim and Peixoto positioned somewhere between central midfield and winger roles. Maxi Pereira and Coentrão provided further width to the team with energetic runs down the flanks. Javi García was the deepest of midfielders, but he stayed relatively close to Amorim and Peixoto. Carlos Martins played as a enganche in the first half.

Schalke:

1 - Manuel Neuer

22 - Atsuto Uchida

4 - Benedikt Höwedes 

21 - Cristoph Metzelder

13 - Lukas Schmitz

14 - Kyriakos Papadopoulos

12 - Peer Kluge

18 - José Manuel Jurado

10 - Ivan Rakitić

7 - Raúl 

25 - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

It was extremely difficult to define the shape of Schalke's midfield. Throughout the whole game, Papadopoulos protected the back four and was efficient in dispossessing Benfica and passing the ball onto someone else; he is a natural centre-back. The rest of the midfield, however, swapped places for much of the game, with Kluge mostly stationed on the right and Rakitić on the left. Whenever Schalke were out of possession, Kluge and Rakitić would tuck inside, forming a three-man centre midfield. Conversely, when Schalke had the ball, they would move out towards the wings, opening the play up. Raúl often tracked back to make the most out of his passing and technical abilities.

Opening Minutes: Contrasting Styles

Generally in football, the first twenty minutes establish what the game will be like in the remainder of the game. Up until the Schalke goal, however, Benfica were dominating and were making use of their short passing game. The match created an interesting juxtaposition between the short, slow passing of the Latin game and the fast, direct passing which is common in northern Europe. Benfica controlled the possession while Schalke were penned back into their own half. Furthermore, when Benfica had the ball, their players would take longer to decide where to pass it to, but when the Germans received the ball, their first aim would be to play a long ball towards Huntelaar and Raúl up front. Schalke also wanted to stretch the game more as when they had possession of the ball  Rakitić and Kluge would go to wide positions. Whilst it meant that their direct game would be more effective, the fact they played centrally while out of possession meant that Benfica wouldn't have a two man advantage in the centre of midfield and couldn't out-pass Schalke, which they were hoping to do.

Soon Schalke began to take the game to Benfica and sure enough scored in the 19th minute when Raúl spread the ball out to the left flank where Schmitz was stationed, who immediately laid it back for Rakitić to swing a cross in to an unmarked Raúl, who chested the ball back for fellow countryman Jurado to put the ball past Roberto with the outside of his foot. Schalke made the most of some dire marking by Benfica who didn't seem to posses the spirit to come back into the game in front of nearly-empty stands.  

Half Time Changes: Benfica more Attacking

At half time Jorge Jesus made a couple of substitutions at half time to try and introduce some pace and width into the team. Maxi Pereira went off for Nicolás Gaitán and Pablo Aimar came on for César Peixoto.Ruben Amorim went to right back and Gaitán was stationed on the left flank. Carlos Martins was left on the right wing, most probably because maybe there was a slight chance of discouraging him from shooting from distance, which he had done for much of the match. It failed, and he was later substituted for Eduardo Salvio, a more natural right-winger and a player less incline to shoot. 

Despite the more attacking outlook in Benfica's side, they still couldn't penetrate the organised defence of Schalke. Neither Saviola or Cardozo are particularly quick to take advantage over the lumbering giant that is Metzelder and if there was an unmarked man in Benfica's attack, he would be picked up by Papadopoulos.  Pablo Aimar also played a lot of through-balls for Saviola to run on to, but Saviola was often caught offside and Aimar's vision was used in vain as Benfica struggled to create any meaningful chances.

Schalke again capitalised on some dreadful marking by Benfica to score their second goal. After a Schalke corner went towards the edge of the penalty area, most of Benfica's players edged out away from the goal towards it. The ball was headed, however, back by Kluge towards the penalty area, were a mass evacuation had occurred earlier and where Höwedes was left onside and unmarked to head in his second goal in two games. 

Benfica scored a consolation goal from a Luisão header in the 87th minute as Schalke held on for the win. In the end, German efficiency triumphed over Portuguese flair, and the true extent of Schalke's efficiency are reflected in the match statistics.

Schalke finished as winners of Group B, while Benfica qualified for the Europa League after Hapoel Tel-Aviv conceded an equaliser against Lyon. 

Scoring List:

19' Jurado

81' Höwedes 

87' Luisão 

Statistics:

Benfica                        Schalke

61%    Possession        39%

15       Shots               7

4        Shots on Target  6

8        Corners             2

5        Offsides            4

14       Fouls               19

http://euro-goals.blogspot.com -> This is a good blog showing highlights of Europa and Champions League games

Barcelona 5 - 0 Real Madrid: Match Report

Catalonia vs Castilla. Left-wing vs Right wing. The rebels vs the aristocracy. Guardiola vs Mourinho. Messi vs Ronaldo. The best youth team in the world vs the Galácticos. Second in the table vs First in the table. This match epitomises all of these and means so much more to the respective fans involved. It is of course El Clásico. And what a game it was.

Starting Line-ups:

Barcelona:

1 - Víctor Valdés

2 - Daniel Alves

5 - Carles Puyol

3 - Gerard Piqué

22 - Éric Abidal

16 - Sergio Busquets

6 - Xavi

8 - Andrés Iniesta

17 - Pedro Rodríguez

7 - David Villa

10 - Lionel Messi

Barcelona played with their familiar 4-3-3 formation which has been the mainstay of their team for many years. Abidal was picked in front of Maxwell, mainly because Pep Guardiola wanted to play with a quick left-back to counter the pace posed by Ronaldo or di María on the flanks. Messi continued to play in his 'false nine' role with Villa feeding off behind him.

Real Madrid:

1 - Iker Casillas

4 - Sergio Ramos

3 - Pepe

2 - Ricardo Carvalho

12 - Marcelo

14 - Xabi Alonso

24 - Sami Khedira

22 - Ángel di María

23 - Mesut Özil 

7 - Cristiano Ronaldo

9 - Karim Benzema

Gonzalo Higuaín was left out in favour of Karim Benzema as he was unfit for the game. Real Madrid also played with their usual formation, 4-2-3-1. Khedira and Xabi Alonso provided protection to the back four while also bringing the ball out of midfield. At times Ronaldo and di María swapped sides, particularly early on.

Opening Minutes: Barcelona Domination:

Barcelona completely ran over Real Madrid in the first few minutes, controlling 75% of the possession in the first fifteen minutes. Messi played the 'false nine' role he was employed in throughout this season, coming deep to receive the ball. Barcelona took the lead through this way as Messi came back to pass a diagonal ball to Iniesta, who in turn played a diagonal pass into the six yard box where Xavi pounced after a Pepe mistake to lob it over Casillas. 

Barcelona played a lot quicker while Real Madrid often dwelled on the ball. Both teams pressed strongly against each other, but Barcelona's superior first touch allowed them to spend more time on the ball and thus giving them a better chance of playing an accurate pass. 

David Villa was a dribbling presence on the left, feeding off the space vacated by Messi and he set up the second goal in the 18th minute after sending a hard, low cross into the six yard box where Casillas fumbled into the path of Pedro, who gratefully tapped the ball in. By now Real Madrid were deflated in their play and half time seemed to arrive too late for them and Mourinho.

Second Half Changes: Problems for Real

Barcelona simply out-passed Real Madrid in the centre of midfield, as Khedira and Xabi Alonso were no match for Xavi and Iniesta. The lack of a ball-winning midfielder also posed problems for Real, as neither Xabi Alonso or Khedira looked close to dispossessing Barcelona's midfielders. To combat this, Mourinho took off the ineffective Özil for Lassana Diarra, who would hopefully help Real Madrid gain possession in midfield and control the ball. 

This didn't solve the problem created by Messi, however, as the World Player of the Year continued to drop deep. This posed a problem for Real's centre backs. If they continued to mark Messi, they would leave space behind them. If they stayed back, Messi would be given too much time on the ball to pick a pass and suddenly with him in midfield, the three midfielders of Real Madrid would be outnumbered. 

For the third goal, the Real defence decided to follow Messi and he played a perfectly weighted pass for Villa to run on to and stroke the ball into the bottom corner. Real Madrid needed to chase the game more, so they pressed higher up the pitch and Real Madrid's centre backs stood off Messi. This gave the Argentinian time to play the ball through again past the back line for Villa who poked the ball through Casillas' legs. 

The last goal was scored in added time as Bojan emulated Villa and squared the ball for fellow substitute Jeffrén to put the ball in the net.

Tempers Flare:
Late in the first half Guardiola held the ball on the touch line. Cristiano Ronaldo wanted the ball given to him straight away, but Guardiola put it to the side of Ronaldo, who subsequently softly pushed the Barcelona manager. The rest of the Barcelona players overreacted, surrounding Ronaldo and exchanging words (probably unpleasant) with him. Víctor Valdés ran up to confront Ronaldo, incensed at his acts.

Just before the half time interval, Messi was behind Carvalho. The latter jerked his elbow back and his upper arm hit Messi's face. Messi fell to the ground needlessly and received a yellow card for his troubles.

In the last minute of added time with Lionel Messi nonchalantly dribbling through the middle, he was hacked by Sergio Ramos. The Real man then promptly proceeded to push Puyol to the ground, received a red card and put his fist under Xavi's chin while walking off the pitch. A red card on three occasions. Ramos does like to do things in style.

This El Clásico will live long in the memory and ranks up there with the 6-2 drubbing a year back. Real's great form into the lead up of this game will seem a distant memory as Mourinho will try to uplift his side and motivate them once more. This game was not only a victory for Barcelona, but also for their ideal, of short passing, movement and flair.

Statistics:

Barcelona                        Real Madrid

67%         Possession       33%

11            Shots              4

7             Shots on target 2

3             Corners            6

5             Offsides           2


Scoring List:
Xavi 10'
Pedro 17'
Villa 55'
Villa 58'
Jeffren 90+1'


Click here for highlights

Goals Galore in Germany

There was a total of 36 goals scored in the 9 Bundesliga games played over the weekend. That equates to an average of 4 goals in every game played in Germany's top flight in the past three days. Notable results included Kaiserslautern's demolition of Schalke, Borussia Dortmund's 4-1 victory over namesake rivals Borussia Mönchengladbach and Hamburg beating Stuttgart in a six goal thriller. But why have their been so much goals in the Bundesliga this season?


After a 3-0 win over Werder Bremen, Schalke must have thought they were on their way up after Raúl's hat-trick. However in hindsight, the result might have come about due to Werder's poor form than the Königsblauen's great performance. After all, Werder went on to lose 3-0 to Tottenham leaving them bottom of  Group A with two points and with no way of progressing in the Champions League. That said, Schalke probably thought that they had a good chance of getting all three points from the Fritz-Walter-Stadion. Kaiserslautern had over ideas. The 5-0 scoreline flattered Schalke as they had many chances to win over their more illustrious opponents. Kaiserslautern's first two goals both came from right-hand corners, with Christian Tiffert swinging the ball in for Srđan Lakić to power in the first and Martin Amedick heading the second past Manuel Neuer. Lakić showed great determination to get to the ball for the first goal, but Schalke's failure to pick him up left him on his own in front of the goal. Lakić went on to add another, coolly slotting home after a through ball from Christian Tiffert, which led to the former's second goal and the latter's third assist. Kaiserslautern added two more goals later on to humiliate Schalke and condemn them to 16th place.


While Schalke lost on Saturday, another Ruhr club won to keep themselves top in the Bundesliga. Yes, the youthful Borussia Dortmund side won again. It was the other Borussia that took the league, however, thanks to a wonderful goal from Marco Reus, a Dortmund native. For those that don't know, Reus is an almost carbon copy of a young(er) Marko Marin in terms of stature, style and ability. And the young German confirmed his promise by scoring a fierce strike into the Dortmund net. Dortmund came back into the game with a header rom Neven Subotić and took the lead when Shinji Kagawa rounded the 'keeper after a Mario Götze assist. The ages of the players mentioned in the last sentence: 21, 21 and 18 respectively. Jürgen Klopp does like to build a young team. Another young German player, Kevin Großkreutz, 22, scored the third goal for Dortmund, poking the ball in after a sublime back-heel from Lucas Barrios. The Paraguayan then added a goal for himself after being sent through by another Mario Götze through ball, who is showing signs of becoming a great playmaker.


The Bundesliga has overtaken the diminishing Serie A as third in UEFA's league coefficients and is fast becoming a major league. While the high goal scoring indicates a sense of risk taking (also resulting in the high amount of young German talents being given match action) it could also indicate poor defending. One reason why the Italian league is such a low scoring league is due to the high quality of defending. John Foot, in Calcio, says 'Italian teams have not been defensive. They have, quite simply, been much better at defending than other European teams.' The opposite can be said of German teams, with the attacking intent the teams are showing a result of the poor defending. One reason why Werder Bremen have been so poor in the Champions League is due to the comic defensive partnership of Per Mertesacker and Sebastian Prödl. There would be no chance that the two would play together in an Italian team of the same quality. Look at last year's Champion's League Final. While Walter Samuel and Lúcio were assured in Inter's defence, Martin Demichelis offered little protection at Bayern's back and remains a shaky player. So what are the reasons for lots of goals in the Bundesliga? A mixture of risk-taking, attacking intent and poor defending.


Round-up of the Bundesliga results:


                    Mainz 3-0 Nürnberg
    Bayern München 4-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
            Hamburger 4-2 Stuttgart
              Hannover 3-0 Freiburg
            Hoffenheim 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen
       Kaiserslautern 5-0 Schalke
Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach
     Werder Bremen 3-0 St. Pauli
                          Köln 1-1 Wolfsburg

Barcelona and Real Madrid on form before the 'Clásico'

If there was any confirmation that there were only two teams with a shred of a hope of winning La Liga, Saturday evening was that. Barcelona thrashed Almería 8-0 away while Real Madrid easily overcame Athletic Club 5-1. Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo scored hat-tricks in those games to affirm their status as two of the world's best players today. All eyes are now on the Clásico on Monday as L'equip blaugrana and Los Blancos will battle it out for the top of the table.

Which club side can match the flair of Barcelona's play, the creativity of their players and the fluid transition between players on the pitch? Many people will have to think back to the Ajax sides of the '70s, where Cruijff and co. established totaalvoetbal on a global scale following three consecutive Champions League victories. And it is with the help of Cruijff and Rinus Michels, the Ajax manager at the time, that the brand of football Barcelona advocate now, such as pressing, interchange of formations and manipulating the space on the football pitch, is in place. With the help of those two Dutchmen, Barcelona won the Spanish division in 1974 with attacking football, and have remained engraved in Catalan history. Johan Cruijff often sees himself as a Catalan; he was appointed manager on non-FIFA affiliated Catalonia in 2009; and is a fierce exponent of positive football. His and Michel's legacy is firmly in place in Barcelona, with them winning 8-0 over Almería with a magnificent, attacking display.

For as Almería can be embarrassed about their performance on Saturday, Barcelona can be equally pleased about the manner of their performance. They played short, precise football while waiting for the right delivery into the box, where Pedro, Villa and Messi were waiting to pounce on goal. The first goal was especially well-crafted, with Messi passing it to Villa, the latter flicking it back to the Argentinian, who then drived a fierce shot into Diego Alves bottom corner. If Diego Alves could do nothing about the first goal, he didn't exactly cover himself in glory with fourth and seventh goals. For the fourth goal, Diego Alves was slow to come of his line after a fantastic lofted pass from the young Andreu Fontàs found the feet of Pedro and the goalkeeper left a large gap for Pedro to slot the ball into the net. The seventh goal occurred after Diego Alves fumbled a long shot from David Villa into the path of Lionel Messi who gratefully grabbed his hat-trick. While Diego Alves had a poor game, Almería were abject. Their defence had no shape to it and the team looked degraded and slow in their reactions boosting Barcelona's confidence before the big game.

Real Madrid would have also had a massive confidence boost after beating Athletic Club 5-1, with poster boy Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick. While Barcelona are slow and measured in their approach, Real Madrid play with such alacrity that opponents can't keep up with them. Ronaldo and Di María add a lot of pace down the flanks for Real Madrid, which resulted in a fabulous second goal for them. After a corner from Athletic, Ángel di María laid the ball forward for Gonzalo Higuaín who ran down the right flank, past the halfway line, and in turn lofted the ball towards Mesut Özil, laying in turn off for Cristiano Ronaldo to crash home. It was the perfect example of how Real Madrid play, dominating the game and pressing their opponents. Ronaldo also scored a free-kick and a penalty to complete his hat-trick, leaving him with  fourteen goals in twelve games, in front of Messi in the running for the Pichichi trophy, who is on thirteen goals for the season. 

The Clásico next week will be actually played on a Monday, for the first time in its history. The reasoning behind it will be to publicise games on Monday, as the Spanish public have mostly turned a blind eye to games on that day. The two best teams in the world will meet then, with the whole world watching. Will Barcelona overtake Real or will the Blancos hold on firm at the summit of the table? Will Real Madrid finally come out of the shadow of Barcelona's treble win in 2009? Watch on Monday and you will find out

Internazionale 0 - 1 AC Milan

In the Derby della Madonnina, Milan won 1-0 thanks to a penalty from Zlatan Ibrahimović against his former club. The match was a bad tempered one, with Ignazio Abate sent off for pushing Goran Pandev in the 60th minute.


Starting Lineups:
Internazionale:

12 - Luca Castellazzi
2 - Iván Córdoba
6 - Lucio
23 - Marco Materazzi
26 - Cristian Chivu
5 - Javier Zanetti (C)
4 - Dejan Stanković
20 - Joel Obi
10 - Wesley Sneijder
9 - Samuel Eto'o
22 - Eto'o Milito


Due to injuries to Júlio César, Maicon, Walter Samuel, Thiago Motta and Esteban Cambiasso, Rafael Benítez had no choice but to field a weak side, with players like Joel Obi being pushed into the senior side. Iván Córdoba was picked in front of Davide Santon, meaning there was no attacking presence down the right flank. Benítez decided to play a 4-3-1-2 formation, with Wesley Sneijder in the 'hole' instead of the regular 4-2-3-1 formation Inter have been using for the last couple of years.


AC Milan:

32 - Christian Abbiati
20 - Ignazio Abate
13 - Alessandro Nesta
33 - Thiago Silva
19 - Gianluca Zambrotta
8 - Gennaro 'Rino' Gattuso
23 - Massimo Ambrosini (C)
16 - Mathieu Flamini
10 - Clarence Seedorf
70 - Robinho
11 - Zlatan Ibrahimović


Massimiliano Allegri left out Ronaldinho in his team and decided not to risk Andrea Pirlo's fitness, so he instead played with three 'workers' in midfield, in Gattuso, Ambrosini and Flamini. The main width from the team came from Ignazio Abate and Gianluca Zambrotta running from defence, while sometimes Clarence Seedorf moved to the left flank to get possession of the ball.


Early Minutes and Milan Goal:
Milan were by far the more dominant from the whistle, with Zlatan Ibrahimović most influential in the game. Milan tried to play long through balls from midfield for Robinho and Ibrahimović to run on to, and it was through that tactic that Milan won a penalty. Ibrahimović ran on from a long ball from midfield and when he arrived in the penalty area, he pulled the ball back but was tripped by Materazzi's trailing leg. Ibrahimović confidently dispatched the penalty, firing it to Castellazzi's left. From then on Inter failed to get into the game to give enough support to Milito and Eto'o. Furthermore, Inter had no width in their play, with two fairly defence-minded full-backs (Córdoba and Chivu) and with no winger in their team. To fill in those spaces out wide, Eto'o pulled to the left, but that left Milito alone up-front and he was surrounded by Milan defenders. Ibrahimović meanwhile was having a great game, joining play by dropping deep when Milan were in possession, in essence providing an extra midfielder for the side. However, when Milan weren't in possession, he would stay on the offside line (which Inter were implementing horribly, especially as Materazzi was never quick as a young player, let alone as a 37 year old) to receive through balls. Milan would then put balls over the top of the defence for the two front men to make something out of. 


Half Time Changes:
Before half-time, Benítez put on Philippe Coutinho on for the injured Obi. Goran Pandev came on for the ineffective Milito at the break and in the 68th minute Jonathan Biabiny replaced the injured Marco Materazzi. Zanetti was brought to right back with Córdoba as a centre back, while Coutinho played in the middle with Stanković behind the trio of Biabiny, Sneijder and Pandev. Eto'o played as the lone front man. These changes enabled Benitez to play a 4-2-3-1, which is what the Inter players are used to and also allowed more width in their play with the introduction of two wingers. Inter took to the game and were helped by a controversial incident in the 60th minute. After a foul, Abate hurried to get the ball from Pandev's grasp. This angered the Macedonian, who pushed Abate to the floor, who immediately got up and subsequently pushed Pandev back. Pandev was given a yellow-card while Abate was sent off and the former was very lucky to stay on the pitch as there was no difference in the offence committed between the two. Despite the one-man advantage, Milan defended solidly and hung on to the precious three points to stay clear at the top of the table.


Statistics:
Inter                          Milan
57%  Possession         43%
10     Shots                6
3      Shots on Target  1
4      Corners             4
12    Fouls                17
1     Yellow Cards      4