“I’m prepared for everything … including having Pepe leave cleat marks in my ankles … because that’s the only way that they know how to try to stop Barça!”
mercredi 17 août 2011
Stat of the day: Dissecting the SuperCopa
Real Madrid’s failure to beat Barcelona in the Bernabéu on Sunday marked their worst streak of home performances against the Blaugrana ever. They have now gone five matches without tasting victory in Madrid. To rub some salt in the wound: Lionel Lessi has now scored at least once in each of these five matches, for a total of seven goals. In fact, in the encounters between these two teams over the last two seasons, Messi has had 24 shots on goal, and four goals; Christiano Ronaldo has fired in 31 shots for two goals during the same period.
OFFICIAL: Rodri signs for Barcelona B
FC Barcelona and Sevilla have reached an agreement to bring forward Rodrigo Rios Lozano(21), better known as Rodri to Barca B. The player, who’s transfer cost was one and a half million euros, has signed a four season contract.
Rodri, born in Cabrejas del Pinar (Soria), arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday afternoon to sign a contract for the next four seasons for the club. The arrival of Rodri is meant to reinforce the B team’s offensive line after the departure of Nolito to Benfica and the injury to Jonathan Soriano.
FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC reached an agreement for one and half million euros for the transfer of the young forward. His buyout clause is 10 million. Sevilla have seen fit to include an option to repurchase the player within the first two years of the transfer (until 2013). Barcelona can, however, pay his buy out clause to keep him.
The Front: Sport (17.08.2011)
FIRST FINAL
Barça – Madrid Super Cup 23h
Early morning with a title
Camp Nou should propel a Barça in the running to exceed Madrid
Cesc called up
Key day for the strike – high tension with reproaches from both sides
The Front: El Mundo Deportivo (17.08.2011)
GOING ALL OUT FOR THE FIRST TITLE
Barça – R. Madrid 23h
Barça, to show Madrid how to win without violence
Cesc could make his debut and Adriano doesn’t mince words: “This is football, not wrestling.”
Guardiola: “I have a lot of faith in the mentality of these players
Karanka: “If we play like we did on Sunday, the Cup is going to Madrid.”
Match Preview, Spanish Super Cup: FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid CF
Most teams are happy to walk out of the Bernabeu with a tie, let alone on a stretcher thanks to the appropriate, sporting play of players like Álvaro Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos and Pepe. Not only did Barcelona manage to avoid the season-ending love tackles of the Meréngues, but it did so in such way as to say, “Hey now, fellas. Let’s save it for the fun time you’ll have over at our place.”
Yes, Barça became the first side ever to go five consecutive away Clásicos without defeat. The advantage that Pep Guardiola and company take into the next match could help them lift the first trophy of the season – the Spanish Super Cup. That’s right, this is no ‘We Promise Not To Drop It Under A Bus This Time Cup’. This is, according to Mourinho, the least important trophy of the season but the most important trophy of the pre-season.
But seriously, the Spanish Super Cup could pave the way for another printing of t-shirts with six stars on it come next May. And with an away goal advantage going into a likely packed Camp Nou, the odds look good.
Team News
FC Barcelona
I expect the lineups to be similar to the first leg as Guardiola needs optimal rest for his stars ahead of this ridiculously long season. Midfielders Sergio Buquets and Xavi Hernandez will likely be on the bench for most, if not all, of the match, with Thiago Alcântara and Seydou Keita holding it down in their absence. Keita’s defensive mid qualities are questionable and his distribution is not on par with Busquets, a big factor in Madrid’s constant ball circulation in the 2-2 first leg at the Bernabeu.
A shining beacon of awesomeness and grit in the first leg that was Alexis Sanchez made Madrid’s left flank appear amateur at times. I think the Chilean will once again start ahead of Pedro Rodriguez and could easily make all the difference in this match. The atomic flea (our number 10) is bound to be bouncing around in his false 9 position, seeking to draw out Ricardo Carvalho and whatever other mercenary Mourinho can hire in time to put in at center back.
And it wouldn’t be Barcelona without the defensive instability, now would it? Gerard Piqué is still recovering and could probably benefit from a bit more of love and care from Shakira, while El capitán Carles Puyol is still letting his hair, er, knee get back to full strength following surgery over the summer. This means that Éric Abidal will slot into his position of yore alongside distributor-central-
Predicted line up: Valdes; Alves, Mascherano, Abidal, Adriano; Keita, Thiago, Iniesta; Villa, Messi, Sanchez
Real Madrid CF
And the unforeseeable has happened. “Madrid’s bench ain’t big enough for the both of us,” says every player. While Hamit Altintop, Nuri Şahin and Esteban Granero recover from injury, Sami Khedira, José Callejón, Fábio Coentrão and Ángel Di Maria will fight for two positions in Mourinho’s star-studded team.
Expect: lots of clean tackles, genuinely supportive gestures at the referees and smiles from the Madrid coach only when he’s actually happy.
Something should be said however, for the pressing Madrid was almost inexplicably able to pull off last time. Mesut Özil and Xabi Alonso’s circulation of the ball seemed like Florentino Pérez had successfully gotten spies into La Masia to see what has actually been going down over there.
Nothing out of the ordinary was put on display in the first leg except for Pepe as a central defender instead of a midfielder. Two things were surprising about this match. Madrid used the same 5-0 line up from a year ago, and did not use Pepe as an enforcer, something that made a tremendous difference in the series of Clásicos in April. The other surprise was that a bloodier altercation did not materialize between him and Alves given the red card the Portuguese received in April. Spoiler alert: they don’t like each other.
Predicted line up: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Carvalho, Arbeloa, Marcelo; Pepe, Xabi Alonso; Özil, Cristiano, Khedira; Benzema
Prediction: If Madrid could not put it away when they had it really going for them, it’s a missed opportunity, one that will not present itself again in this tournament. As the Barcelona engine begins to hum again, possession will rise and so will the players’ confidence.
FC Barcelona 2-0 Real Madrid
Visca el Barça.
Editor’s note: While Roberto Curtis has written for totalBarca in the recent past, this is his first regular season match preview.
Messi married?
According to Marcelo Araujo, a sports journalist from Argentina, Lionel Messi got married this summer!
Araujo, who is renowned in Argentina as a football commentator and director of TV sports shows revealed some details on his twitter @araujodeprimera. He states that when vacationing in Ibiza, Messi got married to his long time girlfriend, Antonella Rocuzzo. Araujo also says Messi’s cousin and Dani Alves were among the very short guest list. Lio took a few days off in Ibiza after finishing his holidays in Argentina and right before joining Barca’s preseason. A few photos of Lio and Antonella while on vacation showed them wearing what appeared to be engagement rings.
Even if it is only a rumour, it seems to have come from a realiable source. Araujo claims that “if this is false, I will shut down my account”. Until a couple of minutes ago, his account still exists. The claims about Messi’s marriage have been refuted by Messi’s family according to Spanish daily Sport.
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