BarÃ§a knocked out of Champions League

Posted on April 29th, 2010 by admin

Well their was a lot to hope for, but in the end BarÃ§a’s dream was shattered despite dominating possession throughout the match.

With Barcelona on the pitch to score it did look for much of the match as though the Catalans would achieve their dream and defend their Champions League title in Madrid. However, Inter were purely there to defend and didn’t allow BarÃ§a space to make the most of their staggering possession – 75% throughout the match.

Early on it looked as if the balance would shift in Barcelona’s favour when Motta was shown a red card for a clearly deliberate foul on Busquets. But even with 10 men, Inter’s strategy prevented from BarÃ§a breaking through.

In the end it was the 84th minute when Pique scored, and seemingly revitalised they continued their attack until the final whistle. However, a second goal – the goal that meant BarÃ§a’s Champions League dream was still alive – was disallowed due to handball by Toure Yaya.

With Inter facing Batern Munich in the final, FC Barcelona must now focus all its energy on the league title. One point ahead of Real Madrid and with four games remaining, that is far from secure either.

Tags: Champions League, Inter Milan, Pique, Semi-final

Bayern Munich through to Champions League final

Posted on April 28th, 2010 by admin

Bayern Munich quantified for the Champions League final last night – the first time in nine years – after a 3-0 win against Lyon. The team’s manager, Louis van Gaal, was formerly in charge BarÃ§a and is would relish playing BarÃ§a in the final.

Inter Milan are currently in Barcelona for the second semi-final at the Nou Camp tonight. After beating BarÃ§a 3-1 in Italy, the Catalans will really need to pull out all the stops to a) prevent Inter from scoring and b) score 2 goals.

Tags: Bayern Munich, Louis van Gaal, Lyon

Morale booster ahead of Inter clash

Posted on April 26th, 2010 by admin

Jeffren, Henry and Ibrahimovic all did their best to help Barcelona hold on to three points on Saturday night when Xerez visited the Nou Camp.

Despite going 2 goals up early on, BarÃ§a faced some tough opposition; the visitors scored just after BarÃ§a’s second goal and the fight continued on well into the second half.

Ibrahimovic sealed the win when he put the Catalans 3-1 up; it is a much welcome confidence booster ahead of the match against Inter Milan on Wednesday, when BarÃ§a needs to go out and play at the top of their game.

Champions League – Inter takes first leg

Posted on April 21st, 2010 by admin

FC Barcelona suffered a heavy blow last night in its ambition to take the Champions League title for the second year running.

While BarÃ§a went one goal up in the 19th minute thanks to a goal from Pedro assisted by Maxwell, the rest of the match went against them – including some poor refereeing decisions.

Ten minutes after Pedro’s goal Inter scored the equaliser – normally that wouldn’t be so bad, but last night the home team was a long way from the team BarÃ§a had faced earlier in the Championship and their onslaught was relentless.

Even with Inter 2-1 up things looked like they weren’t completely lost after Maicon scored three minutes into the second half; but Milito’s 60th minute goal was definitely offside and Alves’ yellow card a few minutes from the end was undeserved – replays show that he was brought down inside the area.

So, FC Barcelona will really be playing for everything next Wednesday when Inter Milan comes to the Nou Camp. They need a 2-0 victory to do it, which isn’t out of the question. However, they’ll need more goals to feel really secure as well as stop Inter’s strikers from putting the ball past Valdes.

Tags: Champions League, Inter Milan, Maicon, Milito, Pedro, Sneijder

Barcelona derby ends in goalless draw

Posted on April 19th, 2010 by admin

BarÃ§a crossed town to visit Espanyol’s new stadium on Saturday night in the Barcelona derby. With a series of big games just behind them and another big one on Tuesday, FC Barcelona’s players must be looking forward to some kind of rest. However, Saturday night was never going to be easy for them and Espanyol went out of their way to cause as much pain to the visitors as possible; right from the start the tackled hard and made sure Barcelona didn’t control the game.

However, after the break BarÃ§a dominated the ball, putting it out of reach of Espanyol for much of the time. Even after Alves was showed his second yellow that domination didn’t break; however, they were unable to do enough with the ball to break the Espanyol defense.

The match ended in a goalless draw, and with Real Madrid’s win against Valencia on Sunday, it leaves BarÃ§a with a slim one point margin at the top of the league.

Barcelona have already departed for Milan for the Champions League match on Tuesday. Scheduled to fly, they instead went by bus thanks to the closure of several airports in the north of Spain – including Barcelona airport – due to the volcanic ash which is causing chaos through much of Europe’s airspace.

Tags: Barcelona derby, Espanyol

Real Madrid close up gap

Posted on April 16th, 2010 by admin

Barcelona’s lead was narrowed last night after Real Madrid’s 2-1 win against Almeria last night. It didn’t all go Madrid’s way though when they went one goal down early in the first half. However, they put two goals into Almeria’s net to walk away with the three points that keep their title hopes alive.

Tags: Real Madrid

Three more points in the bag for Barcelona

Posted on April 15th, 2010 by admin

Barcelona kept hold of all the points last night when Deportivo visited the Nou Camp. While the crowd was in a party mood after wins against Arsenal and Real Madrid, the players were looking a little tired for much of the match. However, a goal from Bojan in minute 15 put the home side one goal up.

And even though it sometimes looked as though Deportivo might score, in the end BarÃ§a really demonstrated why they are in the position they are, but continually grinding down the visitors until they got their second wind and gained two more goals.

Goal number 2 ame in the 68th minute, when Pedro lobbed the ball right over the defence and keeper and into the net; and then in the 72nd minute Toure Yaya scored. With their confidence restored, BarÃ§a’s energy reappeared and they continued to provide entertainment to the crowd until the final whistle blew.

The result puts BarÃ§a 6 points clear of Madrid, although they are playing Almeria tonight; they then play the Barcelona derby on Saturday, followed by Inter Milan on Tuesday for another busy week.

Tags: Boja, Deportivo, Pedro, TourÃ© Yaya

BarÃ§a on top of the world

Posted on April 12th, 2010 by admin

Real Madrid’s ambition to take the league title suffered a serious setback on Saturday night when FC Barcelona beat them for the forth in four matches since Pep Guardiola took over.

With seven matches still remaining, there is still time for Barcelona to lose points, but this is one match Madrid would not have wanted to lose. Although it hardly seems like a crisis to take second place in the league, that’s how it is being talked about by many of Madrid’s hugely deflated fan base.

“El Clasico” is massively hyped and often fails to live up to expectation. While Barcelona’s win – thanks to goals from Messi and Pedro – didn’t match the collosal 6-2 result from last season, their 2-0 victory was enough to take three points and the top spot in the league.

While Madrid’s self confidence has taken a bashing, the opposite is true of Barcelona. With wins against Arsenal and Real Madrid in the same week they must feel like they can take on anyone. With the semi-final of Champions League against Inter Milan coming up shortly, we’ll soon know if they can turn that feeling into a reality.

While Madrid suffered, Barcelona partied, with celebrations throughout the city going on into the early hours.

Tags: Messi, Pedro, Real Madrid

Barcelona beats Real Madrid to take #1 spot in Spanish League

Posted on April 11th, 2010 by admin

FC Barcelona spectacularly beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeu last night with goals from Messi and Pedro, putting them back on top of the league and taking them a step closer to the league title.

Afterwards the centre of Barcelona went wild, as fans celebrated the victory.

More details tomorrow.

Tags: Messi, Pedro, Real Madrid

Man U knocked out by Bayern Munich

Posted on April 8th, 2010 by admin

One team FC Barcelona won’t be facing if they get through to the Champions League final in May is Manchester United, after they crashed out in the quarter-final stage last night.

After losing 2-1 against Bayern Munich in the away leg, it looked like Man Utd had done enough when they went 3-0 up. However, Bayern began to claw back some of the advantage when they made the scoreline 3-1; and when Rafael Da Silva was sent of at the beginning of the second half it tipped the balance in the German team’s favour.

Bayern Munich went on to score one more to lose the match 3-2; however, the aggregate score was a 4-4 draw, with Bayern going through on away goals.

Last year BarÃ§a beat the German’s in the quart-final stage, winning 4-0 at home and drawing 1-1 away. Prior to that Barcelona played Bayern Munich in the annual Gamper Trophy, winning 1-0.

Tags: Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Quarter-final

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