FC Barcelona News
Barcelona Battle Past Zaragoza
April 8th, 2012With the 2011/2012 in its closing few weeks we still have tickets available for two matches. On April 24th Barcelona faces Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals, while in early May we have FC Barcelona tickets available for the league match against Malaga. That match will be played midweek, and the date is not yet fixed so could be on any day between 1st and 3rd May.
FC Barcelona earned a hard fought 4-1 win away at Real Zaragoza on Saturday night. In a competitive match Valdés saved a penalty before conceding to an Aranda header. Barça bounced back minutes later through goals from Puyol and Lionel Messi. Messi extended the lead from the spot and Pedro added the forth.
Barcelona took a long time to find their stride. Zaragoza were tenacious in their attempts to press and win the ball back, and there was also a rugged edge to their game, giving away no fewer than six fouls in as many minutes.
Guardiola’s men were rattled and were finding it difficult to work the ball into dangerous positions. And indeed it was Zaragoza who carved the first big opportunity – when Micael sent the ball in low from the left for Aranda, but the striker miscued his shot.
Messi had a shot blocked, but 20 minutes into the match Barcelona were yet to force a save from Roberto in the Zaragoza goal. At the other end Zaragoza hit the post, and then Lafita beat Valdés to the rebound but was brought down by Barça’s ‘keeper. Turienzo Álvarez signalled what was a relatively clear penalty. Aranda aimed his spot kick towards the right side of goal, but Valdés got across to make a key save.
But Zaragoza continued to break with menace. Just after half an hour Aranda broke the offside trap and got in behind the Barcelona defence. His first shot was saved by Valdés, but the rebound bounced off the striker’s head in and into the goal.
The goal brought Barça to life, and they dominated the rest of the half. Roberto made a point blank save from Alexis, but when the resulting corner came in the Zaragoza ‘keeper’s attempt at a one-handed catch only served to divert the ball down to Puyol’s feet, and the defender was left with an easy chance to make it 1-1.
Zaragoza continued to attack, but it was Barcelona who would score the next goal on the break. After a Zaragoza corner, the away team broke forward with Alexis who carried the ball forward and picked out Messi with a lofted pass across. Messi wriggled past Paolo da Silva before slamming his shot into the top left corner.
A fractious second half saw Zaragoza coach Manolo Jiménez sent to the stands. Neither team could find their stride – Zaragoza looked dangerous early on, when Obradovic volleyed just wide, but Barcelona were soon on the front foot.
Alexis had an excellent chance to make it 3-1 when he was released by a Messi reverse pass and drew a reaction save from Roberto. Later the Chilean forward drew a clumsy tackle from Paredes in the area. Messi powered the penalty into the roof of the net to make the game safe. In injury time Pedro broke down the left, exchanged passes with Messi and tucked his finish neatly past Roberto to add gloss to the victory.
1-0 Aranda (min 29)
1-1 Puyol (min 35)
1-2 Messi (min 38)
1-3 Messi (min 86)
1-4 Pedro (min 91)
Real Zaragoza Offer Little Resistance to Rampant Barcelona
November 21st, 2011FC Barcelona romped to a 4-0 win at home to Real Zaragoza on Saturday night, with Piqué, Messi, Puyol and David Villa grabbing the goals. The home side was in sparkling form and had complete control of the game – only a fine performance by Los Blanquillos’ ‘keeper Roberto kept the score-line down.
Barcelona lined up for this game with an exciting attacking side; Alexis Sánchez started on the left flank, presented with an opportunity to put his stuttering early career with the club behind him. Young winger Isaac Cuenca took his place on the right, and Messi, Cesc and Xavi took up the central creative roles, switching positions throughout the evening.
As is so often the case, Barça took a little while to get going, but completely dominated possession and territory, with the majority of the football played on the edge of Zaragoza’s area. In fact it took a goal from Barcelona for them to find their attacking rhythm.
Cesc won a free-kick on left angle of the area after 20 minutes – Xavi stepped up and curled a teasing cross, which Piqué headed home unmarked from the six-yard line.
The remainder of the first half was a barrage from Barça, and saw Zaragoza ‘keeper in stunning form. Messi alone had four close-range chances stopped, with Alexis and Cesc providing the ammunition. One of the best opportunities fell to Barça’s Chilean winger – Messi hustled forward, laid the ball to Cesc, whose back-heel was perfectly timed to meet, Alexis’ run, but Roberto was once again equal to the shot.
Then, just as the first half was coming to a close, Cesc found Messi in space in the area with a perceptive pass. The Argentine forward ducked past centre-half Lanzaro and finished right-footed to double Barcelona’s lead.
Barcelona continued to carve Zaragoza open after the break, with Lionel Messi at the heart of the best moves. He released Cesc, who saw his left-footed effort tipped past the post by Roberto. This effort was followed by the away side’s only real attacking spell in the match – the most notable attempt was by Laifto, who ran at Barça’s backline, but smashed a right-footed shot wide of the near post.
Barcelona responded by scoring their third of the night. Puyol took up an advanced position for a free-kick and showed real grit to score at the second attempt after Keita headed Xavi’s back across goal. Sensing that the game was now safe, Guardiola withdrew Cesc, Xavi and Alexis, bring on Thiago, Iniesta and David Villa.
After a sublime run, Messi fed Iniesta, but his clever toe-poke was clawed away by the fingertips of Roberto, who was the man responsible for keeping an air of respectability to the score-line.
In the end it was El Guaje who notched Barcelona’s fourth – Cuenca worked his way to the byline, and, when the youngster’s cross was deflected by Minero, Villa was on hand to complete the rout with a diving header.
1-0 Gerard Pique (min 17)
2-0 Lionel Messi (min 42)
3-0 Carles Puyol (min 53)
4-0 David Villa (min 74)
Barça scrapes another win
March 7th, 2011After some of the goal-fests earlier in the season it should probably be no surprise that Barça is capable of far less spectacular results too. For the second match in a row, Barcelona won by just 1-0, this time thanks to Keita in the 42nd minute – set up by Leo Messi.
Barça struggled to find their feet for the first 20 minutes but when they did they were certainly effective – unfortunately so was Zaragoza’s goal keeper.
Thirty minutes in it looked like Barcelona had broken the deadlock, but Keita’s goal was incorrectly judged to be offside. Three minutes before the break though, Keita did score the only goal of the match. Victor Valdes was back in action after a lay-off through injury, but really he had little to do; when Zaragoza did break through, Valdes was there to stop the ball.
In the second half Barça dominated possession, and both Pique and Bojan got close to adding another goal to Barça’s tally. However, it wasn’t to be and when the final whistle blew it was just a single goal scored but three more points on the league table. Barça’s next match is against Arsenal on Tuesday. While it is good news that Victor Valdes is back in goal, it will be without Carles Puyol, who can make a huge difference to defence.
After Barça’s 2-1 loss at Emirates, they need just 1-0 to go through to the next round. Fingers crossed that they can do that – or more.
1-0, Keita (min 42)
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
|
1
|
Barcelona |
27
|
24
|
2
|
1
|
78
|
13
|
74
|
|
2
|
Real Madrid |
27
|
21
|
4
|
2
|
65
|
20
|
67
|
|
3
|
Valencia |
27
|
16
|
6
|
5
|
42
|
28
|
54
|
|
4
|
Villarreal |
27
|
15
|
5
|
7
|
46
|
29
|
50
|
|
5
|
Athletic Bilbao |
27
|
13
|
2
|
12
|
42
|
38
|
41
|
|
6
|
Espanyol |
27
|
13
|
1
|
13
|
35
|
39
|
40
|
|
7
|
Atlético Madrid |
27
|
11
|
5
|
11
|
39
|
35
|
38
|
|
8
|
Sevilla |
27
|
11
|
5
|
11
|
41
|
42
|
38
|
|
9
|
Real Sociedad |
26
|
11
|
2
|
13
|
37
|
42
|
35
|
|
10
|
Mallorca |
27
|
10
|
4
|
13
|
28
|
37
|
34
|
|
11
|
Getafe |
27
|
9
|
6
|
12
|
36
|
41
|
33
|
|
12
|
Levante |
27
|
9
|
4
|
14
|
28
|
38
|
31
|
|
13
|
Racing Santander |
27
|
7
|
9
|
11
|
25
|
39
|
30
|
|
14
|
Osasuna |
27
|
7
|
8
|
12
|
27
|
32
|
29
|
|
15
|
Sporting Gijón |
27
|
6
|
10
|
11
|
25
|
34
|
28
|
|
16
|
Deportivo |
26
|
6
|
10
|
9
|
21
|
35
|
28
|
|
17
|
Zaragoza |
27
|
6
|
9
|
12
|
24
|
39
|
27
|
|
18
|
Hércules |
27
|
7
|
5
|
15
|
25
|
41
|
26
|
|
19
|
Almería |
27
|
5
|
10
|
12
|
28
|
45
|
25
|
|
20
|
Málaga |
27
|
6
|
5
|
16
|
34
|
59
|
23
|
Barça win shows they are good – but are they good enough?
October 25th, 2010While Barcelona has made a reasonable start to the 2010/11 season, currently in third place behind Real Madrid and Villarreal, they surely should have had a better result than 2-0 against Zaragoza on Saturday. Xavi was missing from the lineup and Zaragoza are currently bottom of the league; if that were not enough of an advantage for the Catalans, the home side played the second half with just 10 men.
Contrast this with Real Madrid. They beat Racing Santander 6-1, the kind of total annihilation that Barça just doesn’t seem capable of at the moment. While Barça beat Racing 3-0 a few weeks ago, Madrid is currently playing at a different level.
According to FCB four wins out of four away games this season is a club record. While that is all well and good, that doesn’t necessarily translate into anything meaningful. Four out of four is good, but what is going to happen when Madrid visit the Nou Camp in November – that is the real test.
Of course, Barça is sometimes slow it getting going at the start of a season and no doubt the disproportionate representation of Barça in the Spanish national squad takes its toll with those players selected for international duty having to play more matches.
It’s a long slog to the end of the season, but FC Barcelona needs to get down to serious business soon.
0-1 Messi (min 41)
0-2 Messi (min 66)
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
|
1
|
Real Madrid |
8
|
6
|
2
|
0
|
22
|
4
|
20
|
|
2
|
Villarreal |
8
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
16
|
6
|
19
|
|
3
|
Barcelona |
8
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
14
|
6
|
19
|
|
4
|
Valencia |
8
|
5
|
1
|
2
|
13
|
8
|
16
|
|
5
|
Espanyol |
8
|
5
|
0
|
3
|
8
|
10
|
15
|
|
6
|
Sevilla |
8
|
4
|
2
|
2
|
14
|
11
|
14
|
|
7
|
Getafe |
8
|
4
|
1
|
3
|
14
|
10
|
13
|
|
8
|
Atlético Madrid |
8
|
4
|
1
|
3
|
12
|
9
|
13
|
|
9
|
Mallorca |
8
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
7
|
8
|
11
|
|
10
|
Athletic Bilbao |
8
|
3
|
1
|
4
|
14
|
14
|
10
|
|
11
|
Osasuna |
8
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
7
|
6
|
9
|
|
12
|
Hércules |
8
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
8
|
9
|
9
|
|
13
|
Levante |
8
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
8
|
14
|
8
|
|
14
|
Sporting Gijón |
8
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
8
|
14
|
8
|
|
15
|
Almería |
8
|
1
|
4
|
3
|
6
|
7
|
7
|
|
16
|
Real Sociedad |
7
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
11
|
7
|
|
17
|
Málaga |
8
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
13
|
19
|
7
|
|
18
|
Racing Santander |
8
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
5
|
14
|
7
|
|
19
|
Deportivo |
7
|
0
|
4
|
3
|
3
|
11
|
4
|
|
20
|
Zaragoza |
8
|
0
|
3
|
5
|
6
|
14
|
3
|
FCB
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