Barcelona plays the sixteenth game of the season against Villarreal.
Villarreal is ranked fourth in the Liga. Last weekend, the team lost 1-0 against Sevilla, starting with López; Ángel, Gonzalo, Godin, Capdevilla; Cazorla, Senna, Eguren, Pires; Ibagaza; Llorente
Barcelona central defender Martín Cáceres played last season with Recreativo but he actually was on loan from Villarreal, who bought him in 2007. Villarreal midfielder Edmilson moved in the opposite direction last summer but was not included in the match list.
Villarreal squad list:
Diego López, Viera, Angel, Capdevila, Fuentes, Gonzalo, Godín, Bruno, Senna, Eguren, Ibagaza, Cazorla, Pires, Cani, Matías Fernández, Nihat, Rossi, Guille Franco
Barcelona squad list:
Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Cáceres, Abidal, Sylvinho, Xavi, Víctor Sánchez, Touré, Busquets, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Hleb, Messi, Eto'o, Bojan, Henry
Before (what are your expectations, what's your prediction, what should be the line-up,...), during and after the match, you can comment on the game here.
!!! LIVE MATCH CHAT !!!
From two hours before until two hours after the game you can join a match chat (read more here)
Posts
32 comments:
official:
Victor Valdes
Puyol
Dani Alves
Pique
Abidal
Xavi
Busquets
Keita
Messi
Eto'o
Henry
Hooray, we won. Again!
Definitely was a gruelling match, but now we have a very good gap of 10 points at the top, and incidentally this is the highest points tally by any team ever in La Liga.
Viva la Barca!
champions' attitude. They work really hard cos this wasnt one of the "easy" games. I feel very proud. New recored (again) 41points a Xmas.. WOW!!! I hope we have a better 2009.
41points @ Xmas
The defense played much better without Marquez I hope he stay's out for a long time because it's obvious he wasnt missed with all his mistake's he make's lettin the other team's alway's score on us and the rest of defender's like Puyol cleaning up he's dumb childish error's ..Viva Barca
to anony: obvious marquez wasnt missed??? wtf are you talking about? marquez has been just as solid as puyol!!!! pique was struggling out there and got a red card(though undeserved). and any coincidence that we allow our first goal in our mini league with no marquez???? watch the games alittle more closely
@anonymous: you don't even speak English properly, so please keep your opinion for yourself. Marquez is one of the best players this season so far.
Barca won today luckily. I cannot understand why is Guardiola constantly pushes Pique and Busquets. Pique doesn't play well and it's clear why did Ferguson sell him. And Messi...selfish, selfish, selfish. He must play with the TEAM, not alone.
well speaking that marquez ni not a solid player thats bullshit , pique is not really that good as i always thought so, but he is young wil immprove .
But the today's story goes to House MD ahahahuahuhauha maan mesi selfish cmon today he was less selfish than ever anyway i see u r not a barca true fan so no need to argue with u.
Every day i am happy when my lovely team wins there will always be some ppl like enjoy the win ppl stop messin aroung with nonsense bullshit like this.
cheers to all TRUE fans.
To Granche...so a "true" barca fan can not see things objectivly? That does'nt seem very intelligent my friend. Can you honestly say that you thought Messi was good today? He could easily have had two or three assists if he would keep he's head up a bit more. But he is stil young and will learn these things soon! Thanks for a great fighting-display toningt lads and good night fellow fans (even those who are'nt "barca true fan"...whatever that means).
Granche, what are you trying to say? I see you are less eloquent, so I forgive you. Before you decide to write something go back to school and learn some more words. And, of course, go visit goal.com Villarreal-Barca game preview and you'll see that Messi have only 4.5, the worst points of all players in both teams.
Talking about being fan. I'm Barca fan whole my life. Today's win is great, but sometimes we should be more realistic. People like you are fans only when Barca win and when the time is rough you only bitching.
I thought we'd win 1-0 today.
We've beaten the top 5 teams by 1 (2-1 Villarreal), 2 (2-0 Madrid), 3 (3-0 Sevilla), 4 (4-0 Valencia), 5 (6-1 Atletico).
Go Barca!
Its un believable that any real football fanatic would even compare Rafa Marquez to Pique. Common people...victories like this one really confirms the fact that Rafa is the most important defender we have. He not only defends but he starts all our offensive plays. He is so much better on the ball than Puyol. he is excellent in finding wide players with very long balls...
As for Messi...I think this was a good game as it confirmed to all that he was only human. selfish or not...the kid just had a bad bad bad game...without a doubt he was the worst player on the pitch...
Thank God we won...the fault would have been no one else's but Guardiola.. for playing that midfield in an away game...
Go Barca
Hey! Marquez is a solid Defender.(world class defender)... Pique, in my opinion is doing great, also he is young he is going to improve with time. (love to see him here)
Messi being selfish, thats his game... he is not going to change.. although he gave lots of passes today.. And Puyol is getting his Strong form again.. love it!... Visca Barca!
This is to you HouseMD how can you say selfish to messi if he is second best for assists in barca after xavi and he plays forward?
How the hell is he selfish?
I don't have time and I don't want to argue about Messi.
He's world class player, we all know that. He'll still improve.
@anonymous: you may say what you want, just like me. I said what I think because I was watching the game and I didn't enjoy much in today's and last week's Messi's performance.
But, I enjoyed watching Yaya.
Good night
i don't think messi was so bad as some people said.
but he is only 21, and has much to improve for sure.
the most important thing is we got 3 pts at one of most difficut stadium in La liga in year' end.
i'm also really glad henry've done dicisive role at barca recently.
this is so huge for us.
I have to get something out there. I used to read and comment on this blog much more frequently (under the name FCB-Fitz, but I just got a new computer and can't post under my old name), but every time I visit this site, I get more and more frustrated b/c of the comments that people leave. Barcelona is playing the best football that we've seen in years, and currently is the best football in Europe. However, by reading the comments that many of you leave, I would think we're watching the worst team in Europe. All most of you do is complain. "Marquez is the worst player in the club." "No, Pique is the worst player in the world; I understand why SAF sold him." Are you guys kidding me? We're playing great, and all you assholes do is complain, complain, and complain. Actually, no, that's not all you do; rather, you bicker with each other and call other Barca fans stupid because they think some other player is worse than the player you think is the worst. You guys make me sick...every Barca fan should be extremely pleased with this team right now. Why are you guys so freakin' negative? Stop bitching at each other, and stop bitching about the team. Enjoy the fact that we're playing outstanding football, and get along with other Cules instead of knocking each other and calling other Barca fans stupid. You people make me ashamed to call you fellow Barca fans. I'm sorry for the rant, but I had to get that out there. Stop being stupid, and recognize that we have a great team of which we should all be extremely proud and should feel extremely fortunate that we have the opportunity to watch these guys play.
And one last point: a lot of you keep saying how stupid Guardiola is for picking whatever team he picks each week. You know what? You're wrong. Guardiola is a great manager, is a true Catalan and Cule, and you're ignorant and don't understand the least thing about football if you don't recognize that he has been absolutely fantastic for this team. I'm sorry to be negative, but it is everyone else's negativity that has frustrated me and which prompted me to write this.
Cant we all just get along guys. First in the league beat villreal away (something very difficult to do even with rijkaards team at its best) real madrid valencia sevilla away (again very difficult) espanol away and atletico 6-1 and ppl are still complaining. Messi is selfish STFU. Who are you? cruyff? Maradona? Just sit back and enjoy the victories after two years of anguish and defeat and stop criticizing. 10 points clear at christmas winners of our champions league group 41 points out of 48 and into the next round of the copa del rey and you still find things to complain about? Sit down shut up and let the real coach do his job you bunch of complainers.
@HouseMD
For all your rants and snipes at other people for the poverty of their language I have to tell you that your grammar is the worst on display at this site and your vocabulary isn't too spectacular either.
thank you most of u agree marquez is the fuck up of our team now if only we could get rid of this mexican all would be good
ty u agree Marquez is a soul we dont need all he does is fuck up our play.Puyol is better then him please sell hell to a mexican team
it was not a good game yesterday. messi is not performing well since the last 3 games but it's not easy to play the best teams in spain and to perform always at the highest possible level. but i'm very excited about henry's engagement and fitness.
it's a good sign that barca is even winning when they're not playing well. that's pep's handwriting. he really knows how to make the team scoring. i've never seen such a coach so far. it's crazy.
Ok. Having read all these, I just love it. It shows the passion you/we all have for BARCA.
1. I can see guys trying to prove they are the best masters of English language. lol. Its all good, Englsih is not everyone's first language. So we nee to appreciate one another's effort.
2. I can see a guy (Anon) who wants Rafa.M. out at all cost. I think its a personal thing. He calls him "mexican". I dont see anything wrong in being mexican. He has found his form again this season. Lets be happy with that.
3. FCB Fitz, came tried to shut people up for doing the wrong things (hating, calling each other names..etc) but he got carried away and called them names too..lol. But I can understand him, hes just passionate.
4. Messi being "selfish"? Its always been like that and that was what Maradona tried to say, but he said it in the wrong way. I love CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISISM. Messi could have gave Hnery 2 passes at least. That doesnt mean Henry would score, but Lets hope Messi improves that bit as thats the only thing missing in his game. cos theres never been a "complete player"
The -ve effect of this is that it takes us away from discussing the hard-earned victory. lets savour this victory.
@kontiki: my English ain't brilliant too, but I was sick when I red that some "anonymous" spits over Marquez in bad English.
About language...you are professor or what?
At least, I didn't start arguing and Noubarca is right about "constructive criticism". Everybody knows how good Messi is, but he isn't best player on the pitch EVERY game.
For example, you can like Oscar de la Hoya and claim that he's the best boxer in the world, but THE FACT is Pacquiao beat him.
I hope you get the point.
Could we please keep a proper tone on this blog? Not interested in getting another Goal.com comment section.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion, you can choose to agree or disagree, but most of all, keep it about the team and the players. Don't go personal, it's great that we have a mixture of origins, and if that means a lower level of English, let it be so.
But most of all:
KEEP IT ABOUT THE TEAM
Going back to my books now and prepare for yet another exam... Amazed that you can always find the time Pep, have no idea how you do it!
I wish noubarca's comment had been the final word on this page and for the record i think Marquez is a wonderful player.
TO all of ya who pretend to be smartest bitches, when my team losess i dont have to be realistic i just dont sa a word and dont talk crap shit about my team, when my favourite player is not having the best of his days i dont say he is a crap because thats whats being a true fan is, i just dont say a word.And thats the difference between me and others who say messi was a crap, fuck goal.com with their ratings who gives a fuck what they say. And that was my point.
So now i wonder whose english is worst.yours House or mine hmmm really dont know. anyway thats not an issue in this blog who is more english the issue is as simple as who the true fans are.
And i really believe that u r not a barca fan at all.
sorry to the administrator of this blog that goes to PEP who has done a wonderful job with this blog and for quite a few months its my favourite site/blog.
Granche, you defend Messi as much as I defend Marquez. I don't give "names" to Messi like people which called Marquez "Mexican".
OK, Messi is your favorite player. My favorite player is Puyol, but, when he has a bad game I always admit it, no matter how much I like him - most important is to be realistic. I was pissed off yesterday (defending Marquez) and my intention was NOT to hurt someone. Like many others I truly enjoy Barca's current success. Real fan/not real fan is not the issue at the moment. Let's just hope 2009. will be even better for Barca.
Talking about English, read 5th post. I didn't get much of it, but OK, I did understand this guy don't want Marquez in the team as many people after him. So, THOSE people are not "true" fans. Granche, be realistic when you judge people, and more realistic about football.
That's it those ppl are not true fans and I will defend Marquez or any other barca player any day, eventhough Marquez is different from many other players as he is one of the best defenders in the world. anyway i was pissed off too and thats the reason u could not understand what I was trying to say as i didnt give a f*** to my proper English .
And i am realistic but i dont want to argue with my realistic oppinions as those oppinions may not be that good sometimes. so as I said before in times i just prefer to not talk about that at all.
i can u see u 2 making up.. awww.. aint that so sweet.... lol... BARCA ROCKS!!!!
I really appreciate everyone's opinion on this blog. But I just can't get over some xenophobic statements over Rafa, especially not from some anonymous scumbag who can't say a word in English. What's next to be expected? Someday someone will claim to get rid of every foreigner in the team. Regarding Messi, I reiterate that he's one of the best in the world, but I didn't enjoy his last 2-3 performances. That's all.
I think it's just one over-Catalan-minded person trying to stir things up. Guess not replying is the best reaction to that, guys.
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