Match discussion: Recreativo

This evening at 9 pm bt,
Barcelona plays the eleventh game of the season against Recreativo Huelva.

Recreativo is ranked seventeenth in the Liga. This week, Recreativo was eliminated from the Spanish cup, despite a 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao. Last weekend, the team lost 1-0 against Sevilla, playing with Riesgo; Morris, Arzo, Beto, Poli; Sis, Vázquez, Fuego, Aitor (64 Akale); Guerrero (73 Adrian), Rubén (66 Martín)

Barcelona central defender Martín Cácers played last season with Recreativo (on loan from Villareal).


Valladolid squad list:
Riesgo, Roberto, Morris, Lamas, César Arzo, Iago Bouzón, Casado, Akalé, Camuñas, Jesús Vázquez, Adrián Colunga, Sisi, Barber, Marco Ruben, Poli, Aitor, Beto, Javi Guerrero, Javi Fuego

Barcelona squad list:
Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Márquez, Piqué, Puyol, Cáceres, Sylvinho, Xavi, 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.


NEW !
From two hours before until two hours after the game you can join a match chat (read more here)

Hleb: "I want to start scoring goals"

Barcelona player Alexander Hleb gave an interview to football site ESPNsoccernet.





It's been a few months for you now at FC Barcelona. How are things fitting in for you?
Now things are much better and of course, I'm learning Spanish, I feel more like at home. I'm more integrated in the team and that's something that is very important for me.

When you received the offer from Barcelona, did you have to think about it very much or was it an appealing challenge for you?
Of course it was an offer from a fantastic club. It's harder work here to make it into the first eleven. But Barcelona is fantastic and everything is very good.

There's quite a connection between Arsenal and Barcelona, players coming and going and obviously you had Cesc to tell you about Barcelona and Henry to guide you.
Yes, it was great. I spoke a lot about Barcelona with Cesc before I arrived here. He explained about a lot of things, about the place and about the fantastic weather. I want to enjoy my time at the club and I'm very happy to be here.

For some time now there are rumours about Cesc returning to Barcelona. Would there be 'room' for him in the team with Xavi in midfield?
I don't know. I can't really say anything about that. Xavi is a fantastic player and Cesc is my friend. You'll have to ask him if he wants to come to Barcelona or not because I think he is happy at Arsenal.

If there's one thing impressive about Barça recently it's the amount of good players coming through from the youth teams.
Yes, the club has a fantastic youth scheme and we see the young players at Barcelona playing as if they were already 30-years-old. Busquets, Pedro, Bojan, etcetera. I think for the clubs it's excellent.

What do you think of the coach: young, knows the club very well and doing surprisingly well...
I think he's very good. He's young, he's brought a lot of discipline into the club and he has a lot of contact with the players and that's fantastic at the moment because everything is going so well at Barcelona.

With your league debut in mind and the tackle which led to your injury against Racing Santander, you've said the Spanish league is much tougher than the English one.
I saw that sometimes in Spain players kick you, they go after you rather than the ball. I think referees need to protect the players more during games in the Spanish league.

What other things in Spanish football are you learning to handle?
Well, I think the Spanish league has very good quality, fantastic football. I think everyone in Spain can play well which means we have to be concentrated in all our games because we can lose points if we're not 100% concentrated.

34 goals in 10 games is the best record since the 1950s at Barça. That's obviously good news but does it worry the coach and the team in the sense that the supporters will always demand big wins?
But I like winning 5-0 or 6-0! (laughs) And I think the team likes that too! I think it's very important to win but it's much better if it's a 5-0 win. I think the fans like those results, enjoy the matches with such big scores.

Samuel Eto'o is on 13 goals now. Did it surprise you that Pep Guardiola didn't want him in the team during the summer?
I don't really know why. Eto'o is one of the best strikers in the world. I don't really want to speak about why Guardiola didn't want him in the summer. But the truth is that I'm happy he stayed in Barcelona, he's helping us a lot, he's scoring a lot of goals.

In your case, you have said you think you can adapt to playing in other positions and hope to start scoring too.
I want to start scoring goals, yes. But after my injury I'm still not in my best form. What I do know is that coach Guardiola believes in me and we talk a lot about my game so I hope soon enough I'm back into my best form.

After the draw against FC Basel means the next game against Sporting Lisbon is a key one to guarantee the first spot and avoid 'top teams' in the next draw.
Yes, I think we always want to win our games and we don't think about the draw so much as we do about winning our matches. We're out to win the three points against Sporting. I know this isn't done yet, but we're counting on it.



Read the full interview here

Live Match Chat: Recreativo Huelva - FC Barcelona

(original post by OmarX)

Have you ever sat infront of your TV or computer while you were watching a FC Barcelona game and hoped you could share your excitement, feelings, and opinions with other fans LIVE as it happens?

We are proud to present you the new FC Barcelona Match Chat. Now you will be able to communicate before, during and after the match. The chat will be available from two hours before until two hours after the match. In the future this could turn into a 24/7 chat.

The chat is designed to be very user friendly and just requires you to enter your desired nickname and join (no registration required!). It is open to everyone, therefore make sure to invite your friends and spread the message. If you encounter any troubles or difficulties please put them here in the comments section or contact omarx in the chatroom.


To make all this work, we're setting up a moderator's system. Until that's in place, please keep in mind the following basic rules:

- on the public chat the main language is English

- you can hold private conversations by using the appropriate button you find below at the right of your screen
(mark the person you want to have a private talk with and click the button)


See you there!


Chat Link:
http://fcbarcelona.hopto.org/

Match:
Recreativo Huelva - FC Barcelona
(Sunday 16 November 2008 @ 21:00 Local time)

Chat starts at 19:00 - 7 pm

Barça B - Liga 13: Barcelona-Gavà 0-0

Miño

Corcoles
Verdés
Botía
Joni

Víctor Vázquez
Xavi Torres (90)
Longàs (81 Abraham)

Pedro
Maric (62 Rochina)
Nolito (73 Gai)



yellow cards
Victor Vázquez
Joni
Verdes

bench
Oier
Fontàs

out of match squad
Rueda
Thiago

injured
Solano
Jeffren
Espasandín



Table
1. Villarreal B (12) 28
2. Badalona (12) 24
3. Sant Andreu 22
4. Alcoyano (12) 21
5. Gavá 20
6. Sabadell 19
7. Lleida (12) 18
8. Benidorm (12) 17
9. Terrassa (12) 16
10. Ontinyent (12) 15
11. Orihuela (12) 15
12. Denia (12) 15
13. Barcelona Atlètic 15
14. Santa Eulalia (12) 14
15. Osasuna B 14
16. Gramanet (12) 14
17. Valencia Mestalla 14
18. Alzira (12) 13
19. Eivissa (12) 10
20. Atlético Baleares (12) 9

The bottom four teams are relegated to the fourth division. The 16th placed team enters into a relegation playoff with the 16th placed team of another group of the third division.











# # s e

Juventus and Arsenal monitor Busquets talks

Italian sports paper Il Corriere dello Sport claims that Juventus is very much interested in Barcelona midfielder and Spanish youth international Sergio Busquets (20) and is ready to contact the player's agent Josep Maria Orobitg soon if the Catalan player doesn't sign a renwal.

British tabloid The People claims that also Arsenal is set to make a move for Busquets if he fails to agree a new contract, with his current deal expiring at the end of this season.

Spanish news agency EFE claims that Barcelona has held on Thursday a third meeting with Orobitg. After Barcelona had rejected a first renewal proposal put forward by the player's agent, the positions would now have come a lot closer, especially regarding the salary.

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo confirms that progress was made during a meeting on Thursday morning between Orobitg and Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and Barcelona general football director Raül Sanllehí. Busquets will sign a five-year deal, but there are still minor differences about the split of the salary in a fixed part and incentives.

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that there's a principal agreement for a five-year renewal (read more here). Busquets would get a serious pay rise. The fixed part would already be agreed upon, but there's still no deal on the incentives. A new meeting next week should resolve the last issues.

Asked about Thursday's meeting, Busquet's agent said to the paper that it has been a key meeting: "There are still some little details left but it's true that we are a lot closer now and I think that we can close everything very soon. Now it's just about some minor issues but those shouldn't block the renewal.

Contracts can be very complex, with a lot of conditions and the incentives are becoming more and more important. Everything is ok but we just need to agree on some things. Both parties are totally willing to reach an agreement and I'm sure it's just a matter of time. When both want the same, and there's no doubt about this here, a deal can only be a matter of time."

Read more:
Milan offers Busquets twice as much as Barcelona
The Arabic tattoo of Busquets
Principal agreement on Busquets renewal