Venue : Camp Nou, Barcelona
This week kamikaze kontiki could not do the preview again so I will once again be filling in for him. Barcelona's last home game of the league season comes off today and what a season it has been. This article is a preview article but since most of the focus is towards the Champion's League final on Wednesday with several players already rested last week, I think it appropriate to take a small look back at what has been accomplished in the league this season before we look at the game.
What a Difference One year makes
It seems somewhat like a dream to be honest, it's hard to believe the position that Barcelona were in last year at this point. By this stage of the league last year Real Madrid had already been crowned La Liga Champions, Barcelona had just endured the humiliation of the pasillo and followed that up with an abysmal display being bent over by Madrid for a 4-1 demolition.
There was talk of the Barca dressing room being split into factions with a Ronaldinho faction, an Etoo faction and a Spanish faction. There was talk of black sheep in the Barcelona dressing room and accusations of heavy partying and faking of injuries. Sid Low a, Barcelona leaning, columnist for the Guardian of London described it in the following way in his post match article saying
"After giving Real a guard of honour, Barça followed up with a display so complete in its patheticness, so utterly gutless, that it summed up their season."
as well as
"It was Real Madrid versus Barcelona, the clásico, but it was all about the pasillo - the guard of honour that beaten Barcelona had to hand the newly-crowned champions. As the chant runs, it was time for "¡Barça, cabrón!" to "¡Saluda al campeón!"; for Barça, you bastards, to salute the champions."
and finally
"Worse still, it was a performance so complete in its patheticness, so utterly gutless, that it summed up Barça's season, "the final brick in our wailing wall" as El Mundo Deportivo put it, "the final stab in the supporters' back", according to a mourning Sport, whose front cover this morning is completely black and reads: "Tragic End: You have dishonoured the Barcelona shirt". "
Just a few short months on coach Frank Rijkaard removed and local club legend Josep Guardiola (up to that time manager of the B team for 1 season) installed. What a master-stroke that proved to be. Guardiola promised in a news conference to “to try to seduce my players because I believe in the power of the word,”. “They’ll have to learn that they’re not worth much alone, that talent and inspiration can only become great when they are at the service of the team.”.
In that vein Ronaldinho, Deco, Edmilson, Zambrotta, Thuram, Dos Santos, Ezquerro and Oleguer were sent on their way and Keita, Pique, Dani Alves, Hleb and Caceres were brought in.
Few could have predicted the turnaround that was about to occur. In their first pre-season friendly Barcelona demolished Scottish team Hibernian in a display that had Barcelona fans suddenly feeling surprisingly optimistic. Barcelona went on to demolish all opposition on their pre-season tours of Scotland, Italy and the United States scoring 25 goals in 5 games. Suddenly the fans were starting to become optimistic again even though the wins were against smaller opposition teams.
But one of the most telling games of the season would come up next and it would show the fight that Pep had instilled in this team. The Joan Gamper trophy is the traditional curtain raiser to the season that usually takes place between Barcelona and another "big team". Boca Juniors came to open the season and after a cagey game Boca took the lead in the 72nd minute. The good start to the season seemed to be slipping as memories of the previous season came back.
6 comments:
No Thiago for this game? What a tragedy! Let us hope that Muniesa can show us some of his skills at left back. That kid is going to be a star, no doubt.
Where can u watch the hole party in Camp nou :) anyone ?
...marc muniesa...the most promising youth player...for me,after what i saw,think,he has maybe a bigger future like our other youthplayers,like thiago,gai,etc although they also good....but,he's the messi on the cb-position...i mean,believe that he starts through like him...not much time to find his place...let's see...
thiago is not available for tonight due to the call from u19 span.
muniesa got the call wow!
i hope he play tonight.
Yes Marc Muniesa has been called up to the barcelona first team. Its on the barcelona website
good preview! it is indeed a dream-season :)
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