The Ultimate Game: Get Inside Guardiola's head

With Frank Rijkaard you couldn't get any honour by predicting Barcelona's starting line-up. Even hockey moms could. But this has dramatically changed last summer. Until this very day, nobody has been able to crack the code of Josep Guardiola's brain. Nor has anyone got inside his sleeves.

So this is your chance to prove not only your knowledge about the game of football but also your psychological insight:

PREDICT BARCELONA'S STARTING LINE-UP

This is not (as in: NOT) a place for discussion on team tactics or personal player preferences. You just give the system and the eleven names you think will start the game against Racing Santander on Sunday.

You put them in the right position, so using the 4-3-3 (or whatever you think they will play) and putting the players from the right to the left, so the right back defender is your first name after the goalkeeper. If your line-up isn't clear, my interpretation counts.

Don't forget to add your (nick)name by clicking Name/URL under the comment box and fill it in, otherwise your after-game claim to glory will be dismissed.

You can give your starting line-up until four hours before the start of the game, in this case: until 1:00 pm barcelona time.

If you give your line-up before Guardiola announes his match list (or if at least 20 players are included in the match list), you get one point for the correct line-up. If you do it after that announcement, you get half a point. Who will have the most points at the end of the season, can call himself the winner.

This is the 25th time this game is organized.

Table

3,5
Zeli
FCBFan

3
Davor
Barcik
Söderström
westinho
temeldinho
jerryprez
Henry

2.5
James
semko
ElDuroDeFCB
jepoy
vj

2
nozbleed
Etsp
Jamrock
B. Beltrocco
GrandeMessi
Kiki
mario ch
Nikola

1.5
Valdi
Dan R
Louis
younes

1
zuka
OLALEKAN
Bogman
Brambo
kamikaze kontiki
CharlesWood
Flippy
Romyan
Severian
granche
Maximus
Hung
Koyya
simon
Barca nike
SimonP
Cali Socis
KEMPE cy
mofof
Josep
Ramen
fcbee
brogie
Jonathan
peter

0.5
Knives Out
Michael
ekar
blaugrana poland
Bonton
Tobogan

Quote of the day: Henry

Gerard Piqué is a pain in the neck. He always gets me with the practical jokes. He's funny with it, it’s cool, really, but he’s still a pain in the neck.

Thierry Henry, Barcelona player

more quotes

Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant loves Barcelona

In the first February issue of US bi-weekly sports magazine ESPN The Magazine, American basketball player Kobe Bryant, shooting guard of Los Angeles Lakers, confesses his love for FC Barcelona (see more pictures here).


Watch this video of the making of the cover shoot:

Statistics 2008-2009: Goals, assists, cards

goals
23 Messi (14 + 5 + 4)
22 Eto'o (19 + 3 + 0)
14 Henry (12 + 2 + 0)
7 Bojan (0 + 3 + 4)
7 Xavi (4 + 3 + 0)
4 Gudjohnsen (3 + 0 + 1)
3 Keita (3 + 0 + 0)
2 Piqué (0 + 1 + 1)
2 Iniesta (2 + 0 + 0)
2 Busquets (0 + 2 + 0)
2 Alves (2 + 0 + 0)
2 Márquez (1 + 1 + 0)
1 Touré (1 + 0 + 0)
1 Sylvinho (0 + 1 + 0)
3 own-goals opponent (2 + 1 + 0)


assists
17 Xavi (13 + 3 + 1)
15 Messi (11 + 3 + 1)
13 Alves (9 + 2 + 2)
7 Eto'o (5 + 2 + 0)
7 Iniesta (4 + 2 + 1)
7 Henry (5 + 2 + 0)
5 Bojan (2 + 2 + 1)
4 Puyol (4 + 0 + 0)
3 Gudjohnsen (1 + 2 + 0)
3 Hleb (3 + 0 + 0)
2 Touré (2 + 0 + 0)
1 Sylvinho (0 + 0 + 1)
1 Keita (0 + 1 + 0)
1 Pedro (0 + 1 + 0)
1 Víctor Sánchez (0 + 0 + 1)
1 Busquets (0 + 1 + 0)
1 Márquez (0 + 1 + 0)


yellow cards
8 Busquets (5 + 1 + 2)
7 Márquez (5 + 2 + 0)
7 Eto'o (7 + 0 + 0)
4 Piqué (3 + 1 + 0)
4 Xavi (3 + 1 + 0)
4 Touré (3 + 0 + 1)
4 Alves (4 + 0 + 0)
3 Cáceres (0 + 0 + 3)
3 Henry (2 + 1 + 0)
2 Valdés (2 + 0 + 0)
2 Abidal (1 + 0 + 1)
2 Puyol (2 + 0 + 0)
2 Iniesta (1 + 1 + 0)
1 Víctor Sánchez (0 + 0 + 1)
1 Messi (1 + 0 + 0)
1 Keita (0 + 1 + 0)


red cards
1 Piqué (1 + 0 + 0) revoked



total (Liga + Champions League + Copa)

Barcelona has played 34 official games (20 in the Liga, 8 in the Champions League and 6 in the Copa)

[Henrique] Bayer Leverkusen-Cottbus

Bayer Leverkusen played on Wednesday the 1/8 finals of the German cup. Bayer defeated first division club Cottbus 3-1.

Brazilian central defender and Barcelona loan out Henrique (22) stayed on the bench for the whole game.

Barcelona bought Henrique this summer and decided to loan him out to Bayer Leverkusen for one season (read more here). This blog will follow Henrique's performances during this season.





Sunday 10 August - Cup round 1: Rot-Weiß Oberhausen-Bayer Leverkusen 2-3
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 120 minutes.

Saturday 16 August - Bundesliga game 1: Bayer Leverkusen-Borussia Dortmund 2-3
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Saturday 23 August - Bundesliga game 2: Vfb Stuttgart-Bayer Leverkusen 0-2
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Saturday 30 August - Bundesliga game 3: Bayer Leverkusen-Hoffenheim 5-2
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes. Right back.

Saturday 13 September - Bundesliga game 4: Hamburg-Bayer Leverkusen 3-2
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes. Right back.

Friday 19 September - Bundesliga game 5: Bayer Leverkusen-Hannover 4-0
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Tuesday 23 September - Cup round 2: Augsburg(2)-Bayer Leverkusen 0-2
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes. Yellow card.

Saturday 27 September - Bundesliga game 6: Bochum-Bayer Leverkusen 2-3
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Saturday 4 October - Bundesliga game 7: Bayer Leverkusen-Hertha Berlin 0-1
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes. Yellow card.

Saturday 18 October - Bundesliga game 8: Eintracht Frankfurt-Bayer Leverkusen 0-2
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Friday 24 October - Bundesliga game 9: Bayer Leverkusen-FC Köln 2-0
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Tuesday 29 October - Bundesliga game 10: Werder Bremen-Bayer Leverkusen 0-2
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Friday 31 October - Bundesliga game 11: Bayer Leverkusen-Wolfsburg 2-0
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Saturday 8 November - Bundesliga game 12: Karlsruhe-Bayer Leverkusen 3-3
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes. Yellow card.

Saturday 15 November - Bundesliga game 13: Bayer Leverkusen-Schalke 2-1
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Saturday 22 November - Bundesliga game 14: Bielefeld-Bayer Leverkusen 2-1
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Saturday 29 November - Bundesliga game 15: Bayer Leverkusen-Bayern Munich 0-2
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes. Yellow card.

Saturday 6 December - Bundesliga game 16: Borussia Mönchengladbach-Bayer Leverkusen 1-3
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Saturday 13 December - Bundesliga game 17: Bayer Leverkusen-Cottbus 1-1
Starter. Henrique starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.

Wednesday 28 January - Cup 1/8 finals: Bayer Leverkusen-Cottbus 3-1
Bench.



Table
1. Bayern Munich 35
2. Hoffenheim (16) 34
3. Hertha Berlin 33
4. Hamburg 33
5. Bayer Leverkusen 32
6. Borussia Dortmund 29
7. Werder Bremen 26
8. Wolfsburg 26
9. Schalke(16) 26
10. Stuttgart 25
[...]

1st and 2nd place: group phase of Champions League
3rd place: third qualifying round of Champions League, winner enters the group phase, losers enter the Uefa Cup
4th place: qualifies for 4th qualifying round of Uefa Cup
5th place: qualifies for 3rd qualifying round of Uefa Cup