Messi and Busi are both suspended for tonight's game.


Abidal and Thiago are injured.

We'll still p-revail. 3 points all the way.

congrats

This match was a real test of character and I'm happy the team passed the test. It was good to see us play against Messi and with Pique's sending-off, the boys put in a very good performance to overcome a stubborn Gijon side.

Here are my thoughts on some individuals:

Masch: Solid as ever at the back. He has been our most consistent defender this season.

Pique: Waka-waka has taken her toll on him ;-) I don't know what Pique's problem is, but he really needs to sort himself out. I feel he should have had a yellow card, not red though.

Adriano: Good performance. He worked hard and was instrumental in the 1st goal. However, Mendy got past him far too often.

Keita: Had a good shift in defensive midfield. Scored a great goal to ensure we won the match.

Pedro: Still needs to get his form back. Was not confident enough to shoot or take on players. Forgettable performance.

Xavi: Old wine getting better with age. He took control of the match, dribbling, passing and scoring a lovely goal to set a personal scoring record for Barcelona.

Iniesta: Great game to control the match alongside Xavi. We need the Don un-injured for the rest of this season.

Cuenca: Had a good 1st half, but faded a bit in the 2nd half.

Tello: Another good performance from him, taking on defenders confidently and causing Gijon problems after he came in.

Fabregas: Had an ineffectual performance. I think he needs to sit out a match or 2 to improve his form.

Pep: I was surprised he didn't start with Sanchez. The front line didn't threaten Gijon enough in the 1st half as a result. He also took a gamble not to bring in Puyol immediately Pique got his red card. Things could have gone very wrong if Gijon scored a 2nd goal, but thankfully they didn't and Pep's gamble worked well in the end.

Gijon:
Barral: He came to Nou Camp and scored with his 2nd touch! Good game and kept the Barcelona defence worried.

Clemente: Good attempt at trying to contain Barcelona and hitting on the counter-attack. Please beat Real Madrid as Gijon did (without Clemente) last season, to make La Liga more interesting ;-)

Botia: Was solid in defence once again and I hope Barcelona will exercise the buy-back clause on him, which expires in the summer. This guy is now ready for Barcelona's first team after 3 seasons away from the Nou Camp.

usbcable:

congrats

Thank you. We need to keep in sight of you guys, what's the fun in winning the league with 3 months to go?

Wow! What a game!

We showed the stuff of champions. Played the entire 2nd half with a man down and despite Sporting levelling scores early in the 2nd half, we still won.


Special shout out to The Don. When he's on god mode like he was today, there's just no hope for the opposition.

Glad he got his first league goal of the season.

^^^^

Yeah, stuff of champions, only we didn't do this earlier in the season. If this was in January/Feb this match would have ended in a draw.

Sad to see another injury to Sanchez :-(

usbcable:

congrats

Thanks man.

usbcable:

congrats

This sprit of sportmanship will be most appreciated after we do you manita in April and knock you out of CL ASAP.
If Getefe can do it for Madrid,Common Espanyol you can do it for Barca.

ogazi007:

This sprit of sportmanship will be most appreciated after we do you manita in April and knock you out of CL ASAP.
If Getefe can do it for Madrid,Common Espanyol you can do it for Barca.

That is if the opposition does not get short of a man or two before the game comes to an end. How else will Penaldo get to his target of goals scored this season.

Stealth whats the punishment for pique,,1 or 3 match

Cann the red card be appealed against

ogazi007:

This sprit of sportmanship will be most appreciated after we do you manita in April and knock you out of CL ASAP.
If Getefe can do it for Madrid,Common Espanyol you can do it for Barca.

actually they did help but they helped us keep the 10 point gap

many thanks ponchetino(a great coach he is )

I hate Espanyol and I am now praying for that useless team to get relegated! They always work hard to take points from Barcelona and then lie down to get whipped by Real Madrid, every season. I can't wait to see them get relegated.

I have no issues with them playing well against us, but it's very irritating to see them hardly show up against Madrid every season.

dont hate da playa
hate da game.

^^^^

Espanyol's own is too much

Make them go play with the Barca B boys for a few seasons.

biolabee:

Stealth whats the punishment for pique,,1 or 3 match

Cann the red card be appealed against

It's not clear yet. It looks like the Competition Committee will have to rule on it, especially after pique's comment that the red card was premeditated by the ref.

guys how una dey? 2nit
we will surely secure our last 8 spot. i mis u all

2nd half:

Bring on Tello/Cuenca for Cesc and move The Don back to midfield.

Leverkusen are having a lot of the ball. If this continues, it's only a matter of time before they put in a decent cross for Keissling. We need to keep the ball more.

The boys are having fun! Guess we might have more than a manita. 5-0 now

What a message at 7-0!!Messing coming back from rest to score 5 goals. When next we have a match against RM, pep should rest Messi a game before then and see how he sulks and responds meeting RM

1. This match shows what resting Messi does. I wish Pep had the guts to rest Messi sometime in Jan/Feb, when he sometimes looked like he was strolling on the pitch.

2. We need to translate this ruthlessness to our league matches. We should kill of Liga teams when we go ahead, rather than letting teams come back at us, as has happened too often this season.

3. Everyone played well today, even Pique . It was a well-rounded performance. I was really impressed with Cesc, especially after Xavi & Iniesta went out.

medjai:

2nd half:

Bring on Tello/Cuenca for Cesc and move The Don back to midfield.

Leverkusen are having a lot of the ball. If this continues, it's only a matter of time before they put in a decent cross for Keissling. We need to keep the ball more.

Lol. You actually wrote this at half time? You're a perfectionist o! We were already 5-1 up on aggregate. At half time, I just wanted Pep to take off the whole first team and bring in our youth team!

Stealthy:

Lol. You actually wrote this at half time? You're a perfectionist o! We were already 5-1 up on aggregate. At half time, I just wanted Pep to take off the whole first team and bring in our youth team!

Lol, We were 1 up and approaching HT while I was typing. Before I posted, it was 2.

Need we say more. . .? Forza Barca!
fellow Cules,correct me if am wrong,isn't Messi 5 goals shy of being our all time highest scorer?

@eyo,hwdy?

A ridiculously simple game.

The boys just knocked the ball around like training, and the Bayer team were just onlookers.
Messi for the 2nd time is officially level with Van Nistelrooy again in Champions League tally, and this is just the second round
Obviously he is going to be the CL topscorer again. He seems to reserve his goals for this competition these days.

I may be wrong of course, but it looked suspiciously like the Barca defenders hang back a little bit, just to allow Bayer score a goal. I mean, the coach even went to Pep to 'thank' him

AjanleKoko:

A ridiculously simple game.

The boys just knocked the ball around like training, and the Bayer team were just onlookers.
Messi for the 2nd time is officially level with Van Nistelrooy again in Champions League tally, and this is just the second round
Obviously he is going to be the CL topscorer again. He seems to reserve his goals for this competition these days.

I may be wrong of course, but it looked suspiciously like the Barca defenders hang back a little bit, just to allow Bayer score a goal. I mean, the coach even went to Pep to 'thank' him

nah you talk am o

On to the next round. Cant wait for the draws next week.

Watching Messi is compelling evidence that we live in a Matrix-like dystopia.

We are all now plugged into parasitic machinery sucking our energy away, yet we are led to believe that we are in front of our laptops.

Messi is trying to show us, the error of our ways. . . .

Encomiums have been pouring in from far and wide after Messi's manita show:

Tw John Heitinga (Everton): "Mejores jugador del Mundo Messi! Best player in the World! #GrandeMessi #cincogoles" [@johnheitinga]


Tw Eden Hazard (Lille): "Is Messi the best player of all times?" [@hazardeden10] #fcblive


Dutt (coach Leverkusen): "Without Messi, Barcelona are still the best team in the world. But with him, they're from another galaxy" #fcblive

Dutt (coach Leverkusen): "Who has played football, knows there are no words for Messi. He's at his own level." #fcblive


Tw Owen (ManUtd): "Not old enough to see some of the greats but can't believe anyone can have played the game of football as well as Messi."


Tw Falcao (Atletico Madrid): "Was this a CL game or was this Messi in a PlayStation game? Unstoppable!!" #fcblive [@falcao]


Tw Jack Wilshere (Arsenal): "Its a pleasure to watch this guy, MESSI" [@jackwilshere] #fcblive


Messi: "5 goals? Nice, but the main thing was to qualify." #fcblive


Tw Wayne Rooney (Man United): "Messi is a joke. For me the best ever." [@waynerooney] #fcblive

The rest of the clubs left in CL this season have all gotten the message.we are still the team to beat in this competition.we are the best team in the world,we are even better when we put up an excellent performance like the one of yesterday, it frightening hell out of our opponent,hence the fear of Camp nou is the beginning of manita for you all.i was really impressed with Pedro,he is beginning to get back to his usual work rate on the pitch,i do hope he have lucks in front of goals to help his confidence.Mascherano has been our best defender this season and i think he has improved alot in his ball distribution,but his long range effort sometimes could be annoying but in overall he had a fantastic game.Muniesa was very calm and promising,Tello is a joy to watch and finally Cesc has shown he can hold the middle together and dictate the flow of the game.No comment on Messi!

IFELEKE:

Need we say more. . .? Forza Barca!
fellow Cules,correct me if am wrong[b],isn't Messi 5 goals shy of being our all time highest scorer?
[/b]
@eyo,hwdy?

7 more goals

Test your footie knowledge here

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-526446.2336.html#msg10358824

Messi is simply ehm, ehm ehem , i dont know