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we need to call 4 caution. we need to win all four classicos. mourinho only needs a 1-0 win and he will start calling himself the special one. any loss 4 me would be a catastrophy. lets forget about the 5-0. no team in the entire world has as much stars as madrid. they spent millions and millions.

ddippset:
we dont have to rush back puyol. lets keep him 4 the copa. we can use milito and pique. let xavi and iniesta try to keep the ball all night.

I'm pretty sure that Puyol will not play much today - he may come in about 10 mins to the end just to get a run-out.

ddippset:
we need to call 4 caution. we need to win all four classicos. mourinho only needs a 1-0 win and he will start calling himself the special one. any loss 4 me would be a catastrophy. lets forget about the 5-0. no team in the entire world has as much stars as madrid. they spent millions and millions.

We dont need to win all classicos. No problem if we win all, but I don't think pep needs to try to win all. You need to pick your battles, in football, as it is in life generally. What is the cost of trying to win all 4 classicos? Fatigue, injuries, etc. Playing our best team in each match will also allow Mou to fine-tune his strategy for the all-important UCL semi finals. Madrid is a good team, with a smart coach - they will learn & improve with each match.

Even if it was a small team that we're playing 4 times in 3 weeks, it will be very hard to win all 4 matches. Look at last season, we faced Inter 4 times, the 1st match, we won 2-0 easily. We drew the 2nd match 0-0, but Barca was the better team. By the time UCl semis came, we lost (though the volcano played a part). Look at Almeria this season - we beat them 8-0 in the league, then 5-0 in the cup, then 3-0 in the cup 2nd leg and by the time they visited Nou Camp last weekend, they made life very difficult for us even though we won with a 3-1 victory.

I bet Mou may not even play his best team today as the UCl is now his main aim this season. If we beat Madrid today, win the copa, but madrid manage to make it to the UCL finals, will you guys be happy?

If I'm in Pep's shoes, I'll definitely rest some of the stars today. It will disrupt Mou's plans (of using this match as a test case for the key UCL battles)

Here is my line-up for all the classicos:

Today (league classico in Madrid):

Valdes
Adriano-Pique-Milito-Maxwell
Thiago-Busquests-Keita
Afellay-Villa-Pedro

Subs to be used: Puyol, Jeffren, Villa

On Wednesday (copa del Rey, in Valencia):

Pinto
Alves-Pique-Mascherano-Maxwell
Xavi-Busquests-Iniesta
Messi-Villa-Afellay

Subs to be used: Puyol, Keita

For the Champions League Matches:

Valdes
Alves-Pique-Puyol-Adriano
Xavi-Busquests/Masch-Iniesta
Messi-Villa-Pedro

Puyol is included in the squad for tonight:

http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2011/04/15/2443177/carles-puyol-included-in-barcelonas-squad-to-face-real-madrid-on-

My take on this is that we need to start off on a good note. The games are in quick successions that there may be too short a time to sit back and learn and fine tune ur strategies given ur oppenent's method of play. It will all happen too fast and may affect the player's psychological approach. If u can consider our four games with almeria and inter, u should also note that time space of both, are quite different from what we have now. We are talking about a space of 18 days!
In my opinion, today's game is the most important cos it will serve to set the pace. If we exert our superior nature today, i bet u they will be in our shadow throughout the period. It will be hard to shake off. They will need more than Mourinho to pull it off.

I will suggest we play our best today and enjoy the ripple effect as others come along.

Valdes;
Alves, Puyol, Pique, Adriano;
Xavi , Busquets , Iniesta;
Pedro , Villa , Messi;

We need a sound starting, a good result and a good confidence builder. We can't lose today and expect to win the copa final at least.

AjanleKoko:
Puyol is included in the squad for tonight:

http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2011/04/15/2443177/carles-puyol-included-in-barcelonas-squad-to-face-real-madrid-on-

Johnpaul88:
My take on this is that we need to start off on a good note. The games are in quick successions that there may be too short a time to sit back and learn and fine tune your strategies given your oppenent's method of play. It will all happen too fast and may affect the player's psychological approach. If u can consider our four games with almeria and inter, u should also note that time space of both, are quite different from what we have now. We are talking about a space of 18 days!
In my opinion, today's game is the most important cos it will serve to set the pace. If we exert our superior nature today, i bet u they will be in our shadow throughout the period. It will be hard to shake off. They will need more than Mourinho to pull it off.

I will suggest we play our best today and enjoy the ripple effect as others come along.

Valdes;
Alves, Puyol, Pique, Adriano;
Xavi , Busquets , Iniesta;
Pedro , Villa , Messi;

We need a sound starting, a good result and a good confidence builder. We can't lose today and expect to win the copa final at least.

No coach in his right mind will start a player who has been out for 3 months with injury. Puyol will likely come in as a sub tonight, but there almost zero chance that pep will start him. Pep travelled with Bojan, Masch & Abidal but we know none of those 3 will play. Puyol is in the squad, but will only play for a few minutes.

If we play our best now, we may win tonight, win on Wednesday, but I bet you by the time the UCL games come along, Mou would have figured out the best way to beat Barcelona with his Real team. And don't say we cannot lose to Madrid because we can. I still maintain that we're better off choosing our battles. Thank God for the 8 point lead in the league - this is the time to take advantage of that lead.

There's also the chance that Mou will instruct one of his players to take out Messi or one of our other stars in the league match. That player gets a red card, but will not miss the UCL matches. But the injured Barca player would end up missing the crucial UCL matches.

Stealthy:
If we play our best now, we may win tonight, win on Wednesday, but I bet you by the time the UCL games come along, Mou would have figured out the best way to beat Barcelona with his Real team. And don't say we cannot lose to Madrid because we can. I still maintain that we're better off choosing our battles. Thank God for the 8 point lead in the league - this is the time to take advantage of that lead.

There's also the chance that Mou will instruct one of his players to take out Messi or one of our other stars in the league match. That player gets a red card, but will not miss the UCL matches. But the injured Barca player would end up missing the crucial UCL matches.

Stealthy,
Have you considered that, maybe for once, Mou has no answer to us? Especially as he has no real alternatives, and has to play his absolute best side to have a glimmer of a chance against us in any of the games. Tonight he needs the three points, on Wednesday he has to win, considering that he's not likely to win the league, and of course the CL will be a tight pair of games.

Pep can't go soft in any game. What's the use of losing three points tonight, in anticipation of Wednesday's game? What if we field a weakened side tonight and end up going down 3-0 or 4-0? That would do wonders for Real's confidence.

Let's see what the Barca bench will come up with tonight. I don't know if we'll win all four games. But I don't think we should plan to lose any either. We only know how to attack and pressurize. That is how Barca plays. Let's see what the games bring anyway.

I'm not saying Pep should plan to lose. In any match when Pep chooses to rest Messi and co, does that mean he plans to lose? I'm just saying he doesn't need to try to win all 4 at all costs. If someone throws 4 balls at you, if you try to catch all 4, you may catch only 1. But if you already made up your mind to catch 2, chances are you'll catch those 2.

If we play into his hands, Mou will have an answer to us by the time UCl comes along, the same way Arsenal had an answer to us at Emirates & Sevilla had an answer to us in the league.

Mou doesnt need 3 points tonight (I actually think he will just use the match tonight to try out some of his tactical options). He has given up on the league already. He will try to win the copa, but not at all costs. He knows that if he loses to Barca tonight & loses the copa, but wins UCL, he will have bragging rights over us for the next one year. If he wins UCL, he will also be the 1st coach to win it back to back, so that is his priority for this season.

Think of it this way: If tonight's match was against any other team, would Barca not rest players for the copa final? Our objective is to win trophies, not beat Real Madrid home & away.

If we draw (or even lose) tonight, win the copa, win the home leg in the UCL & draw the UCL away leg, would we have been successful or not?

We can win all 4, but it is very difficult & unlikely. Why risk players today when we can forget the league match and prepare for the more critical matches?

Pep should rest some stars tonight & let Keita & co do the business tonight.

^^
Let's see what will unfold.

HALA MADRID!!!

Lineups

Puyol starting
the full teams are playing

Seems the coaches are going for it trying to get a psychological boost
but i think it will not be as aggressive as the first classico

Johnpaul88:
My take on this is that we need to start off on a good note. The games are in quick successions that there may be too short a time to sit back and learn and fine tune your strategies given your oppenent's method of play. It will all happen too fast and may affect the player's psychological approach. If u can consider our four games with almeria and inter, u should also note that time space of both, are quite different from what we have now. We are talking about a space of 18 days!
In my opinion, today's game is the most important cos it will serve to set the pace. If we exert our superior nature today, i bet u they will be in our shadow throughout the period. It will be hard to shake off. They will need more than Mourinho to pull it off.

I will suggest we play our best today and enjoy the ripple effect as others come along.

Valdes;
Alves, Puyol, Pique, Adriano;
Xavi , Busquets , Iniesta;
Pedro , Villa , Messi;

We need a sound starting, a good result and a good confidence builder. We can't lose today and expect to win the copa final at least.

Stealthy,isnt that the same thing I have speculated over and over again? I see no reason why some cules would wish a draw or a loss today. A win today
is a confidence booster.

eyoniggar:
Stealthy,isnt that the same thing I have speculated over and over again? I see no reason why some cules would wish a draw or a loss today. A win today
is a confidence booster.

Ok, looks like Pep is on the page with you guys and has gone with the best squad. I'm VERY surprised to see Puyol starting - surely he's not match fit yet (just medically fit). I hope Pep is not making a mistake there.

As a cule, I hope we win this and avoid injuries.

i observed that we are winning ga 2nite, win d cup, win d 2nd leg of ucl and then qualify 4 d final if we play our style

Hi guys, I just joined the game - bad weather and stuff.
I'm surprised to see Puyi on the pitch, he only just got back.
What in the world is Mou up to? 3 DM's?? I've never seen this all my life. The game is just too rough.

medjai:
What in the world is Mou up to? 3 DM's?? I've never seen this all my life. The game is just too rough.

Typical Mou style. Break up play, sit back and wait for the counter.
Despite it all, we still created chances and forced saves out of Iker. We need to defend the corners better though, they might just grab a goal there.

I like the game sha. The Madrid team actually look very scared, and are playing the game of their lives. Putting Pepe in the midfield? Hasn't done much beyond stifle their own play, cos it means they have to get the ball to the flanks in other to open Barca up. Nice idea, but not working so far.

Here's my half time analysis:

I still feel Pep should have rested some stars. By playing his absolute best team, he is playing into Mou's hands. Notice that Mou is not playing Higuain, Adebayor & Oezil. He also has Kaka available, so can make tactical changes in future matches. He knows barca will play in only one way and is going to use this match as his test as I wrote earlier.

So far, Mou has used 3 DMF to try to stiffle our play. Mou will not normally play Albiol in a crucial match, but it's all part of his testing (since Carvalho will not be availble in UCL 1st leg). I'm sure Mou can judge the effectiveness of the defensive midfield trio & obviously will not use this combo again till the 2nd leg UCL (based on scorelines then).

We should be ahead by now, but Casillas has saved RM so far. I like the slow way we started the game, just keeping the ball and making RM run around. That was good to watch. Adriano has been outstanding - I've always known he'll come good with more minutes (same thing I said about Masch & Afellay). I pity Maxwell now cos he'll find it hard to get minutes.

The Casillas tackle on Villa was a penalty - I don't know why the ref didn't give us that.

Puyol hasn't looked rusty, which is very good. I still doubt he can last 90 mins.

Madrid have been very dangerous with set pieces & I hope Pep starts to sort out our weakness in that area (putting men on the goal when we defend CKs is a good idea).

We can win here, but again, the important thing is not to lose & not to lose players to injury.

On an aside, ManU lost in the English FA cup so we're the only team left in UCL gunning for a treble.

Albiol gets a red card: Mou gets what he says

Messi finally gets a goal against Mou.

Puyol being stretchered off doesn't look good. Now you guys can see what I said about including someone who hasnt played in 3 months in the starting 11. I just hope his new injury is only a cramp.

49 goals for Messi. Breaks Zarra's record of most goals scored in a season in La Liga. He's been all about this season.
The Messi haters should start looking for another irrelevant stat because Messi has scored against a Mourinho led side

Well, game over, and Madrid are lucky to pull back one point.
It sets the stage nicely for the next three games. Both coaches will have to be at their tactical best.

Mourinho came with a nice, though not original idea: Stifle play in the middle and rely on the flanks. It almost paid off, but he was just a tad unlucky. The MVP strike force was looking a lot less potent, with only Messi showing any solid threat. Villa looks to have lost confidence entirely.
One thing I learned from this game: We need a central defender like Puyol. I noticed the Madrid forwards were very reluctant to take him on, despite his not being 100%. It's a pity we've lost Abidal this season.

medjai:
49 goals for Messi. Breaks Zarra's record of most goals scored in a season in La Liga. He's been all about this season.
The Messi haters should start looking for another irrelevant stat because Messi has scored against a Mourinho led side

Well, CR7 has also broken his Barcelona duck by scoring against Barcelona for the first time in his career. So even stevens I guess.

Villa's form is really worrisome. unfortunately, Bojan is now injured, so we cant sub Villa off. I hope he gets his confidence back real soon.

1-1 draw is ok (like I said we can't expect to win 4 straight matches against Real). More importantly, no player got injured - Puyol's injury is hopefully just a minor strain.

I think Mou will be the happier of the 2 coaches. He can go and strategize based on what he saw today: His triple pivot worked to a limited extent. Adebayor won almost every aerial ball he went for. Real also came close from several set plays (pep has to work on this). I expect to see Mou play 4-4-2 in the UCL, with Higuain & Adebayor in attack & Oezil playing 90 mins. Pep will play the same players for the 4 matches.

Real will be a lot more dangerous in the copa & especially UCL matches, so we shouldn't get over-confident.

Stealthy:
Villa's form is really worrisome. unfortunately, Bojan is now injured, so we cant sub Villa off. I hope he gets his confidence back real soon.

1-1 draw is ok (like I said we can't expect to win 4 straight matches against Real). More importantly, no player got injured - Puyol's injury is hopefully just a minor strain.

I think Mou will be the happier of the 2 coaches. He can go and strategize based on what he saw today: His triple pivot worked to a limited extent. Adebayor won almost every aerial ball he went for. Real also came close from several set plays (pep has to work on this). I expect to see Mou play 4-4-2 in the UCL, with Higuain & Adebayor in attack & Oezil playing 90 mins. Pep will play the same players for the 4 matches.

Real will be a lot more dangerous in the copa & especially UCL matches, so we shouldn't get over-confident.

Don't you think that we would have been thrashed today, if we had turned up with a different lineup?
Madrid aren't joking around, and neither should we. I expect it to be a gruelling and bruising four games. We are at least sure of the league this way, nobody knows for sure what'll happen in the CDR and the Champions League. It would have just been three points thrown away, and I'm sure Pep knows that.

we wouldnt hv conceeded any goal if not 4 d sub of andrano who was extremly outstanding.both villa n maxwell kill d game

a point is ok. mou rested some players thogh, it doesnt matter just hoping abidal n puyol feature in d next 3 elclassico

AjanleKoko:
Don't you think that we would have been thrashed today, if we had turned up with a different lineup?
Madrid aren't joking around, and neither should we. I expect it to be a gruelling and bruising four games. We are at least sure of the league this way, nobody knows for sure what'll happen in the CDR and the Champions League. It would have just been three points thrown away, and I'm sure Pep knows that.

Not necessarily. We may not have won (as it is, our best team also did not win), but even a narrow loss would be ok. 1st, RM would have been shocked to see a team quite different from what they planned for. 2nd, our 2nd stream guys can also hold the ball quite well. Even if real won, a 5 point gap with 6 matches to go is still a big gap and Real still has to go to Sevilla & Valencia. 3rd, a Real win wouldn't be of any psychological advantage if the win was against our reserves. But imagine if they managed to beat our best 11 tonight - it would have been as bad as the loss to Arsenal, which we barely overturned in Nou Camp.

Here is where/why I worry: Real has a bigger squad than we do. Mou will start oezil, Adebayor, maybe Kaka, maybe Higuain in the CDR final. pepe will likely move to CB, Diarra may play DMF. He basically has lots of options. Pep has a few options, but I can bet that our starting 11 will be the same for all 4 matches. Mou is a smart guy - it's only a matter of time before he finds better ways to nullify our threat and ways to exploit our weaknesses. He will keep fine-tuning his game plan (we basically saw 2 tactical approaches in 2 halves today), while we keep to our one & only game plan, with the same players.

I hope we win the Copa & beat Real to make the UCL final.

The good thing is that we're home to Osasuna next weekend so hopefully, they don't try to do a Gijon & we can rest a few guys for the UCL match-up (Real is away to Valencia, but Mou may just send in Granero & co, rather than his big stars.

cisse7575:
a point is ok. mou rested some players thogh, it doesnt matter just hoping abidal n puyol feature in d next 3 elclassico

Abidal is not playing till next season, after his surgery.

Pep took a big risk playing Puyol tonight. hope he can make the copa final.

I'm not happy at all! I could not see all the matches cos it started raining at around 60th minute and consequently affected the transmission by DSTV. I was frustrated!
Puyol's injury made matter worse for me. The gamble failed. I am sad.

I'm not happy at all! I could not see all the matches cos it started raining at around 60th minute and consequently affected the transmission by DSTV. I was frustrated!
Puyol's injury made matter worse for me. The gamble failed. I am sad.

Goodmorning fellow cules,

I cant inser quotes of comments I wanted to highlight.

Someone mentioned Abidal and Puyi for the remainning classico's, with Abi's opeartion, he is out for the rest of the season and Puyi should be allowed to fully recover,as can be seen,the same Arsenal rush back mistake has happened again and he may be out for ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ rest of ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ season.

Like someone pointed out, it would have been a damaging psychy for our 1st eleven if they had been piqued by Madrid, am sure Pep is mostly influenced and goaded on by his Catalan pride, I believe if it were to be a neutral coach from elsewhere, he wouldn't have fielded his strongest side giving ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ upcoming scenarios. Altho I know ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ catalan cules would "skin" him alive if he were to field a second stringed side that gets thrashed by Madrid.

I whole heartedly agree with ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ statement that we lack outside options apart from our 1st eleven, if Pep have been giving serious playing times to ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ others,I bet we would have impactful subs on ‎​d̶̲̥̅̊ bench,I really marvelled @ Mou's bench, and also the man didnt talk much,I bet he saw how Scholes ran his mouth @ Citey and got his marching orders and caused his team a place in the finals. Classico officiating hasn't always been easy but this one surely will go down as a crap one,if the ref hadn't given Albiol red,I wouldn't have been suprised and isn't a wonder that the ref gave a penalty call to Madrid and handed a yellow to another player ??

Villa's performance continues to grow from woe to woe,10 games barren run for a striker getting fully playing time, same as his compatriot "Fernandont Scoreless", altho that one scored an offside goal yesterday. Villa thoroughly disappointed.

We are Barcelona

I understand that Puyol have not suffered a relaspe. The hamstring issue they said, was as a result of having not played for a long time. It was only precautional to withdraw him. He was even seen after the match running to the field. He will be fit for the cl semis at least.

Adriano was our saviour yesternight. He intercepted two Ronaldo goal bound ball. He was sensational defensively. It was also reported that he sustained a calf injury that led to his subsitution. But it is nothing to worry about.

It was a good game considering the fact that we the fans and players knew they could relax because of the 8points margin,trust me Bar ca would have been more motivated to go for the kill if we were just 2points ahead of Madrid.they were very scared of losing in their home and that tells why people are organizing ember in city of madrid.we were far superior and we control the game even with 3 men DEM Mai deployed.Pep did very well for the strong line up we had against madrid,it would have been a disaster if the likes of Maxwell started the game or Biscuit as CB.the absence of Payola and Abdel in our defence is a big blow and i wonder how we have been able to cope and compete at the highest level with such a tiny squad.Pep is a wonderful coach,he will own Mai for the rest of El classics.Any news on Payola?Forza Barca

funny bunch you lot.
You couldn't beat 10 men? lol. una think say na arsewen una dey play?

FBS:
funny bunch you lot.
You couldn't beat 10 men? lol. una think say na arsewen una dey play? 

[i]F[/i]AKE [i]B[/i]U-OSE [i]S[/i]UPPORTER. Go and siddon somewhere jare.