Barça got a much needed boost to their confidence with a 4-1 win over Valladolid at Camp Nou this afternoon, but if truth be told they didn’t play much better than in the 2-2 draw at Almeria last week. With parts of the public intent on whistling the team at various points of the game it was a nervous performance from the team.
Frank Rijkaard made two changes to the team that lost at Valencia. Thierry Henry returned to the team at the expense of Gudjohnsen but gave another disappointing performance, and Sylvinho came in for Abidal and had a very good game at left back. Toure Yaya continued in midfield but once again showed that he is not fit enough to play at the level expected of him.
Eto’o, Bojan and Henry interchanged positions in attack throughout the game but Eto’o was mostly on the right with Henry on the left, Bojan was by far the most active of the three and had two early chances to put Barça ahead: in the second minute he took advantage of a defensive mistake to round the goalkeeper Asenjo but his shot lacked the necessary power and was cleared off the line, two minutes later a superb first time lay-off from Xavi gave him a clear chance but Asenjo saved well.
Barça then slowed up a little but after twenty minutes Iniesta brought another save from a shot from the left, and a minute later a corner found Toure whose shot from close in was again saved by the keeper. Then in the 23rd minute Valladolid failed to clear a Barça attack and Bojan took advantage to dribble out to the left before crossing to the unmarked Eto’o who side-footed home a volley.
Barça were looking comfortable but after 29 minutes a Victor Valdés throw towards Bojan on the left was intercepted by Sesma who sent in a cross, Thuram made contact with Llorente who fell to the floor and inexplicably the referee blew for a penalty that never was. Sesma sent Valdés the wrong way for the equalizer. For the last fifteen minutes of the first half Barça failed to react and the crowd’s nerves and impatience were transmitted to the team, fortunately Valladolid failed to take advantage of a couple of chances that fell their way.
The second half began with Toure giving the ball away which led to a Valladolid shot over the bar after just twelve seconds. However, Barça responded and in the 47th minute Toure’s pass was flicked on by Bojan, and Iniesta made the most of a defensive mistake to round the keeper and score. Puyol was booked soon after when Toure again lost the ball in a dangerous position, but the big Ivorian showed he can still fire in a shot with a powerful free kick that went straight at Asenjo.
In the 61st minute Gudjohnsen came on for Toure and a minute later Barça went 3-1 up. A free kick from Xavi found Puyol in a clearly offside position, the Barça captain failed to control well but a Valladolid defender’s interception sent the ball straight to Bojan who shot low past Asenjo into the far corner.
Eto’o nearly made it four after he tried to divert Xavi’s mishit shot, but his effort bounced onto the ground and incredibly over the crossbar. For the last fifteen minutes Barça again seemed to lose their concentration and Valladolid had four dangerous occasions, once hitting the post and on 83 minutes Manchev hit the crossbar. while Valladolid cursed their luck Barça went straight up the other end and Eto’o took the ball wide of the keeper before unselfishly crossing for Bojan to tap in from a yard out.
The four goals should help restore some self belief but Valladolid defended poorly today on each of Barça’s goals. Henry is still failing to connect with his team mates and Toure should get the operation done on his back as soon as possible. Eto’o again showed he is nowhere near as effective on the right, and Victor Valdés had one of his less inspired days in goal. On the positive side Puyol was solid at the back, Sylvinho showed there is still life in his 33-year-old legs, and Bojan took another step to becoming another major idol of the Camp Nou faithful.
Barça: Valdés 5; Zambrotta 5.5, Thuram 6 (Abidal m70, 5.5), Puyol 6.5, Sylvinho 7; Xavi 6, Toure 5 (Gudjohnsen m61, 6), Iniesta 6.5; Eto’o 5.5, Bojan 7.5 (Pedrito m85, –), Henry 5.
Goals: m23 Eto’o 1-0, m31 Sesma (pen) 1-1, m47, Iniesta 2-1, m62 Bojan 3-1, m84 Bojan 4-1.
Barça Yellow Cards: m50 Puyol
Attendance: 56,737
Eto’o 1-0
Bojan’s second
All the goals here
37 responses so far ↓
Taras // Mar 23, 2008 at 20:12
I almost guessed the score… If not the last goal. Bojan was fantastic. In the beginning of the match he wasn’t very good because he missed two 100% goal oportunities.
voonte // Mar 23, 2008 at 20:24
Finally some positive results. I have to agree with you Nic, I couldn’t see any improvement from the last games. Iniesta, Bojan and Sylvinho were refreshing to see today.
When the team hits a setback, like the penalty kick in this game, it looked as if they completely lost their faith. The 1 - 1 goal was very unfortunate, but they should’ve kept going like they did before. Another thing that really puzzles me is how Rijkaard (like so many other times before this season) manages to misplace all three forwards.
Nic // Mar 23, 2008 at 20:56
Full time: Madrid 2 Valencia 3
Back to only four points. This league is crazy!!!
voonte // Mar 23, 2008 at 21:03
Insane… And who would’ve guessed Murcia’s 4 - 0 to Espanyol. The bottom fight is gonna be a real killer.
FCB - Canada // Mar 23, 2008 at 21:09
Lol. Yes it is! Good game though. Edge of your seat stuff. It’s really up to Barca to keep pressure of them.
As for Barca I think they had an ok game. Start was great but not as good as the scoreline showed in the end but they got the 3 points. Bojan and Iniesta were just great. Thuram needs to be unloaded. He just scares me with his poor defending sometimes.
FCB - Canada // Mar 23, 2008 at 21:19
Man, Villareal could play the spoilers with only 6 points behind. Very interesting indeed.
BARCA 4 LYF // Mar 23, 2008 at 21:39
BARCA RULE!
Speeka // Mar 23, 2008 at 22:29
Always has been Nic. The good side of that loss in Valencia is them finding some form & giving us that 2-3 result tonight.
layi // Mar 23, 2008 at 23:06
they tried today in the attack considering that we are still playin attackers out of position but i’m still scared of our defence mentality.
can i ask a question….is it normal the way iniesta and xavi always walk backwards when we are facing a counter…they runnin back to provide a lil cover durin a counter will not take anything from their attacking instinct i suppose…at least, we wont always have to face 3 on 3, 4 on 4 on the counters. that aspect bothers me a lil
wat do u tink about abidal in center cos i prefer silvinho left
nic, why 5.5 for eto…even if it was, henry should be like 5.5 - 3 = 2.5 cos eto’o tried more than henry by far
layi // Mar 23, 2008 at 23:26
heard we are interested in lucio….please, i dont want any costly 29/30 year old player again.if we are to buy, lets buy active young players ready to work
blaugranaboy // Mar 23, 2008 at 23:42
im usually one of the more critical ones, but i think today we werent as bad as some people are implying. the effort was FAR better than the last 6 games. its much nicer to see our attack running and looking more creative. our defense is looking a bit crazy, but all in all, if the commitment levels see improvement like today then im excited to see the next game. sylviho was good today, especially attacking, though defending his pace lacks. adibal should maybe be looked in as a center back instead of thuram. xavi had a great game, a 6 rating is shocking, his passing and threw balls were brilliant, not to mention that sublime one touch pass to bojan in the first few minutes. very happy for bojan, he played a really great game. not going to get too excited with the score line, but attackign wise its been the best in a while.
and really, lucio!!! he is really not very good and full of mistakes. we need a no nonsense guy like vidic.
Shahenshah // Mar 23, 2008 at 23:47
Rijkaard still went with the 4-3-3 but this time I guess he went with three strikers instead of two wingers and a striker. The front three kept on moving around, interchanging positions throughout the game. Bojan and Eto’o at times were at on the right, middle and left. Henry I only remember being on the left and middle.
Is it just me or are Eto’o and Bojan better than Henry on the left?
layi // Mar 23, 2008 at 23:51
they have played bette than him on the left, right center, up down, front back, in, out…anywhere….henry is still missin somethin, dont know what it is unless….his career…is…o..v..e
Titi186 // Mar 24, 2008 at 0:00
Shahenshah - Of course Eto and Bojan are better on the left because Henry isnt a fcuking winger.
When will some thick sh!t Barca fans get in their head - Rijkard is playing everyone of their position and they are ALL playing sh!t.
It is no coincidense that Barca’s best player, Messi, is playing the best because he is playing in his preferred position. Why o why do we play 4-3-3 it doesnt work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It leaves players isolated in one on ones and the only player who can 9 times out of 10 beat a player is Messi but then teams realise this and put 2-3 people on him and a move breaks down and the confidence drops.
IMHO I beleive 4-4-2 is the way forward. I dont care if Henry plays or Eto’o plays or Nic plays (lol
) but the sooner everyone realises this formation is rigid and not flexible enough to win every game - especially those away from home or against weak opposition - the sooner Barca will win more often but play the better football.
And Nic - why do Barca play at 3pm when Arsenal and Chelsea play at 4pm (all english time)? Wouldnt people want to watch the english league instead so surely the TV people (I already know there crazy) want to change it so they dont clash?
Titi186
Taras // Mar 24, 2008 at 0:04
I like Lucio. He is a strong, agressive defender. He would add some quality to our defence.
layi // Mar 24, 2008 at 0:06
442 with who on d flanks
Nic // Mar 24, 2008 at 0:17
I give the marks I give from how I see the match, we are never all going to see it the same way. I do try my best to have no bias towards any particular player.
Titi - It seems that the Barça game was earlier than usual (4pm in England) to not coincide with the Madrid game. Both games had to be played on Sunday due to Barça playing Valencia on Thursday, and neither game was chosen by Canal+ for the late game.
And please spare us the thick sh!t comments.
Nic // Mar 24, 2008 at 0:19
And by the way, when I played (many years ago) I was centre forward in a 4-3-3 system. Not sure if it was me or the system but we never won anything
layi // Mar 24, 2008 at 0:22
it must have been you….lol
Gobba // Mar 24, 2008 at 0:27
Eto’s goals pleased me but his misses pissed me !
Speeka // Mar 24, 2008 at 2:05
Dont mind Titi… poor fella, Arsenal blew it big time today.
Hilal // Mar 24, 2008 at 2:33
Titti your right, without Messi and Ronnie 4-4-2 would be a lot better. At the moment no matter who he puts up front in a 4-3-3, 2 out of the 3 forwards play out of position. Henry will never play as well on the left as he does in the middle, that being said neither will Eto’o or Bojan so why do it? I don’t understand the logic…..why not play to the strengths of your players?!?! 4-4-2 with Henry/Bojan and Eto’o up front would be perfect, then you can put Iniesta and Guddy on the flanks and Xavi and Yaya in the centre. That way we are playing to the strengths of the forwards we have at our disposal. I can understand playing 4-3-3 when Messi and Ronnie are fit but not when they are BOTH injured.
As for the game today, I wasn’t terribly impressed. Iniesta and Bojan were excellent and the fact that Bojan can play so well even though he was out of position for a lot of the game is a testament to his ability. He is going to be a real star one day! Besides those two though there was not real improvement over the last few games, but hey at least we won. That will boost the confidence a bit and Real losing can only help i suppose. Then again last time they lost and we thought we could take advantage we threw it away…..lets see what happens now
Varughese // Mar 24, 2008 at 3:45
I have said it in my blog that i prefer sylvinho ahead of abidal, cause he is good going forward. but give this suggestion a thought- we can have abidal playing the DM role so that toure gets some rest
Shahenshah // Mar 24, 2008 at 3:49
Ofcourse every thick shit barca fan knows Rijkaard is too stubborn to change his formation. As a result of injuries to the starters on the wings, he has to put different people in those spots. Maybe Rijkaard doesnt see the front three as two wingers and a striker uptop. He prolly visualizes the front three as three forwards. A right forward, a centre forward and a left forward. To be honest I am totally not sure what goes on in Rijkaard’s head but I am trying to make sense of he is doing with his life.
I am guessing he wont change the formation to a 4-4-2 because he never ran the team that way. Perhaps he believes changing the formation at such a crucial stage in the season might be a bit risky cause with a change in formation, comes change in tactics, positioning and the whole team dynamic.
Rafael // Mar 24, 2008 at 4:22
Lets go Barca!!!
layi // Mar 24, 2008 at 4:28
how good is that pedrito guy
Shahenshah // Mar 24, 2008 at 4:33
good enough to play on the right side? Yes? Maybe?
Jay // Mar 24, 2008 at 4:46
It’s 4 points now.
Winterhunt // Mar 24, 2008 at 5:50
maybe I should stich up my slashed wrists….. Bojan is just flat out brilliant…. Is it heresy to say that he is ahead of where Messi was at his age???? It’s crazy to see a 17 year old competeing at such a high level and with such a high football IQ…. Also, I beg to differ, I think that Yaya actually was far better today, plus I think her personal sacrifice inspired these guys…. OK, might as well get this out of the way as I know I say this all the time and no one agrees with me on this but VV drives me nuts, again today with that absurd outlet pass directlt to their striker and then left Thuram hung out to dry…. I know he has great, reflexes, and he’s a local (though so is Oleguer…. and thank God he’s buried on the bench) but man, every game he seems to let a soft goal in, which I personally think makes the defense uneasy in front of him and as a result they play more nervously affraid of any slip up…… That goal definately had a palpable demoralizing effect on us for the rest of the first half….. Ok, I’ll just leave it at this, Valencia got Hillendbrand on a Free transfer, after watching him in both legs of our Cup Loss, and today at the Bernabeu, would anyone honestly not want him in goal ahead of VV?????? Ok, I’m done venting my pet peeve…. Was today perfect, no… But I’ll take the points…. we may (may…..hopefully not jinxing it) still have a race on our hands….. Also apparently Messi is making great progress….. Also props to Iniesta…. A good day……
e10 // Mar 24, 2008 at 6:03
Bojan was very impressive today, as was eto’o and sylvinho to a lesser extent.
great performance and the margin at the top of the table is back down to 4points.
Let’s hope that Real keep stumbling and Barca can keep impressing.
e10 // Mar 24, 2008 at 6:06
Iniesta was also very impressive
Blaugrana // Mar 24, 2008 at 7:42
Nic what team did you play for?& to me iniesta was the man of the match,
Jay // Mar 24, 2008 at 9:17
@e10
Yes dude. Iniesta, though, is ALWAYS impressive.
There is nothing in his footballing inventory called “OUT OF FORM”…..
blaugranaboy // Mar 24, 2008 at 10:47
people are dissing the 4-3-3 too much. why are you all so quick to forget thats the formation that brought the best football i bet any of you have seen in your life during Rijkaards first few years. plus, he isnt trying to play with wingers!!! thats not barca’s style, we arent looking to cross balls in the air, we have small strikers with average heading ability. our game is quick passing and 1-2s into space, thats why 3 FORWARDS use to work. when they all interchange and run endlessley, it works very well because it causes defenses to get confused cuase they dont know who they are marking. plus, in our great years its not like Ronaldinho was playing his normal position being on the left there. at gremio and psg he played as a midfielder down the center, so it worked. plus people need to stop trying to excuse Henry’s performances because of being placed down the left. did anyone here watch him at arsenal???? that was his favorite move, to drift off to the left and take people on from that side, cut in and then curl one into hte right hand corner. and last night, the top three interchanged often and Henry found himself in the middle on several occasions. plus if Henry decided to use his speed, being on a wing can be excellent. u also have to consider the fact that when fully fit, Rijkaard has to accomodate Henry, Etoo, Roni, and Messi. He can do that less well with a 4-4-2. Plus i dont think he will ever have a 4-4-2, its too traditional and the dutch always enjoyed this formation. I recall even Mourinho started using it at Chelski cause it worked so well at first with us. I dont think people need to be calling for a 4-4-2. Rather ask the players to run more, get more fit, and start beliving in themselves, cause today when someone decided to do it, Bojan, he looked excellent whethere he was on the left, right or down teh middle.
BARCA 4 LYF // Mar 24, 2008 at 11:11
Lucio will be a great signing he knows where the net is in set pieces and he’s a good defender! Plus most of his goals are in big matches so that’s even better, last year he scored when Bayern knocked out Madrid in the Champs league!
Youssef Gazia // Mar 24, 2008 at 18:47
What were the fans holding before the match started?
Shahenshah // Mar 25, 2008 at 8:26
I have to say though, toure’s performance in this game was far better than in the cup semi. He was the crucial figure who caused the lead recovering goal. That goal just boosted barca’s confidence back because before they were looking shaky.
He is too good.
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