Before tonight’s game there had been an exchange of declarations between Samuel Eto’o and Frank Rijkaard. Eto’o claimed that Barça just had to win, it didn’t matter how; Rijkaard replied, reminding Eto’o of Barça’s style, by saying that you don’t lose when you play well. Barça’s performance tonight gave the impression that the team had been listening to Eto’o more than to Rijkaard.
For the first hour, this was a very poor game, defences were easily on top and neither goalkeeper had needed to make a difficult save. Then out of the blue, Rafa Marquez headed in a Xavi corner and suddenly Barça were in control. A fine shot from Eto’o in injury time gave Barça a slightly flattering 0-2 scoreline at the end.
The first half was extremely dull, Güiza had a half chance for Mallorca on 9 minutes after turning inside Milito but his shot went harmlessly wide, and Iniesta had Barça’s first goal attempt after dribbling into the area but he too shot wide. After 23 minutes Basinas had another effort for Mallorca, toe-poking the ball wide from 20 yards, and near to half time Xavi skied the ball after Eto’o and Giovani had won the ball by the corner flag. Despite working hard Gudjohnsen was having one of his off-days, and Eto’o and Giovani hardly got a look in.
The second half began in much the same way, Valdés only had a couple of crosses to deal with and Barça lacked ideas going forward despite Bojan coming on for Gudjohnsen which saw Iniesta move back into midfield. Then just past the hour Jonas twice surged dangerously down Barça’s left flank, the second time his cross forced Puyol into a saving clearance. Barça came straight back on the counter attack and Eto’o won Barça’s second corner of the game. Xavi’s inswinger was met at the near post by Marquez who had got in front of his marker, and his header caught Mallorca’s keeper German Lux badly positioned.
After the goal Rijkaard immediately put on Thierry Henry in place of Giovani and six minutes later Edmilson came on for Toure who had fallen awkwardly on his side at the start of the second half. With the one goal advantage Barça began to look more dangerous, in the 74th minute Henry looked to have scored but he was wrongly judged to be offside from Puyol’s cross. Then a couple of minutes later Henry weaved between two defenders before trying a typical right-foot curler to the far post which produced the only difficult save in the whole match.
Three minutes from the end, Valdés caused a few hearts to flutter when he failed to hold a powerful shot from Varela but he recovered in time. Then in injury time Henry and Bojan broke down the left and the Frenchman laid the ball back to Eto’o who let fly from 25 yards, the ball swerved viciously and ended up in the back of the net.
This was no vintage performance from Barça but credit should go to the defence who made sure Valdés had an easy night. Henry looked good when he came on which is good news considering the problems we have in attack at the moment. Edmilson also played well in his twenty-odd minutes and has laid a good claim to be Toure’s substitute during the African Nations Cup.
There will be more questions over Rijkaard’s managerial qualities after playing Giovani and Gudjohnsen instead of Deco and Henry. However, he probably deserves some credit for sticking to his decision knowing very well that he would get crucified for it if Barça didn’t win.
Barça: Valdés 6, Puyol 7, Marquez 7, Milito 7.5, Abidal 7; Xavi 5.5, Toure 6 (Edmilson m69, 6.5), Gudjohnsen 5 (Bojan m45, 6); Giovani 5.5 (Henry m63, 7), Eto’o 6, Iniesta 6.
Goals: m63 Marquez 0-1; m92 Eto’o 0-2.
Barça Yellows: Giovani, Toure, Puyol.
12 responses so far ↓
Siim // Jan 5, 2008 at 23:04
I think Marquez was our best player tonight. He scored a goal and was very solid in defence. Puyol didn’t do so well and I’d like to see him moved back to central defence but then again Milito and Marquez form an M² that works great there. Bringing on Henry brought energy to the pitch and that’s probably why he was bought. Glad he’s with Barca.
Jonas caused some serious problems for Abidal and I believe he was the best player for home team.
blaugranafan // Jan 6, 2008 at 2:46
I think the ref made the right call; Henry looked offsides.
How do people feel about selling Giovani? Has he justified the hype?
Blaugrana // Jan 6, 2008 at 6:43
Bojan is 30times better than giovani he should’ve got the #17shirt, he deserves it. i don’t think rijkaard has enough faith in henry but he will be forced to during the AFCON and i hope titi will prove him wrong
Rafael // Jan 6, 2008 at 8:08
I like Gio.. but I think Bojan has much more natural feel of the game.
Good game for Barca, not the prettiest, but 3pts is 3pts.
Interesting to see what happens when R10, Messi come back.
Mirnes // Jan 6, 2008 at 11:56
heh…nice won…good for us…
I just want to ask you from which page you download this new pictures??
Nic // Jan 6, 2008 at 12:50
blaugranafan - I’m not a big fan of Giovani but I certainly wouldn’t sell him. I don’t know know if you remember Cristiano Ronaldo in his first season at Manchester United, he had a lot of tricks but he wasn’t very effective. We need to remember Giovani is only 18 and is still developing. We saw in the Gamper game against Inter that he has tremendous potential. I think he should have been loaned out at the start of the season, but we have seen with the number of injuries our forwards have suffered that both he and Bojan have been used a fair bit. So, to sum up we should hold on to him, if in two or three years he hasn’t improved there will still be plenty of clubs interested in buying him.
Mirnes - I get the pictures from a number of different places. I have been thinking that perhaps I should give picture credits. I think I got the picture for this article from the Madrid supporting paper As.
Youssef Gazia // Jan 6, 2008 at 16:13
Nic, do you think we can turn things around this half of the season?
blaugranafan // Jan 6, 2008 at 19:47
Yeah, I agree with you Nic that it’s probably best to give Gio a couple of years to develop. What I am worried about is that his agent may be asking for too much money given Gio’s current talent and abilities.
Nic // Jan 6, 2008 at 20:00
Youssef - I liked your question so much I’ve written an article in reply -
http://fcbnews.com/can-barca-turn-things-around/
Nic // Jan 6, 2008 at 20:08
blaugranafan - Cruyff hit the nail on the head by saying players should earn what they are worth. I know it sounds obvious but if the player/player’s agent isn’t happy with what you offer then you should let them leave if that is what the player wishes. But never pay them more than they are worth just to keep them happy, we’d end up with a load of Saviolas if we did that. It is a great shame if an agent fills a player’s head with a belief that he is worth more than he is, but I worry Giovani may be heading down that road. Hopefully he will see sense, work hard at developing his game, stay patient and gain experience. If he does all that he could still be a huge success at Barça.
e10 // Jan 7, 2008 at 5:48
WOW!
Great goal by Eto’o.
Good second half performance by the whole team.
Henry showed some promising signs and so did Gio.
Well Done boysss
blaugranafan // Jan 8, 2008 at 3:18
“I know it sounds obvious but if the player/player’s agent isn’t happy with what you offer then you should let them leave if that is what the player wishes.”
I think you and I are on the same page here, Nic. Let a player walk if his wage demands are too high. Since Gio’s out of contract in the summer, though, it might make sense to sell him during the winter transfer window in order to get some $ and a return on our investment for training him.
Pini Zahavi is a punk.
Leave a Comment