Barça travel to Almeria without Ronaldinho with a groin strain and Giovani dos Santos who has an ankle injury. This makes a total of nine first team absentees as Messi, Toure, Deco, Marquez, Ezquerro and Jorquera are all out injured and Zambrotta is serving a one-match suspension. Oleguer Presas is fit and back in the squad while Frank Rijkaard has called up Victor Sanchez, Victor Vazquez and Pedrito from Barça B to make up the numbers.
Almeria have Juanma Ortiz and Santiago Acasiete back in the squad and will be at full strength except for the injured right-back Bruno. Since beating Real Madrid at the start of February they have only won one out of five games. However, they are very strong defensively and have an excellent young goalkeeper in Diego Alves, in their last five home matches they have only conceded one goal. Going forward the dangerman is 22-year-old Alvaro Negredo who has nine league goals to his name this season. Almeria are this season’s revelation after being promoted last year, they currently sit in 8th place in the league with 37 points.
For Barça anything other than a win would almost certainly eliminate their already much reduced title hopes. With so many players out the team more or less picks itself. Puyol will once again fill in at right back which means Thuram will continue alongside Milito. Edmilson will probably start in place of Toure, while Bojan Krkic will most likely be asked to play on the right wing with Thierry Henry on the left. Playing with three players who all prefer to play through the middle may prove to be a problem tomorrow, and whoever is asked to play wide will have to be disciplined or the team will lose shape.
Barça’s 18-man squad: Valdés, Pinto, Oleguer, Puyol, Thuram, Milito, Abidal, Sylvinho, Edmilson, Victor Sanchez, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Victor Vazquez, Pedrito, Bojan, Eto’o, Henry.
Probable starting XI: Valdés; Puyol, Thuram, Milito, Abidal; Xavi, Edmilson, Iniesta; Bojan, Eto’o, Henry.
My Prediction: Almeria 0 Barça 1
25 responses so far ↓
Siim // Mar 15, 2008 at 20:50
Almeria 0 - 2 Barcelona
Blaugrana // Mar 15, 2008 at 21:11
Almeria 1-2 Barça
Titi186 // Mar 15, 2008 at 21:27
Maybe Frank will play 4-4-2 as although I rate Bojan very higly (and way, way above Gio) I think Frank has to try something new to at least appease the fans as what he is doing just isnt working.
If not I agree with Nic tat it will be 4-3-3 again with Bojan n right and TH14 on the right.
Last time they played like that they played on of Barcas best games against Murcia. The score was 4-0, but the interchanging of Bojan and Henry was a delight and with Eto back it should be good.
Nic, I predict 1-2 to Barca
Speeka // Mar 15, 2008 at 21:58
Barca to win 1-3.
Madrid just lost in Galicia, to Depor 1-0.
FCB - Canada // Mar 15, 2008 at 22:01
3-0 Baaaarca!
Youssef Gazia // Mar 15, 2008 at 23:48
1-1
layi // Mar 16, 2008 at 0:17
i suspect a draw, madrid lost to deportivo….barca are really missing their chances to win this league this year becos madrid are not worthy enough to win it, just like barca nyway
e10 // Mar 16, 2008 at 2:50
Barca 2-0.
Hopefully no stuff ups in this game and it will be back down to 5points from Madrid.
And hopefully Rijkard will play 4-4-2 just to see how things go.
his 4-4-3 still works here & there but not the way it use to because it is now too predictable.
We need a change.
But hopefully he makes the right decision
blaugranafan // Mar 16, 2008 at 3:00
A front line of Henry, Eto’o, Bojan is silly. Too many strikers playing out of position. If we use 4-3-3, it should be Iniesta, Eto’o, Bojan. From left to right.
Shahenshah // Mar 16, 2008 at 4:16
Man Madrid losing today should be an extra extra extra motivation to crawl back. Away game though, its gonna be tricky shit.
FCB - Canada // Mar 16, 2008 at 5:05
If they can’t win this game they are truely hopeless! lol.
But then again looks like things are falling apart at Real Madrid. Still, they need to seize the opportunity!
#12 // Mar 16, 2008 at 7:08
I wish rikjaard would try
Henry-Etoo;
Iniesta-edmilson-xavi-guddy;
Silvinho-milito-thuram-puyi
dayib-sm // Mar 16, 2008 at 8:22
barca will win
goals from Eto’o, Henery, Bojan and Iniesta.
and will be ending 4-0
Michael Maré // Mar 16, 2008 at 8:58
Barca 2 -o Almeria
Nick // Mar 16, 2008 at 11:27
Almeria 0-2 Barça
mohsin // Mar 16, 2008 at 11:51
Iniesta is also out for the game due to suspension ?? isnt he..??
Nic // Mar 16, 2008 at 12:53
Mohsin - I can’t remember who reported that Iniesta was suspended for this game. Was it on Goal.com? I saw it somewhere but whoever said it was mistaken. Iniesta is on four yellow cards and he wasn’t booked in the last match against Villarreal.
blaugranafan // Mar 16, 2008 at 16:20
Goal.com is full of liars that don’t check their facts. Don’t rely on it for anything other than rumors.
FCB - Canada // Mar 16, 2008 at 17:08
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/match?id=226469&cc=5901
Yellow cards last game
Víctor Valdés (31)
Lilian Thuram (38)
Xavi (76)
Samuel Eto’o (71)
Gianluca Zambrotta (86)
Nic // Mar 16, 2008 at 17:27
Thanks FCB-Canada. I must have missed Zambrotta’s card during the game and then when I saw Zambrotta was suspended I think I looked on the BBC site and they missed xavi’s card - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/spain_results/default.stm
I’ve just checked with the LFP site and they have us with the 5 yellows you give. Now I’ve sorted out my stats page.
Taras // Mar 16, 2008 at 18:58
1-0 Barca.
John // Mar 16, 2008 at 21:27
Another poor performance…. and another poor result! 1 point out of a possible 9…. Laporta start needs to be making provision for next season…. by that I mean Jose…. if we let him slip away it will be a decision that the club will regret for many years…. Rijkaard has done a great job for Braca but we are not the side of two years ago…. changes are needed.. this is not knee jerk it has been going for 18 months….we need a new broom.. I believe JM would bring that and a mentality that is sadly lacking at the moment!
Barca 4 lyf // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:00
Rikyaard needs to use a 4-2-2-2 formation! Eto’o and henry lone strikers up front! Ronnie and Messi would be perfect in centre attacking mid positions and Xavi and Yaya.T/Iniesta would go in centre mid! In defence Zambrotta on the right and Puyol, Milito in centre back positions and Abidal on the left! Of course Valdes in net!
blaugranaboy // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:03
ive hardly ever felt so angry and disappointed with the team. i think the crisis question from a few days back is answered now. and though almeria are by no means a bad squad, they play smart and tactical football, but how can a team of superstars, where Henry alone is probably more expensive than the starting 11, not be motivated by the chance to cut the gap to 5 possibly win the league. madrid are constantly giving us chances to catch even overtake them, and we are graciously denying them. the team was a mess. there is no urgency going forward, no ideas, no effort. henry did set up the goal but otherwise looked like a clown. there were some times he ran with the ball and just fell over it or something. it makes me sad to see that, as i watched his great arsenal years. its sad to see greatness reduced to mediocrity. with the exception of puyol, thuram, gudi (suprisingly), and xavi, everyone else was bad to just good enough.
i use to HATE to the core jose and chelsea. but the more i think about it and the more i see these performances, i see him as the right choice. he will just refresh the team. and be hard on the players who arent performing. i once spoke to benni mccarthy here in South Africa, and he has ONLY good things to say of mourinho, especially his player managment. hopefully he could bring new life into this team. like john says, this isnt some mere dip in form, its approaching two years now. something has to be done.
layi // Mar 16, 2008 at 22:13
i can see that i’m the only one that got my predictions right….it was funny the way you people were predicting a clean sheet talkless of a victory, im not sure u people recognise there is a serious problem with barca…dont get me wrong, though im sad about our form, but im more ready to accept our results nowadays because i know we hav a serious problem, and at the head of the problem is my former(still my hero) hero - rijkaard(sorry to admit)
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