Barça entertain Villarreal tomorrow (kick off 9pm) with the need of a win and a good performance to restore belief that Barça can win without Leo Messi. Toure Yaya and Gabi Milito have both been named in the squad and both should make the starting lineup though Toure may need an injection before the game for his back pain. Some might argue that he shouldn’t play unless he is at 100% but that is another debate.
Villarreal are almost at full strength after Gonzalo Rodriguez, Cygan, Capdevila and Giusseppe Rossi have all recovered from injury, only Cani and Josico have been ruled out. Rossi has ten goals this season and could replace Guille Franco in attack alongside the ever-dangerous Nihat. Since losing to Barça in the Copa del Rey at the end of January Villarreal have won both their league away games at Murcia and Athletic Bilbao. However, they have been struggling at home and were knocked out of the Uefa Cup by Zenit of St Petersburg. They are still third in the league with 47 points and have won seven of their twelve away games in La Liga this season.
With Puyol out suspended and Rafa Marquez still injured, Frank Rijkaard will be forced to play Lilian Thuram alongside Gabi Milito in central defence. If Toure plays there will be a return to the bench for either Deco or Xavi as Iniesta will almost certainly return to midfield after being rested against Celtic. The big decision will be who plays in place of Leo Messi on the right side of the attack. El Sport seem to think that the job will go to Giovani dos Santos and they may well be right, but this will mean leaving either Thierry Henry or Ronaldinho on the bench. There is also the option to use Bojan on the right or even to play Iniesta there, we’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to see what Rijkaard decides.
Barça will know in advance whether they have a chance to cut the difference with Real Madrid as Madrid play this evening (Saturday) at 8pm against Espanyol.
Barça’s 18-man squad: Valdés, Pinto, Zambrotta, Thuram, Milito, Abidal, Sylvinho, Edmilson, Toure, Xavi, Deco, Iniesta, Gudjohnsen, Giovani, Bojan, Eto’o, Henry, Ronaldinho.
Possible starting XI: Valdés; Zambrotta, Thuram, Milito, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Iniesta; Giovani, Eto’o, Ronaldinho.
My Prediction: Barça 2 Villarreal 1
I feel we are going to suffer a lot for this one. What do you think?
10 responses so far ↓
Taras // Mar 8, 2008 at 19:29
I think Barca 2:0 Villareal. By the way, when Zenit won there was something unbelievable in Moscow!
People were singing, dancing ang (of course) drinking on the street! Everywhere!
Blaugrana // Mar 8, 2008 at 21:27
Ya i sense suffering 2 bt yaya should just sit out instead of injections that cud afect hs future health, 2-0 to us anyway.
Siim // Mar 8, 2008 at 21:34
Barcelona 2 - 1 Villarreal
BOBBY // Mar 8, 2008 at 21:51
perfect gio should get a shot and he better take advantage …….but gio should play like he did against osasuna ….. well good luck GIO !!!!!!!!!
Frede // Mar 8, 2008 at 22:12
Well of course Real Madrid won tonight on a penalty against Espanyol, so no help to look for there.. So the presure is back on Barca, who has to pull of a victory - no matter the size of it.
Im not sure, that the Barca defensive can keep of Nihat and Rossi from scoring, but again I trust the offence, who will do their thing with (hopefully) Henry on the right.
My prediction: Barca 3-2 Villareal
FCB - Canada // Mar 9, 2008 at 0:33
3-1 Baaaaarca!
Merv // Mar 9, 2008 at 5:24
Being an optimist I will say 2-1 to Barca. I hope you are wrong about us suffering. I just hope whoever is chosen to fill the gap on the right works out. I rewatched the Murcia game today and really enjoyed watching Henry, Eto’o and Bojan. But I do agree with your previous post about continuing to use Ronnie since his form seems to be progressing every game. I’m just glad I don’t have the responsibility of trying to pick the best attackers for this game. Good luck to Frank and the team tomorrow!
Michael Maré // Mar 9, 2008 at 6:46
barca 2- 1 villareal
Jay // Mar 9, 2008 at 11:45
Madrid are 8 clear right now.
Barca 2-0 Villareal
Youssef Gazia // Mar 9, 2008 at 19:05
4-0. Yes, 4-0.
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