FC Barca Blog

Will our flag fly high in the cathedral come weekend?

After a week of dramatic Internationals and some English press’s bullshit, we are back in action this weekend with a trip to the Cathedral, one of the most intimidating atmospheres in Spain. If we go by recent history then it would tell us a different story with Barca winning around 7 out of the last 11 league games at San Mames. The most recent encounter being the Spanish Super Cup one where we prevailed 1-2 thanks to goals from Xavi and Pedro! Another statistic in favor of us is Pep 5-0 Caparros. Every time Guardiola came up against Caparros during his tenure at the club, he prevailed (5 times! )

However statistics do not accurately reflect the current state we are in, considering our injury ravaged squad. Ibra has been ruled out of the game with a thigh injury and so is Abidal who has swine flu in addition to the injury he picked up. Yaya has also been ruled out of the game this weekend and scientists from all over the world have been called up to diagnoze whether the Yaya has become human all of a sudden . But all’s not bad because Keita and Jeffren have been given the green light and will travel to San Mames. Johnathon Dos Santos, another breed of wonder kids from our youth academy will also travel to San Mames and hopefully we will get to see some of Johnny.

Meanwhile Athletic, as they prefer to be called, are currently enjoying the best start to their season for 7 odd years and are currently in 8th place having won 5 and drawn 1. Despite losing the Spanish Supercup to us and bowing out of the Copa del Rey to some mickey mouse team, they are doing quite well in the Europa league and should be a force to reckon with come saturday especially with their ever so passionate fans cheering them on and the fact that we have an injury-riddled squad.

Athletic fans in San Mames

Predicted Lineup:

Valdes, Pique, Chygrinski, Maxwell , Alves, Iniesta, Busi ,Xavi, Pedro, Messi , Bojan

Keita is back from injury so i expect him to be on the bench and i guess Henry will also be left out due to his exertions in the international game against the Irish. I am not so confident about Maxwell except for his extremely brilliant ability to head the ball away for a corner . But hey, he is good offensively and if used properly can make us unpredictable.

Also, its about time someone told Pep to put an end to the Iniesta experiment at LF. He is most effective when he’s played in midfield and its about time he started playing there. Hopefully Pedro as LF and Iniesta as a CAM in this game will combine to give us a glimpse of the future after Thierry Henry (eventually ) moves on *sniff*.

On a side note, Bojan is all set to become the youngest teenager to clock 100 games with us. Cheers to him and hope he caps it off with a goal, God knows we really need him to be motivated with the absence of Ibra. Considering Real play Racing at home,  it’s vital for us to get the 3 points which would keep us ahead of them as we approach the crucial Clasico.

Prediction

Athletic Bilbao 0 – 1 Barcelona. Many people are saying that this match is going to end with an equal sharing of the spoils. I don’t think so because the fact that Guardiola knows that this might be the week that will decide the course of Barcelona’s season is assurance enough that we will take those 3 points. (No matter what it takes.)

Cheers & Visca el Barca!!



For those who are worried about our injuries!