But weren't Barca already in that position, that is their over reliance on Messi, last year with Pep? He just didn't get injured like this year and happened to score 70 goals...
Lionel Messi
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I said something the same here even when Barca was having that run of good games. In some way they were like us, winning the games but they weren't as convincing as before. Many people overlooked that by just looking at their fantastic results. The over dependence on Messi was always dangerous, but this year has gone too much. Take Messi out of that team, and actually the legend could be true that Stoke City could cause them problems in a Wednesday cold night (not really, but it would have been amusing to see it).
i always thought that it wasnt necesary to have a plan B when your plan A was so good, and seldomly put in danger
but if your plan A depends totally on a single player, then you should know that if that player gets injured you will need to have a plan B
but if your plan A depends totally on a single player, then you should know that if that player gets injured you will need to have a plan B
He looked out of sorts last night, but then Bayern were all over him from the off. Great job of stifling him.
Wether they could have done anything like that with him at 100% remains to be seen.
Wether they could have done anything like that with him at 100% remains to be seen.
Barca do have a plan B, just that they didn't have a ref on their side last night.
Get the oppositions sent off.
Get the oppositions sent off.
i think you are talking about real madrid
The funny thing is that they had a fully fit Villa sitting on the bench who would start in most forward lines in the world. Just shows you how stuck in their ways they are that they can't even change their game plan to suit one of the best strikers around and would rather play a player who is clearly not match fit.
they might have cheated you guys out of a quarter final spot, but our Ronnie got through so that makes it ok
Villa's nowhere near the player he was though. He's lost a yard of pace which was quite crucial to his game.
Biggest thing for me was Fabregas sitting on the bench. They paid what £35m for him? And he's regularly dropped for big games, that speaks volumes about their confidence in him.
Messi was fit enough to play IMO.
Nah, he was talking about Barcadrid.
Then he wants a round of fecks thrown at him for that performance.
He either didnt give a shit or hes still crocked.
I've never seen him on a pitch and not be bothered, so I'll go for the still being crocked and shouldnt be on the bench never mind the pitch myself.
It'll feck him up long term if they keep doing it.
I thought he was looking completely disinterested at the start but I thought it was clear as the game developed that he wasn't fit.
He obviously wan't fit. There's noway it would've been 4-0 if he was, as complete as Bayern's performance was.
In fact, if he's fully fit and in the mood for the next leg don't be surprised if Barcelona give Bayern a bit of a scare.
In fact, if he's fully fit and in the mood for the next leg don't be surprised if Barcelona give Bayern a bit of a scare.
his goal against bilbao
Doesn't seem top unfit there.
Lovely goal btw.
Lovely goal btw.
his goal against bilbao
Brilliant goal.
stollen from twitter. Love goals like this, the ones I always wished I could score when I was a kid
Brilliant goal. Hoping against hope that he tears Munich a new one at Nou Camp.
A better angle.
Always better with Hudson
Great footwork but the defending is 
.
The Bilbao defenders over-committed in the tackle so many times, its small wonder why Messi's able to slip past them. The first guy that came up to close him down was made to look like a total Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime, he got beaten twice within the space of seconds.
.The Bilbao defenders over-committed in the tackle so many times, its small wonder why Messi's able to slip past them. The first guy that came up to close him down was made to look like a total Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime, he got beaten twice within the space of seconds.
Yeah it's a mixture of both.You know Messi is that good at dribbling you just cannot commit yourself stupidly like that, suicidal defending against the greatest dribbler these days.
Why is his CL semi-final record so poor? Since 2008...
I'd imagine it's just the fact he'd be playing against much tougher opposition. Off the top of my head 09 was Chelsea, 10 was Inter, 11 was Madrid and last season was Chelsea again. If you compare that with the teams in the Group stage upto the QF I'm guessing there'd be a massive difference in standard.
Lack of Arsenal in the semis.
I think it's because they faced "ultra"-defensive teams who actually had excellent defenders in their teams. First they played against us, then Chelsea, Inter, Real Madrid, and this year against Bayern.
Rio said we probably put our best defensive display during his time here, and you know Chelsea and Inter did that too.
When I said "teams who actually had excellent defenders in their team", by logic you can figure out against which team he scored those two goals.
Of course, I am not counting Bayern, because he never looked fit in that game.
As far as I can remember Barcelona hasn't scored more than 2 goals in any semi-final leg for the last five years. And only scored 2 once, against Madrid I believe.
He actually holds the record number of goals scored in the CL knockout phase (29). Ronaldo is at second with 27. Even CL great Raul only scored 20 while Ruud only has 6...
Not bad, a new compilation but a lot of older footage, IMO. Still an entertaining watch on his feints
Is Balague's Guardiola biography an official one? If so, Messi appears in a very bad light. BILD has printed an excerpt. Apparently, Messi went with a teaspoon in his mouth to a training session. The teaspoon stayed in Messi's mouth the whole time, as he was sulking because he had been substituted in a match the day before. On other occasions when he didn't start or got substituted, he used to stop talking with Pep for days.
When Ibrahimovic became popular in his first months at the club, Messi said he (Messi) wanted to either play as a 9 or not play at all. So Pep asked Messi: 'And what should I do with Ibrahimovic?' Messi replied: 'I play here or I don't play at all. Put the others on the other wing.'
Apparently, in Guardiolas last season at Barca, Messi held all the power in his hands. He would get angry with players like Cuenca or Tello if they wouldn't give him the ball. Even David Villa wasn't forgiven for not giving Messi the ball.
When they sign players, Barcelona asks for Messi's opinion. This was the case with Neymar's signing.
http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/bayern-muenchen/stuerzte-guardiola-ueber-messi-30503596.bild.html
When Ibrahimovic became popular in his first months at the club, Messi said he (Messi) wanted to either play as a 9 or not play at all. So Pep asked Messi: 'And what should I do with Ibrahimovic?' Messi replied: 'I play here or I don't play at all. Put the others on the other wing.'
Apparently, in Guardiolas last season at Barca, Messi held all the power in his hands. He would get angry with players like Cuenca or Tello if they wouldn't give him the ball. Even David Villa wasn't forgiven for not giving Messi the ball.
When they sign players, Barcelona asks for Messi's opinion. This was the case with Neymar's signing.
http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/bayern-muenchen/stuerzte-guardiola-ueber-messi-30503596.bild.html
interesting... but expected.
D10S = Messi > Barcelona FC
If Messi sacrifice himself and "decides" to play out wide, and they buy a coventional center forward (rooney, lewandoski etc etc etc) they can be unstoppable again...
he could still score a shitload of goals (and assists) cutting inside from the right wing.
he already beat all the goal scoring records... maybe now its time to play for the team right? (hopefully not haha)
D10S = Messi > Barcelona FC
If Messi sacrifice himself and "decides" to play out wide, and they buy a coventional center forward (rooney, lewandoski etc etc etc) they can be unstoppable again...
he could still score a shitload of goals (and assists) cutting inside from the right wing.
he already beat all the goal scoring records... maybe now its time to play for the team right? (hopefully not haha)
I agree he is somewhat wasted in that false 9 role he will score goals for fun but the team as a whole suffers. His ability to beat players and play a final ball for me means he should operate deeper. If they have a prolific striker upfront he will score 30-35 goals. Messi will score less but Barca would be harder to defend.
Why a teaspoon?
I don't buy that atall. Especially if it came from Balague who's been in a little cream puff for years now because Messi stopped the Spaniards from winning the Ballon D'or.
So a Pep biography that is not composed out of first hand information from the man himself but from the gossip pages for Marca and co?
Sounds legit.
Sounds legit.
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