Lyon - Barcelona: Champions League (Tuesday, 2:30pm EST)
By: Isaiah | November 26th, 2007I don’t have much time to write up this post, so I’m just going to link to Inara’s post about the game and copy my thoughts from the comments there to here.
The injured for Barcelona are: Henry, Deco, Gio Dos Santos, Oleguer, Eto’o, Edmilson, and maybe Puyol. Ouch. That’s a big bunch of striking and defending power right there.
One thing to note is that Bojan will probably be starting in place of Henry, but with Gio Dos Santos and Deco out, Lyon have a pretty good chance of getting out of this game with a victory. That said, Ronaldinho’s return is a big boost to the forward line. I expect to see him play a more central role throughout, giving Bojan a chance to play like Messi, but on the left. Thuram’s return is huge too. He’s going to be extremely necessary in the back regardless of whether Puyol can play or not. Oleguer’s absence means that we’ll probably see:
Valdes
Zambrotta, Milito, Thuram, Abidal
Toure
Xavi, Iniesta
Messi, Ronaldinho, Bojan
Also, domestic form rarely translates into European form, so a team that is 1W-1D-0L in the CL, as is Barca, certainly isn’t having too hard a time…Still, I think that Lyon might come out of this with a win. I’m hoping for a draw, really, what with all of the injuries, but as it’s Barcelona (and Lyon too have their injury worries), there always a large chance of victory.
Official prediction: 2-1 Lyon. Aw.
Good news: Eto’o is back to full training! Yippee!
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Tags: Barcelona, Bojan, Carles Puyol, Champions League, Olympique Lyonnais, Preview, Team News, Thierry HenrySubscribe
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Comments
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id predict a draw. sure, we suck away from home, but lyon don’t have toure, so that basically rules out a loss (forgetting the games we lost when he was in). stoked about eto’o. hopefully he can help us out. deco shouldnt be too far off either.
who really cares about edmilson.
Posted from
Australia
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I’ve got a stupid question…but what happened to Edmilson again? He’s been out so long that I’ve forgotten what the original problem was.
Looking forward to seeing Eto’o back in action again. Same with Deco.
Posted from
United States -
yeah i was thinking the same thing earlier today. all i know is that he is useless and we should sell him asap. i think it was something to do with his knee, but maybe im just an idiot.
Posted from
Australia -
We should move Eidur Gudjohnsen to Barca B. Another game without touch, pace, passing, shooting, movement, aggression. Was pleasantly surprised by Ronaldinho in the last twenty minutes
Posted from
Ireland -
Ciaran: surely we knew what Guddy was capable of after last season - decent work ethic, and not too much else. Not to bash him or anything, but it sort of shows when he’s playing with players who have better touch, pace and passing skills.
Edmilson had surgery to correct his never-ending knee problems.
And hooray for Samuel!
Posted from
Australia -
Also: I’d just like to note that we played with a frontline whose age averages out to 20 years old, missing our 3 senior strikers.
Posted from
Australia -
wow, that’s crazy
Posted from
United States -
Its kinda funny, Ronaldinho Henry Eto’o Giovani and Deco out of the first team injured, and we still get an away draw with one of the best teams in europe
Posted from
Ireland -
Yeah any other team and they would’ve been destroyed. Such great talent, but we can’t beat Getafe. Didn’t remember how young our forwards were until reading that post, Linda. Eto’o is so close! Thinking about Classico still keeps me up at night, even though it’s a while away. Hopefully we will have no injuries by then. Is Edmilson going in January? I heard that Newcastle were interested.
Posted from
Australia -
What a match. I was screaming at the telly the whole time. What was Valdes thinking on that first free kick? Follow the ball. Even if Puyol misses it, you’re behind it. Unreal. The defense was lazy and sloppy, hence the Abidal penalty late, things went downhill when Ronaldinho entered, but what nice interplay between Messi and Krkic on the play that resulted in the Messi penalty. A glimpse of the future, folks, and I’m excited about it.
And again: Why, oh why, does Rijkaard play the Icelandic Mounument. If he does what he’s supposed to do, it’s 3-1 Barca, and it doesn’t matter what Abidal does in the box. Two wide-open chances and the first he sends to Jupiter, while the second he hits in the one spot the keeper can get to it.
Thankfully, they were playing Lyon. As Jake said, any other side and Barca would have gotten poleaxed. There were moments of the slick interplay and passing that rock the house, but Messi is still running into nothing too much of the time (I guess someone has to do it in Ronaldinho’s absence), and what is with all of the sideline goofing around with the ball. Move it, move it, move it!
But they advanced with the draw, and the agony of the knockout stages beckons.
As we all know, the real missing pieces are Deco and Eto’o. Once they’re back, we become devastating again, I hope.
Posted from
United States -
I was very surprised that Guddie started over Ronnie. What a ridiculous idea. Nearly paid dividends, of course, but instead of a 4-2 victory, it’s a 2-2 draw. Which, by the way, is a completely acceptable score because it’s the CL and everyone is good and now we’ve qualified for the knockout stage. We’ll be a good, healthy ship by the time that starts.
Bring on Espanyol and El Clasico!!!!
Posted from
United States -
Say what you will about Guddy’s skills (and I have, enough times), but his work rate is superb, and without the graft of him and Yaya in midfield we wouldn’t have played nearly as well.
It’s interesting how the tide of opinion is turning against Messi, so soon after he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Just goes to show that what happened to Ronnie in the press can happen to anyone.
Posted from
Australia -
I think that a lot of fans are overreacting about their players. Barcelona as a team hasn’t been playing to their usual, expected standards, so the bad aspects of even the best players are getting amplified, which makes it so much more annoying.
Posted from
United States -
Also Isaiah, you have to dedicate a post to this pic that was posted on a forum:
http://www.glaubeaktuell.net/media/Nachrichten_Sport/italien_3.jpg
Apparently, back when Rijkaard was playing for the Dutch NT in the WC, he came up against Rudy Voller’s German team, and Rijkaard spits at Voller, then gets Voller sent off, and then spits on him AGAIN as Voller is leaving the pitch!
Posted from
United States -
Inara, yes, that is a moment in Rijkaard’s career that I’m sure he wishes he could do over. I’ve seen the incident several times in various places (during games, in Barca documentaries), but I’m not sure that there’s much to say about it. Rijkaard’s temper obviously gets the best of him now and then…
I will, however, try to deal with the Lyon game and the upcoming Barcelona derby in separate posts.
Posted from
United States -
My jaw totally dropped when I saw that pick. I never followed him in his playing day, so I had this image of him as a totally calm guy who never reacted to anything and would probably just shrug if a spaceship landed on the pitch in the middle of the game.
I think I like Rijkaard now
Posted from
United States -
Haha, yeah. He is totally calm now, but looking back on it, he was a destroyer, a holding midfielder. Basically I think of him as the original Edgar Davids, the precursor of the Essiens and Gattusos of the world.
And now, if daily comic strips Pelotazos and Futbolitis are to be believed, he’s so mellow thanks the “sticky icky”…
Posted from
United States
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