CL Preview: Sporting CP – Barça; Wednesday 2:45pmEST, ESPN Deportes

By: Isaiah | November 25th, 2008

It’s the Champions League again, this time on Matchday 5 against Sporting CP. I get out of work early, so I’ll be planted on the couch for this one (being shown live on ESPN Deportes), beginning the long journey from skinny to fat that transpires every Thanksgiving season.

I’m going to go straight into our squad lineup, since there’s a lot to discuss: Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Sylvinho, Cáceres, Márquez, Piqué, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Sergio Busquets, Víctor Sánchez, Keita, Hleb, Pedro, Messi, Henry, Bojan, Eto’o.

The noted absences are Puyol and Yaya (besides Iniesta, Abidal, and Milito). Because of those two added absences, Victor Sanchez grabs a spot in the squad. The other major note is that Messi is included and the tabloids (Sport, EMD) are declaring that he will start. For my money, that’s a bad decision, even though this match is very important. Unless Guardiola is a) completely confident in Messi’s 100% recovery and b) completely convinced that the Sporting match is more important than the Sevilla match. Only Pep can answer those two questions, really, but it’s probably worth pondering on our own.

We have a tough road ahead of us in December (Sevilla, Valencia, Shakhtar, Real Madrid, Villarreal), so “expending” Messi now seems foolhardy if we’re capable of beating both Sporting and Sevilla without him. For my money the toughest games in that stretch are RM and Villarreal, so it’s also completely possible that you could play Messi now and Sevilla, then rest him for Valencia and/or Shakhtar and have him back fresh for RM and Villarreal. Perhaps that’s the thinking. But he is still coming off injury and he’s going to go full-bore as he always does (he obviously has no self-preservation instinct), so I would say make sure he’s 100% before we throw him back into the fray.

Whatever, we can win without him — Guardiola today sarcastically quipped that he’s just the 4th best player in the world, if you ask Cristiano Ronaldo — so why not go for it? Sporting is good, let’s not forget that, but we’ve got serious quality in our ranks that should preclude us from worrying too much about Messi. We have several players who can adequately fill his shoes (if not completely, then certainly partially) and despite what I have said about his performance against Getafe, I want to see more Bojan. I’m not kidding. Only with a bit of continuity will he regain some of his confidence and his scoring touch. He’s had a fairly bad year if you compare it to last year’s 10 goal haul, but he’s got time. He’s got 3 goals in 16 appearances and I’m willing to trust that his bad game against Getafe was an anomaly. I can understand calls for Pedro to start, but I still see him as a good backup. Bojan is, to me at least, a proven commodity whereas Pedro is not.

I’ll just add this little stat: 4 games, 2 starts, 176 minutes total, 2 goals. Those are Bojan’s numbers in the Champions League. I don’t see that as bad at all. In fact, I’d like to see him get more playing time, with Messi as a reserve in case we need him to sub on and close the deal. While I understand that Messi being on the field with Bojan would be even more beneficial to the youngster, I’ve always thought that Bojan and Henry play well together, so why not let them have a shot?

So here’s the squad I’d like to see out there: Valdés, Alves, Márquez, Piqué, Cáceres, Busquets, Xavi, Keita, Henry, Bojan, Eto’o.

At any given time, any of the front three can become the central striker, which I like for versatility. I think Bojan would be more comfortable being able to roam a bit more, so give him the opportunity. The only other real option (except starting Messi), as I have suggested, is to put Pedro out there. I’m not particularly fond of Hleb, but he is certainly capable of playing in the midfield…it’s just that we have Xavi. And Xavi is better. Sorry, Alex.

But lest we forget it’s not a one-sided game, here’s look at our opponents:

Sporting currently sit 4th in the Portuguese league, with 16pts from 9 matches (5W-1D-3L; 9GF, 6GA). At no point have they conceded more than 2 and at no point have they scored more than 2 in a single game. They’ve lost to Leixoes (1st), Benfica (2nd), and Porto (6th) while their draw was a scoreless one against Paços de Ferreira (15th of 16). They don’t strike me as any more dangerous than last time, that’s for sure. I called it correctly at 3-1 last time (my only mistake was that Marquez scored instead of Messi; I got Eto’o and Xavi right. Yay for me and my only correct prediction basically ever!)

Fabio Rochemback is out injured, so no more of his intense “I was once blaugrana” tackling, which I don’t think will be a bad thing for us. Sporting haven’t conceded a single goal in the CL since our 3 in the opening match, so they’re definitely organized (as evidenced by their 6 goals allowed in the league, 5 of which came in their 3 losses). Basically, if we score, we’ll win. So to the fore, laddies with shooting boots, and have at them.

Official prediction: 2-1 Barça. We cement our first place finish in the group with a tight win. Goals by (you guessed it) Bojan and Eto’o. Was I ever going to choose anyone else?