Rangers – Barcelona: Champions League Matchday 3 Preview

By: Isaiah | October 22nd, 2007

Back to Scotland we go, this time with an actual game on tap rather than a round of exhibition matches. It’s Ibrox and Rangers in a game to determine who is the leader of CL Group E. Currently the two teams are tied at 6 points, having both defeated Lyon and Stuttgart. Barcelona have a slim +5 to +4 goal difference lead over Rangers, which really as slim as they come. Barca have yet to concede in the CL, having defeated Lyon 3-0 at the Camp Nou and Stuttgart 0-2 at Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion. And yeah I just had to write out Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion cause it’s fun to say. Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion. See?

Barcelona are coming off a 3-1 loss to Villareal (my review here) and this Champions League game is a good way for Barca to really get back on track after the international break. Ronaldinho is back in the squad after missing out on Saturday’s game thanks to an exhausting travel schedule (according to the team). Robinho, mind you, was also given the game off thanks to partying it up in Rio after Brasil’s 5-0 destruction of Ecuador on Wednesday. Anyway, Ronnie is back and that should help, especially with Deco out for 5 weeks. I expect Ronnie to start where Deco has been playing, meaning the midfield will consist of Xavi, Iniesta, and Ronnie. Not necessarily the most defensive of groups, but if Iniesta and Xavi stay relatively at home in the middle, Ronnie should have the space to create in the middle while the team doesn’t give up too many direct attacks.

Before I go any further, here is the full squad list: Valdes, Jorquera; Oleguer, Milito, Puyol, Abidal, Thuram, Sylvinho; Marc Crosas, Xavi, Iniesta, Ronaldinho; Messi, Henry, Gudjohnsen, Gio Dos Santos, Bojan, Ezquerro,

This is the starting lineup I expect to see from Barca:
Valdes; Oleguer, Milito, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi, Iniesta, Ronaldinho; Messi, Henry, Gudjohnsen

While this lineup gives up a lot defensively, with Gudjohnsen’s ability (and willingness) to track back to the midfield, it should be fairly successful in terms of ball control. Rangers plays a very up-tempo defensive game, from all accounts (after all, they’re Scottish), but if Ronnie is able to distribute the ball wide to Messi or Iniesta from a Deco-esque position, it could cause a ton of issues for the back line. In the SPL, Rangers have given up 9 goals in 10 matches, though they’ve also scored 27. In the Champions League group stage they’ve won 2-1 at home and 0-3 at the Stade de Gerland.

And naturally I have no idea what Rijkaard will really do, though Sport has suggested Guddie will start instead of Bojan, which I would imagine would be due to the experience factor. Guddie has played against similar opposition a ton of times before (204 league games for Chelsea plus 55 league games for Bolton between 1998 and 2006) while Bojan has a goose egg in that category. Despite Bojan’s goal against Villareal, I think it’s smarter to start Gudjohnsen even when you consider the fact that Gudjohnsen doesn’t have as much time in the first team as Bojan does this season. He has, in the past, been in the squad and his presence should allow Ronaldinho to split wide at times, vacating the middle which Guddie can control, while Henry makes diagonal runs towards the ball (assuming it’s on the wing). And when Ronnie has the ball in the middle, Guddie can play the typical striker. His physical attributes are much better designed for a game in Scotland as well, since Bojan is something like 4′2″, 80lbs, or at least it looks that way on screen. That is perhaps the biggest thing that Guddie brings to the table, especially when you consider the potential Bojan has, or at least is considered to have.

According to Barcelona’s official site, Messi, Milito, and Henry were all training seperately from the rest of the group because of various “physical problems,” whatever that means. I would hope that it doesn’t signal more injuries to come. According to that same article, Toure and Zambrotta are back to full training, which would be a really welcome boost come the next league game.

Rangers is coming off a big victory over Celtic in the Old Firm, winning 3-0 at Ibrox via a Barry Ferguson goal and a Nacho ~~Libre~~ Novo brace. Big stuff for Rangers, who are now tied on points and only one goal in differential behind their cross-city rivals.† It means they’ll enter the game on a high and will be looking to make it 3-for-3 in terms of wins. 9-for-9 in points, but who’s counting? Well, I am, since if Barcelona wins, they’re virtually in the round of 16 after only half the group stage games. And if Stuttgart and Lyon draw in the other fixture, they will be through. So here’s hoping that Lyon recovers a measure of form and draws at Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion.‡ This would be the preferred result, but even if Rangers win or if they draw at Ibrox, Stuttgart and Lyon need to draw so that the gap between the top 2 teams and the bottom 2 remains as large as possible.

It’s not like Rangers don’t have any injury problems either. Forward Jean-Claude Darcheville (hamstring) and holding midfielder Brahim Hemdani (groin) are both out for the game. Still, Carlos Cuellar, their Spanish central defender, says they’re going to win. At least they’re confident, but they’re really going to have to be on their toes for this one since Barcelona are going to really, really want these points. DeMarcus Beasley is their leading goalscorer in the competition with 2 goals and his typical left-sidedness could cause problems for Oleguer, who has been playing pretty well despite being in the shallow end of the talent pool in the Camp Nou. Rangers are dangerous in the air, so Milito and Puyol are going to have to work extraordinarily hard to maintain position on their opponents.

A note about broadcasting: the game will be shown live on ESPN2 at 2:30pm EST, 11:30am PCT. It will not appear on ESPN Deportes or on ESPN Classic this week. And yeah, it’s being shown in HD, in case you are such a fancy pants that you get that.

†I’d like to say right here that one of the most boring leagues on Earth is the Scottish Premier League. Part of that is because it sucks, talentwise, at least across the board, and part of it is that it’s always Celtic or Rangers by 800 points or something, thanks to the fact that there are 10 fairly crappy teams in the league. I’m not taking anything away from Celtic or Rangers or the Old Firm which is pretty intense; really, I’m just saying that their league blows. Like the MLS, only with 2 good teams instead of 0.

‡Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion. Made you look.