Barcelona – Getafe: Sunday 3pmEST

By: Isaiah | April 4th, 2008

[Updated Version]
Just an FYI for all the readers: The Offside is listed as the 35th most powerful blog in the entire universe by The Guardian. Check it out. How cool is this!? We’ve also received just over 9,500 visitors last month (half of them are Kevin’s mother logging on from various computers around the globe, of course, but whatever) and we here at the Offside would like to thank all of you for visiting us and making us more powerful than that friggin Peteite Anglaise character as well as making us here at the Barcelona portion a more-visited site than Real Madrid. Small victories, people, small victories.

To the Preview:

This is a game primarily to stay within touching distance of first place, but it is also a game of revenge. We lost 2-0 at the Alfonso Perez back in November and I, for one, want to see El Geta dropped like it’s hot. Check, check, check out the references on Isaiah (and my melodies)! 2-0 is a good scoreline for many reasons, not the least of which is because it would be another clean sheet, something we could really use right now in the league.

As I reported before, Ronaldinho and Deco are back to full training, and Messi is back in Barcelona. Deco appears to have limped out of training on Thursday and as of yet there’s no word on his fitness. He has been training the last few days with the squad even thoug he hasn’t received full medical clearance. Why rush him back just to have him injured again? And that brings me to Messi’s statements yesterday about his return timetable. He stated that if it were up to him, he’d play against Getafe. How about no? I mean, I would love to see a fully-fit Messi on the field, but please note those two words: fully-fit. There’s no reason to rush him back only to have him injured again this year.

Let’s look at this way: Would you sacrifice Messi’s future performances for a title this year? I, for one, would not. Looking at it that way, how can we press him to return early? Certainly he and the medical staff know better what is required to be a professional soccer player and what Messi’s body in particular require in order to maintain a sustained athletic endeavor such as a soccer season, however, as someone who has played a sport, I recognize that there is pressure from the fans and pressure from oneself to get out there and play. I’m sure that Messi is furious about his injury and would love nothing more than to be playing right now, but instead of forcing himself back out onto the field early as he’s done in the past and as Eto’o has done, he should take heed of what is happening to Deco and work through the problem entirely before returning. Even if it costs us a championship, I think he’ll bring us enough in the future if he’s healthy to more than make up for that.

Deco too, should sit out if he’s still feeling pain. Again, I’d love to see him in the side, but not at the risk of his career or season. Getafe is not Real Madrid, so don’t force yourself back for it if you’re not up for the challenge. Go hang with Jaciara like the rest of us would be doing if we were you.

We’ll know before we begin the game what kind of a mountain we have to climb. Mallorca hosts Real Madrid on Saturday while Sevilla faces off against Villarreal in a 1pm Sunday game. So we’ll know if we’re 10, 8 or 7 points behind before we begin. Regardless, we need 3 points to stay within striking distance, so we better play the old-fashioned, Greek way: balls out.

Getafe, los azulones, the other other team in Madrid, is having a decent year so far. They’re in 11th place, 6 points removed from the relegation zone (what a psycho race that’s going to be!) and are 11W-6D-11L overall. Their away form has been completely “meh” in that they’re 5W-3D-8L with 19 goals for and 21 against. Barcelona, being 13W-0D-2L 38GF 9GA,at home, is certainly the favorite to come away with all 3 points. However, we know that Geta can play with us as well as with the big boys. They beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeu through Uche’s strike following that bizarre set of circumstances.

Kevin will be updating this post with squads and lineups and whatnot as the time gets closer. I, on the other hand, will be doing vicious manual labor under the whip of my woman, who is moving. Sigh. But then at 8:47pm Eastern Standard Time, the mother of all battles begins: UNC and Kansas in the Final Freaking Four. And yours truly will be screaming. A lot. And hopefully not in pain.

[Update]
The squad the same as the one that went to Germany, meaning no Ronaldinho and no Deco:
Valdés, Pinto, Thuram, Zambrotta, Sylvinho, Abidal, Edmílson, Milito, Puyol, Márquez, Touré Yaya, Gudjohnsen, Xavi, Iniesta, Bojan, Henry, Giovani, Eto’o.

I’m guess we’ll see the same starting lineup as well:
Valdes, Zambrotta, Puyol, Milito, Abidal, Toure, Xavi, Iniesta, Henry, Bojan, Eto’o