February 17th, 2012
After eliminating Real Madrid from the Copa del Rey last week, FC Barcelona’s next big challenge was Valencia in the semi final. Valencia are one of the most outstanding clubs in Spanish football and always a force to be reckoned with. Nonetheless Barcelona at the moment is looking a little tired and ragged, and last night Pep Guardiola had to get by without some key players due to injury, such as Andres Iniesta.
In the first half of the match the 2 groups looked pretty even, but Valencia seemed to create some better possibilities than Barcelona. Cesc Fabregas set up a shot for Alexis, but sadly he was not able to do anything with it. Immediately afterwards Jonas scored the 1st goal of the match to put the hosts in the lead.
Nonetheless Barcelona replied to this instantly and ten minutes later Alexis shot at the goal, which was deflected to give Barcelona a corner. Once more, Puyol used his head and put the ball beyond the keeper and into the back of the net to equalise for the Catalans.
When play continued after the break Alexis appeared to have scored only to have the goal refused for offside. Then ten minutes into the second half, Barcelona got given a penalty, looking like a superb opportunity for Barcelona to assume the lead. Nevertheless the penalty did not go as planned and a slightly hesitant kick from Messi was easily intercepted by the Valencia goalkeeper and pushed aside.
Though Barcelona was now dominating possession they couldn't to do anything with the ball notwithstanding creating one or two new probabilities; they just were not in a position to score and the match stopped 1-1 going into the return leg at the Nou Camp the week after next. At least Barcelona have the edge. We should hope that they have recovered some of the energy, and can put on a more inspiring display.
You can read our full Valencia v FC Barcelona match report on our website. As well as match reports and news you can order tickets from Simply Barcelona Tickets.
Tags: Copa del Rey, Fc Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia
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February 16th, 2012
FC Barcelona made the trip down to Malaga for Sun. evening’s match in the Spanish league. Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was resting some key players before the Copa del Rey clash with Real Madrid on Wednesday, including Carles Puyol, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas; in their place were some of Barcelona’s youngsters instead.
The match started with both teams having some occasions to score. Early on Malaga threatened the Barcelona goal but Valdes got his hands to the ball and pushed it over the crossbar. After the corner that followed Valdes blocked a shot at the goal and then stopped the follow-up off the rebound.
However Barcelona shortly started to dominate possession as always and around the half-hour mark Iniesta and Adriano set up a goal for Leo Messi to make the score one zero to the Catalans. It wasn't till the second half that Barcelona was able to open up that gap, when they came on full of energy, something that often seems to occur.
Alexis scored just two minutes after play had continued and three minutes later Messi followed up with his second goal too. The scoreline effectively meant the game was over from Malaga – nonetheless it was not over for Messi. He kept on working away, with his efforts ultimately rewarded around the 80 minute mark, when he scored his 3rd goal of the match. A few minutes later Malaga were able to claw back one target of their own, although it was much too late to get into the game and salvage any points.
On Wednesday Real Madrid visits the Nou Camp in the second leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-final. Since last week’s match Jose Mourinho has come in for a lot of flak from fans and press alike. He is also reportedly had a b ust up with some of the players meaning that morale might be low. we shall see what occurs on Wednesday.
Read our full Malaga v Barcelona match report. If you’d like to see them play make sure you buy FC Barcelona tickets from Simply Barcelona Tickets.
Tags: Copa del Rey, Fc Barcelona, la liga, Spanish League
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