Barcelona F.C will most likely lose its first leg of the Champions league quarter-finals on April 8 as it appears two essential players will not be able to play. Andrés Iniesta and Yaya Touré both face a race to be fit for the first leg of FC Barcelona's UEFA Champions League quarter-final against FC Bayern München after the midfield pair picked up identical injuries during Sunday’s game against Málaga CF.
Touré, 25, was replaced in the 25th minute after failing to recover from a challenge with opposition full-back Nacho and was later diagnosed with a small tear to his right adductor muscle. The 24-year-old Iniesta, who has been restricted to 19 Liga appearances this season because of injury problems, lasted an hour before being forced off with the same complaint. Both players have been given an estimated recovery time of 15 days.
What are the implications of this absences? Simple and obvious; Barcelona will lose! More specifically the team will lose pass effectiveness in the midfield as well as experience and dexterity. This is crucial for Barcelona as Messi and Henry rely heavily in these two men for the passes to score goals.
Bayern unbeaten
The two teams have met four times in European competition, with Bayern yet to be beaten. The German champions triumphed 2-1 at Camp Nou after drawing the first leg of a 1995/96 UEFA Cup semi-final, with Klinsmann appearing in both matches and Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola featuring in the first. They faced off again in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League group stage, with Bayern winning 1-0 at home and 2-1 again in Spain.
Barcelona Analysts such as Juan Jose Palacios and Felipe Iregui however still remain positive and believe Barcelona will be able to solve this issue and beat Bayern Munich. I just don’t see how, I guess they believe in miracles.
Kumpulan Qasidah Islamiyah Pdf
1 year ago
The Unbelievable Truth: Crystal-Clear Waters.
ReplyDeleteThere will be no miracles, no surprise, and no excitement in this year’s Champions League as FC Barcelona, the team that holds the biggest odds in every soccer poll, will rise to the top, and take yet another Champions cup back home. Their amazing and fantastic performance in all of their current tournaments (La Liga, Champions League, and Copa del Rey) is surely paying off with many triumphs, by an average margin of 3 goals per match, and undoubtly all championships this season.
Their upcoming matchup is against the second best German team this season, Bayer Munich. Its been said that Bayern’s undefeated history against possibly the greatest team assembled in soccer history will outweigh Barcelona’s style, however the Spanish team is the obvious favorite, by far, in present times. Their goals in favour average in the three competitions is 2.95, against Bayerns’ 1.60. Barcelona leads their local tournament, and Bayern trails Hertha BSC Berlin in the Bundesliga. Barcelona comes from facing and overcoming one of France’s leading teams and Bayern, made 7 goals to the easiest team in tournament. It’s crystal-clear to me who’s the real favorite.
The spectacular line up from Barcelona’s is their most impressive competitive advantage this season. The rotation system that Pep Guardiola came up with can overpass any possible injury of any player, not only including Iniesta’s weekend injury but even if Messi is forced to miss a game. It is all about teamwork, and one casualty means there are 14 more class A players that can fill in and take the win.
As I said, it’s crystal-clear waters who’s taking, not only the win next week, but the championship back home: FC Barcelona, ESPN’s acclaimed best soccer team in UEFA’s history. Best of luck to the other contenders, I’m sure they will need it.
One last remark that is of most importance to the discussion: the most certain believable elimination of Real Madrid is the finally drop to the Merengues’ devastating crisis. I can only hope that this lesson will help Real to stop selling and beginning playing football again.