Countdown To The New Season 2: Team - Barcelona
Barcelona, is sort of a country within the country of Spain...proud of its own history and heritage...a fierce rival of the capital-city-team Real Madrid for they have often been looked down upon and never received their due recognition. Real's 9 European trophies to Barca's solitary victory in 1988 makes Barca a bit jealous of their arch rivals. They haven't been able to attract or hold on to their superstars in the past few years 'cos of lack of success but one signing, a couple of years back, that might just push Barcelona into a new era of unheralded glory. Is that possible?
It is possible if Barca hold on to the person who has reversed their fortunes almost single-handedly. He had almost signed for ManUtd but at the last moment he opted for Barca. What was ManUtd's loss was Barca's gain. The rest, as they say, is history. He now is the cynosure of most top teams and has a 100 million pound buy-out clause. Also, he was last year's World Player of the Year. He is Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho.
About 3 seasons back, before Ronnie arrived, Barca struggled to finish 6th and just about managed a UEFA Cup place. The team consisted of several ageing Dutch superstars. After that season, a new coach arrived in the form of Frank Rijkaard, an ex-AC Milan and Dutch player.
A new executive - Joan Laporta was elected on the promise that he would bring in David Beckham. But when Beckham chose to go to Real, he brought in Ronaldinho from PSG. I sincerely thank Beckham that he did not come to Barca for Ronnie alone had what it would take to enthuse the sagging spirits of his team-mates and he has shown what he is capable of in his 2 years at Barca. It is ironical that Real haven't won anything ever since Ronnie came to Barca.
In his first season, after a slow start, Rijkaard took the team to a respectable second position and overtook Real who finished a miserable fourth that year. In his second season, Rijkaard took a good step forward by getting rid of most of his Dutch counterparts from the team and brought in some experienced players like Deco, Guily, Larsson, Edmilson, Eto'o. Even though most of the squad was injured, Barca won the Spanish league after a gap of six years thanks to prolific scoring by Samuel Eto'o(a Real Madrid reject) who took some of the burden from Ronnie's back.
Barca have added Van Bommel from PSV and Ezquerro from Athletic Bilbao to their squad and most of the players have recovered from their injuries. Barcelona should be able to put up a good fight this season both in the league and in Europe. They would be looking to forward to beating their old rivals Real in La Liga and a meeting with Chelsea is what they would relish in Europe after losing to them last season.
Barca plays superbly when they are on attack but one area where they falter is the defence. Puyol could do well with a better partner in central defence and perhaps, with Edmilson returning after injury, would give them a few more options. It was amazing to see a team win a league title with just about 14 fully fit players on the squad but then luckily for them, their main players were always fit.
Their typical formation would be...
It is possible if Barca hold on to the person who has reversed their fortunes almost single-handedly. He had almost signed for ManUtd but at the last moment he opted for Barca. What was ManUtd's loss was Barca's gain. The rest, as they say, is history. He now is the cynosure of most top teams and has a 100 million pound buy-out clause. Also, he was last year's World Player of the Year. He is Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho.
About 3 seasons back, before Ronnie arrived, Barca struggled to finish 6th and just about managed a UEFA Cup place. The team consisted of several ageing Dutch superstars. After that season, a new coach arrived in the form of Frank Rijkaard, an ex-AC Milan and Dutch player.
A new executive - Joan Laporta was elected on the promise that he would bring in David Beckham. But when Beckham chose to go to Real, he brought in Ronaldinho from PSG. I sincerely thank Beckham that he did not come to Barca for Ronnie alone had what it would take to enthuse the sagging spirits of his team-mates and he has shown what he is capable of in his 2 years at Barca. It is ironical that Real haven't won anything ever since Ronnie came to Barca.
In his first season, after a slow start, Rijkaard took the team to a respectable second position and overtook Real who finished a miserable fourth that year. In his second season, Rijkaard took a good step forward by getting rid of most of his Dutch counterparts from the team and brought in some experienced players like Deco, Guily, Larsson, Edmilson, Eto'o. Even though most of the squad was injured, Barca won the Spanish league after a gap of six years thanks to prolific scoring by Samuel Eto'o(a Real Madrid reject) who took some of the burden from Ronnie's back.
Barca have added Van Bommel from PSV and Ezquerro from Athletic Bilbao to their squad and most of the players have recovered from their injuries. Barcelona should be able to put up a good fight this season both in the league and in Europe. They would be looking to forward to beating their old rivals Real in La Liga and a meeting with Chelsea is what they would relish in Europe after losing to them last season.
Barca plays superbly when they are on attack but one area where they falter is the defence. Puyol could do well with a better partner in central defence and perhaps, with Edmilson returning after injury, would give them a few more options. It was amazing to see a team win a league title with just about 14 fully fit players on the squad but then luckily for them, their main players were always fit.
Their typical formation would be...
Valdes
Belletti Puyol Edmilson VanBronchorst
Guily VanBommel Deco Xavi Ronaldinho
Eto'o
It looks like they are not going to buy any more players this summer even though they are linked with Arsenal's striker Thierry Henry often. With the squad of highly talented players, they have to meet the expectatations of their fans and I hope they conquer Spain as well as Europe!
posted by Lucas @ 9:20 AM
3 Comments:
Real Madrid are looking like reverting back to their all attack strategy going by the signings of the two young Brazilian guns, Baptista and Robinho.If things like these are done on a consistent basis, the galacticos will shed their complacency and play out of their skins to retain their places. Samuel departing, they would need one defensive cover. Woodgate is not one to be relied upon. Raul and Owen, God save them.Pity Owen though. He does not deserve this.Definitely should be ringing warning bells for Frank Rijkaard.
Real Madrid are looking like reverting back to their all attack strategy going by the signings of the two young Brazilian guns, Baptista and Robinho.If things like these are done on a consistent basis, the galacticos will shed their complacency and play out of their skins to retain their places. Samuel departing, they would need one defensive cover. Woodgate is not one to be relied upon. Raul and Owen, God save them.Pity Owen though. He does not deserve this.Definitely should be ringing warning bells for Frank Rijkaard.
Barca have become stronger too with the recovery of Edmilson, Larsson, Gabri and Motta. The emergence of Messi is a significant and I hope Barca thrash Real this time!
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