Round 15: Albacete Balompié vs FC Barcelona

[Almogàver]

Rijkaard reserved several key players for this match. The Carlos Belmonte is one of those places where La Liga's are won. A weak rival, a good pitch,... anything but a victory is not a good result, IMO.

Albacete is not a bad team. I would say that they are similar to Getafe: a team that plays nice football that has many problems to score. If Albacete had had a good striker, they could easily have 7 or 8 points more. They have forgiven their rivals many times... the last one was Valencia. Albacete outplayed Valencia last weekend, they missed 3 or 4 clear chances, but Valencia only needed a rebound to score in the last minutes. A fair result could have been a 3-1, but...

So, again, we depend on ourselves. We're better than them without a doubt, if we play at 100%, we won't have any problem. But if we speculate as we did in Getafe, we may have a hard night. As you know, winning away is never easy.

Força Barça!

[barça]

Winning away is never easy, the season for a team like Albacete is measured by their survival battle to stay on 1st division or beating a team like Barcelona. I still expect a strong Barcelona to come out and control the ball and the attacks.

By the way, thanks for using Albacte's correct name

[Dream Team]

Tactically, Albacete are almost perfect, they set two lines of 4 players with Pacheco and a striker up front. At Carlos Belmonte it's not easy at all to break those two lines. Buades (he and Pablo were the best couple of CBs in La Liga the last season IMO) won't play, probably Gaspar will play. He's a good right back but as a CB he sucks. The other CB is Ruben(Real Madrid player). The CBs and the goalkeeper will be their weakest part. Alvaro won't play, he's Guardiola style, perhaps their best midfielder. The key will be that Barça score soon and Marquez take care of Pacheco, their best player. I predict 0-0 without attitude or 0-4 with attitude.

[Barça_Fan]

It'll be another tricky away fixture but I'm confident about this game. I think the rest given by Rijkaard to the regulars in the midweek Champions' League game will be crucial on how we fare against this side. I'm not expecting anything spectacular, but we'll have to be on the ball for this one, unlike the 2nd half showing against Getafe. Lets hope lady luck is on our side once again

[Pauliño Alcantara]

K4 said it all.

Team news:

Belletti and Giuly are doubts.

Sport.es are calling this the "the duel of the hospital" because of the many injuries of both sides. Albacete could possibly receive Barça with 7 injuries.

The "Duel of the Hospital".

[R10]

No worries, Damia and Iniesta should definitely be able to hold their own against Albacete. Barca will win 2 - 0.

[FC Barcelona9]

If FR plays damia and Iniesta that would be the best thing we can't risk our players anymore we need to hold till the start of the january transfer and i think we will! let's hope no one gets injuried until the transfer window reopens because we need to take a thorugh look at the players around and we need 3 more players!

[Moe]

i hanet been too pleased with our away form.. i hope we pick it up, we need to show character in away matches... that getafe game was a horrible second half i saw for the first time a frightened barca giving the ball away easily.... we looked like a premiership team for a moment,

if we show some good away performances i'll be more convinced of our ability to clinch this season's Liga and hopefull the CL.

[Barca Rule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moe

i hanet been too pleased with our away form.. i hope we pick it up, we need to show character in away matches... that getafe game was a horrible second half i saw for the first time a frightened barca giving the ball away easily.... we looked like a premiership team for a moment,

if we show some good away performances i'll be more convinced of our ability to clinch this season's Liga and hopefull the CL.

You're right - our away form isn't exactly spectacular. But its still damn good - we've picked up 14 points from a possible 21. The important thing is that the Camp Nou is a fortress. The last thing I want to do is quote Van Gaal, but I believe it was he who said that if you draw all your away matches and win your home matches, you can win the league. Haha. Van Gaal is an idiot indeed, but you get the point.

[Rondinaire]

But it's looking as if Valdes has got faringitis or something and might not be able to play. So we'll have Rubén and Urko Pardo as the two first choice keepers for this match.

[Husain]

Urko Pardo y Sevilla the Belgian ? Hes still around ?? Man I first heard about him ages ago, like in 2000.

[Carles]

i really hope valdes will recover in time to play tomorrow!!

[TiB]

The squad for tomorrow's game:

Deco, Valdés, Márquez, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Silvinho, Oleguer, Eto'o, Ronaldinho, Gio van Bronckhorst, Fernando Navarro, Rubén, Messi, Damiá, Rodri, Javito, Lolo y Urko

No Belletti, no Giuly...
Valdes isn't 100%, so FR picked up Urko as the 3rd keeper.

[GICA]

This game can be dangerous. Similar to Getafe. Visca Barça!

[Catalánul]

It will not be easy to win but I hope that Barça make a very good game (as usually) because we need the 3 points

[zyad]

The kids:

http://www.sportinglife.com/football...l&TEAMHD=spain

[Dream Team]

Albacete had 2 available DM but one of them got injured this morning. They'll play Gaspar(RB) as a DM. I think this will be the easier away game we've played so far.

[TiB]

It seems Ronaldinho will miss the game too, according to Sport.

[FC Barcelona9]

http://www.goal.com/NewsDetail.aspx?...38256&progr=10

Liga Preview: Albacete - Barcelona

After the second string suffered expected defeat in Donetsk the Barca first team stars will be refreshed for a clash that looks ominous for the newly promoted hosts.
BACKGROUND

In fact, the team downed by a Julius Aghahowa brace in midweek could not even be described as a second string team, because Frank Rijkaard simply doesn’t have enough fit players to select two sides. Nevertheless, the Dutchman said he was satisfied with the performance of the youth players who appeared in the Ukraine.

River’s Maxi Lopez and Everton’s Thomas Gravesen are the latest candidates mentioned as possible January remedies to the Blaugrana’s over crowded treatment table. But transfer Guru Sandro Rosell has a few more games and a couple of weeks to go though before opening the chequebook, and with the CL out of the way until March it will be full steam ahead for Ronaldinho, Deco et al as the likes of Messi, Fernando and Verdu make way for what looks like an away banker.

Albacete are in for a tough night in their second consecutive home game as they attempt to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat to Valencia. If they are to get anything out of this clash they’ll need a couple of goals at least. Unfortunately, the opposing net has not been bulging very often in Albacete’s Liga matches as the weeks have progressed.

With the return of Barca’s leading lights there is every possibility of a re-run of the Catalan’s last match that delivered a 4 – 0 demolishment of Malaga. Still, the latter are one of the few scalps Albacete have taken, and on the road too, so cause for optimism then? Maybe...a few pre-game San Miguels wouldn’t go amiss for the home faithful, because it could be a long night.


TEAM NEWS

Albacete. Coach Jose Gonzalez has tried everything in attack and we could see any pairing from Mikel, Pacheco, Castro or Francisco. Strangely, many of the clubs new signings have not figured much this season and the boss’s selection policy has been somewhat predictable. Either way, a team set up to frustrate is most likely.

Barcelona. Valdez, Belletti, Gio and Xavi will probably be the only players to keep their places from the Shaktar match, with wholesale changes a certainty. Iniesta would relish an opportunity to play against his old club but should start from the bench, while Rijkaard will welcome the return of Giuly after yet another niggling injury.


PLAYERS TO WATCH

Laurent Viaud. The experienced Frenchman will need all of his knowledge to help shackle and contain the Blaugrana midfield. Unnerving the skilful Barca engine room could be the key to getting an unlikely positive result, for this 35 year old holding midfielder.

Xavi. Apparently the Barca ‘Holy Trinity’ consists of Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto’o but the irrepressible Spaniard is unquestionably in the same class and arguably more important. In what is likely to be a physical, tough tackling match this all-action orchestrating midfielder will make all the difference with his great passing and vision, and tidy yet tenacious play.


PROBABLE TEAMS

Albacete: (4-4-2): Gaspercic, Gaspar, Ruben, Pena, Buades, Alvaro, Redondo, Viaud, Gonzalez, Castro, Pacheco
Subs: Valbuena, Unai, Diaz, Momo, Mikel, Francisco

Barcelona: (4-3-3): Victor Valdez, Belletti, Oleguer, Puyol, Gio, Marquez, Xavi, Deco, Ronaldinho, Giuly, Eto’o
Subs: Jorquera, Rodri, Sylvinho, Damia, Gerard, Iniesta


PREDICTION

Albacete 0 – 3 Barcelona

[zyad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TiB

It seems Ronaldinho will miss the game too, according to Sport.

They say he might miss it. He's making the trip, despite the knock.

If I were FR, I would leave him on the bench and not risk it. Only using him if he is needed, considering that the opposition themselves are weak and injured.