Barcelona’s New Record Will Worry Shaky Chelsea Defence
As Thierry Henry slid the ball into the back of the net the Nou Camp erupted and one Czech man sat somewhere near south London watched on in horror. He, like the thousands of others watching, had witnessed Josep Guardiola’s side destroy another La Liga rival.
The 4-nil drubbing of Sevilla now takes their season total goals to a staggering 92 surpassing the record previously held by Johan Curyff’s dream team. Petr Cech will have been watching and you can rest assured that what he saw would have made him very uneasy ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League Semi Final next week.
With Andres Iniesta lobbing the keeper from outside the area, Eto smashing one in, Xavi adding an outstanding third and Henry rounding off the performance the plaudits were lining up and pundits rushing to their thesaurus to come up with new ways of saying how impressive the Catalan giants are at the moment.
Now they begin preparations for the arrival of Chelsea on Tuesday night. Spain’s second most successful side will be looking to take a lead into the second leg in London and have every right to be confident. The simple fact is that you can not stop them from scoring. Having smashed four past Bayern Munich in the first leg of the quarters it would be a brave man that bets against them taking the trophy this year.
Despite having lost to English opposition on several occasions over the last few years their goal scoring prowess speaks for its self and the recently rocky Cech will not be looking forward to lining up against several of the best players in the world. Chelsea can be caused further worries by the fact that fans’ favourite Lionel Messi was rested for the Sevilla game and he will be eager to build on his reputation against an English side.
The Londoners’ main concern will be the fact that they conceded four at home to Bolton and four at home to Liverpool recently. They can not afford to let this happen against Barca, they simply wont be able to pull it back against ‘keeper Victor Valdes who himself has set new records this season for clean sheets. Drogba and Anelka will be looking to take an away goal back to Stamford Bridge and they really need at least one if they are hopeful to progress.
Barca have a habit of racking-up big scores this season. Their GD is 28 better than Real (in 2nd) yet there are only 6 points between them. That suggests that Barca are ruthless against poor sides but are also capable of being beaten and held.
The question is, just how strong is La Liga this year. Barca have been hugely hyped but I say “let’s get it on”.
They need to beat 2 of the PL’s best to win the CL. If Chelsea have Terry/Carvahlo at their best it will be interesting. The absence of Cole could be a problem though.
An on fire Drogba will also severly test their defence.
If they win it they’ll prove their class but they have to do it first. Too many times in the past teams that have been hugely hyped come a cropper in cup competitions.
I remember Brazil in 1982….lost my shirt on that one!
BD Condell … if you follow La Liga you would know that there is only a 6 point difference between Barca and Real because Real has gone on to win 15 games out of 16 in the second half of the season.
Take a look at the tables, Barca has only been beaten 3 times and drawn 3 times compared to the other big teams. Man U D5 L4; Inter D8 L2.
Just pointing out that “That suggests that Barca are ruthless against poor sides but are also capable of being beaten and held.” assumption is incorrect. No other team in Europe has the number of points that Barca has (big leagues). Also, we have consistently performed against big teams this year.
Barca Vs Chelsea will be a great matchup and a feast for the eyes if Chelsea dont sit back and defend.
barca is good obviously but we cannot overlook the fact that before the thrashing of sevilla, in barca’s last three liga games they played rather unremarkably and were rather lucky to come away with all three points on each occasion. somehow this was neglected by the press, however. i really do wonder why.
i wonder how the press manages to overlook the fact that, before the thrashing of sevilla, in their three previous matches, barca played rather unremarkably and were lucky to come away with three points on each occasion.
@ BD Condell
“That suggests that Barca are ruthless against poor sides but are also capable of being beaten and held.”
while it may be true that Barca is capable of being beaten or held “Barca are ruthless against poor sides” is just rubbish if you consider Atlético Madrid beaten 6-1 Sevilla beaten 3-0 and again 4-0 Valencia beaten 4-0 Sporting Lisbon beaten 3-1 and 5-2 Lyon beaten 5-2 Bayern Munich 4-0 are they all poor sides?
@ Ruud van Nistelrooy
“in barca’s last three liga games they played rather unremarkably and were rather lucky to come away with all three points on each occasion somehow this was neglected by the press, however. i really do wonder why”
Ok first off the game against Valladolid yes compared to previous matches they underperformed mostly seeing as most players were coming back from international games and if you paid attention the press did talk about Barca not dominating and scraping by but getting the 3 points
again against Recreativo they didn’t play at their best and again they was mentioned in the press now against Getafe they dominated especially in the first half the 1-0 scoreline could have easily been 5 or 6 except that Getafe’s keeper was freaking great in goal no team is gonna perform at a top level every game just look a Man U’s recent form and maybe you might need to find a new source for news
If scorin a goal or two is wat is meant by “lucky to escape wit all three points”, then i’d choose not to look at football from your point of view. Barca hav been unlucky in their recent matches not to register more goals, but they have consistently n continuously kept a firm hold on every one of these games. The possessions and other statistics are evidence to that. It is important to note that Barca has the highest goal-scoring record in d whole of europe (big leagues) and a very good defensive reputation. In addition, they tend always to have their opponents under due pressure… regardless of the scoreline. It is in my opinion unfair, untrue n unfortunate to dismiss such display of world-class quality over mere sentiments.
Nobody is dismissing Barca, not for a minute. They’ve had a great season. I wonder how many goals they would have scored if playing in the Premier league?
As I said, let’s get it on. I am not saying for a minute that I don’t think Barca can/will win the CL, all I’m saying is that let’s see if they can finsish off 2 of the Pl’s finest…and if they do then all the hype is justified.
I’m really looking forward to the games.
very good analysis though, lets see how barca matchup against a chelsea that has no respect for the so called big teams, liverpool had a more unassailable form than barca, check on this, beating manhester home and away, their famous victory that ended chelsea`s unbeaten home record and again taking them on in the second leg, real`s thrashing, and villa trailing by 5 goals were so respectful but couldnt make the heat against an energised chelsea side, lets see something barca, your impressive records this season is nothing but an explanation of how cool chopping the la liga is for two teams,- you and real.
i’m not sure what you mean by getting a new source for news… what need have i for news if i have watched the games?