La Liga: Barça vs. Sporting

Tonight, 20:00 at Camp Nou.

Unavailable players: Busquets, Messi, Fontas, Villa, Afellay, Abidal. Thiago is a doubt. Alexis available but he arrived yesterday.
Roberto, JDS, Muniesa and Tello all in the 1st squad.

Lineup according to Sport:
VV
Alves,Puyol, Pique.
Xavi Keita Adriano
-----Iniesta
Pedro Cesc Cuenca

(I don't like it at all for the 343 Xavi as RM, Adriano as LM, Keita as DM....).

Lineup I would use:

Alves, Puyol, Pique, Adriano
---------JDS/Thiago (if available)
-----Xavi------------Iniesta
Cuenca/Pedro-----Cesc-------Tello

Ps. Where is Khaled?

Khaled has taken a 2 month break.

Valdes, Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Adriano, Keita, Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc, Pedro and Cuenca.

I really hope its more like Free's line up.

Thiago, yet again not starting.........p'off

Keita

hows ur day been franchise ?

Barcelona line-up (official): Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Adriano, Xavi, Keita, Iniesta, Pedro, Fàbregas, Cuenca.

Bench: Pinto, Puyol, Muniesa, dos Santos, Sergi Roberto, Sanchez, Tello.

Thiago has small injury and is not in the match squad.

Return of humble Malian, Pedro needs to finally play good, come on Tenerife boy! I hope to see Tello in the 2nd half.

Good up until I found out the line up lol

I can see your cheerful, I wonder why

Does someone know the number of uncalled penalties for us this season? Just for lols

Iniesta >>> Xavi franchise, admit it

Another meh game by Pedro. Tello or Sanchez should come for him after HT.

No surprise to see Iniesta bossing the game when Messi isn't there. Xavi is having off game, just as in Atletico game. This injuries really affected his form.

Pfffff.

Definitely the best refs in the world are in spain

Keita


Franchise

Iniesta won this game. What a ball for Xavi goal. Iniesta

Keita played very good game, I am not Keita fan, but I have to admit it - good game by Malian.

Iniesta and xavi.... brilliant

even though hes not playing, skysports commentators keep talking about messi everytime barca score a goal

Shit, ALexis hurt. Left the game before FT.

Iniesta

That's a 9 or 10 out of 10 performance.

Out of this world today.

Keita goal what the hell man, but it made me so happy. It was beautiful too.

Iniesta

I laugh at the english when they complain about the english ref. The english ref compared to the spanish are World f##king Class

Build up an finnishing of the last goal was world class. Keita's goal was epic as well. Referee was bad once again. But what ever, we won. Anyone know what's up with Sánchez? I feel sad for the guy, yet another injury. Could well be another 4-6 weeks from the looks of it.

Check out Marca, the guy that comments ref errors sais we should have got 3 penalties only in this game. WTF????

Really, does someone know how many penalties are we damaged this season. I am just curious to know.

Does anyone have stats of the amount of penalties Real Madrid got until now, and how much we got? That's what I'd like to see.

it seemed to me that only iniesta and keita was playing? they really won the game. overall it was a silent game especially first half (The spark was missing) i wish the spark played and increased his piccici tally it was very good opportunity

Was a win, a very hard fought win which showed our fighting character.

Valdes: Did not have much to do but pick that ball out of his net, very hard to do anything to stop the equalizer. Barral was rushing in unmarked. Did very well to keep his cool and filter out a 1v1 opportunity when Gijon were growing in confidence.

Pique: Very harsh sending off, was solid at the back until the incident. Don't think he's 100% with the team at the moment, I mean he was given slack by a staff member and was clearly upset by the ruling. It's now like he completely threw the guy off his feet, I think there might be an issue at the back going on that's to be revealed.

Mascherano: Was very cool and calm at the back, dealt with Barral quite fine and shut down their counterattacks when they had their chances. Put in some great balls for someone how isn't really the best passer in the team, wasn't the body on the line performance we usually see, but had a great game overall.

Adriano: Was never really sold on him playing in the back 3, he does very well in attack, but in the defense he seems quite shaky. Did very well to spread the ball out to Iniesta for the opening goal, but let Mendy get past him too easily. Started to take in his mistake and valiantly put Mendy to the test.

Alves: Very tough as nails display from Dani today. Was key in both ends. Made some tackles to cut off Gijons chances, and put in some neat passes in the attacking zone, played a dummy to put 2 Gijon players out of the play, but we could not finish that play.

Xavi: Wasn't the highest quality of magic he put in a match, but kept possession well, swiveled out of many challenges and kept clean distribution amongst the players. Great darting run into the area and finish for the third. Was guilty of losing the ball a couple times shortly after the equalizer when Gijon were really trying to choke out the midfield.

Keita: What a way to come back after all the transfer talk and AFCON absence. We at times don't agree with his inclusion for he halts the development of the upcoming talent like Thiago and JDS. But had a very good and characteristically industrial performance. Sent Adriano through with a clean ball in the 1st half, dealt with the pressure very well. In the 2nd half when we were a man down, and looked shocked from the goal we needed some inspiration and Keita was there. Scored a peach of a goal, and put us back in full control.

Iniesta*: Absolute magical match from "el illusionista". He was the difference today. Skipped by every challenge, put in key passes, one that should've been a goal. Opened the scoring in a simple tap in. Stole the show with continuous moments of brilliance. Made a beautiful run into space and paved the way for Xavi with a wonderful chipped pass. Most jadwdropping game from him I've seen in a while. Was simply unstoppable today.

Pedro: An okay performance from him. Got one in the net, but was ruled offside. Still can't back in the scoring chart, but he is working ever so hard to remain relevant to the team. Taken off after Gijon started biting and Barca needed something.

Cuenca: Tale of two halves for the street baller. Did good to keep the ball in his control with his footwork, and was one of the better performers in the 1st half. Started to grow worse in the 2nd half.

Cesc: Was deployed as the false nine as we have seen a couple times this season. Had a great understanding with Iniesta, but was very quiet, much credit goes to Sporting's solid first half. Was playing much more in midfield than attack.

Subs:

Alexis: Was sent out after the equalizer to help us get back in the drivers seat with his movement, dribbling and link ups. Was fed a golden by Iniesta, but his shot went wide, Could've really done better. Lost possession of the ball a little too cheaply at times, but worked hard to get it back. Made a great lay off to Keita, and made good of a challenge to get the ball to Iniesta events before the 3rd goal. Sad to see him leave the pitch after a groin strain in the latter part of the match.

Tello: Added a dimension of directness to the match with his cut and run style. Couldn't make a total impact, apart from a chance he couldn't bury.

Puyol: Was brought on after we took hold of the lead. Made some good blocks here and there, but did not have much to do after Sporting looked out of the contest.

Well Keita was almost if not as good as Iniesta. I guess we get better $$ when we sell him if he continues like this

Iniesta made the difference.