Liverpool FC Forum

[Rafa D]

THE OPPO: BARCELONA (H)


         BARCELONA

League Position   -  2nd in La Liga

Current  Form   -    D W L W L
     

Top Scorers   -     Ronaldinho (17)
                                     Gudjohnsen (5)
                                     Saviola (5)
       




Interesting Facts
* In a recent survey of Barcelona fans, the player they miss most who has played for Liverpool is Luis Garcia.
* Xabi Alonso is supposedly a summer transfer target for Barcelona according to Murcia.
* Ronaldinho is a bit of a fat lad now.
* Barcelona president Joan Laporta is planning to put a roof on the Camp Nou, much to the supporters annoyance.




Club Honours

La Liga Champions: 18
1929, 1945, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1959, 1960, 1974, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2006

Copa del Rey: 24
1910, 1912, 1913, 1920, 1922, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1942, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1959, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1988, 1990, 1997, 1998

Supercopa de España: 7
1983, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2005, 2006

UEFA Champions League: 2
1992, 2006 (EDITORS NOTE - HAHAHAHAHA!)

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 4
1979, 1982, 1989, 1997

European Super Cup: 2
1992, 1997

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 3
1958, 1960, 1966

Copa Latina: 2
1949, 1952

Copa de Oro Argentina/Copa Eva Duarte
1945, 1949, 1952, 1953




And now thanks to the senors and senoritas at
FCBarcelonaweb.co.uk



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Firstly, how did you feel after the first leg at the Nou Camp. What were your views on the game?

MAZAMMIT: Pretty annoyed that we lost. In fact...very annoyed that we lost. It had been a bad week after the Valencia loss. After that match against los ches I felt depressed. But after liverpool i wanted to put my fist through the tv.

BARCARULZ: Depressed would be the right word. I usually like to talk about the game after its over, dishing out some treatment, maybe recieving some back (depending on the score), but after this one was done i got up and walked straight home. The fact is Barca lost that game, the defence was a debacle and our offence really lacked any killer edge up front, and the good chances we got were squadered. Made me feel empty.

FCB MO: Not too happy. In fact, furious wouldn't go far enough to explain how annoyed i was... It was a pretty poor game by both sides, it was just Barça were pretty poor and Liverpool were poor but they were organised and that is what won them the game.



Do you feel your team have what it takes to turn it around? How do you think the 2nd leg will pan out?

MAZAMMIT:Yes i do think we can turn it around. However I am sure you will put 10 men behind the ball. A liverpool fan said recently that benítez doesnt put 10 men behind the ball at anfield..but in all honesty u have never played a second leg in the champions league at Anfield where you have a lead. If we get a first goal in the first 20 minutes then I would put a lot of money on us winning. However the longer the game goes without us scoring...the more pessemistic I will get

BARCARULZ: Yes i do. If they pull it together they can beat any team in the world, no exceptions. We have a great squad, despite some individuals serious lack of form, and when you look at our possible starting line up for this match (Valdes, Ogg, Thuram, Puyol, Zambo, Marquez/Edmilson, Xavi, Deco, Etoo, Ronnie, Messi..) then you can tell that its the best one we've had available in a while.
How it will pan out is definately going to be a relative question. For all we know Liverpool might come out and attack, which would change the match. But the way i see it, Liverpool and going to try and play keepings-off to kill off any of Barcas early spirit, then they will sit back, defend, and play on the counter. Barca will have to go out all guns blazing, and they will need an early goal to try and break the Liverpool defence system.

FCB MO: I don't honestly know. This season, it seems that one day we can play like the greatest side in the world and the next day, we are on par with Sunderland. I couldn't tell you how the second leg will pan out until i see how Barça are playing after the first 20 mins on Tuesday.



Theres been a LOT of speculation around Liverpool that Eto'o is a transfer target for Rafa in the summer, do you think it could happen?

MAZAMMIT:I knew there was speculation he would leave, but I didnt know it was to Liverpool. I dont think he will leave..he is too valuable to the team. If he does get sold it will be the most thoughtless transfer in the history of football on Barcelona's part. Anyway...Liverpool isnt the club for Eto'o if he were to leave. It would be Chelsea if anyone.

BARCARULZ: No. Etoo will not move, i know there has been some trouble, but it has been blown WAY out of proportion. He is important to the team, and the fact that he knows it is just what his egoo needs. He will most likely end up staying. However, if he does movie, it would be very surprising if he ends up at Liverpool, i would think Chelsea would be his most likely destination.

FCB MO: No. This Eto'o transfer talk rubbish has only come to light because of his "bust up" with Ronaldinho and Rijkaard. If he were to leave Barça and go to the Premiership, i am sure it would be to Chelsea and not Liverpool


There was a lot of disrespect for our team in the build up to the game at the Nou Camp, how have your opinions changed on Liverpool?

MAZAMMIT:There was a lot of disrespect for our team as well. Did u read on the internet the countless Liverpool fans saying "we can beat them at Camp Nou" before the tie? No matter what the match is, a lot of fans from both teams are going to be overly optimistic. Dont take it to heart...

BARCARULZ: It was more self-confidence as opposed to disrespect, but i doubt anyone really thought we would walk all over Liverpool. I'm not really a big fan of Liverpools playing style, but in this case they have earned the right to do whatever the hell they want, and i can only hope that they have an off day.

FCB MO: Not really, i don't rate Liverpool any higher than i did before the first leg. The only thing which has changed (for me anyway...) is the opinion of my own team and i certainly don't think they are as good as i thought they before the first leg.



You have to choose: Primera Liga or Champions League?

MAZAMMIT:la Liga without a doubt

BARCARULZ: I would go with the Liga. Its not easy winning back to back CLs, and it was always going to be competitive. However, we have alot of quality and it seperates us from a lot of teams in the Liga.

FCB MO: Both. Any less and the season has been a failure



If Barcelona was an English club which one would they be ?

MAZAMMIT:I would compare it to the Manchester United of the last 15 years or so...we have fans all across the world, have dominated the domestic league at times, but fallen behind in other years...triumphed in Europe etc

BARCARULZ: They would be FC Barcelona, the best English club that ever existed

FCB MO: don't know. When we play badly, we are Sunderland. When we are playing as we can, i'd say we'd be like Arsenal except that we can actually convert our chances (step up señor Fabregas!)


This tuesday will be a special night at Anfield? What are your views on the Liverpool fans?

MAZAMMIT:great fans and always make the night a special night. I love watching matches at anfield because of the atmosphere. However I figured lately...maybe u like defeat because when u go a goal behind u seem to cheer louder. just kidding..

BARCARULZ: In my opinion, they aren't your typical English fans. They make one hell of an atmosphere regardless of the score, and always spur their team on, which is always nice to see in a fan base. Hopefuly this game will be no exception

FCB MO: They are fans with class who i'm sure if they lost, they will give us the credit we are due and not do what Arsenal and Chelsea fans did after we beat those two.



Who do you think our best player was at the Nou Camp? Any surprises?

MAZAMMIT:Sissoko was pretty damn good. I liked Kuyt too. No surprises, I expected those 2 to cause us problems

BARCARULZ: I thought Bellamy was a bloody bombshell at the Nou Camp. For a player who i thought was highly over-rated, he certainly did surprise me. Not only that, but to do it on the back of the golf club incident was pretty impressive.

FCB MO: Dirk Kuyt. I didn't rate the guy at all and thought he was very overrated, but in the game at the Camp Nou, he was very good, even if he didn't score.



Jamie Carragher recently said that Barcelona would struggle in the Premiership, do you agree with this? How do you feel you would do in our league?

MAZAMMIT:I suppose it takes one to know one...If Barcelona was in the premiership then we probably would struggle..but thats because our team is built to compete in Spain and in Europe. England is different to both of those competitions. However if we were in the prermiership, I reckon we would have built a team that would make a better go of it than Liverpool have done since the 70s and 80s...

BARCARULZ: The La Liga and EPL are very different teams. You can't really just compare them for the sake of it. Barca is built around the La Liga style, more attacking/less physical, while Liverpool is built around the EPL style more physical/more open. I think any team just randomly placed in a differenct league would suffer at first until they adapt.
However, if you look at Barcas record against English opposition, it isn't really that bad, this leads me to believe that they would do better than what most people would think. We have a team that has class acts in every position, and i don't see why they wouldn't be able to adapt quickly to English football.

FCB MO: Well we beat the champions and beat the 4th placed team in the Premier League last season so i would say that Barça would do well in the Premier League. I don't think any defences in the Premier League could withstand our attacking force week in, week out. Could you imagine Watford vs. Barça? We'd get into double figures


Finally can you predict the score for the newkit forum?

MAZAMMIT:Not really.. its too hard to call. Sorry

BARCARULZ: I'm going with a 1-2 or 1-3. It's more hope than prediction, but i have a feeling that our strongest line up in a while can pull off the mission

FCB MO: No


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Rafa-Dodd

Sorry about only 3 people but time constraints because of short period between games. Sorry Folks.

Now lets fuckin do em!!

[dward]

They're not 1st in La Liga Rafa Dodd

link

And at the top it should be BARCELONA (H)

Good work though

[Igor Zidane]

Well done rafa , they still seem abit arrogant don't you think , not giving us much credit for playing them off the park in  the first leg. Hopefully they'll be abit more humble after tuesday, fingers crossed.

[metalhead]

nice one rafa

nervous about this game.. I don't know but Barcelona can surprise us

[skipper]

BARCARULZ: They would be FC Barcelona, the best English club that ever existed

Doesn't matter what context you put that sentence in, it just sounds so wrong.

[RedRoots]

MAZAMMIT:There was a lot of disrespect for our team as well. Did u read on the internet the countless Liverpool fans saying "we can beat them at Camp Nou" before the tie? No matter what the match is, a lot of fans from both teams are going to be overly optimistic. Dont take it to heart...

How is saying "we can beat them at the camp Nou" (which incidentally i didn't hear many 'pool fans saying) be classed as disrespect??
















Especially when we actually DID beat them at the Camp Nou



Arrogant bast@rd.

[Poor_Sunyol™]

Well done rafa , they still seem abit arrogant don't you think , not giving us much credit for playing them off the park in  the first leg. Hopefully they'll be abit more humble after tuesday, fingers crossed.

Playing us off the park?  We gave you  two goals on a plate and you created nothing until the own goal by Valdes.

The only arrogance I have come across, from both sets of fan's, is from you Igor.

[Rafa D]

Poor Sunyol gutted you didn't answer the second set of questions mate.

To be fair though Sunyol a LOT of arrogance has come from your supporters coming on this site. Larson is the prime example. Also Deco and Messi were in the papers when the draw was made, saying it was what they wanted.

FCB Mo was very unwilling to give us credit for a great performance in the Nou Camp and so were a few others.

They seem to blame the result on their team and I quote "not being as good as I thought" when it was quite obvious we had a gameplan and derserved the win. Your top of your own league and a fearsome opponent, to blame your loss on your own team not being good enough is laughable considering the talent you have won you the double last year.

Some of your fans need to realise, our manager is far better, tactically than yours and he got the job done, where many others have failed.

A bit of respect is all we ask.

[Sabre]

In the last 20 years, I don't remember one comment coming from a Barcelona fan, that acknowledges that a rival played better than Barcelona after a game that they lose.

When they lose, it's always because they didn't play well enough, not only in the last game against us, but any game.

[Poor_Sunyol™]

Point taken Sabre, but without trying to sound exactly as you say we do, if we do play at our best we do beat pretty much anyone out there and it serves as an example as to how self-critical we are about our performances.

As you know, winning just isn't enough.

Personally I did congratulate you, both on the result and your tactics.  You must admit though it was a little bit a case of Barca blew it, rather than a five star performace from Liverpool.  For the first 35 mins Liverpool couldn't get near the ball, but credit where credit is due, Rafa would have prepared them for that and made sure that you took your chances when they came.

Without doubt Rafa is more tactically astute than Rijkaard, but Rijkaard is a better man-manager and has performed miricales managing all the ego's at the club (and behind the scene 'El Flaco' in particular!) even taking the recent Eto'o outburst into consideration.

Dafa-Dodd, sorry mate I didn't see the questions posted ot I would have completed them.

[Ace Ventura]

Point taken Sabre, but without trying to sound exactly as you say we do, if we do play at our best we do beat pretty much anyone out there and it serves as an example as to how self-critical we are about our performances.

As you know, winning just isn't enough.

Personally I did congratulate you, both on the result and your tactics.  You must admit though it was a little bit a case of Barca blew it, rather than a five star performace from Liverpool.  For the first 35 mins Liverpool couldn't get near the ball, but credit where credit is due, Rafa would have prepared them for that and made sure that you took your chances when they came.

Without doubt Rafa is more tactically astute than Rijkaard, but Rijkaard is a better man-manager and has performed miricales managing all the ego's at the club (and behind the scene 'El Flaco' in particular!) even taking the recent Eto'o outburst into consideration.

Dafa-Dodd, sorry mate I didn't see the questions posted ot I would have completed them.

This first 35 minutes you talk about is a myth, for the first 10 minutes we were the better side and had a very good early chance that Riise wasted.

But then you did take control and admittedly after conceding we looked really vulnerable and like we might concede again.
Bellamy then missed a poor header before Valdes's mistake that brought us back into it.

Considering the size of the pitch and the attacking players you have i was shocked that we were not on the back foot more to be honest.

[Poor_Sunyol™]

So where we, hence the comments of some of the fans afterwards.

[Igor Zidane]

Well done rafa , they still seem abit arrogant don't you think , not giving us much credit for playing them off the park in  the first leg. Hopefully they'll be abit more humble after tuesday, fingers crossed.

Playing us off the park?  We gave you  two goals on a plate and you created nothing until the own goal by Valdes.

The only arrogance I have come across, from both sets of fan's, is from you Igor.

Mines not arrogance ace , it's my opinion. We were the better side. We scored 2goals to your one . We deserved to win. WE PLAYED YOU OFF THE PARK ace. Well nearly , maybe slightly over he top.

[Sabre]

Mines not arrogance ace , it's my opinion. We were the better side. We scored 2goals to your one . We deserved to win. WE PLAYED YOU OFF THE PARK ace. Well nearly , maybe slightly over he top

Well, perhaps it wasn't a game for a 1-4 spanking.

But then I wouldn't say an 1-3 would (1) have been unbelieveable, we had our chances.

The final 1-2 wasn't bad.

Sabre

(1) In Spain we always put the away team's goals at the end, thus you know that Barcelona1-2Liverpool is an away game. Do you use that convention to say the score anywhere else? I see that AB and others always put Liverpool's goal first, even in the away games

[peterc1992]

Mines not arrogance ace , it's my opinion. We were the better side. We scored 2goals to your one . We deserved to win. WE PLAYED YOU OFF THE PARK ace. Well nearly , maybe slightly over he top

Well, perhaps it wasn't a game for a 1-4 spanking.

But then I wouldn't say an 1-3 would (1) have been unbelieveable, we had our chances.

The final 1-2 wasn't bad.

Sabre

(1) In Spain we always put the away team's goals at the end, thus you know that Barcelona1-2Liverpool is an away game. Do you use that convention to say the score anywhere else? I see that AB and others always put Liverpool's goal first, even in the away games

Thats usually the case,but if a  team wins 2-1 you say them first or on here you just say the liverpool score first.
.