yes, very masterful thinking

I think Busquets having a really bad game had a huge effect on our play today. Iniesta wasn't at his best either. I remember Messi losing a lot of balls while in possession or trying to make a pass.

Xavi was okay, again not as his best(though I think Iniesta was worse)

Rebaño Sagrado wrote:yes, very masterful thinking

Was it not?

I don't think so.

Well its not done very often, for good reason. You have think very quickly when the opportunity presents itself.

True, but I think Leo just tried it to see if he could get away with it.

Did the ref blow the whistle for him to kick?

He asked the ref. and he was fine with it. No sour grapes please. The referee was poor though, for both teams. In the end we deserved the win. Just the better team. And that free kick was simply a beauty.

If the ref let Messi shoot. It was the gk's responsibility.

Rebaño Sagrado wrote:True, but I think Leo just tried it to see if he could get away with it.

Did the ref blow the whistle for him to kick?

The ref doesnt have to.

Messi knew what was happening and if the ref disallowed it, it would of been a big injustice.

TomJuve wrote:The sky commentator said it's interesting because of Rivals playing each other from the same country. And the example he used was Alexis and Falcao "Both Chilian internationals."

Some English pundits are just

Hete BLKSM wrote:He asked the ref. and he was fine with it. No sour grapes please. The referee was poor though, for both teams. In the end we deserved the win. Just the better team. And that free kick was simply a beauty.

A great freekick, perfect shot Although could someone explain to me how the rules work? What makes a freekick needing to be taken after the whistle and when does it not have to be? Its called direct and indirect right?

As for the game, Atletico played really well. Falcao gave us so much trouble. See Puyol at the time?! He was tired! Dont see that often! Busquets did very well in this game I thought....and Xavi may be more focused on defensive....Cesc tried his best and made the assist.... I think this game showed why we are currently playing him instead of 2 wingers, its likely that if we did play 2 wingers, our midfield would have lost more control, arguable though...since 2 wingers might have pinned them back and gave them more trouble, but thats more risky on the defensive obviously... I think without Pique we couldnt feal with the high balls well enough, and we were lucky with some offside calls for once

Valdes did great with the saves... and I real credit to the lads, knowing that Real won their game, from what I read undeserved...but we still grind out a win vs a very strong Atletico side

Congrats Barca <3

for match Stats check: https://twitter.com/#!/BarcaStatistics

Just like any direct free-kick, you can take it quickly, you don't have to wait for a whistle.

A correct ref will make you wait to ask (or obviously signal) you want 10 yards (getting the players out from right in front of the ball).

The players failed to stand right in front of the ball, and the keeper failed to understand this rule.

Messi capitalized, simple as. Great free kick too.

MOM for me either Valdes or Messi.

MotM = Filipe Luis

Barcelona were poor. Atlético didn't let their play flow by either closing down quickly or committing fouls. Barcelona had so much possession but it was the rojiblancos who had more shots on target. And if it wasn't for a terrible linesman, Falcao would have bagged another goal. Not to mention Busquet handling the ball in the penalty area.

CBarca wrote:Just like any direct free-kick, you can take it quickly, you don't have to wait for a whistle.

A correct ref will make you wait to ask (or obviously signal) you want 10 yards (getting the players out from right in front of the ball).

The players failed to stand right in front of the ball, and the keeper failed to understand this rule.

Messi capitalized, simple as. Great free kick too.

How about indirect freekick?

And I just dont understand, so often we see players do this but the ref pulls it back and says need to whistle..

danyjr wrote:MotM = Filipe Luis

Barcelona were poor. Atlético didn't let their play flow by either closing down quickly or committing fouls. Barcelona had so much possession but it was the rojiblancos who had more shots on target. And if it wasn't for a terrible linesman, Falcao would have bagged another goal. Not to mention Busquet handling the ball in the penalty area.

Filipe wasnt even the best defender on the pitch, Masche was by a mile imo.

Much more to Messi's game than just dribbling etc. You need a unique presence of mind to even think of doing what he did today, and he's actually done it to Atleti before. I think it was the 08-09 season where they took too long to set the wall and he put it in while the keeper was still organising.

Glad to see Simeone recognised its brilliance rather than whinging like Mou would have.

Atleti played very well. Second half they gave Xavi, Ini and Messi no room. I've never seen Xavi misplace so many passes.

We must improve from set pieces too... It should have been cleanly headed away, Busquets retardedly flicked it on straight to Falcao. Very poor.

Masch plays like a possessed Cannavaro at times. He is unpassable and his tacking is amazing.

BarcaLearning wrote:

CBarca wrote:Just like any direct free-kick, you can take it quickly, you don't have to wait for a whistle.

A correct ref will make you wait to ask (or obviously signal) you want 10 yards (getting the players out from right in front of the ball).

The players failed to stand right in front of the ball, and the keeper failed to understand this rule.

Messi capitalized, simple as. Great free kick too.

How about indirect freekick?

And I just dont understand, so often we see players do this but the ref pulls it back and says need to whistle..

That would be because the ref will say "wait for the whistle", and the player will take it before the whistle. Player screws up- retake it.

That is what often happens. What happened today never really happens much because most players have the common sense to stand right in front of the ball when it's in shooting distance, forcing the 10 yards.

Indirect is the exact same, except ref will have his arm up (to signal indirect) and when a second player touches it the arm goes down.

Wasn't really a good game though I did like how Fabregas crossed it in for Alves as Im sure if he would have shot, it probs went over the bar or at the keeper (considering the latest Fabregas shooting...). Messi's goal just shows that he just isn't the best palyer in the world through skills and goals but also amazing free kicks.

CBarca wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:

CBarca wrote:Just like any direct free-kick, you can take it quickly, you don't have to wait for a whistle.

A correct ref will make you wait to ask (or obviously signal) you want 10 yards (getting the players out from right in front of the ball).

The players failed to stand right in front of the ball, and the keeper failed to understand this rule.

Messi capitalized, simple as. Great free kick too.

How about indirect freekick?

And I just dont understand, so often we see players do this but the ref pulls it back and says need to whistle..

That would be because the ref will say "wait for the whistle", and the player will take it before the whistle. Player screws up- retake it.

That is what often happens. What happened today never really happens much because most players have the common sense to stand right in front of the ball when it's in shooting distance, forcing the 10 yards.

Indirect is the exact same, except ref will have his arm up (to signal indirect) and when a second player touches it the arm goes down.

Thx... indirect as in why some freekicks u see a player roll the ball or touches it slightly so another player can strike it?

And what kind of foul results in direct and indirect? Or the ref just decides whatever he likes?

Shet im dumb....

Collblanc wrote:Hahahaha second time I see Messi do this.. Not very fairplay but hey - winning goal.

It's fair play. If you don't ask for distance for the barrier (what's the correct name in english?), you can kick the freekick whenever you want unless the ref shows a yellow card. We didn't ask it and the Atletico de Madrid players took it for granted. It's their mistake. Messi uses this a lot, most of the times to start a play fast.

danyjr wrote:MotM = Filipe Luis

Barcelona were poor. Atlético didn't let their play flow by either closing down quickly or committing fouls. Barcelona had so much possession but it was the rojiblancos who had more shots on target. And if it wasn't for a terrible linesman, Falcao would have bagged another goal. Not to mention Busquet handling the ball in the penalty area.

Filipe Luis? :lol!:
What did he do?

We were atrocious, but that doesn't mean Atletico was superb or Filipe Luis great.

BarcaLearning wrote:

CBarca wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:

CBarca wrote:Just like any direct free-kick, you can take it quickly, you don't have to wait for a whistle.

A correct ref will make you wait to ask (or obviously signal) you want 10 yards (getting the players out from right in front of the ball).

The players failed to stand right in front of the ball, and the keeper failed to understand this rule.

Messi capitalized, simple as. Great free kick too.

How about indirect freekick?

And I just dont understand, so often we see players do this but the ref pulls it back and says need to whistle..

That would be because the ref will say "wait for the whistle", and the player will take it before the whistle. Player screws up- retake it.

That is what often happens. What happened today never really happens much because most players have the common sense to stand right in front of the ball when it's in shooting distance, forcing the 10 yards.

Indirect is the exact same, except ref will have his arm up (to signal indirect) and when a second player touches it the arm goes down.

Thx... indirect as in why some freekicks u see a player roll the ball or touches it slightly so another player can strike it?

And what kind of foul results in direct and indirect? Or the ref just decides whatever he likes?

Shet im dumb....

Indirect free-kicks are free kicks that you can't score directly off them. Another player has to touch it. There are some sort of actions that award an indirect free kick instead of direct, for example dangerous play or a pass to the GK. The reason of this, I have no idea.

I think Atletico might of failed to score their first goal is Pique as there.

He is always the guy to clear the first ball and often near the first post from side freekicks and corners, instead it wasnt cleared and just flicked on allowing it to reach Falcao at the back post.

You guys probably have noticed the lack of width this game

You're playing very similair to Spain at the moment with Silva-Villa-Iniesta upfront, the width is lacking becouse the 2 players who are supposed to go wide doesn't do that

You basicly looked like this:

--------------------Sanchez-------------------------
---------------Fabregas----Messi--------------------
------Iniesta-----------------------------------Alves
-----------------------------------------------------

You had 3 shots on target and due to your lack of width Atleti had a easy time defending

Pep's player selections lately are surprising and I'm curious to why he insists on using both Sanchez and Fabregas upfront becouse none of the 2 are really width providers

I think this is a big part of why you're underperforming this season compared to last, Messi is having 0 space with every team defending narrow against you