free_cat wrote:Ffffffffffffffffffffffffff

Poor Puyol. I had to change the channel. Horrible image.
TV says he has a dislocated elbow. If he doesn't have any bone/ligament broken/injured, he would be around 4 weeks out. If he has something broken, he would be 2 months or more.

Nauseous injury in a very bad moment.
We are very unlucky.

i agree... but considering the elbow joint is uncommonly dislocated, i think there's a great possibility that he's fractured it also.. POOR Capitan!

It seems the match earlier is not what we expect from them... it just shows that Barcelona's achievements are no easy feat.


PUYOL! got my stomach turned inside out...

In case people didnt realise before, Benfica are a good side. We would never of won this game with some of the make shift sides guys were suggesting.

Anyway my thought are with our captain...horrible injury. But knowing him, he will be back soon enough.

A incredibly physical and often bordering on dirty game, but I was glad we didnt play the victim role and just take it. Handing out a little punishment made it fun to be honest. It was a fun game before the terrible injury against a strong opponant.

I think many players played well and I was glad Messi played like his old self. Cesc did well in midfield, often coming short to recieve the ball, Alexis showing some aggression and ability to take people on and find passes. Could of had more than 1 assist. Some of Busquets touches were just fantastic...nobody gets players off balance using fients like he does.

Shame Pedro had a somewhat down game, missing good chances, getting booked for diving and giving the ball away a few more times than he normally does. But he will be fine im sure, he does well vs Madrid and I expect no less again.

I have to say, the one touch football today was the best I have ever seen Barca play this season. Fabregas had another good performance though still wasn't great. You can see the difference Iniesta made when he came on. His passing, movements are so much better than Fab's. Fab is getting there and is slowly but shortly improving... I thought we tried to play too many passes instead of shooting. Few times with Pedro, Fab and even Messi. Doing these unneccessary crosses to blokes who are seriously not in the position to make a shot...
The first half Benfica were dangerous. Too many times they caught us on the counter which is a worry heading into a Clasico. Couple of times Valdes saved our asses with some good stops. Hopefully he can have another good game heading into a really important game. Puyol is a blow though I don't really know why Tito started him. This game was really not a important game unlike the weekends... I understand if Tito wanted to use him for match fitness though he could have done the same thing like he did with Iniesta and bring him on for the last 20 minutes.
The refereeing was good until the red card. He also should have given a second yellow to Matric for a strike on the face which could possibly leave Alves out of Clasico (unlikely though...). Busquests did not strike the player with excessive force, more recklessly as both were contesting for a ball. Madird fans will point to the Fab red card against Sevilla though clearly people will need to look at both replays and see who used force in each situation. I thought the referee could have given 3 red cards today. 2 yellows for Pedro, two yellows for Matric, 2 yellows for Bruno Cesaer. Thought Pedro made a bad, reckless tackle on Salvio after already being on a yellow. Both Cesar and Matric kept on making tackle after tackle on Messi and co. and got away with it. Disappionting though better refereeing than Spanish refs... Alba was good today. Made some good tackles when called to defend and really didn't make as many runs forward as Benfica continously caught us. Though when he had the opportunity he made some good crosses/passes. A shame to see Xavi and Mascherano giving the ball away to the opposition too often but I guess I can forgive them...

Tito started him because bringing a rusty Puyol into the Classico wont be doing anyone any favours. He was out longer than Iniesta, not to mention Iniesta had a great player as cover in Cesc...Puyol has Song.

Should have taken out Puyol as soon as we scored the second goal
I don't care for the Classico just hope Puyol gets better soon.

The Franchise wrote:Tito started him because bringing a rusty Puyol into the Classico wont be doing anyone any favours. He was out longer than Iniesta, not to mention Iniesta had a great player as cover in Cesc...Puyol has Song.

He could have been introduced for the last 20-35 minutes or could have started and come off. He isn't 100% yet...

A very good perfromance with some negatives.Main one being the Puyol injury.Cant help blaming Tito?Why did he have to play him for 90 min?
2-0 up,game won,take Puyol off.Tito has to take the blame.
Some of the negatives.Some extremely risky passing from the back,especially from Masch.I thought we tried to play the ball out from the back too quickly leading to a lot of counters from lost balls.In short we played a lot more vertically from the back than normal and it could have cost us.But on the other hand it could be argued that playing vertically so quickly helped us transition quickly and was the reason we created so many chances.A lot of vertical balls out from the back were to Messi,who turned and drove at their defense creating danger.Leads me to think the quick vertical buildup was deliberate.Still I would have preferred a measured more horizontal buildup.
I thought mostly everyone played well,even Alexis.Messi was the best player on the pitch and was back to his best.A couple of easy giveaways early on but then turned it on and started dribbling.They just couldnt deal with him and the second goal was all his genius.Excellent game from Lio.
Clean sheet was good but we conceeded a lot of chances due to the afore mentioned risky passing.

Almost forgot.
Busquets is a genius

Wonder if it took this serious injury for Tito and the board to start thinking about seriously looking for a serious replacement at CB to Puyol

I agree with Alex. With the game 2-0 up Puyol should've come off. Tito is responsible.

Also not a surprise how Alexis' best game to date this season has been on the left, and as soon as Villa came on and he switched to the right he disappeared.

I think its a bit harsh to blame anyone for Puyol getting injured. It's called an accident for a reason and Tito was probably just trying to make sure and gauge how Puyol's fitness was for a 90 min Clasico. No one to blame here

Great game overall. Everyone should remember that Benfica is a competent side.
This wasn’t going to be an easy game at all.
Puyol’s injury is the worst outcome of the game and Tito is partly to blame for not removing him at 60min or something.
Masch was pretty risky where he shouldn’t be and Xavi gave away the ball easily sometimes.
On the other hand, Alexis and Cesc (the most criticised members of our squad) had a very good game.
Messi was the best in the field, looking his usual self once more. His run in the second was just lovely.
We need this against madrid (along with some luck while defending)

I would say Tito could be partially regarded as responsible, but not the man to blame. I mean the injury Pui got could have happened even in the first 30 min. It's an accident!

Pui was not injured in the feat or hand to stop his training totally, and he could train and was training with the mask to keep his fitness up (at least i saw some pictures of this). So he needed to play more minutes to get ready for classico, to get into the form, not rise his fitness back. So with this in mind i do not blame Tito.

The Sanchez wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Tito started him because bringing a rusty Puyol into the Classico wont be doing anyone any favours. He was out longer than Iniesta, not to mention Iniesta had a great player as cover in Cesc...Puyol has Song.

He could have been introduced for the last 20-35 minutes or could have started and come off. He isn't 100% yet...

How do you know he wasnt 100%? He looks fined to me. It had nothing to do with his injury thats for sure. Plus, a general rule is when in a tough game where you have to do your share of defending, its not wise to brake up the understanding the CB's have removing one.

I think it made some sense starting Puyol anyway.

I dont think its Tito's fault, that kind of injury could of happened any time. He came back from a broken cheek bone...what risk was there of reinjury of that? Almost none.

Its like saying why didnt he remove Xavi? He couldnt.

At 2-0, I dont agree the game was won at all. Benfica were causing problems untill the end and 1 goal would of changed the game completely and we risked losing control over it.

For me, it was a accident that can happen at any minute of the game and Tito has little to no blame.

Yeah dunno wtf you guys are talking about... He was coming back from a broken cheek bone... No chance of that recurring really...

Tito can't read the future and tell that Puyol is going to snap his arm.

Of course we cannot blame him for this speccific injury but I would still blame him for keeping Puyol and Xavi after the 70th minute even without the injury. The game was won with just 20 minutes and two goal difference. we have the players to manage such a scoreline for 20mins.
No need to strain guys like Xavi and Puyol further.

Dont agree the game was won at all. Benfica were much too dangerous.

Also, he couldnt bring Xavi off. Cesc was lucky not to see a second yellow, he had to come off. With no Thiago we only have one capable midfielder in Iniesta.

I think if not for Puyols injury, Xavi would of come off a bit later for Song to go into midfield but Puyol happened and Song had to go into the back 4.

Nobody gave an opinion on the card... thoughts?

I dont know what he was sent off for...both he and Maxi came together and did more or less the same action. So I dont know what to say.

Its funny how not a single person mentions the red card and that it was unfair.. However when a questionable decision goes in our favour, the trolls quickly come up from their holes claiming Barca buys referees and shit!

As I've always said u lose some and win some. Medel's red and now Busquets' straight red vs Benfica.

No buying of referees there!! The only difference is Benfica didnt capitalize on their 1 man advantage.

puyol's injury was worse to look at.......i felt ohh.....

I think Tito has to be blamed. May be the game is not won, 20 mins in football is a long time i agree. However considering this is his first game after recovering, we are leading 2 goals in 70 mins, Classico is just 4 days to go where Puy is much needed and Song already played some matches (crap or what)-----he could be taken. If tito cant rely on song-mash for 20 mins vs Benfica to defend two goals, don know how would he depend on them for 90 mins vs Madrid...But anyway it seems luck about injury is not on our side this term .

Glad to see both cesc and alexis scoring....we need multiple scorers not just one. About the red card what i understand is it was given for aggressively raising his leg higher in the air that could hurt the opponent. However surely it was not raised as high as it could be considered as risk. One thing is clear busquet knew he did not do anything right as he was calm, did not show any reaction rather he was trying to move alba out of any sort possible conflictions. But for me its not a Red.

So no Busi, Pique, and Puyol vs Celtic?

--Alves--Masch---Barta---Alba
-------------Song



Going to be a long season

I found the red card to be undeserved but I guess we're not reacting more to it because it did not influence the outcome of the game. I suppose next CL game we'll play Song as a DM and Bartra - Masche against Celtic, if Pique isn't recovered by then. Should be an interesting experience.

Also while the game was not won at 2-0 it takes a serious amount of complacency to lose a two goal lead. Additionally, with Iniesta coming on we could just bump up the possession stat as a defensive measure.

Well considering we are top of our group 1 loss or draw isn't the end of the world, plus we have Song to fill in Buscuit's spot and Pique will be back by then to fill puyol's role.