La Liga Round 16: FC Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid

Date: Sunday, 12/16/2012 21:00

Competition: League

Stadium: Camp Nou
City: Barcelona

Capacity: 99786

Television: C+1 - C+1 HD

Referee: Pérez Lasa

-------------Valdes------------
Alves--Pique--Puyol--Adriano
----------Busquests-----------
-----Xavi------------Iniesta----
Pedro-------Messi------Alexis----

I had a feeling maybe Montoya may play though Alves got subbed out during that Copa game therefore I feel maybe Tito is resting him for this game. Questions for the front line though. Will Villa play or could Thiago play in midfield and Iniesta on the wing? Tello or Alexis maybe? Personally Villa is my favourite option though Tito may see otherwise...
Should be a good game
Gonna go with 3-1 victory with Pedro and Messi (2) and Costa for the other.
Visca el Barca!

3-0 | Messi with two and Cesc with a goal is my prediction
-------------------Valdes------------
--------Alves--Pique--Puyol--Adriano
----------------Busquests-----------
------------Xavi-------------Cesc
Pedro/Sanchez-----Messi-----Iniesta

Cesc is injured bro.

I don't think Alba, nor Pedro will play. Alba ran like a crazy horse against Cordoba, and Pedro is currently running like a headless chicken, needs to regain his confidence with some rest.

I'd start Sanchez. He looked good when he came on against Cordoba

tbh, now I can see Sanchez and Pedro starting. I don't think Thiago will play in midfield and Iniesta on the wing. Unlikely.

---alexis-------messi--------pedro--

-----iniesta----------------xavi-------

---------------busquets--------------

alba-----puyol------pique----adriano


The only question mark is adriano/alves and puyol/mascherano, everyone else will start i guarantee you, unless last minute injuries occur.

Atleti are a hardworking, disciplined and motivated side so I think they can cause trouble for us... but probably more at the Calderon than at home. I think it won't be easy, but we'll walk away with a victory.

RealGunner wrote:I'd start Sanchez. He looked good when he came on against Cordoba

Same other wise i think OP nailed it.

I get some feeling you will see Busquets-Thiago-Xavi Iniesta-Messi-Pedro though.

Some reports going around that Adriano will start at right back and Alba at left back... Hope not... Prefer Montoya at RB than Adriano tbh but Alves over the other two any day. Before he got injured, looked pretty good and has started after injury to look pretty good. Atletico will be a great test for him indeed.

The Sanchez wrote:Cesc is injured bro.

Oh wow I completely forgot lmao
3-0 | Messi with two and Iniesta with a goal is my prediction
-------------------Valdes------------
--------Alves--Pique--Puyol--Adriano
----------------Busquests-----------
------------Xavi-------------Thiagoat
Pedro/Sanchez-----Messi-----Iniesta
I just have a feeling Villa will not play and Iniesta will play wing no matter what.

In Guardiola's time it was much easier to predict the lineups, which maybe is Tito's advantage over him. Although we have now more "starters", and people have been more injured and out of form, so Guardiola had a more clear starting eleven.


or if couple though matched recently were the precedents


I will go with the first one, because imo Alba wont play.

Harmonica wrote:I don't think Alba, nor Pedro will play. Alba ran like a crazy horse against Cordoba, and Pedro is currently running like a headless chicken, needs to regain his confidence with some rest.

Regain his confidence with some rest? wtf...

I don't think alves will start. probably Adriano as right back and alba left back.

free_cat wrote:
Regain his confidence with some rest? wtf...

Yes, he's obviously mentally exhausted, and running in the field like he does will only worsen it.

Barcelona line-up (official): Valdes - Adriano Pique Puyol Alba - Xavi Busquets Iniesta - Pedro Messi Alexis

Harmonica wrote:Barcelona line-up (official): Valdes - Adriano Pique Puyol Alba - Xavi Busquets Iniesta - Pedro Messi Alexis

I'm so good at predicting the line up this season. I never used to get it right under Pep.

gondov wrote:

Harmonica wrote:Barcelona line-up (official): Valdes - Adriano Pique Puyol Alba - Xavi Busquets Iniesta - Pedro Messi Alexis

I'm so good at predicting the line up this season. I never used to get it right under Pep.

And I'm just the opposite.

Wow, wonder goal by Adriano. Really saved Barcelona. Atlético were head and shoulders above league leaders up until that point.

Messi has been poor so far.

What is Alexis doing on the left flank? He is doing nothing, left flank is Alba+Iniesta. He is just being useless there. Move him to the centre.

Adriano did the exact same against a stubborn Valencia side earlier this season. He is a genuine goal threat !

I don't think Messi is bad this game considering the whole team is on his ass, although Sanchez and Pedro need to step up it's annoying seeing a RB and DM out preform them and doing their duties.

We have been poor in the first 30 min. After the goal we started playing football. Hopefully Messi shows up. One of the Atleti should gets a yellow , cuz he is being herassed all over the field.

so our wingers currently offer no goal threat... hope we can change it soon

P.S. where are all these people calling Puyol a has been and Pique a non footballer. We've been great defending since the duo came back

Pique and Busquets pace was exposed by Falcow, but Pique made some of it up with well-placed tackles. Can only imagine how things would've gone with Masche instead, Falcao was too much for us to handle, especially at first.

Busquet's goal must have been completely demoralizing because after that Atleti just didn't show the same intensity as after.

Fools who dont know any better.

I think it is safe to say Pique is more or less back.

It is a slight problem that our forwards arent scoring goals.

The worry thing was days like today where they didnt even look like scoring. Alexis had a pretty good 2nd half so im happy with that, Pedro I didnt see him.