Barcelona vs. Almeria – Copa del Rey – First Half Report (Part 1)
The Catalan Giants were to face a totally reformed Almeria in the semi final of the Copa del Rey. The Spanish Champions lost the second leg of the quarter final to Real Betis and qualified for the semi final stage with a 6-3 goal aggregate. Barcelona won
the first leg 5-0 at the Nou Camp and lost the second 3-1 while being away from home. It was for the first time that the Catalans were defeated with such a large goal difference in the Copa del Rey while being under Josep Guardiola.
Barcelona faced Almeria in a Spanish La Liga fixture while being away from home. The Catalans won the game 0-8 and managed to set a record as they defeated the Spanish side with the highest goal difference while being away from home. However, the bottom
of the table side Almeria reformed after that game as their coach was replaced by Jose Luis Oltra. The new coach totally rebuilt the team around great defensive and counter-attacking strategies and that was the reason why they managed to pull off a draw against
Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid.
It was the Nou Camp that was to entertain Almeria during the first leg of the Copa del Rey. The Catalans gave a warm welcome to the visiting side as Josep Guardiola asked for a lot of fans while giving out a press conference two days before the game. The
Catalan boss sent out his best available team to take advantage of the home ground and home crowd.
It was Jose http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maxwell-c25051 who replaced the Frenchman Eric Abidal.
Eric Abidal had to take control of the centre back role with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Pique was the other centre back who accompanied Eric Abidal.
The midfield was slightly different from the regular first-team. It was the Argentinean captain and the former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071 who took his position in the holding midfield position. Xavi Hernandez played as a centre midfielder while
Andres Iniesta helped the midfield join up with the attacking forces of the team. Up front, there were no changes made by the Catalan boss all his favourite strikers were available to him. On the right wing, it was Pedro Rodriguez and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Villa-c10629 took his
position on the left wing. Up front, playing as a centre striker was http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296.
On the other hand, Almeria changed a few things round. Their goalkeeper was replaced by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carlos-Garcia-c8440, Pellerano and Luna played at the back to protect their goal. Luna featured in the holding midfield
position along with Crusat. Carona and M’bami played in the centre midfield while Vargas and Goitom featured up front to help the team in scoring goals.
As expected, Barcelona started to dominate the game from the start. Right after the kick off it was Lionel Messi who dribbled past three Almeria defenders and gave a wonderful pass towards Andres Iniesta. The Spaniard found David Villa making a run on goal
and gave the number 7 a wonderful through ball. The Spanish goal scoring machine tried to shoot the ball to find the back of the net but it was well cleared by Michel.
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