Barcelona vs. Athletic Bilbao – First Half Report (Part 1)
Barcelona were to face the eighth placed Spanish La Liga side Athletic Bilbao in a Spanish Cup tie. Both these teams met during a league encounter as Barcelona visited the San Mames stadium to get entertained by Athletic Bilbao.
The Catalan Giants emerged victorious that night by scoring 3 goals in reply to the only goal that the home team scored.
Both teams were missing out on players; however, the visitors were the side who were missing out on a key player; It was the transfer market sensation http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Llorente-c13671 who picked up a thigh injury during the game against Levante
UD on the weekend and missed this important Spanish Cup match. On the other hand, Barcelona were missing out on their Argentinean centre back http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gabriel-Milito-c14321 and the young Spanish striker Jeffren Suarez.
The home team’s coach Josep Guardiola was playing a different team with some of his favourite players sitting on the bench. The second choice goalkeeper Jose http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pinto-c30032 stood between the two poles as Victor Valdes sat on the
bench. The first team captain http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maxwell-c25051 played on the left and Daniel Alves played on the right. Sergio
Busquets was also given a rest as the Argentinean holding midfielder http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071 took his position right behind the midfielders. Xavi Hernandez played in the heart of the pitch wearing the captain’s armband and he was assisted by the former Sevilla player
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bojan-Krkic-c7794, who recently signed a new Barcelona deal, played up
front as a centre forward.
On the other hand, Athletic Bilbao played their favourite side. However, their man striker Fernando Llorente missed out due to injury. Their number 1 goalkeeper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gorka-Iraizoz-c15189 featured between the two poles; he was aided by Andoni
Iraola and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ustaritz-Aldekoaotalora-c35747 featured on the left. Athletic Bilbao’s coach Joaquin Caparros played 4-5-1 as he tried to outnumber
Barcelona’s midfield. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Iker-Muniain-c16816 as an attacking midfielder.
The game kicked off slowly with the home team dominating possession with their “tiki taka” style of play. Despite the fact that the game did not look to be very fast, the home crowd was behind their team as they kept on chanting
for their side. Barcelona were looking to be very confident as they were coming from 6 straight wins and 10 straight away wins in the Spanish La Liga. However, the home fixture of the Spanish Super Cup was important for Josep Guardiola and he did not really
want to take his chances by putting himself under “overconfidence.”
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