Barcelona vs. Athletic Bilbao – Second Half Report (Part 1)
With the second half starting, Josep Guardiola and Joaquin Caparros both decided not to change anything. They both looked to be satisfied with their team’s performances as Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona both went goalless after the first half. It was definitely an advantage for Bilbao while Josep Guardiola definitely needed his side to score goals to boost their morale before going into the winter break.
The second half started with the same pace as the first one ended. Barcelona were still pressing forward in order to find that goal to win. On the other hand, Athletic Bilbao had as many as eight men behind the ball in order to defend against the tough Barcelona attack. The Catalan boss did not take much time to introduce his best player Lionel Messi who was sitting on the bench for the first 52 minutes. The Argentinean maestro was introduced as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Seydou-Keita-c33177 was taken off.
Now, with Lionel Messi on the pitch, the formation shook a little. The Argentinean took his favourite right wing position as Pedro Rodriguez moved to the left where Andres Iniesta started. Bojan Krkic stayed upfront as a centre forward. Andres Iniesta moved into a traditional 4-3-3 midfield with Xavi Hernandez in the centre and Javier Mascherano playing right behind him.
On the other hand, Athletic Bilbao decided to introduce a new player as well on the very next minute. Igor http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ander-Iturraspe-c5544 was introduced. Now, with Iturraspe being introduced, it meant that Bilbao were trying to put in a striker as they wanted to exploit Barcelona’s defence; Bilbao were playing in a 4-4-2 formation with two traditional wingers and two strikers.
As the substitution took place, the game continued and the ball came onto Carlos Gurpegui. Pedro Rodriguez leaped high up to win the ball, but he actually fell down awkwardly on to his neck. It looked to be threatening and while the incident happened, the whole concentration went towards the Spanish goal-scoring machine David Villa who looked to be warming up on the touchline. Even though the “fall” that Pedro took looked bad, he recovered quickly and got up to his feet. However, Josep Guardiola did bring David Villa on; however, it was for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bojan-Krkic-c7794 who looked to be very quite throughout the game.
Now, with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 moved to the centre forward position as David Villa took charge on the left wing. Pedro Rodriguez moved back to his favourite right wing position and now Barcelona were playing their favourite striking trio. With this combo Barcelona managed to score in all the games and with the same players performing against Real Madrid, the Catalan Giants scored five goals. However, for the first 70 minutes, the Spanish Champions looked to have no answer for Bilbao’s defence.
Barcelona were now featuring almost all of their first team except the three players – the goalkeeper, the left back and the holding midfielder. Even though these three were missing out, Josep Guardiola had suitable replacements for all of them. Jose http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Busquets-c33048 and there is no doubt that he is an extraordinary talent.
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