Barcelona vs. Deportivo – Spanish La Liga Review (Part 2)
Josep Guardiola fielded Victor Valdes in between the two poles. The Catalan goal stopper wore the captain’s armband for the night. Valdes was the only first team player performing for Barcelona alongside Eric Abidal and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071 who have been seen
in the first team quite a lot of times this season.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-c9879 Alves was given a rest by the Catalan coach. Alves was replaced by the young full back Marc Bartra. Marc Bartra made his first appearance in the Spanish La Liga this season and even
though it wasn’t his best performance, he was able to show the fans that he is up to the mark and he can perform in the first team in the near future.
The Frenchman Eric Abidal, who has been fighting cancer for a month, returned to the first team two weeks earlier. His first appearance after the operation was against Real Madrid when he was substituted for Carles Puyol during the final minutes of the game.
Eric Abidal featured in the first team as Josep Guardiola wanted to test the Frenchman’s fitness level. The full back was able to give out a steady performance; however, he did not play the full 90 minutes and was replaced by the Brazilian full back http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maxwell-c25051
who was also returning after a long injury that he picked up a month ago.
The young Spanish centre back Andreu Fontas featured in his favourite centre back role. Fontas was accompanied by the Argentinean captain Javier Mascherano. Mascherano was bought from the Premier League club http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 at the start of the season. Even though
his preferred position is in the midfield, he played most of the season as a centre back for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carles-Puyol-c8331 and the Frenchman Eric Abidal.
The former Sevilla player http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Seydou-Keita-c33177 featured in his favourite holding midfield position. Keita has been of great use for the Spanish Champions throughout the season. Even though he has not featured in a lot of games, he has come in handy during the absence
of Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and even http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pedro-c29582 Rodriguez. Keita has the ability to play in the midfield at any position. Even though he is actually a holding midfielder, he has played as an attacking midfielder and also as a centre midfielder throughout
the season. For this game, he was chosen to play as a holing midfielder.
Seydou Keita was accompanied by two young Barcelona players in the midfield. The young Thiago Alcantara played in the centre midfield position. The Spanish born Brazilian has appeared for Barcelona a lot of times this season and he has given out steady performances
every time he has featured for the Catalans.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Santos-c32532 has not appeared many times for the Barcelona first team and he was given an opportunity to prove himself. The young Barcelona player tried to combine with Thiago
but couldn’t really live up to his reputation of being able to deliver the “killer ball.” Thiago was replaced by another young Barcelona player http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Oriol-c28659 Romeu Vidal.
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