FC Barcelona v Real Madrid: All about The Clásico's cup preview

Review news, photos, videos and more about The Clasico Cup preview at Camp Nou

FC Barcelona - Training session 24/02/2013

FC Barcelona - Cesc Fàbregas: "We have to be as effective as possible"

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Barça Toons, ready for The Clásico!

Barça Toons, ready for The Clásico!

FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid 26.Februar.2013

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FC Barcelona’s standout players against Sevilla FC: Villa, Tello and Messi

Barça turned the game around thanks to goals from Villa and Messi, and to Tello’s diabolical pace down the left wing

Botía gave Sevilla the lead on a cold winter night in Barcelona. The attendance at the Camp Nou was below 60,000 in a match that marked the halfway point from the defeat at the San Siro to the return leg of the Copa del Rey against Real Madrid.

Barça had the second half to mount a comeback and the substitutions from Jordi Roura proved to be spot on as the Blaugrana clawed their way back in to contention. Roura’s first sub was Tello for Alexis.

David Villa shows the way

The second half saw a much more incisive Barça on the attack. Within five minutes, Dani Alves’ cross found David Villa, who headed the ball into the back of the Sevilla goal. El Guaje has scored 7 goals in 726 minutes of play in the league this season (12 goals in all competitions), taking his goal-per-match average to one in every 104 minutes.

Tello, the supersub

Tello gave FC Barcelona the added depth and speed that it didn’t have in the first half. After the break, Tello was one of the main architects of Barça’s victory. The decision to sub Tello in for Alexis, however, was made out of precaution, as the Chilean picked up a knock on his left leg in the first half.

The numbers of the Masia graduate are simply spectacular: after 22 matches - 8 as a starter and 15 as a sub - Tello has scored 5 goals and given 5 assists, three of which were for Leo Messi.

Lionel Messi extends his hot streak

The Tello-Messi combo was crucial in tonight’s victory. The Argentine extended his goalscoring streak to 15 consecutive La Liga matches after his goal this evening on the 59th minute. Messi has netted 49 goals this season, 38 of them in the league.



Roura: “Our reaction was splendid”

Jordi Roura was very satisfied with his players' reaction after two tough blows this week: the defeat away to Milan and Sevilla’s go-ahead goal. “We can lose a match, but what’s truly important is how we react. We just played a very difficult match ... we had the game under control but they scored. Once again, this team dug deep and fought it out to win a very important league game. The reaction was splendid,” said the assistant manager. 

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FC Barcelona - Sevilla: (2-1)

Goals from Villa and Messi at the start of the second half gave Barça a confidence boosting win after Botia had given Seville a first half lead

Barça gave themselves a great confidence booster after the disappointment of San Siro last Wednesday, when they beat Seville 2-1 at a freezing Camp Nou tonight. It was a hard won win, with a brilliant 15 minutes after the break crowned by second half strikes from Villa and Messi, which turned the scores around after Botia had given the visitors a first half lead.

In the end, Barça took three more points in the chase for the league title and gave themselves a good result ahead of the upcoming games against Madrid and Milan, whilst for Emery it was another defeat, leaving him without a win in 15 matches against Barça.

Six changes to starting line up

Barça made six changes from the team who started against Milan, with Montoya in at left back and Villa starting up front for the first time since his illness. Iniesta and Messi were both in the team though and the two created the first chance of the game, only for the Spanish international to fail to score when he was one on one with the Seville keeper.

0-1 at half time

Barça controlled possession in their usual style, but they were lacking a bit of sparkle in the box and found it hard to find a way through Emery’s well-constructed defensive wall. In contrast, the visitors scored with their first real chance, when ex- Barça man Botia headed home a right wing cross from Coke. It was a harsh punishment for a Barça side who were clearly the better team.

Immediate reaction after the break

The Barça fans gave their players a rousing welcome when they came out for the second half and the team reacted quickly. Tello was on for Alexis, which allowed Villa to move into the centre forward role and gave Alves free rein down the right wing. It was the Brazilian who provided the cross on 51 minutes for Villa to head home the equaliser, as Barça were rewarded for a sharper and more intense start to the half.

The Tello-Messi connection

Soon Barça were ahead after Thiago, Messi and Tello exchanged passes for the World Number One to fire home for yet another goal as the team enjoyed their best period of the game. Emery threw on Negredo as Seville chased the draw and the Spanish forward had a great chance, only for his shot to beat Valdes, but come back off the bar.

Roura reacted by bringing on Busquets for Villa to try and close the game down and the team settled to ensure the win and give themselves a great confidence boost ahead of Tuesday’s Cup semi-final against Real Madrid

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Barcelona vs Sevilla Pre-Match preview's

Team look to bounce back against Seville

Camp Nou, 22.00: Barça host Seville in another key game – this time in the league 

Éric Abidal given medical okay and could be Barça’s best winter signing

Barça are in the middle of a series of key games and following Wednesday’s painful defeat in Europe, they host Seville tonight on what threatens to be a freezing cold evening at the Camp Nou and although they have a comfortable looking twelve point lead in La Liga built on an immaculate first half to the season, Barça will want to get back to winning ways for a morale boost ahead of this week’s double header against Real Madrid.

The first good news for Barça came with the announcement on Thursday that Eric Abidal had been given the medical all clear to play, which means that Jordi Roura will only be missing Adriano for the game, with David Villa, who missed the trip to San Siro, again available.

Seville bouncing back under Emery

For their part, Seville come into the game in the middle of a good run, with manager Unai Emery – who brought his previous side Spartak Moscow to the Camp Nou earlier this season - having lost just once since he took over at the Sanchez Pijuan in January and his team now sitting in tenth spot, though still without an away win since September. The ex-Valencia boss will be without Palop, Cicinho and Spahic for the game.

It’s also a big week for Seville, who as well as scrabbling up the league table, are looking for Spanish Cup success with a semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, after going down 2-1 in the first leg.

Since Unai Emery took over at Seville, his team have taken 10 from a possible 15 points 

Seville are without a win on the road for the last five months 

Unai Emery took over at Seville on January 14th and in the month and a half since then, the team have taken 10 out of a possible 15 points, with just one defeat – the 4-1 beating at the Bernabeu – as well as ensuring qualification for the Spanish Cup semi-final, where they are 2-1 down to Atletico Madrid after the first leg at the Vicente Calderon. It’s a record that is in stark contrast to Michel’s final period at the club, when they took just four points from six games, a run that saw him sacked after less than a year in the job.

Emery yet to beat Barça

Emery’s record against Barça with Almeria, Valencia and Spartak Moscow is pretty undistinguished for such a top coach, with nine defeats and five draws over the last five seasons.

Contrasting tactics

Those results hide a reality which is slightly different though, as on a number of occasions, Emery’s teams have caused Barça plenty of problems. At Valencia, his tactics of playing down the flanks with players such as Jordi Alba, Mathieu and Pablo Hernández took him close to victory on more than one occasion and they were consistently one of the toughest visitors to the Camp Nou when Barça played under Guardiola.

The last two games Emery has led a team against Barça were with Spartak, where he used a contrasting approach, with less wing play and a more conservative approach to the games. That nearly worked in the game at the Camp Nou in the Champions League group stage, when Spartak went down 3-2, but the Russians proved less of a threat at home, when they lost 0-3.

22 players in session ahead of Seville game

The squad trained this Friday afternoon, with only the injured Adriano, who worked apart from the rest of the players, not available for tomorrow’s game 

The players will be back at the Camp Nou for a final training session ahead of the Seville clash at 12.30 on Saturday 

The squad continued preparations for Saturday night’s game against Seville on Friday evening when Jordi Roura led a training session with 22 players, including Eric Abidal, who was given the medical all clear on Thursday.

Adriano, who is recovering from a hamstring injury he picked up in the first half of the game against Granada and missed the trip to Milan in midweek, trained apart from the rest of the rest of the squad

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