Arsenal -v- Barca, Champions league Q/Final 1st leg

5ForKeeps

SDTimeout wrote: »

So it's pride songs is it...

We've got silvestre...ohh, We've got silvestre...

It's more than just a song just like Barca are more than just a club!!

L'prof

Frisbee wrote: »

How in the name of God am I supposed to focus on writing an essay today?!

Forget about it!

L'prof

5ForKeeps wrote: »

It's more than just a song just like Barca are more than just a club!!

That's how the mantra goes alright...

Frisbee

jasonorr wrote: »

Forget about it!

Yeah sounds the most likely course of action alright...

L'prof

Frisbee wrote: »

Yeah sounds the most likely course of action alright...

Generally speaking, I wouldn't advise you take advise from me on college work but, it really is pointless to try and do anything else today!

Frisbee

22

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Age

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22
27 --- League appearances --- 25
15

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Goals

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25
13

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Assists

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9

GLaDOS

Frisbee wrote: »

How in the name of God am I supposed to focus on writing an essay today?!

Write on essay on Arsenals stunning 4-3 victory against Barca over the 2 legs

5ForKeeps

Frisbee wrote: »

22

---

Age

---

22
27 --- League appearances --- 25
15

---

Goals

---

25
13

---

Assists

---

9

That is some return for a midfielder the man is a special talent along with probably the greatest footballer I have seen Live Messi!

Fuzzy_Dunlop

Frisbee wrote: »

How in the name of God am I supposed to focus on writing an essay today?!

I'm in the same boat! Fortunately I have most of it finished because when I saw it was due tomorrow I made sure to get as much of it out of the way before the match today as possible.

Frisbee

playa3 wrote: »

I'm in the same boat! Fortunately I have most of it finished because when I saw it was due tomorrow I made sure to get as much of it out of the way before the match today as possible.

Mine isn't due for another few weeks but trying to get it out of the way before the end of term rush. so far I've managed to write my introduction in the last two hours... :cool:

Frisbee

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/mar/31/cesc-fabregas-barcelona-arsenal

The first time they came for him, he hid out of sight; the second time, there was no escape. It was September 1997 and Rodolf Borrell had come to see a bunch of kids play in Mataró, up the coast from the Catalan capital. For the coach of FC Barcelona Alevín, the club's Under-11s, the trip was familiar – in fact, he had made the same journey two months before – but the lad who caught his eye was not. There was, he noted, a new No4 dominating midfield. "He had everything: vision, athleticism, stamina, speed," Borrell said. "He could pass, he could shoot, and above all his decision-making was spectacular."

Borrell's judgment was spot on, but for one thing – the kid was not so new. The half-time whistle had not even blown when the man who now works with Rafael Benítez at Liverpool approached the Mataró coach, Señor Blai. Where, he asked, had this new lad suddenly come from? Blai looked a little embarrassed, shifted awkwardly and, guiltily, finally came clean. His name, Blai revealed, was Francesc Fábregas Soler, he was "a beast", and he was here in the summer too. "But we were under orders to hide him," Blai admitted. "When you turned up we made him stay in the dressing room."

It was a cunning ruse. By the time Borrell returned in September, Cesc Fábregas had played five times for Mataró. Under Catalan Football Federation rules, he could no longer leave for another team – even if that team was Barcelona. Borrell was not so easily beaten, though, and he eventually offered a compromise: Fábregas would continue playing for Mataró for the rest of the season but would travel to train with Barcelona every Monday, playing the occasional friendly.

So, on 10 November 1997, the 10-year-old set off for the first time from the town of Arenys – divided between Arenys del Mar and Arenys del Munt, Arenys by the sea and Arenys on the hill. His destination: FC Barcelona, 55km away. It became a familiar route. The next season, Fábregas joined formally and began training every day. Ultimately, it became a tiresome route, leading him to take up residence in more celebrated surroundings. If Arenys is famous for its turnip festival, his next home could hardly be more famous for its football.

Every day, a taxi driver called Joan Jiménez picked up Fábregas and Jose Hinojosa. En route, he would collect David Torrejón. Then, as he went through Badalona, Jonathan Pereira and Rafa Vázquez would join the party. They called themselves the Quinta del Taxi, the Taxi Squad, and Fábregas invented his own rhyming sobriquet: "¡Cesc Fábregas Soler, el más guapo del carrer!" Cesc Fábregas Soler, the most handsome kid on the road!

Fábregas's father, a builder also called Francesc, remains proud that, despite getting home past 11pm every night, Cesc always completed his homework. His mother, Nuria, was determined that he would not get behind in his studies – even if former team-mates joke that he was more interested in his classmate María García than the square root of nine. The problem was that, with so much travelling, it was becoming increasingly difficult not to get behind, so Fábregas's parents decided he should live in Barcelona.

When players face their former clubs, the cliche has them "returning home". This time, it's true. Tonight, Fábregas will come up against his boyhood idols, two on the pitch, one on the bench; his first real coach; his best friend and the tiny "mute" kid who turned out to be the world's best player. When he travels to Barcelona next week, the Arsenal bus will roll past the Mini Estadi, where he trained daily, to Camp Nou – the stadium he gazed at through his bedroom window. Just behind is La Masía. His home.

As Arsenal fans stroll to the match, they will pass La Masía, a traditional Catalan farmhouse that stands proudly, rather incongruously, alongside Camp Nou. Caught between life and death, maternity hospital on one side, crematorium on the other, La Masía is home to future players, an indoctrination centre in all things Barça Almost 500 hopefuls have lived there, overlooking the training pitch where, until six months ago, Barcelona's first team trained.

It is the place where, Fábregas says, "I spent the best year of my life"; where exasperated team-mates never slept. "Cesc," complains the Sevilla defender and La Masía contemporary Marc Valiente, "has the worst musical taste ever – he was into La Oreja de Van Gogh." It was from those days that Fábregas likes to remember endless victories in PlayStation Pro Evolution challenges and where Gerard Piqué, his best friend, likes to remind him that, a certain Leo Messi always slaughtered him; where, according to Piqué, Fábregas always shirked table tennis matches – because he knew he would lose.

On the football pitch, he rarely lost. Coached by Borrell and Tito Vilanova, Pep Guardiola's No2, Barcelona were unbeatable. "He played with the Messi generation," Arsène Wenger said last week. "Piqué, Messi, Fábregas … are you really surprised they won games 8-0, 9-0, 10-0?"

"It's hard to find so much talent in one group," Piqué says while Fábregas adds: "I remember that Messi arrived later, at 13 or 14. He was very, very small but very special. He was practically mute and then one day he just suddenly started talking. He's still hardly a big mouth, though."

Piqué was, though. Fábregas remembers him wading in, fists flying, to protect Messi and marauding so far out of defence that Borrell would shout: "If you're going on another excursion, don't forget your backpack!" He claims to have scored more than 50 goals. "Of which," Fábregas says, "40 were from my passes and corners." On one occasion, they were due to parade the Copa Catalunya before a first team game, only they had no cup. Piqué nabbed one from the trophy room and no one was any the wiser.

But if Piqué was the emotional leader, Fábregas was the fulcrum. "We played 3-4-3, like the Dream Team," Piqué recalls. Behind the forwards was Messi. In the middle was Fábregas, playing as a pivote, the axis upon which the team hinged. He was fiercely competitive: he admits that when he was a kid he would "cry and cry and cry" if things did not go his way. Above all, though, he was technical, tidy and totally in control.

He was, locals are proud of insisting, part of a Barcelona heritage – a line of continuity that runs through Guardiola, Fábregas's idol, to his next heroes – Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, the men who describe themselves as "sons of the system", role models for CescFábregas. Iniesta recalls the Barça mantra: "Receive, pass, offer, receive, pass, offer." Fábregas says: "If you've played at Barcelona, you develop a taste for good football."

Xavi and Iniesta, however, were also an obstacle. Progression looked impossible. And in the power vacuum before the 2003 presidential elections, having seen Fábregas star at the Under-17 World Cup, Wenger took advantage. "By the time, I realised," says the then incoming vice-president Sandro Rosell, "it was too late."

"I don't regret going at all," Fábregas has said. "No one wants to leave Barcelona now because everyone gets a chance but when I was there you had to wait so long. And when a professional team offers you a deal at 16 …"

Tonight, Fábregas will be reunited with his oldest friends – whether he is fit enough to play or not. Next week, he will return home. He has tried to skirt it, but the question lingers, hanging over Arsenal: having finished his schooling in England, will he, like Piqué from Manchester United, return for good? Among Fábregas's greatest treasures is a signed Guardiola shirt, given to him at La Masía.

Guardiola dedicated it to "Barcelona's future No4". For years, that was Francesc Fábregas Soler's greatest dream; for years, it has been Arsenal's greatest nightmare.

Ush1

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Write on essay on Arsenals stunning 4-3 victory against Barca over the 2 legs

If the course is psychology and the title of the essay is "Dillusions".:)

Johner

Really looking forward to this game tonight. I think Arsenal will win it 3-2.

liamygunner29

That's it for my day now!! Walking around UCD not able to maintain decent convo was pointless.

Just please nicky if you get a chance score, Arshavin you have missed countless sitters recentley but god bless not tonight. Clichy no given away stupid passes and get ready to run your bollix off, Campbell appreciate the stage ur getting to play on and ****ing own it, Sagna, Nasri and Denilson no more inconsitency.

Tommy and Song as you were.

Cesc Play

Almunia for the love of Christ don't **** up please don't **** up.


CMON GUNNERS

Gillington

Thats a cracking read Frisbee.Just makes you think its a matter of when Cesc joins Barca,not If!

Johner

liamygunner29 wrote: »

Tommy and Song as you were.

Song is really turning into a top class player.

L'prof

Johner wrote: »

Song is really turning into a top class player.

He's been immense all season, a massive improvement on last year. It was getting so frustrating that the likes of Flamini and Diarra were slipping through our fingers but, now we have someone who genuinely wants to be there, it's great!

Pepe LeFrits

jasonorr wrote: »

He's been immense all season, a massive improvement on last year. It was getting so frustrating that the likes of Flamini and Diarra were slipping through our fingers but, now we have someone who genuinely wants to be there, it's great!

I really wish we still had one of those two.

Still not excited about the game tonight. That Birmingham game has really put a dampener on proceedings.

L'prof

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

I really wish we still had one of those two.

Still not excited about the game tonight. That Birmingham game has really put a dampener on proceedings.

Only in the sense that we don't have great cover for Song if he's out. Apart from that, good riddance!

peabutler

Am I the only person who watched Stuttgart vs Barca in Stuttgart, Stuttgart had serious first half chances and Barca were sluggish, a better side would have taken advantage. The defence looked worried when run at so Nasri and Arshavin can do damage tonight.

speedboatchase

So what's the official portmanteau for tonight?

Barcenal?
Arselona?
Barsenalona?

L'prof

speedboatchase wrote: »

So what's the official portmanteau for tonight?

Barcenal?
Arselona?
Barsenalona?

Barselona.

Frisbee

jasonorr wrote: »

Only in the sense that we don't have great cover for Song if he's out. Apart from that, good riddance!

For a game like tonight, or next week at the Nou Camp really, I think I would have preferred someone like Flamini in there alongside Cesc and Song as he'll run around like a madman throwing in tackles and give Xavi less time on the ball.

speedboatchase

liamygunner29 wrote: »

Just please nicky if you get a chance score, Arshavin you have missed countless sitters recentley but god bless not tonight. Clichy no given away stupid passes and get ready to run your bollix off, Campbell appreciate the stage ur getting to play on and ****ing own it, Sagna, Nasri and Denilson no more inconsitency.

Tommy and Song as you were.

Cesc Play

Almunia for the love of Christ don't **** up please don't **** up.


CMON GUNNERS

I can actually imagine Wenger saying that word for word in the team talk lol

L'prof

Frisbee wrote: »

For a game like tonight, or next week at the Nou Camp really, I think I would have preferred someone like Flamini in there alongside Cesc and Song as he'll run around like a madman throwing in tackles and give Xavi less time on the ball.

If Diaby's fit, I'm happy enough with the three we have!

redout

peabutler wrote: »

Am I the only person who watched Stuttgart vs Barca in Stuttgart, Stuttgart had serious first half chances and Barca were sluggish, a better side would have taken advantage. The defence looked worried when run at so Nasri and Arshavin can do damage tonight.

Barca have been playing well below par since mid-february.

The ball just hasnt being moving around as fluidly and some players have been unrecognisable bar the Messiah and a couple others.

I reckon Arsenal will have chances tonight but Barca will boss possession.

I think an early Arsenal goal would be great for the tie and really fire them up.

If Fab doesnt get passed fit the magic of the occasion fades away for me.

Arsenal could put them on the ropes if they score early and then pour forward. They are a very dangerous side when like that.

Frisbee

jasonorr wrote: »

If Diaby's fit, I'm happy enough with the three we have!

Diaby will do a good job in there.

But for a huge game like next week in such a hostile atmosphere Flamini would be a great asset still to have.

Pepe LeFrits

jasonorr wrote: »

Only in the sense that we don't have great cover for Song if he's out. Apart from that, good riddance!

Nah, there have been games when we could have done with a Flamini or a Diarra playing ahead of Song as a ball winner. Diaby's been very good this season but he isn't a man for all occasions.

Pepe LeFrits

speedboatchase wrote: »

So what's the official portmanteau for tonight?

Barcenal?
Arselona?
Barsenalona?

arsebarce.

L'prof

Flamini and Diarra didn't want to be here, Song and Diaby do! We do need better cover for these players but, there's absolutely no point in keeping a player who doesn't want to stay and so I don't really see the point in the argument at all!

redout

speedboatchase wrote: »

So what's the official portmanteau for tonight?

Barcenal?
Arselona?
Barsenalona?

Fabessi

peabutler

Bendthimovic,

Shocked one or the other hasn't had a go at eachother yet, Thought Nick would say he was the best Scandinaviean striker or something.

Pepe LeFrits

peabutler wrote: »

Bendthimovic,

Shocked one or the other hasn't had a go at eachother yet, Thought Nick would say he was the best Scandinaviean striker or something.

Ugh, hopefully Nick does something positive this time. I'm still traumatised by his last contribution to a CL QF...

peabutler

Better keeper than Almunia. He has defo improved our set piece defence though!

Ush1

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1716/champions-league/2010/03/31/1857594/breaking-news-cesc-fabregas-to-start-for-arsenal-against

Suprise suprise!:rolleyes::pac:

Warper

Is Campbell starting?

paddyismaddy

i hope Arsene's men can take them out

Pepe LeFrits

Ush1 wrote: »

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1716/champions-league/2010/03/31/1857594/breaking-news-cesc-fabregas-to-start-for-arsenal-against

Suprise suprise!:rolleyes::pac:

I think I'll wait until a slightly more reputable source than Marca runs with it :pac:

Warper wrote: »

Is Campbell starting?

Unclear; Wenger's keeping the cards close to his chest re: Gallas.

Frisbee

http://www.arsenal.com/match-menu/171507/first-team/arsenal-v-barcelona?tab=preview

Slick, stylish, soft and unsuccessful - that is the good and bad side of Arsenal's reputation.

Supposedly, Arsène Wenger's team are easy on the eye but, at the same time, all too easily swept aside when the titles are really at stake.

The manager rallies hard against this widely-discussed view in his press conferences; citing a decade in upper echelons of the Champions League, the building of Emirates Stadium as well, of course, as the construction of a new young side.

But then, somewhere in the proceedings, someone will mention the lack of silverware since 2005.

That is cast-iron fact and, if the bookmakers are to be believed, one that won't change this year. And even if Arsenal do win the title you can bet another detractor will label them ‘big-game bottlers' after home-and-away defeats to the two main rivals.

However Wenger knows that beating the mighty Barcelona would seriously shift the thinking surrounding his side. The Spanish champions are considered the best team in Europe and knocked out both Manchester United and Chelsea on route to Champions League glory last May.

They arrive at Emirates Stadium this evening for a Quarter-Final first leg weighed down with meaning. Thankfully, on the eve of the game, the interest in Cesc Fabregas and Thierry Henry meeting their former sides had began to subside. It allowed Wenger to contemplate what victory would do for his team.

"I believe that this side is on a great run, has a great spirit and a great togetherness," he said. "The ingredients are there to deliver something special, so let's go for it.

"The opinions are there to be changed and what changes opinions is the performances. What is good in sport is that people assess continuously something that looks to be definite but actually is always moving. And what moves the opinions of people is how well we play.

"I believe we have changed the opinions of many people in England since July and what is important now, until the end of the season, is how we will turn up.

"We can make history by kicking Barcelona out. That's an opportunity we have. We know we play against a great team but let's make sure we are not too much in respect of them.

"The danger is the hype over them. That is where we have to be realistic, pragmatic and play our own game. So let's be brave, express our strengths and have a real go."

The day before the game, Fabregas had a 40 per cent chance of playing and Wenger said he'd be prepared to do the final testing in the warm-up if it meant his skipper could play. William Gallas is back in the squad. The centre half was thought to be some weeks away from a return from his calf injury but Tuesday's training session was, in fact, his third in succession. He should partner Thomas Vermaelen, who is back from a ban. Slight niggles to Abou Diaby, Andrey Arshavin and Samir Nasri will not prevent their involvement.

It would be lovely to think that if Arsenal stopped Lionel Messi they would stop Barca. But it frankly isn't the case.

However the little Argentinean is undoubtedly the world's finest footballer right now. He is averaging a goal a game in La Liga this season and hit back-to-back hat-tricks against Valencia and Zaragoza earlier this month. However it is not the number of goals that impresses, it is their consistent beauty.

When Wenger said the following he was not referring to Messi directly - but he could have been.

"I believe that when you do something, whether it be writing, dancing or playing football, if you do it at the best level it becomes art. Because what is art? It is something that is always good to watch."

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the talismanic Henry also see the football pitch as their canvas. Barca have been robbed of midfield schemer Andreas Iniesta because of a thigh problem. But Xavi is back after injury and the less heralded Pedro Rodriguez has been holding down a regular place in such exalted company therefore he must be top-draw.

Yet the artists have their enforcers. Carlos Puyol and Gabriel Milito create a ‘fancy-dan free zone' at centre back while Yaya Toure is an archetypal ballwinner in midfield. Kolo's younger brother might have been fulfilling that role for Arsenal this evening had they extended his stay beyond one pre-season friendly at Barnet almost seven years ago.

Manchester United were well-beaten in last year's Final but the Semi-Final against Chelsea was a close and controversial affair. Guus Hiddink's side played with a shackling shape and, broadly speaking, made it work. Wenger, true to form, seemed reluctant to follow suit.

"Chelsea are a team with a lot of experience who can stick to 90 minutes of discipline because they are all 28, 29 and 30-years-old. It is mentally demanding when you don't touch the ball because it is important that you don't lose your confidence.

"But Barcelona are a team that always keep their style and defend their philosophy till the end so what we have to do is to try and put them on the back foot and play at an English rhythm."

This, of course, was the purist's draw. The 2006 Final was built up in the same way but the 18th-minute sending off of Jens Lehmann stopped it ever living up to that publicity. Only seven of 22 starters from that game are still with their respective clubs - three for Arsenal, four for Barcelona (meanwhile Henry has switched sides). However the philosophies remain the same.

"Everyone is expecting it to be a great game," said Wenger. "But then in that Final everybody was expecting it to be a great game and after 20 minutes it was ten against 11.

"It is difficult to predict but the intentions on both sides are positive, so it is promising that it will be a good game and I think it will be.

"I think we are two teams who try to play so I leave others to judge."

And Wenger intends to alter that judgement in the space of 180 exhilarating minutes.

KittyeeTrix

Really enjoyed the Bayern game last night and looking forward to this one:)

should be a good one!!

A Primal Nut

honeymonster wrote: »

We have to win the first leg, will be rightly fooked it we dont

Don't really get this - neither team change their style of play home and away - for me each team have a good chance of beating the other away from home. There are likely to be plenty of goals so both legs could come down to who takes their chances. Which is where the loss of Van Persie could be too much for Arsenal. Really think we have a chance but it will take some performance from the very beginning!

FearDark

Havnt been this nervous about a game since the last time we played Barca!

Cant sit down, Im bloody pacing up and down here. Im gonna have to go to the gym and try and calm myself down, then im off to the local Arsenal supporters pub at 7, will have a pint before the game to calm me down and then I will enjoy what will be [in my humble opinion] a blistering Arsenal start and for us to win. :):)

redout

Here is some Jizz football to get us in the mood - be advised its very one sided

redout

SSN: Henry on the bench - no lineups but

Sútalún

SSN saying Thierry is on the bench.. Made for him to come off and score the winner!

Jigga

Sútalún wrote: »

SSN saying Thierry is on the bench.. Made for him to come off and score the winner!

Or to set up the winner with a double handball :eek:

Frisbee

Sútalún wrote: »

SSN saying Thierry is on the bench.. Made for him to come off and score the winner!

If he has any decency it will be an audacious chip over Valdes from 50 yards to score an O.G.

L'prof

redout wrote: »

SSN: Henry on the bench - no lineups but

Was that not to be expected or has he been injured recently?

redout

jasonorr wrote: »

Was that not to be expected or has he been injured recently?

redout wrote: »

Barca team

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Valdes

Alves

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Puyol

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Pique

---

Maxwell

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Toure

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Keita

---

Xavi

Messi

---

Pedro

---

Ibra


Thats what I am hoping for

For me it was expected. He is no longer a regular starter in the side. Pedro has done phenomenal - 17 goals so far in his debut season.

L'prof

redout wrote: »

For me it was expected. He is no longer a regular starter in the side. Pedro has done phenomenal - 17 goals so far in his debut season.

Did he not make appearances in the last two seasons?