Valencia v Barcelona! Copa Del Rey Semi Final

Davaeo09

[IMG][/img] Uploaded with ImageShack.us




Tonight see's Barcelona and Valencia battling out for a place in the Copa Del Rey Final. Valencia seem to be one of Barca's voodoo teams, and with players like Soldado and Pablo H. they can trouble any body on their night!

The game will be hosted in the "Estadio Mestalla" kick off at 8 o'clock, and I fully expect the locals to make it a very very tough night for Pep Guardiolas men.

The last time these teams met the game finished 2-2 and Valencia gave a very good account of them selves. They should have also earned a draw against Real if it were not for some very fortunate referring in Madrid's favour!

It's incredible how they manage to stay amongst the top 4 in Spain year after year, while all the time off-loading their biggest stars to balance the books. In recent years they have sold some of the hottest talent in Europe to rivals, but at the same time manage to promote, develop some new talent! Just think of Villa to Barca, Silva to City and Mata to Chelsea.

Barca will have to do without Pedro, Iniesta and the long term injured Affelay, Villa and Fontas.
Both teams are on a similar run of form with 2 wins and 2 draws from their last 4 games.

IvySlayer

I see Valencia pushing to take something back to Camp Nou, high scoring draw!!

dfx-

I'd be surprised if Barcelona won this game.

ddogsbollix

messi to get a few

Nuri Sahin

Vamos Los Che!

Glico Man

El LoCo Ade wrote: »

Vamos Los Che!

Booooo!!

Here's the Barça team: Pinto, Puyol, Pique, Mascherano, Abidal, Busquets, Fabregas, Thiago, Sanchez, Messi, Cuenca

Fight_Night

A que hora?

Paul Tergat

Fight_Night wrote: »

A que hora?

8

Glico Man

Fight_Night wrote: »

A que hora?

8 o' clock

Nuri Sahin

aaronh007 wrote: »

Booooo!!

Here's the Barça team: Pinto, Puyol, Pique, Mascherano, Abidal, Busquets, Fabregas, Thiago, Sanchez, Messi, Cuenca

Ah go boo yourself Barca boy

Valencia XI vs Barcelona: Alves; Miguel, Rami, V. Ruíz, Mathieu; Albelda, Éver; Piatti, Jonas, J.Alba; Soldado.

Glico Man

Strong sides being put out. A great chance to see how Cesc gets on in the Xavi role.

Also a list of streams here if anyone needs one

http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=143970&part=sports

Fight_Night

Looking forward to this match, should be a cracker.

Turtwig

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh Pintooooooooooo

RandolphEsq

Typical Barcelona not having a big decision go against them. Absolute horsesh1t. Come on Soldado, bag a hat-trick!

Turtwig

Alexis what was that ....:eek:

Mars Bar

Ouch, Fabregas.

Turtwig

Mars Bar wrote: »

Ouch, Fabregas.

Stole my words.:p

Mars Bar

Jernal wrote: »

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh Pintooooooooooo

Just saw the replay. Lucky to get away with that!

kmart6

Can't believe Farbegas took a blood packet out of his sock and sprayed it on his face...these Barca players are getting worse each week! :rolleyes:

RandolphEsq

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Jonas again, what a hero!

kmart6

Great goal!

Glico Man

Balls... deserved tbh

kryogen

hmm....sarcasm maybe?

but how is Pinto not having a nice warm bath right now?

Fight_Night

gogogogooll

Turtwig

That was ketchup...:pac:

Lovely goal by Valencia.(who?:o)

Vyse

Well deserved lead by Valencia.

Turtwig

That's two real good opportunities missed by Alexis.

Fight_Night

feck, bad defending for that corner.

kmart6

Puyol=Prolific!

RandolphEsq

How did he not score? Keeper anticipated very well.

Ah sh1te Puyol from the corner, horrible marking and keeping there. Regroup Valencia!

Turtwig

Terrible defending and terrible keeping tbh, takes nothing away from Puyol's finish though.

1mcampo1

Mathieu is causing Barca real problem's down that left-hand side

Turtwig

Omg Messi what was that? Woah. That was silly. (Can I say that???)

Turtwig

Very enjoyable half. I'd like Pinto's lottery numbers for Saturday.

dfx-

Great game so far, similar to the league game. Always a good game home or away this.

Not great defending by either side for the goal, but great build up from Valencia and great move leading up to the corner for the equaliser. Barcelona seem to be consciously putting more pressure upfront again which had been missing.

Attacking play from Valencia almost identical to the league game, pushing down the left and staying well away from Abidal's side.

kmart6

Stupid 'tackle'!

Turtwig

Stonewall penalty, silly. silly.

1mcampo1

RandolphEsq

Messi just can't perform away from home this season!

kmart6

Good save, but poor strike, perfect height for the keeper! Coulda given a second one for the tackle on Puyol!

Turtwig

Not a great penalty. As with all penalties could easily have been a follow up one, Puyo looked to be taken down. Have they ever been given though?

Nuri Sahin

Puyol! :eek:

Mars Bar

post to the rescue!

Turtwig

Ooooh that was close....

CongoPowers

Good result for Barça, could have made it easier for return leg but will go through anyway.

Davaeo09

Great game last night, really good football played from both sides. But Barca should be shot for not scoring a second goal. Messi's penalty miss, and Sanchez not scoring those 2 good chances might come back to bite us in the ass.

I know in theory we should win at home against Valencia, but I am so used to Barca getting a result home or away that one must wonder where the goals are going to come from. Messi of course is our obvious answer, but he's not exactly finding himself in much space in and around the box, he's having to drop deeper, or play as a second striker to Sanchez. Which worked against Madrid, but I really hope we see Xavi back this weekend, and Iniesta asap. There is no one better than the two of these at finding space in the final third and we really missed them both last night.

Also it has to be said, bringing off sanchez while cuenca was still on the field seemed a bit strange last night. I know Cuenca held his width and provided a few good runs, but I thought Sanchez was bound to score sooner or later.

Oh and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18nK9vMiQj0

Class from El Capitan! :pac:

CongoPowers

You're right about Barça not scoring another, it was one of those games when it felt inevitable but just didn't come off for whatever reason. València were lucky to get the draw and are still well in the tie, but Barça will finish them in Camp Nou, Guardiola's right saying it's nice being in a position where the team will want to go out and win.

I can't believe how bad they are defending corners. They were bullied by Madrid physically so that's obviously a real problem for them.

Also agree about Messi, him playing deep works a million times better with Iniesta tbh, the space he can create alone always gives Messi a bit more room to work with. Last night just had him running into trouble. Probably should have played further forward with Sánchez out wide.

lmao at Puyol, what a man!

dfx-

Thought it was a very entertaining game and about fair a result. Again the introduction of Alves very abruptly stopped Valencia as an attacking force by pushing Mathieu back. Could it be said that Messi is...out of form? Good to see Fabregas with a defined role not get in the way...it does look like it's him or Xavi, but the not the two.

1-1 is a good result, Valencia should need to score twice...

elefant