Definitely, A Game of Emotions!

Yet another season ends. Just like every season, this one holds a special place too. The last one might have been a nail biting thriller of Championship Struggle, leading to a mind blowing end in the final 90 seconds of the year & marking a season of incredulousness in making it a Game of Thrones , but this season is a Game of emotions. Not exactly star spangled awesome, but crunching your heart through your emotions.

Gareth Bale with both PFA Awards for this season

  Where do I even start about the 2012-2013 Premier League Season. Do I start from a sensation called Michu, who put the League under fire with his Goal scoring exploits, even when bought at a meager 2M pound cost or do I start from a young protege called Hazard, who made Sir Alex Ferguson look like a fool for a moment for making a worthless comment about him.  Should I start from yet another shrewd buy of Arsene Wenger, where Cazorla instantly became the backbone of the team or should I talk about the upsurge of Brendan Rodgers & Andres Villas Boas among their managerial careers. Or should I talk about how a crazy moment of insanity of Luis Suarez over shadowed the genius he has displayed consistently over the season,.. probably I should just simply start from Gareth Bale. The world class player who single handedly produced mind boggling miracles on a week-in-week-out basis to show his class & ability to the world.
  From tears to joy, from branded failures to fight backs, from blunders to miracles, this season has shown them all.

Alex Ferguson, during the Guard of Honor in his last Home Game

  After 26 long years, Sir Alex Ferguson has finally decided that his time is up. A single fact showing the dozens of mangers the rival teams had had, shows the enormity of the stunt. Like many noted,
"So long Sir Alex, the premier league grows unfamiliar without you." And along with him, there has been a juggling among the gaffers for many teams. Rafa Benitez, even after achieving the best possible achievement for the Blues is about to be replaced by The Special One while Mancini gets sacked for failing to deliver on the home & European turfs, by a huge margin! David Moyes is being given a hearty send off from the blue half of the Merseyside to fill a giant predecessor's shoes and Nigel Adkins takes up Reading Job after being sacked cruelly at Saints, Ahh, talk about the penalty of promoting a club into Premier League.
   This season has finally been the one where Roberto Martinez's Wigan Athletic finally takes a drop into Championship. What a fight it has been, adorable by a mile, how I wished they were still in the League. While the much trusted Harry Redknapp could not get the Rangers out of the deep shit they were in, Reading silently take the drop. And apart from all these talk about the rises & fight backs. While Daniel Sturridge, the incredibly talented Chelsea failure, emphatically shows why Roman made a costly mistake by not selling Torres instead of him, the instant KOP connect gives the Anfield faithful a huge ray of hope while playing alongside mercurial Suarez & the new found poster boy of Red Revolution, Philippe Coutinho! While Michael Carrick has grown to the stature of being an unsung hero by being the pivot of the United team, Villas Boas shows his acute tactical capabilities by forming a midfield crowded squad around the jewel of his team. While the respected french man Arsene Wenger, delivers yet another Top 4 finish while gunners across the world feels "Now or never" for the manger to deliver the silver ware, the french men stuffed Newcastle takes a huge blow after loosing out their star Demba Ba, bringing Alan Pardew under scanner. Ahh, the tragedy after being given a 8 year contract at the start of the season! While the tyneside combo of Kevin Nolan & Andy Carroll resurfaces at West Ham, providing a catalyst for the British player's fight back, it looks like Van Persie's goal finding abilities are here to stay for a long time, at any team, against any team! And apart from all these, the emergence of players like Lukaku, Benteke, Lambert, Snogdrass & Mirallas ushers some new potential heroes into the League.

Jamie Carragher, on his 737th appearnce for Liverpool F.C

  While all these & many more form the crux of the season, the season take-away lies in the good byes. While legends like Scholes & Carragher are bound to get a heart touching send offs with guard of honours & players like Stilian Petrov gets a 19th minute applause for most of the games at Villa Park, it is not these intricate acts that touch my heart. For a long time, I have known that football is a matter of much more than life & death. And if you feel that fans get attached only to stars, you might be mistaken. Steve Harper is the prime example. In a career spanning 20 years, he has hardly played 150 games for Newcastle as their shot stopper. But when tears rolled out of his eyes in the middle of the game, when the entire St.James' Park erupted in an echoing applause in the 37th minute to show their gratitude for the long-serving servant of their club, in that moment of heartfelt ambivalence, it shows me the naked truth that fans love loyalty & service to the club over everything else. Like the saying goes," The greatest moment in a warrior's life is when he lies exhausted in the field of battle, irrespective of the result." Loyal fans just want their players to give their all to the team. The Inspiration is what brings them on to the field, the perspiration is what makes their name tick forever.
    In this enormous soccer world, the eye-catching Premier League may look like a Game of  thrones from outside. But in reality, it is a game of emotions from inside. Oh yeah, definitely a game of emotions.

Steve Harper in his Final Appearance

Happy Birthday, Don Andrés!

Andrés Iniesta is not only one of the world’s best football players, finishing third in the most recent Ballon d’Or voting, he is also one of the most beloved footballers around the world. In fact, he is the only Barça player who is equally acceptable for a Madrid or Espanyol fan to like. But what makes him so popular?  Why is Iniesta special in this way? 

Well, the story started in 1996 when Andrés Iniesta joined Barca as a twelve-year-old after scouts had spotted him at the Brunette Tournament playing for Albacete.

In 1999, it was his last minute 1-0 winning goal against Rosario Central in the Nike Premier Cup at the Camp Nou that made Barçaʼs U-15 team the best in the world. Josep Guardiola handed the trophy to Iniesta, the teamʼs captain, and told him that in 10 years’ time he would watch him do the same in the first team. Guardiola later stated that he had seen a 15-year-old who could read the game better than he could himself. Afterwards, Iniesta went back to his room and replaced his old Guardiola poster with a new one signed by his idol, “To the best player I’ve ever seen.”

Later, the first team coach at the time, Llorenç Serra Ferrer, decided to reward Iniesta by letting him train with the team. At first, Andrés thought it was a joke but Ferrer later commented,“I wanted to reward him because he was so special. He was modest, loyal, responsible and down to earth. He had tremendous emotional maturity and was very clever. He really listened and remembered all the details.” Guardiola hadn’t forgotten the boy as well and told his teammates to “remember this day, the day you first trained with Andrés Iniesta”. During the training session Guardiola told Xavi,“You will retire me, but this boy will retire us all.”

From the start he progressed rapidly through the club's various youth teams and was promoted to the Barça B team for the 2000-01 season, where he almost immediately became the team's main playmaker under coach Josep Maria Gonzalvo.

Andrés' dream of making the first team finally came true in October 2002 when he was picked to play in the Champions League game against Bruges in Belgium. Van Gaal's Barça won that evening and Andrés made an excellent impression.

Since then, Iniesta became a regular feature in the Barca squad, especially under Rijkaard's reign. He was instrumental in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Liga triumphs, and also the Champions league victory later the same season, more so due to Xavi's long absence during that time due to an injury.

It was the 2008/09 season when Iniesta was even better than ever and following the impressive Euro 2008 performance, started showing the best of his game. Playing in a central or wide role he delighted the whole world with his amazing dribbling skills. He grew into one of the essential components of the Barça engine, and took the team to the Champions League final in Rome thanks to his famous goal in the final seconds of the semi final at Stamford Bridge.

Iniesta’s finest hour in the national jersey was July 11, 2010, when the midfielder’s goal just four minutes from the end of extra time against Holland won Spain the World Cup for the first time ever. But before the World Cup 2010 final, Iniesta was focused on how to make the world remember Dani Jarque, his close friend and Espanyol’s captain, who suddenly passed away because of a heart attack. Later, Iniesta scored the winner which made Spain the world champion . When all the world was watching him, he took off his shirt and showed his message, “Dani Jarque siempre con nosotros.”

His personal individual performances collided with  the dominating period by his Club and country, and as a result Barcelona won three Liga titles in a row and Spain won the World Cup.

At Euro 2012 was named player of the tournament in Poland in Ukraine, where he also collected his second winners medal. Later, Andres Iniesta was awarded the 2012 UEFA Best Player as the jury of 53 journalists around the continent valued Andres' commanding performance at the Euro 2012 championships as more important than the outrageous goal-scoring records by the other two candidates, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

After 11 seasons, 412 appearances, 41 goals and 19 titles won for Barcelona, Andresito is now more commonly known as "Don" Andres Iniesta. His legendary World Cup winning goal back in 2010 and his 2 European championships surely helped him earn recognition but it's his calmness, his impeccable attitude on and off the pitch that has won the hearts of millions around the globe. 


On a personal note though, Andres Iniesta will always be that young boy from Albacete who turned up for training one day, unaware he was going to light the Blaugrana sky with his unique touch of football magic. I feel fortunate enough to be a die hard follower of this legend and hope to remain so for many years to come. 

Andres Iniesta is a gift to football, a legendary symbol of what it means to be Blaugrana and living the dream from a very early age. Seeing him lift the 2012 UEFA Best Player award was an incredibly pleasant surprise - Cristiano Ronaldo's reaction, unfortunately, wasn't. 

Happy 29th birthday El Ilusionista (The Illusionist), El Cerebro (The Brain), El Anti-Galáctico (a pun on Real Madrid players' nickname Los Galácticos), El Caballero Pálido (The Pale Knight) , Don Andrés. May this year be no different and you keep enchanting us with your brilliance!

When Pride is a consolation..

A snowy night away facing arguably one of the biggest clubs in the history of football is never a happy outing for any team. Add to that a 1-3 deficit in the first leg, and you cannot rule out the possibility of a cricket score on aggregate. With the current form Arsenal and Bayern Munich are in, such a prospect loomed large. Arsenal, instead of reveling in the news of Ribery and Schweinsteiger being ruled out for the tie, reciprocated with bad news of their own, as their talisman Jack Wilshere, the Bayern misfit Podolski and Bacary Sagna had to be restricted to their TV sets with injuries. And so the sane bets were on Bayern as the odds were strongly in favour of the ever in-form German giants running away with the match right from the whistle.

This year's Champions League had its share of upsets and comebacks as was evident just the previous night, with Barca beating the shit out of AC Milan to overturn a 0-2 deficit. But come on. That was Barcelona and they had Messi. All Arsenal had was an empty trophy cabinet and a bunch of youngsters trying to make it big. But then, there was one similarity. Both the teams had very recently lost to bitter rivals and had a point to prove. Barcelona certainly had vengeance on their mind, as players were ready to "put their hands on fire" and promise to win. That they did, as they took Milan to the cleaners. It was Arsenal's turn now. The pre-match mood did suggest that the players were in a similar mood, with Vermaelen talking about repaying the manager's faith. They believed they could deliver the Munich Miracle and so did the Gooner family silently.

And so they kicked off, in a vibrant Allianz Arena, with some determination. This instantly paid off as Rosicky slipped it through to Walcott who put in an inch perfect pass for Giroud to tap in, just under 3 minutes. "The goal is just gonna wake up the sleeping beast" a random tweet read. But, to the surprise of everyone, this stunned the Arena into a gloomy silence. The away supporters suddenly found their voice as Arsenal started getting passes together in an attempt to strike again. "Oooh... Saanti Cazooorlaa.." they went. The unsual thing was the attitude of the Bayern eleven on the pitch, almost displaying a certain arrogance from the first leg lead. Unperturbed by the early setback, they continued to attack with Lahm and Abate streaming forward at every opportunity they got. This, and poor passing by Arsenal and especially Rosicky (with the lack of game time, the poor co-ordination was clearly evident) meant Bayern had a lot of shots at goal. But, Bayern clearly left their shooting boots in their dressing rooms as everybody from Kroos to Robben aimed to lift the top off the stadium (Arrogance, may be?). In the meanwhile, Arsenal looked threatening on the counter and were waiting for the right moment to strike. As the half ended, Bayern looked more comfortable on the ball and in the tie.

Carl Jenkinson: The rising star proves his worth again in the back four.

As the subdued tempo of the game continued into the second half, Arsenal started to get into the stride as anxiety started to creep into the Germans. "Oooh... Saanti Cazooorlaa.." the away contingency roared on as the home support seemed settled into a sleepy mood. The Gunners clearly missed  Wilshere's drive and passion in the midfield as Rosicky had a day to forget and Arteta, who seemed be pissed off about something, continuously committed needless fouls. Into the 75th minute, game still dull, Wenger played his cards and brought on the Ox and Le Forehead to inject pace. That they did, as the persistance finally paid off and Kocielny headed in to give a glimmer of hope. But the Germans held on, rather disgracefully, to deny a quarters spot for Arsenal, twice in two years now, on away goals.

One of the biggest wins but barely a reason to celebrate

On the night, Arsenal delivered a perfect performance to beat Bayern 0-2. Beating Bayern, who have not lost since last October is no mean feat. Bayern never looked like a team sitting on a 20 point cusion in the domestic league, as their domination in midfield never really led to convertible chances. This was mostly due to solid defending by Arsenal, as the back four, same as the one which produced the best defensive performance of the season against Man City, held on to a well-deserved clean sheet. Compared to the secong leg of last year against AC Milan, this was a rather held-back performance but no less exceptional. Again, the team went down heroically as a proud performance was followed by heartbreak for the second time running. The Arsenal faithful were left applauding the second leg but feeling frustrated about another trophyless season. Last year's performance triggered a run of continuous victories. One only hopes that this performance can turn around Arsenal's season, in a bid for the "coveted" fouth spot in the league. You cannot help but wonder why Arsenal failed to deliver a performance with similar passion in the first leg, with the backing of the home crowd. If only they had stopped the third goal..

Have Patience : Barcelona Can Still Succeed!

A humbling 2-0 defeat at the hands of A.C.Milan at San Siro, and now this painful 3-1 defeat at home at the hands of arch rivals Real Madrid. Barcelona fans are certainly not accustomed to such humiliating losses, owing to their dominating and enthralling performances in the last few years, and these losses are disheartening to a majority of them. What can possibly go wrong in such short time for a team who was winning everything that came into their way!

The best start to the season in the entire history of the club has turned into a nightmare after these recent losses. The La Liga crown is definitely in safe reach, but that wouldn’t help in escaping the questions that would arise about the lack of ideas and poor strategy, which are evident from the last few performances by the team. The blame lies equally on the shoulders of Jordi Roura, who takes the responsibility of the position of coach in the absence of Tito Vilanova due to illness, and the squad, which has failed to perform to the level of competition, leave aside performing on the level they are expected to perform consistently.

Fabregas, who was the standout midfielder in the first half of the campaign, so far seems to be lost between midfield and attack, and has been a victim of sluggish passing, poor first touches and finish in the second half of the season. Messi, as skillful and impactful he is in majority of the matches, has shown an increased tendency to drop down too far deep into midfield in major clashes, to the extent that his mesmerizing runs and brilliant one-two’s fail to create too many goal-scoring chances due to the amount of ground he is left to cover and the number of defenders he is left to surpass. The unwillingness to use a specialized winger in the left wing has urged the teams to further crowd the center of the pitch leaving the wide areas harmlessly unprotected. Alexis Sanchez’s ineffective performances on the several trial occasions aren’t helping either. In spite of some decent scoring performances, Villa is still being neglected in being handed a starting berth in main clashes, leaving the dangerous positions in the penalty area unoccupied most of the times during attack. Xavi, in spite of being majestic in possession as ever, has surprisingly been found guilty of losing the ball at crucial moments of the build-up play. Alves’ form has visibly declined. His crosses are bad, his defense is embarrassing.

This period of adversities calls for a question. Is this a failure that finally marks the beginning of the end for the dominant reign over the world of football for the past 4 years or so? Or is it just a phase that was necessary for the team to rethink, realize, re-strategize and come back stronger than ever. I certainly think of it the second way. These kinds of losses are sometimes important to realize the faults in the system and the changes that need to be made to help the system adapt and face the upcoming challenges.

Losing hope is certainly not the correct option right now. It’s just not the Barca way. There are upcoming clashes against Madrid and Milan in the Liga and Champions League respectively, and these clashes can still be season-defining. Remember the last year’s UCL Round of 16 return leg, where Arsenal came that close with a 3-0 score at half-time in response to the thrashing 4-0 defeat in the first leg against the much stronger Milan? The team should take that as an example and draw inspiration from the fact that they are capable of much more than that. Jordi Roura needs to be a little more fearless in rotating players. Why not try Montoya or Adriano in Alves’ place, and Villa/Tello in the left wing position with Iniesta switching back to his normal midfield role? Tweaking the formation to three at the back for some period of time against Milan might also be an option on the cards, keeping in mind the number of goals required to stay alive in the tie. Jorda needs to prove his worth as a good care-taking coach and the team needs to show their mettle in this period of adverse results, and step-up their performances and match the expectations .

The best  way to minimize the pain of loss is to stand back up and start winning again, and what better way than to avenge the losses against the very same teams. A couple of good results, and the “disaster” could suddenly turn back into success. All it needs is patience, and the never-ending support  from the Cules community. Keep calm and Visca el Barca!

Changing Dynamics : In the Aftermath of the Clasico

The Clasico is long gone, having lived up to the expected frenzy in terms of football and thankfully not in terms of histrionics. Normal affairs resumed from then on, with both giants winning their league fixtures albeit in different ways – Real in calm fashion and Barcelona in a nerve-wrecking one. Then to Champions League, where both teams were tested, with only Barca coming out unscathed thanks to their new found spirit that is beginning to define their season, something which was missing from the last one. Real lost to Dortmund, but it is a loss that is expected to have no real implications in their campaign and lets face it – Dortmund is a very very good team, so nothing to panic about.

But looking at the bigger picture, things are changing at the two clubs. Things that may have a decisive effect not only the upcoming weeks, but also in the forthcoming seasons for the rival clubs. We take a look at a few of these here.

A Different Barcelona Approach Under A Different Coach:

Many claim that Guardiola’s reign, although a short one was certainly the most successful one ever in the history of the club. And it was not only in terms of the number of trophies that he won during his tenure, but also the change he brought about in their playing style, which has now became their trademark. What he did to Barcelona did not just take them to the top of the footballing ladder, but has revolutionized the club with his unique philosophy, inspired by Johann Cryuff. Pep’s style of play was not just a football style; it was like a lifestyle to him which he wanted the players to practice on and off the pitch. Pep was not just a coach, he was a philosopher. He tried a lot of stuff with his formations and player positions, without fearing for the outcome, always looking for new solutions.

"Vilanova's main test will arrive with a couple of bad results. Will his proposals be accepted by everybody?"

-Guillem Balague  

Tito Vilanova on the other hand has more or less a direct coaching philosophy, may not have big ideas, but what he has is a clear motive- win games. Tito knows that he has limited options at the back, a constant issue now from regularly occurring injuries, and with continuous pressure from the rivals Real Madrid who keep on getting better and stronger with each passing year, he knows that in order to win games, he has to transform Barcelona and tweak its “beautiful game” a little. Now we see them playing a lot more long passes, and the defending line is a lot deeper as compared to what we would have seen over the last few years. Now that many teams are trying to copy the old Barcelona style of play, this Barcelona is moving on to their own new version. This Barcelona, I won’t say is better or worse, but certainly effective when you look at the season stats till now.

Changing Roles For Ronaldo And Messi:

What we have come to know over years, as a general opinion, is that Ronaldo is more of a direct player who likes to go for the goal rather than passing it to his team mates, while Messi is considered to be a better passer of the ball, who totally resembles the Barcelona style of play.

But we certainly have seen a change in their styles over the course of the last year. Call it competition to score more goals, or a desire to lead their respective teams to realms of footballing glory; they have changed their games for the benefit of their teams.

The new Ronaldo now combines more with other players, with the likes of Benzema, Ozil and Marcelo, gives more assists to the strikers, and tracks back more than he would have done till last year.

"Messi is perfect for the Barcelona system, controlling the ball, while Ronaldo is perfect for the Real Madrid system, which is more on the counter attack."  

- Albert Ferrer

Messi, on the other hand, is becoming more and more indispensable for Barcelona. In the current setup with Messi playing as a false 9, everything goes through the little genius. With him dropping deeper and deeper into midfield, especially in the big games, every forward play, every build-up move is initiated and most likely finished by this man.  This change, how-much-ever ideal or not, is benefitting Barcelona at present, but may very well hurt them too at a certain moment of time in the future should Barca somehow lose him to an injury!

Divide In Real Madrid Dressing Room:

The rumours were flying high before the clasico, and they certainly got higher after it. There is a specific section of players in the Real Madrid dressing room, who are finding it difficult to share the spotlight with Mourinho, that certain section being Ozil, Ramos and Casillas. Others like Higuain and Ronaldo have also expressed their concerns in the past. The Madrid dressing room is definitely broken, if you are to believe the news in the Spanish media.

Sergio Ramos sporting an Ozil 10
shirt under his own shirt

With Ozil being dropped from the line-up time and time again over the start of the season, he had expressed his dissatisfaction in the media. But him being more of a silent and shy player, it couldn’t have hurt the dressing room atmosphere, and more importantly Mourinho's ego, enough. What certainly did hurt Mourinho were the continuous back-fires from Ramos, be it with the dissatisfaction that he expressed at his comments, or wearing the Ozil shirt below his own as a mark of support for his team mate. The issue went as far as Ramos being a hot transfer target in the upcoming winter transfer window. The other member of the squad, who generally prefers to keep out of controversy, but has invariably been in the news under Mourinho, is Casillas. There have been issues regarding his close friendship with rival club’s Xavi and Iniesta, his recent mistake against Ajax and he was once again blamed for not stretching enough for the Messi free-kick goal.

The Ballon d'Or award doesn't do any good to the team atmosphere either. Ronaldo and Casillas are two of Madrid's main contenders for the prestigious award. While Ronaldo has scored a pile of goals last season for his team in all competitions, a lot of Spaniards are of the opinion that Iker Casillas deserves the award for the years of service to the Spanish outfit and the national team with such consistency. Mourinho has decided to choose otherwise. He might have avoided facing the Spanish press in recent weeks, but he has talked openly to the foreign media about Cristiano being the best contender for this year's Ballon d'Or. This has not gone well with the Spanish section of the Madrid team, who think that the Portuguese section is benefiting under the coach.

But Mourinho is not new to going against big personalities in the dressing room. He has a distinct method of managing these kinds of issues, and here also; he has not bowed down and benched these certain players to punish them. And, as a result, these players have come stronger in the next few matches to prove their worth in the team thereby benefited the team, whether dissatisfied or not. We can only speculate and wait to see how things unfold in the upcoming months.

The Curios Case of Cesc Fabregas : 

Last year Fabregas made a return to his boyhood club Barcelona. He seemed to have instantly gelled into the team, providing a flurry of goals and assists for his team. But the goals soon dried up. And Cesc started becoming somewhat of a misfit to the 4-3-3 formation of Barcelona.

The reason being Fabregas' habit of going forward in attack from his Arsenal days. There is no denying that he has got a perfect eye for goal and ultimate instincts for a defence-splitting pass, but Guardiola wanted more discipline from him. He was not supposed to roam about in all positions, but stay in the midfield and support the backline in the event of counter-attacks too. That, Fabregas couldn't adapt to. The consequence, him being benched for the majority of the second half of last season.

But since Tito has taken over, we have seen two different approaches from the coach, one with Xavi who as we all know thrives on more possession and has majestic control of the game, and one with Fabregas who has a more direct approach and more attacking intent. Both of them seemed to have worked till now, with Barcelona winning all of their games with an exception of the Clasico. But the problem - these two systems don't seem to work simultaneously.

Vilanova has used these systems with great effect and watched them from distance, giving freedom to Fabregas that suits him, and using Xavi when he needed more control over the game. What he intends to do - try and bring what Fabregas brings to the team with Xavi still in the team. How he does that, remains to be seen.

  

The Ozil - Kaka Incompatibility :

Ozil didn't take much time to establish himself as the creative playmaker position in the Madrid team once he was bought. He won a lot of praise from all over the world. But all of this growth can be attributed to one major reason- Kaka's long term absence due to injury till last season.

Kaka or Ozil : A choice to be made

Kaka has had his chances limited at the star-studded Madrid side. But hardly anyone in the world would question his pedigree as one of the best attacking midfielders to have ever graced the game. And he has shown the glimpses of his amazing goal-scoring instincts in the limited chances that he got for the Madrid side as well as the Brazil national side. Now that he is in good shape and in awesome form, Mourinho has another choice to make - Ozil or Kaka?

He tried to play both of them in attacking midfield in the last league game. But the idea seemed to result in a failure. The reason- both of them seemed to be fighting for each other's space on the pitch. They both have almost identical styles of play, and can't be played simultaneously with great effect.

So, it would be interesting to see what Mourinho does in the upcoming few fixtures, go with the regular option of Ozil, or use the bolstering form of Kaka and secure him from leaving in the next transfer window.

The Defence Woes :

The defensive problems are not new for the Blaugrana side, with Carles Puyol being injured for the most of the season last year, and Abidal fighting and recuperating from a tumor surgery. The injury woes have hit them harder this season, with every single one of their main backline last year - Alves, Pique, Puyol and Abidal, simultaneously out of play. The situation doesn't get any better with Mascherano and Busquets serving suspensions due to the red cards received by them in recent games. The makeshift defender in the form of Alex Song is far from even decent in the position, while Adriano also seems totally unfit when featured at the center of the defence. Bartra, who is a natural center back from the La Masia youth academy, has found his chances limited and was finally handed a season debut against Celtic where he performed admirably.

The interesting point being when Barcelona will realise that it’s high time they buy a proper center-back and give more chances to Bartra to adapt and realise his potential for the first team.

Then there is this Real Madrid side, which seemed to have a lot of options for every single position on the pitch. But you never know what can happen in football, do you? One international break, and they have a plethora of players injured - Marcelo, Arbeloa, Coentrao and Khedira to mention a few. This called for Essien to fill in for the vacant left back postion in the last league game and against Dortmund. Real Madrid seemed to have won comfortably in the former, but the effect was felt against Dortmund with Casillas himself admitting that their left side was the more vulnerable one.

So, the arrangements at the back for the two teams might very well be a big deciding factor in the race for the major titles this year.

La Liga or Champions League?

The Bernabeu outfit find themselves at an unfamiliar fourth spot in the league after eight rounds of match-ups, eight points adrift from the league leaders Barcelona and a resurgent Atletico Madrid side. But despite their Catalan enemies stealing the show domestically, Real Madrid have been impressive in the European fixtures, and are placed second in Group D, which was touted to be the Group of Death. With 6 points in hand, and two out of the next three group stage matches at home, their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage of the competition look fairly promising.

Now, the degree of pressure on the side is high, especially on Mourinho, since they are trailing behind Barcelona in the league. But the people in the club's board think a little otherwise.

"We're not in any way trying to say the league doesn't matter, but they're looking very hard at the importance of the Champions League."

- Graham Hunter

Real Madrid recently announced that they are in about 520m Euros of global debt. That, surely is a huge sum, about 220m more than Barcelona or Valencia. What Real Madrid need to do to cut into the debt is perform well in the Champions League like their march till the semi-finals in the last two tournaments, through which they earned nearly 100m Euros. So, as long as Madrid is maintaining their European form, the pressure on Mourinho would be considerably less than what it should be for being 8 points behind Barcelona.