The_Rev Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Bit of a landmark, so its probably worth its own thread. Barcelona are taking the Spanish league by storm this season and set a bit of a milestone tonight. Unlike the Premier League, the Spanish League's fixtures mirror each other, so you play the same teams in the same order in each half of the season, so you dont get any of the weirdness where you might play some teams twice before meeting some other team for the first time (example being that we played Arsenal home and away before we met Hull this season). I guess this makes each half of the season a bit more significant, and Spanish teams played their 19th fixture this weekend. So, Barcelona. They got beat on the opening day of the season, they havent lost since. They have scored 59 goals in 19 games this season, the have scored six goals in a game three times, they have scored five goals in a game three times. They also have the best defence in La Liga, conceding just 13 goals. They are on 50 points after just 19 games, and they are currently 12 points clear at the top of the table. Obviously as the second half of the season is a perfect mirror of the first, 100 league goals this year is very realistic, 100 points isnt out of the question. Easy to see why they are favourites for the Champions League. But 50 points and 59 goals in just 19 games is something else. Especially as they lost their first game 1-0 and didnt win until their third. Oh, and they closed the first half of the season (ie tonights game) with a 5-0 win over Deportivo who are chasing a Champions League place. Stats! *edit* Decided to change the title of the thread for a new season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Watched their 5-0 thrashing of Deportivo in the pub tonight. They are stunningly good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Bloody stats. :winkold: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 The put six past Athletico Madrid and four past Valencia too. So they are thrashing some very good teams. They didnt really splash out massively in the transfer this season too, did they? Unusual considering they changed managers. They signed Hleb, but he has hardly played for them, and they probably covered his transfer fee by selling Deco and Ronaldinho. Alves is probably the only real addition to the first team this year (unless im forgetting somebody) Thierry Henry has started scoring regularly again, and Messi and Eto'o (who they tried to sell!) are scoring goals like they are going out of fashion. Seems Pep Guardiola knew how to get the best out of Frank Rijkaard's squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianrobo1 Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 yep and because he is catala he has brought passion to the club and players Messi with passion is awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delaney Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Messi with passion is awesome If Kaka is worth £100mil, it's frightening to think what Leo is worth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 18, 2009 Moderator Share Posted January 18, 2009 They certainly seem to have clicked the perfect formula for their first 11. Getting the front 3 to work as well as they have. Getting Eto'o to stop sulking because Henry is around and getting Henry playing the way he did for Arsenal coupled with Messi's obvious brilliance is a testament to the manager's ability to remove ego's from the equation. That wasn't an easy thing to do. He has the whole team with superstar abillity playing with little league hunger and desire. If you can get superstars to sweat blood for each other then you've a tremendous weapon at your disposal. What makes Messi extra special is his sportsmanship and attitude. He does everything he can to stay on his feet after a tackle, often at the expense of gaining free-kicks and penalties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Dogg Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 The put six past Athletico Madrid and four past Valencia too. So they are thrashing some very good teams. They didnt really splash out massively in the transfer this season too, did they? Unusual considering they changed managers. They signed Hleb, but he has hardly played for them, and they probably covered his transfer fee by selling Deco and Ronaldinho. Alves is probably the only real addition to the first team this year (unless im forgetting somebody) Thierry Henry has started scoring regularly again, and Messi and Eto'o (who they tried to sell!) are scoring goals like they are going out of fashion. Seems Pep Guardiola knew how to get the best out of Frank Rijkaard's squad. They signed Keita and Caceres as well for big money. Caceres never plays. Not sure what is going on there. But it seems to all stem from Guardiola being some kind of genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villanmike Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Be interesting to see them in the Premiership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Another thumping 4-1 win , this time against the only side who have beaten them this season. Messi (2), Henry and Eto'o at it again. Averaging well over three goals a game now. 8 league wins in a row, and 17 wins in their last 18 games (the other one was a draw) Has there ever been a team in such form before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heystally! Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 The put six past Athletico Madrid and four past Valencia too. So they are thrashing some very good teams. They didnt really splash out massively in the transfer this season too, did they? Unusual considering they changed managers. They signed Hleb, but he has hardly played for them, and they probably covered his transfer fee by selling Deco and Ronaldinho. Alves is probably the only real addition to the first team this year (unless im forgetting somebody) Thierry Henry has started scoring regularly again, and Messi and Eto'o (who they tried to sell!) are scoring goals like they are going out of fashion. Seems Pep Guardiola knew how to get the best out of Frank Rijkaard's squad. They signed Keita and Caceres as well for big money. Caceres never plays. Not sure what is going on there. But it seems to all stem from Guardiola being some kind of genius. Caceres is only 21, so it seems he has a big future ahead of him. And it's probably difficult to get past Puyol, Milito, Marquez (and Pique if he's been any good since leaving United?) I can't see any other team winning the Champions League this season. But they always seem to fall short on their perfomances in Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gr10 Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Be interesting to see them in the Premiership. If you finished above em you'd be champion's in my view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GasGasGas Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Another thumping 4-1 win 45,000 attendance at their 80,000 or so seater stadium??? That's like almost 50% empty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted January 26, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26, 2009 Another thumping 4-1 win 45,000 attendance at their 80,000 or so seater stadium??? That's like almost 50% empty! There was a bit of a storm before the game Sports can never be more than a diversion from man's struggle with nature, but late Saturday, after the storm that killed four boys in the city, Barcelona reinforced its reputation as the outstanding soccer team in Europe, and possibly the world. It seems incongruous to ask players, and the crowd, to relish such a game so soon after the wind that tore down a roof of a nearby sports center, taking the lives of hockey players who were as young as 9 years old, and seriously injuring at least three others, had subsided. That wind was still gusting enough to strew the pitch with litter and to billow at the players' shirts - and it kept the crowd inside the Camp Nou down to 47,330, less than half the stadium's capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wedge Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Barca are awesome, **** the royalist madrid... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Another thumping 4-1 win 45,000 attendance at their 80,000 or so seater stadium??? That's like almost 50% empty! 96'000 seats And yeah, as Lev said, there was a freak storm this weekend in the region which cant have made travelling all that easy. Their average gate in the league this season is 65,862. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 Bump again, another league win. Nine wins in a row, and eighteen wins in their last nineteen league games. Messi scored twice tonight, he is on 14 goals from just 16 starts in La Liga. 56 points from a possible 63, 12 points clear of Madrid and a whopping 22 points clear of the first side outside of the champions league places after just 21 games. The 100 point season is still very much on. The 100 goal season is extremely likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fran_villa Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 didn't they also go down to 9 men today?.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Yeah, but its one of those bullshit ones where both players were sent off right at the end. I think they played for less than a minute with 9 men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwpzxjor1 Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Interesting how 2 players from the same team can be sent off so close to each other? FIghting each other or just seperate incidents? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts