Tired from the bus ride from Barca to Italy ?

I hope they win after two weeks at Camp Nou...I didnt expect it to end at 3-1 for Inter at all.

 

Inter coach Jose Mourinho has dispensed a message of caution despite beating European Champions Barcelona 3-1 in the semi-final first-leg, hitting out at the Blaugrana players for moaning about Portuguese referee Olegario Benquerenca.

Mourinho is well aware his side face a real hard slog at the Camp Nou, despite an advantage that seems comfortable.

"We are not so near to the final as Barcelona at home is mes que un club. It will be very difficult," he told Rai Sport.

Mourinho though feels his team could have done more to avoid conceding and he has hit out at the way several Barcelona players moaned about the referee inside the tunnel.

"I am not so happy because of their goal, we made an error. But I want to say
something about the Barcelona players, as they should be champions when
they lose," he added.

"They should say that Inter was stronger and that's it, instead in the tunnel they attacked the referee, but have they already forgotten [Tom Henning] Ovrebo last year? They don't have a good memory."

Mario Balotelli made a rude gesture to the fans after they jeered him. And, once again, he has fallen on the wrong side of his coach.

"Balotelli? I have been here since July 2009 and I had many criticisms levelled at me when I was trying to teach him how he should play and grow, and in the most important match of the year, he has done a very bad thing," he concluded.

Goal.com

 

Barcelona’s Shambolic Defending Leaves Their Champions League Crown Hanging In the Balance..

Pep Guardiola and Barcelona really are up against the ropes. For the first time since the young Santpedor-born trainer took charge of the Camp Nou bench, the Blaugrana will have to scale the biggest obstacle they have ever encountered.

The Catalan giants have been so supreme over the past season and a half that they have waltzed to every title that they have won almost without having to overcome any difficult hurdles.

The 3-1 defeat to Inter is Guardiola heaviest defeat as a coach of a first team, leaving him and his players in unfamiliar territory. And when the team make the hopefully not-so-long trip back to Catalunya, they will be asking themselves how on earth they surrendered an early lead.

For a team who rarely ever throw away an advantage, this is the second round in a row in Europe’s blue ribbon club competition that they have allowed the opposition to peg them back after a similar but less severe scenario at Arsenal in the first leg of the quarter-finals.

Questions will indeed have to be raised about Barca’s defence and Guardiola’s strategy. Despite Pedro’s early strike, the Blaugrana continued to push forward recklessly without giving much attention to their backline. Leaving their backline exposed against a tactically superior side like Jose Mourinho’s Inter was suicidal to say the least.



The Barca players didn’t heed the warning that their defensive levee will break despite the Nerazzurri giving them a few scares early in the game. Diego Milito came close on several occasions before he eventually scored, Samuel Eto’o threatened to burst free every now and then, while Goran Pandev and Wesley Sneijder also posed a few questions with their through balls.

Milito’s goal may have a hint of offside, but Sneijder’s equaliser and Maicon’s go-ahead strike for the Italians had amateur, careless defending written all over it. The Dutchman was left completely unmarked at the back-post to steer home Milito’s squared ball after the Argentine had drawn out three defenders.

And Maicon did to Barca what Barca did to the Gunners at the Emirates by striking early in the second half when the Blaugrana defence was still half asleep, allowing the Brazilian right-back to ghost into the box to meet Milito’s centre.

Inter’s third goal, from Milito, which may just be enough to take them through to the final, again saw a completely unattended Sneijder connecting with Eto’o’s cross and even though his header was well off-target, Milito lunged forward unchallenged to nod home. And on all three goals, Barca - Victor Valdes in particular - were looking for a decision from the officials to go their way.

Barcelona have to learn that they are not as invincible as they were last season, when their defenders barely had anything to do simply because the opposition never could get hold of the ball, and even when they did, they never knew what to do with it.

Inter were extremely quick every time they won possession, immediately spraying the ball forward to their attackers and even though they were caught offside most of the time, they only needed a handful of occasions when they weren’t to punish the Catalan giants.

This is not the first time that the Blaugrana defence have been cruelly exposed ways that were rarely seen the previous campaign, yet it is an issue that Guardiola has neglected to address.

Barcelona now have to show their true worth as champions, not just the champions of Europe but the champions of the world. A biblical comeback certainly isn’t impossible, but Guardiola must first work on the team’s defensive details, as Inter are likely to set themselves up the same way in the return leg.

Pep presumably already has a strategy in place for the second leg: soak the Camp Nou pitch and make the surface slick and quicker – something he admitted in his post-match interview that Inter refused to do – to give his attacking players the advantage. Will that be enough?

If that’s the only strategy he has, then Messi and co. will have to play the game of their lives.

Goal.com

 

seriously.. isn't Dani Alves the one to blame in defence?

Milito already had two defenders blocking him, then why did Alves decide to join them and leave Sneijder all alone to score the equalizer..

 

HAhahahahaaaa now the Real guys come out of the woodwork...

 

^^^^

we were always there even with that defeat.. so please..

where r ur barca fans after their defeat?? huh??

 

Sugar, we are still here.. not sure how aware you are with champions league..to advance you have to play two games.. home and away... we played away and we lost, we still can make it up @ home

 

Unlike Madrid Barca don't give up after one leg and I'm glad it ended 3-1 that means it will actually be a competition in the Camp Nou rather than it being Barcelona taking another European scalp. Millito's goal was offside Inter played well to isolate Messi and keep Xavi uncomfortable, But the score line does not reflect the game it was poor defending on Barca's part and Inter overachieving to be frank. Oh and Aziz it must of been great seeing Schnider playing so well, be sure to catch Robben's performances tonight

 

HAHAHAHAAAaaaaaa
Right here baby
911S asked 1017
Bo replied 1024
LNO replied 1031
And here is mine… why is it that Real fans want to see Barca fail when they are out already?
Is it just jealousy? Do you just not want Barca to win and be the first Spanish team to defend the CL? What is the deal??
I know I would love for any team to get a record, to be the 1st, to win it all (except ManU of course)

 

^^^^^^^

to all three barca fans..

Bonita: we'll see about that sweetie..

Like.no.other: unlike madrid???
i enjoyed the game not just cause barca lost, but because sneijder played a major role in that win..

and yes there is a hge possiblity that both madrid rejects (robben and sneijder) reach to the final in Madrid while Real Madrid crashed out earlier.. And yes i do regret letting them go and u know more than anyone that i wanted atleast Robben to stay..

gray: what do u expect? u think a madrid fan will support barca? or a barca fan can support madrid? thats impossible..

we'll see what happens next week..

oh .... "from Madrid with love" - Wesley Sneijder