[Phil Mitchell]

The game wasn't shown over here either, but I ended up watching it on a livestream. Not the best of games, but the second string Barcelona team played pretty well. Gai didn't look bad at all, he's got bags of pace, isn't affraid to take players on and can pass a nice ball. He has years of improvement in him and I can see him being a big player in the future, barring he keeps himself focused and on the right path. Pedro did well, scored 2 and his all-round play was decent. He has improved dramatically since last season and is a very handy player to have in the squad. Bojan could have done better, but with just coming back from an injury, he is lacking match sharpness.

[Phil Mitchell]

Real Madrid bow out of the competition after only beating their opponant 1-0, going out of the competition 4-1 on aggeragate.

Barça through with an easy 5-0 victory. It was good to see Bojan grab himself two and Pedro bagging himself his 8th goal of the season. Also mentions to super subs Lionel Messi and Xavi for also grabbing a goal each.

I ended up watching the game on a livestream, as the game wasn't shown on Sky. The first half wasn't anything special, but the 2nd half was entertaining with all 5 goals coming in this half.

[Adrianus]

smashing result for Barcelona!

LOL at Real Madrid's treble chances!

Quote

Boos ring out as Real crash out of Spanish Cup

MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid crashed out of the Spanish Cup on Tuesday as they could only manage a 1-0 victory at the Bernabeu over third division Alcorcon, who went through to the last 16 with a 4-1 aggregate score.

The loss extended 17-time winners' Real's drought in the competition dating back to 1993.

The Real supporters had booed the players off at half-time while there were cries of 'Pellegrini resign' at the coach Manuel Pellegrini, especially when the 56-year-old Chilean replaced Real's most impressive player on the night Frenchman Lassana Diarra with over 20 minutes remaining.

Pellegrini, who took over in the close season after an impressive spell in charge of Villarreal, had started with four strikers including Kaka, Real icon Raul and former Manchester United star Ruud van Nistelrooy.

However, they failed to have the impact he wished and it wasn't until the 81st minute they scored, through Dutch attacking midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.

Pellegrini tried to justify his substitution of Diarra.

"I could have been selfish because I knew that changing 'Lass' wasn't going to please," said Pellegrini.

"But it was important that the player didn't injure himself. I think about the player and the team before myself," said Pellegrini who admitted they weren't up to the task on the night.

"We did what seemed necessary but the away result was heavy," he added.

source

bye bye Pellegrini...welcome back Juande Ramos?!?! http://www.totalfootballforums.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif

[Adrianus]

Quote

Barcelona did what it had to do in the Copa del Rey. They moved on to the next round after defeating third division side Cultural Leonesa (5-0).

Before the match there was a minute of silence in memory of Robert Enke. The German goalkeeper, who died on Tuesday night, had a two year spell with Barca after moving from Benfica in 2002.

The game ignited in the second half. Cultural Leonesa, that lost the first match at home (0-2), lost their hopes of a historic win in ten minutes. Bojan Krkic ended their hopes of a sensational victory scoring two goals in less than five minutes.

In the next round of the Cup, Barcelona faces Alcorcon. The third division side threw Real Madrid out of the Cup (4-1 on aggegrate).

Fifth round Copa del Rey:

Alcorcon - Barcelona

Atletico Madrid - Sevilla

Valencia - Villarreal

source

had Real Madrid won, that list would have looked SCARY. Barcelona are still favorites this far into the competition, but with all the clubs so familiar with each other, there could be some HUGE upsets in the making.

[roversgirl]

Can't believe Madrid lost 4-1 on agg, ouch!! The whole set up there just seems wrong from an outsiders point of view ie. always changing their manager and playing staff, bringing in attacker after attacker rather than a world class defender or two. The likes of Raul, Kaka etc were playing in the match aswell, fantastic up stuff! seems the Spanish cups are living upto our cups in recent times with this and the Barcelona result a while back.

[Phil Mitchell]

Quite a few La Liga teams have gone out of the competition to smaller league opposition. Rayo Vallecano knocked Athetic Bilbao out, Recretivo beat Sporting Gijon, Real Madrid went out to Alcorcon & Hercules were victorious over Almeria. The next round draw is very interesting too as a few of the bigger clubs in the competition will be facing off against each other, with Atletico Madrid taking on Sevilla and Valencia facing off with Villareal. Which will give smaller teams more of a chance to make their mark. With Barcelona drawing another "easy"(you can never say that in these competitions) opponant in Alcoron, then it will give Pep the chance to rest key players and start the likes of Bojan, Gai, Jonathon Dos Santos, etc. But Alcoron will prove more dangerous than they look on paper.

[Adrianus]

Mr Perfect, on 13 November 2009 - 09:32 AM, said:

With Barcelona drawing another "easy"(you can never say that in these competitions) opponant in Alcoron, then it will give Pep the chance to rest key players and start the likes of Bojan, Gai, Jonathon Dos Santos, etc. But Alcoron will prove more dangerous than they look on paper.

ALcoron has already proved their more dangerous than they look on paper :lol:

with our club's mentality and Pep's guidance, i'm not worried in the slightest over this opponent. our reserves should be more than capable of extraditing a comfortable match.

[Dar-batov]

Cracking game tonight. Hoping for some more Pedro magic.

[Adrianus]

Dar-batov, on 05 January 2010 - 01:38 PM, said:

Cracking game tonight. Hoping for some more Pedro magic.

we play Sevilla three times in twelve days. fucks sake...i think the same thing happened against Valencia last season. hoping for LOTS of Pedro magic, and hopefully something smashing from Bojan as well.

[JoshBRFC]

Yeah I'm hoping for something good.

With Rovers being called off, I'll probably be staying in, so I'm gonna watch Barca - Sevilla :P

[Dar-batov]

You're gonna skip Fulham v Stoke for this? :O Englishmen *shakes head* :P

Adrian, will Valdes and Pique play?

This post has been edited by Dar-batov: 05 January 2010 - 07:01 PM

[JoshBRFC]

Dar-batov, on 05 January 2010 - 07:00 PM, said:

You're gonna skip Fulham v Stoke for this? :O Englishmen *shakes head* :P

:lol: Come on, we both know where the quality will be tonight. Obviously the Barca game won't compare to the quality i would of seen at Ewood, but i shall have to make do. ;)

Dar-batov, on 05 January 2010 - 07:00 PM, said:

Adrian, will Valdes and Pique play?

I expect Pinto to start, and then Pique or Marquez alongside Chygrynskiy ?

This post has been edited by JoshBRFC: 05 January 2010 - 07:11 PM

[Ryanovski]

Dar-batov, on 05 January 2010 - 01:38 PM, said:

Cracking game tonight. Hoping for some more Pedro magic.

you shut your mouth.



They really are dumb playing the match so late on a weeknight. 10 o'clock... seriously? I'm hoping Negredo downs them.

[Adrianus]

Dar-batov, on 05 January 2010 - 02:00 PM, said:

You're gonna skip Fulham v Stoke for this? :O Englishmen *shakes head* :P

Adrian, will Valdes and Pique play?

doubt Valdes will play and i wouldnt risk Pique. usually, our reserves get the cup matches, so i'll expect Milito since he's recovering, and Marquez as he's not seen some action in a while. as it stands, these are the missing players at the moment for each club:

Quote

The African Cup of Nations has robbed both squads of a number of key players. Barça are without Keita and Touré Yaya, while Sevilla coach Manolo Jiménez is missing Zokora and Kanouté, although he can count on Romaric and Koné, who have not been called up by their national managers. However, Sevilla are also plagued by a rash of absentees - Javi Varas, Fazio, Squillaci, Sergio Sánchez, Adriano, De Mul, Acosta and Luis Fabiano will all miss the first leg and Jiménez will have to rely on the reserves to make up the numbers.

why risk Pique when they're fielding as many youths and reserves as we are? i suspect our youths are more capable and qualified for victory anyway. and that quote was from an article on the official Barcelona site. closed the tab already so i cant source the direct page. whoops...

[Phil Mitchell]

Do you think Leo will start tonight? With him having an extended holiday, he will have had plenty of rest, or will he not be back till La Liga game at the weekend?

Should be a good game, I think Pep will start a stronger team than some people expect, due to the quality of the opposition. It will be a tough game and I can see it going either way if Sevilla turn on the style.

[Markuss]

Read on a spanish newspaper that its going to be Bojan, Ibra, Messi.

[Phil Mitchell]

LaMasia, on 05 January 2010 - 07:51 PM, said:

Read on a spanish newspaper that its going to be Bojan, Ibra, Messi.

Good, I hope Bojan gets more starts. In the game he started at the beginning of the season against Sporting Gijon, before his injury, it was one of the best performances I have seen from him. It would be a shame to not see him feature much for the rest of the season, although its not suprising he has been pushed down the ladder even more, with the current form Pedro is in. He just always seems to be in the right place, at the right time, at the moment.

I've got a feeling we may see another start from Jonathan Dos Santos tonight in the centre of midfield, aswell.

[Adrianus]

that's way too much fire-power for a severly short handed Sevilla. granted we should have won Villarreal, Pedro, Busquets, Pique, and Abial should be rested. Jeffren, Bojan, and Messi should cope more than well against Sevilla in this state i think. of course, Sevilla should never be underestimated, but if we start Iniesta, rest Xavi, and then put in Marquez as DM and Chygrynsky at back, we should (theoretically) be fine. Ibra needs to rest so that next game he will be more focused on scoring. he should at least start on the bench. in the league and in the return leg is when i'm expecting a dangerous Sevilla side that will earn our top players.

[Markuss]

It probably is but I read that Guardiola is hoping to kill the game off quick with some potent attacking up front and is hoping for a couple of goals to then play a conservative game with reserves seeing plenty of action with Sevilla pushing at their maximum.

[Adrianus]

more or less the lineups i expected. going to watch the game. will deal with this section and Erick later.