News

Anims ERIC ABIDAL

ellazefa - Jum`at, 16 Maret 2012 - 9:36.

Masih terbayang perjuangan Abidal saat terserang tumor hati pada 2011, dan kembali pulih menjelang final Liga Champions. Opsi operasi transplantasi sudah muncul sejak pertama kali Abidal menjalani perawatan. Namun Abidal lebih memilih menghilangkan tumornya saja.

Eric Abidal masih harus berjuang menyembuhkan tumor hati yang dideritanya . Klub Catalan sendiri sudah mengonfirmasi bahwa Abidal akan naik meja operasi dalam kurun beberapa pekan ke depan.”Transplantasi ini memang sudah menjadi opsi dalam proses perawatannya sejak setahun lalu. Berdasarkan permintaan pemain yang bersangkutan,Barcelona memohon pengertian agar berita ini tidak dibesar-besarkan demi menghormati privasinya.”

Operasi yang akan dijalani Abidal mengancam peluangnya tampil di Ukraina dan Polandiabersama Prancis pada perhelatan Euro 2012 mendatang. Kabarnya, tim medis Les Bleus telah mendapat informasi bahwa mantan bek AS Monaco akan absen pada gelaran tersebut.

Bahkan, beberapa stasiun radio Prancis meragukan jika pemain 32 tahun akan kembali merumput setelah menjalani operasi nanti.Sementara itu, kapten Barcelona Carles Puyolmenyampaikan dukungannya kepada Abidal, dan memuji karakter pemain berusia 32 tahun itu sebagai sosok yang patut ditiru.“Paling utama saat ini adalah Abidal harus sembuh. Tim bersatu, kami selalu mendukung dia. Sikapnya menjadi contoh bagi kami,” kata Puyol dalam keterangannya kepada wartawan.

Cepet sembuh ya Eric.. We love you.. Anims Abidal.!!

Barca bantai Leverkusen (agregat 10 – 2)

ellazefa - Kamis, 8 Maret 2012 - 15:24.

Melawan Leverkusen Lionel Messi tampil luar biasa , sehingga  Barcelona mampu  menyingkirkan Bayer Leverkusen di leg kedua babak 16 besar Liga Champions. Lima gol dicetak Messi sekaligus membawa Azulgrana menang telak 7-1.

Kamis 8 maret 2012 Dalam laga yang dihelat di Camp Nou, Messi mencetak dua gol di babak pertama dan tambahan tiga gol di babak kedua. Dua gol Barca lainnya dicetakCristian Tello. Sementara Karim Bellarabi mencetak gol hiburan. Barca lolos ke perempatfinal dengan agregat total 10-2 usai menang 3-1 di leg pertama.

Jalannya pertandingan

Pada menit ke 9  Messi mendapat umpan lambung dari Xavi. Dia mengontrol bola dengan dadanya dahulu sebelum melepaskan tembakan yang masih bisa ditepis Bernd Leno. Bola rebound disepak Cecs Fabregas tapi bisa disapu Gonzalo Castro di garis gawang.

Pada menit ke 23  Xavi mendapatkan free kick yg menuju kotak penalti dan disambar Gerard Pique dengan tandukan, tapi bola sekali lagi masih bisa ditepis Leno dengan baik.

Pada menit ke 25 Messi berhasil menjebol  gawang Leno  ketika umpan lambung Xaviberhasil menggapai Messi yang lolos dari jebakan off-side. Memasuki kotak penalti, dengan dingin Messi mencungkil bola melewati hadangan Leno dan Barca unggul 1-0.

Pada menit ke 32  Messi berhasil membelah pertahanan Leverkusen dan dituntaskan dengan sepakan ke arah gawang. Beruntun Toprak mampu menghalau laju bola.

Pada menit ke 42 Messi berhasil membuat  Barca menggandakan keunggulannya. Serangan balik cepat Barca membuat pertahanan Leverkusen kocar-kacir dan Andres Iniesta yang melihat posisi Messi di kanannya langsung memberikan bola. Messi kemudian menggiring bola memasuki kotak penalti dan diakhiri dengan sepakan terukur ke pojok gawang Leno. Gol ke-9 Messi dari tujuh laga Liga Champions musim ini dan Barca unggul agregat kini 5-1.

Pada menit ke 49 Messi Pesepakbola Argentina itu mencetak hat-trick di menit 49 sekaligus membawa Barca memimpin 3-0. Umpan lambung Fabregas digapainya dan usai mendekati gawang Leno, ia kemudian me-lob bola melewati hadangan Leno dan GOL!

Pada menit ke 55 Tello memperbesar keunggulan Barca  ketika umpan Fabregas diterima pesepakbola muda itu dengan baik. Tanpa kesulitan ia masuk ke kotak penalti lawan dan menaklukkan Leno dengan sepakan mendatar ke tiang jauh.

Pada menit ke 58  Messi kembali mencatatkan namanya di papan skor untuk keempat kalinya. Messi yang mendapat bola di kotak penalti kemudian meliuk-liuk dan mengakhiri dengan sebuah tembakan ke gawang.Leno masih bisa menepisnya tapi bola rebound kemudian disambar Messi lagi untuk dikirimkan ke tiang jauh dan berbuah gol kelima Barca.

Pada  menit ke 62 Tello benar-benar membuat mimpi buruk untuk Leverkusen setelah gol keduanya membawa Barca unggul 6-0.Umpan Dani Alves diterimanya di tiang jauh dan ia teruskan dengan sepakan ke arah gawang. Leno masih bisa menghadangnya tapi kurang sempurna sehingga bola malah bergulir ke dalam gawang.

Pada menit ke 85 Messi Luar biasa sekali penampilannya di laga ini dengan membukukan gol kelimanya di menit 85. Umpan satu dua dengan Seydou Keita, Messi langsung melepaskan sepakan kaki kiri melengkung ke pojok kanan tanpa bisa dihadang Leno.

Pada menit ke 90 Leverkusen mencetak gol hiburan  lewat Bellarabi. Umpan satu dua dengan Stefan Kiessling dituntaskan dengan tembakan melengkung ke pojok kiri gawang Victor Valdes.

Susunan pemain

Barcelona: Valdes; Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Adriano (Muniesa 63′); Xavi (Keita 53′), Busquets, Fabregas; Pedro, Messi, Iniesta (Tello 53′)

Leverkusen: Leno; Castro, Schwaab,Toprak, Kadlec; Reinartz,Bender (Schurrle 55′), Rolfes, Renato Augusto (Oczipka 67′); Kiessling, Derdiyok (Bellarabi 55′)

Tiga Poin dari Dua Gol Messi (RAC 0-2 FCB)

ellazefa - Senin, 12 Maret 2012 - 9:23.

Di Estadio El Sardinero, Senin 12 maret 2012 dini hari WIB, Barcelona meraih kemenangan 2-0 saat dijamu oleh Racing Santander. Lionel Messi yang kembali tampil impresif, memberikan kontribusi maksimal dengan mencetak dua gol kemenangan Azulgrana.

Berikut jalannya pertandingan

Pada menit ke 6  Pedro dengan aksinya yang menawan  membuat pertahanan Racing Santander terbuka. Ia berhasil mengecoh Francis namun bola hasil tendangannya masih melebar.

Pada menit ke 23 Messi melakukan  Tendangan bebas dan berhasil diterima oleh Cuenca. Ia langsung mengumpankan bola tersebut kepada Iniesta. Gelandang Spanyol tersebut tak berhasil memaksimalkan peluangnya karena bola sedikit melayang di atas mistar gawang.

Pada menit ke 29 Lionel Messi akhirnya memecahkan kebuntuan Barca. Kerjasama antara Xavi dan Fabregas berhasil memberikan peluang bagi Messi. Sebuah assist dari Fabregas berhasil dimaksimalkan Messi dengan mencetak sebuah gol ke gawang Racing Santander. Gol ini membuat Barca unggul 1-0 hingga babak pertama berakhir.

Pada menit ke 55 Cuenca memiliki peluang emas. Ia berhasil menembus pertahanan Santander lalu melepaskan tendangan keras ke arah gawang Santander. Sayang peluangnya gagal berbuah gol karena bola tepat mengarah ke kiper Mario.

Pada menit ke 56 Messi kembali membuat pendukung Barcelona berteriak kegirangan. Aksi dari Fabregas membuat Cisma harus menghadangnya dengan keras di area kotak penalti. Wasit langsung memberikan hadiah penalti yang akhirnya berhasil diselesaikan dengan baik oleh Messi.

Pada menit ke 70 Santander sempat membuat kubu tuan rumah terkejut. Tendangan pojok Santander berhasil dimanfaatkan oleh Arana yang mampu mengirimkan bola ke depan gawang Barca. Adrian berhasil menanduk bola tersebut ke dalam gawang Barca namun ternyata ia sudah terlanjur berdiri di posisi off side.

Pada menit ke 72 Tello hampir saja menambah keunggulan Barca. Messi berhasil menggiring bola mendekati area kotak penalti lawan lalu mengirimkan umpan ke Cristian Tello. Sayang bola hasil tendangan Tello hanya mengenai sisi jaring sebelah luar gawang.

Pada menit ke 85 Pedro memiliki peluang menjebol gawang Santander, bisa selamat berkat penampilan gemilang sang kiper. Mario berhasil menggagalkan peluang yang dimiliki oleh Pedro.

Namun sampai babak kedua berakhir Barca yang  mampu tampil dominan hingga laga usai  tidak menambah gol. Barca pun menang dengan skor akhir 2-0.

Dengan kemenangan ini tak mengubah posisi Los Cules di peringkat kedua klasemen sementara La Liga. Mengumpulkan 60 poin dari hasil 26 kali main, Barca masih kalah sepuluh angka dari Real Madrid yang menguasai posisi puncak klasemen La Liga.

Susunan pemain

Santader: Mario, Bernardo Espinosa Zuniga, Alvaro, Domingo, Francisco Jesus Perez Malia, Marcos, Gonzalo Colsa (Adrian Gonzalez 62), Pedro Alvarez Munitis (Jairo Samperio70), Manuel Arana Rodriguez, Khouma Babacar (Christian Stuani 45), Papa Kouly Diop

Barca: Victor Valdes, Sergio Busquets, Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano, Cesc Fabregas, Xavi (Seydou Keita 83), Andres Iniesta, Dani Alves, Lionel Messi, Pedro (Adriano 88), Isaac Cuenca (Cristian Tello 73)

Jadwal liga champions quarter-finals

MATCHES

QUARTER-FINALS-27/28 MARCH AND 3/4 APRIL

QF 1

APOEL(CYP)

v

Real Madrid(ESP)

Previous

QF 2

Marseille(FRA)

v

Bayern(GER)

Previous

QF 3

Benfica(POR)

v

Chelsea(ENG)

Previous

QF 4

Milan(ITA)

v

Barcelona(ESP)

Previous

SEMI-FINALS-17/18 AND 24/25 APRIL

SF 1

Marseille(FRA)/Bayern(GER)

v

APOEL(CYP)/Real Madrid(ESP)

SF 2

Benfica(POR)/Chelsea(ENG)

v

Milan(ITA)/Barcelona(ESP)

FINAL-19 MAY, MUNICH

Winner SF1

v

Winner SF2

Guardiola hails Messi as Barcelona achieve perfection

Published: Thursday 8 March 2012, 0.12CET

Josep Guardiola and Bayer 04 Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt led the homages to Lionel Messi after the striker's five goals for FC Barcelona illuminated the Camp Nou.

Josep Guardiola, Barcelona coach
Tonight we witnessed one of [Lionel] Messi's most special nights; watching it was like receiving a gift. He deserves to be honoured right now because it's something really incredible that he is now just seven goals behind [Barcelona's all-time top scorer] César [Rodríguez] – he's only 24. It's not easy to score five goals in a single game and that's coming from someone who scored 11 in his entire career. If he wants to, he'll score six one day. I have to also say that [Andrés] Iniesta played magnificently too.

We've reached the quarter-finals for the last five years now and that says something about the great stability here. This really is the most beautiful competition. The team we were facing tonight eliminated Valencia and only a few days ago beat Bayern München; that speaks volumes of our achievement. We have to thank all of the players and the staff at the club.

Barça without Abidal for Leverkusen return

Published: Friday 2 March 2012, 9.20CET

Éric Abidal, who has missed just one of FC Barcelona's UEFA Champions League games this season, is out of the round of 16 second leg against Bayer 04 Leverkusen with a groin injury.

• E-MAIL
• PRINT

FC Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola will have to reconsider his defensive options for Wednesday's visit of Bayer 04 Leverkusen after full-back Éric Abidal was ruled out with a groin injury.

Abidal, who has made six UEFA Champions League appearances this season, played the whole of France's 2-1 midweek friendly win in Germany but has now been sidelined for ten days. The 32-year-old is certain to miss the second leg of Barcelona's UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie against Leverkusen. The holders lead their Bundesliga opponents 3-1 after the opening instalment.

Midfielder Thiago Alcántara, meanwhile, is doubtful for the Leverkusen game having sustained an injury to his right shin in training with Spain ahead of their 5-0 friendly triumph over Venezuela.

Faultless Barcelona earn Guardiola praise

Published: Wednesday 15 February 2012, 0.25CET

"We were good in every aspect," said Josep Guardiola after his FC Barcelona side put themselves in a commanding position with a 3-1 first-leg victory away to Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

• E-MAIL
• PRINT

Josep Guardiola, Barcelona coachGerman teams always create problems for you. In my experience, even when they are not playing well they always come into a game at some point. The first half was a little bit stale for us compared to the second. In the opening 45 minutes they didn't open up all that much and they were keeping it tight at the back. We managed to create chances though and to score three goals away from home is very good; we are very satisfied.

They are a very tall team and play long passes into dangerous areas; we will need to watch out for that in the second leg. When you concede, it's never easy to go back up the other end and score again. We were good in every aspect, in defence and attack. We are playing in Europe now and it's not easy to create as many chances as we did.

You can't expect to come to a place like this and imagine that your opponents aren't going to create chances. The second half suited us better than the first. It was more end to end but that's normal in Europe; it gives us a lesson for the return.

As a player I hardly ever scored so I can't speak from experience, but I imagine goalscorers need to score. Messi has no problems dealing with these things though. He scored a really wonderful goal and was involved in many moves. He's continuing to show his strength which for us is vital. Alexis [Sánchez] is putting in a lot of work and is scoring a lot. He opens up the pitch for us and his movement is great. I'm very happy for him. He's a very humble guy.

In the art of competing my team showed that they are doing well. This is the Champions League and we came to Germany to face a team that practically eliminated Valencia, and we all know about [the quality of] Valencia. We are very satisfied with what we have done here tonight. We are a little bit closer to getting into the draw for the quarter-finals.

Five-goal Messi leaves Leverkusen spellbound

Published: Wednesday 7 March 2012, 22.55CET

FC Barcelona 7-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen (agg: 10-2)Lionel Messi became the first player to score five goals in a UEFA Champions League game as Barcelona claimed a record knockout round victory.

by Graham Hunter

from Camp Nou

• E-MAIL
• PRINT

Lionel Messi scored the first five-goal haul in UEFA Champions League history as holders FC Barcelona powered to a 7-1 win against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, sailing through to the quarter-finals 10-2 on aggregate.

Messi became the first man to score four goals in a game twice in the competition inside an hour before adding his milestone fifth six minutes from time. The 20-year-old substitute Tello had struck twice on his European debut either side of number four, and Barcelona were on course for another new mark, the biggest win in UEFA Champions League knockout round history. Karim Bellarabi's last-gasp reply restricted them to a record-equalling victory; it was scant consolation.

While Camp Nou regulars may say the reigning champions were initially slow to go through the gears, in truth they were not required to. They began with an air of control, patiently seeking the breakthrough that would effectively end the tie. They entertained while they waited. It took a desperate block from Ömer Toprak to prevent Pedro Rodríguez when Bernd Leno could only parry Messi's volley and Andrés Iniesta, playing wide left, was sensational.

Iniesta tirelessly ran past opponents, two of whom were booked for rash challenges, and went off to a rousing ovation after only 53 minutes − by then, the game was already won. Gerard Piqué, stooping for a Xavi Hernández free-kick midway through the first half, might have opened the scoring. It delayed the inevitable only by two minutes as Xavi's lofted pass allowed Messi to race clear and lob Leno. One became two just before the break when Iniesta broke from left to right and fed Messi, whose jinking run across the box ended with him sliding home left footed.

Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt had accurately predicted how little possession his team would have − and how well they would need to use it. His players failed him on that count. Messi's 24-minute hat-trick arrived when he again beat the offside trap and chipped Leno. It was a procession, and while the Camp Nou chanted with ecstasy, Josep Guardiola proceeded to protect Xavi and Iniesta by replacing them with Tello and Seydou Keita.

Tello was on the pitch for under two minutes when he cushioned a Cesc Fàbregas pass and opened his body to bend the ball around the despairing Leno. Barcelona were irresistible. Messi made history when Leno fumbled a loose ball in the 58th minute but there was a special roar when Tello, fast becoming a fans' favourite, managed to power a speculative shot through the Leverkusen goalkeeper − the German will pray he does not suffer many more nights like this.

Yet while another replacement, Bellarabi, would ultimately have the last word for a side that had hitherto mustered only a fine Eren Derdiyok chance, it was Messi's night. With six minutes left he provided one more glorious left-footed finish after Keita's pass. Five-star in every respect; one of the great performances of all time.

Messi's sixth sense explained

Published: Tuesday 7 February 2012, 14.53CET

So acute is Lionel Messi's vision on the football pitch that he seems to have eyes in the back of his head, but is there a scientific explanation for his sixth sense, asks Champions?

• E-MAIL
• PRINT

Watching Lionel Messi dribbling through a defence or playing a slide-rule pass through a narrow space at an acute angle is one of the most thrilling sights in football. It is almost as if he has a bigger picture of the game than anyone around him. Eyes in the back of his head, if you will.

Now academics in Germany and the Netherlands have decided to put this theory to the scientific test. "We were interested in the underlying mechanisms of expert performance in sport," explains Professor Norbert Hagemann from the University of Kassel. "Footballers are active on a huge field and have to attend to, or view, so many people on the field that we believed the best player could attend to more players at the same time."

In layman's terms, the researchers believed the best players had a broader visual span that enables them to see more of the pitch and the position of their opponents and team-mates at any one time than less skilful players. To test this belief, they studied the behaviour of amateur footballers when they were shown various football situations. However, the results actually contradicted the theory.

"In general, we were not able to find a broader visual span in skilled players," says Hagemann. "They do not extract information from a broader visual area. However, we found a longer fixed duration. Such skill-related differences in 'gaze strategies' are thought to be functional in terms of more efficient information pick-up."

So while the best players may not have a greater field of vision than average players, they pick up more information from a single glance. This finding supports the 'chunk theory', based on the discovery that the best chess players could remember a board, not in terms of 32 pieces, but as five or six groups of pieces.

Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, has his own take on this phenomenon. Drawing on the experience of firefighters who can sense when a burning house is about to explode, he suggests they develop something he calls 'expert intuition', an instinctive method of solving a particular problem. Could this describe Messi's innate ability to make the right run or play the right pass?

Players who are not as gifted as Messi could be trained to improve their 'fixation duration', but Hagemann is not convinced this will directly improve their performance: "The less skilled player has to learn the structure of play, the patterns of the movements and so on. They have to build a knowledge base that helps them discover the relevant information in the current situation. To train less skilled players, it would be more helpful to orient their attention to the relevant features of play. Fixation duration is a by-product of knowing where to attend."

Whether you refer to this as a knowledge base or expert intuition, this quality helps more skilful footballers predict upcoming events much more precisely – the greater the knowledge base, typically the better the player.

"If the best footballer already knows what is going to happen then they will know where to direct their attention," says Hagemann. "Players like Messi are great at decision-making. They have anticipation abilities that help them solve complex problems in the best possible way."

Now the team are aiming to get to the bottom of the underlying mechanism that allows Messi to solve these complex tasks with such consummate ease. The defenders' union will be waiting with bated breath to read their findings.

The Barça Players Award goes to Andrés Iniesta

• Andrés Iniesta celebrating a goal :

The FC Barcelona midfielder, Andrés Iniesta, will receive the Barça Players Award this Monday. The award is reserved for the cleanest player of the previous season. The ceremony will take place at noon in FC Barcelona’s Sala París. President Sandro Rosell and the President of the Barça Players Association, Ramon Alfonseda will be present. Iniesta will be awarded a sculpture, which represents clean play and is made from bronze and old silver, created by Agustí Puig. The first edition of the award, given out at the end of the 2009/10 season, was awarded to Bojan Kirkic.

Voting, which was coordinated by the FCB’s Players Association, saw Iniesta garner 47% of the vote to beat outÉric Abidal and Javier Mascherano. The jury picked the midfielder because he represents the qualities of a noble player whose characteristics are recognised internationally. Iniesta’s gesture to Dani Jarque in the South Africa World Cup Final, or the fact that he only received on yellow card -for protesting a decision- all season were integral to the midfielder winning the award in the jury’s mind.

Rosell on Telemadrid's claim: “It is baseless and false”

This Monday, President Sandro Rosell responded to the claims made by Telemadrid. The television channel stated that Josep Guardiola refused to stay on as Barça’s manager if the Club didn’t guarantee to offload defender Gerard Piqué this summer

“All of the athletic decisions are made by Guardiola and Zubizarreta,” said Rosell 

• 

President Sandro Rosell talked about the information aired by the television channel Telemadrid this Monday afternoon where the station claimed that Josep Guardiola said that he wouldn’t extend his contract unless the Club guaranteed that Gerard Piqué would be offloaded this summer.

“Obviously, it’s completely fake. It’s obviously slander. This story is baseless. What I can say is that all decisions about players coming in and going out are made jointly by Guardiola and Zubizarreta. Therefore, this story is baseless and it’s completely false. It’s a shame that a public press outlet like Telemadrid has decided to play this game,” said Rosell.

Previous to the above statement, Rosell said: “it’s a shame that in a time of economic crisis that we’re seeing publicly funded communication channels deliberately misinforming people, creating falsehoods and calumny. It’s understandable that this could happen on a privately funded channel, but I don’t understand how a channel that’s publicly funded [can do this]. No one understands it. If I were a tax paying person in Madrid, in truth, I’d be troubled.”