FC Barcelona Thread 2006/2007

Chelsea Preparing A Sandy Reception For Barcelona With less than two weeks to go to the Champions League clash with Barcelona, Chelsea ground-staff were pictured dumping tons and tons of sand onto the Stamford Bridge pitch.

The Sun carried pictures showing Chelsea systematically spreading tons of sand over the pitch, something that has immediately caught the attention of the Barcelona camp.

Last year's Champions League last sixteen clash between the two clubs was preceded by accusations of Chelsea deliberately allowing their pitch to deteriorate, so that Barcelona struggled to play their game.

Prior to Barcelona's visit in February, pictures of the Stamford Bridge pitch showed more pot-holes than even surfaces, allegedly due to a complete lack of maintenance, though Mourinho and co. argued that it was just due the rigours of a long season.

Barcelona would go on to win that game 2-1, with Asier del Horno being sent off.

Just a few days after Barca's visit, the entire pitch was re-laid.

Every clash between the two sides has been filled with controversies, and there seems to be more on the way after this recent incident, which Chelsea have since claimed is just a routine maintenance activity.

Even some Chelsea players are said to have complained about cuts suffered as a result of the rough sand.

Barcelona are reportedly monitoring the situation carefully.


chelsea are so frightened of barca that the must sabotage their home-ground before every home game

they also allow kids to ride their camels across the pitch.

I paid £5 and I only got to go as far as the half way line, rip off.

Is have surpass the 1000th Mark

thats over a 1000 with the RM fans

over 1000 to the greatest club in the history of all professional Sports

Barca Barca BARCA



I wonder how much time of my life I’ve wasted on here i conservative guess of about 2 weeks accumulatively

I hope the pro-Barca press doesn't stir up any Chelsea pitch drama again. This time I honestly don't think there's anything suspicious going on.

re: Gago-Mascherano, there's an interview in Sport today with Gago. He says the usual things like he would love to play in Barca, etc. Sounds like a level headed lad though, and spoke in awe when being compared to Pep.

Sport also has a story about Podolski wanting out of Bayern and Barca being his dream move, but I think that's just a The Sun-style report.

he was reading those articles too.

as you said Gago seems level headed.

their will be a big barca presence at the classico this sunday, even Pep will be their

Podolski has been saying barca is, his dream team for sometime now. and that he dreams of playing with Dinho soon day because dinho is, his idol in football

congrats Messiah on your 1000! I am level with you. Kasnani only a day behind.

Congrats Messiah!!!

BTW do you live in the European time zone.. You are posting some odd hours

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:Congrats Messiah!!!

BTW do you live in the European time zone.. You are posting some odd hours

No i'm on the other side of the pon

@ Cules

Just to stop any confusion, I will tell you that the date the ground was going to be refurbished was already decided the moment the fixture list came through. The ground hadn't had any maintenance work since 2003 and needed some.

But don't worry. All the work is now done and there are 11 days before the match (and I think it will rain for about 3-4 of those days). The pitch will be in perfect condition by the time Barca come (which is more or less what Iniesta is supposed to have said).

It's just The Sun and perhaps the pro-Barca press jumping to ludicrous conclusions.

I hope that helps

Messiah wrote:
Last year's Champions League last sixteen clash between the two clubs was preceded by accusations of Chelsea deliberately allowing their pitch to deteriorate, so that Barcelona struggled to play their game.

Prior to Barcelona's visit in February, pictures of the Stamford Bridge pitch showed more pot-holes than even surfaces, allegedly due to a complete lack of maintenance, though Mourinho and co. argued that it was just due the rigours of a long season.

You forget that 4 teams had played on the pitch before Barca (including Liverpool). The problem then, was that we didn't have the time between December (when it started to chop up) and February to carry out some maintenance (of a different type though). Now we do, SOME Barcelona fans arec complaining again?

At least on my part, I never doubted any foul play this time around. Looking forward to the games, hopefully we don't get distracted against Sevilla.

kasnani wrote:

At least on my part, I never doubted any foul play this time around. Looking forward to the games, hopefully we don't get distracted against Sevilla.

Yeah looking forward to it very much too.

I've managed to get out of a course (work related) so I could go to Stamford Bridge.

Thanks for being so understanding. I was expecting to come on here and read 4 different threads saying "Chelsea cheat"

Nah, it's not close enough to the game yet for that

kasnani wrote:Nah, it's not close enough to the game yet for that

S4P wrote:

Messiah wrote:
Last year's Champions League last sixteen clash between the two clubs was preceded by accusations of Chelsea deliberately allowing their pitch to deteriorate, so that Barcelona struggled to play their game.

Prior to Barcelona's visit in February, pictures of the Stamford Bridge pitch showed more pot-holes than even surfaces, allegedly due to a complete lack of maintenance, though Mourinho and co. argued that it was just due the rigours of a long season.

You forget that 4 teams had played on the pitch before Barca (including Liverpool). The problem then, was that we didn't have the time between December (when it started to chop up) and February to carry out some maintenance (of a different type though). Now we do, SOME Barcelona fans arec complaining again?

Thanks for the explanation my apologies

If Barça did what Chelsea do then I can imagine the amount of threads there would calling Barça cheats and other crap (even Liverpoo fans would start topics).

Messiah wrote:

S4P wrote:

Messiah wrote:
Last year's Champions League last sixteen clash between the two clubs was preceded by accusations of Chelsea deliberately allowing their pitch to deteriorate, so that Barcelona struggled to play their game.

Prior to Barcelona's visit in February, pictures of the Stamford Bridge pitch showed more pot-holes than even surfaces, allegedly due to a complete lack of maintenance, though Mourinho and co. argued that it was just due the rigours of a long season.

You forget that 4 teams had played on the pitch before Barca (including Liverpool). The problem then, was that we didn't have the time between December (when it started to chop up) and February to carry out some maintenance (of a different type though). Now we do, SOME Barcelona fans arec complaining again?

Thanks for the explanation my apologies

No problem at all mate. All forgotten about

I must say, by the time Barca arrive in London, the pitch should be better than it has ever been (which is why I don't get what The Sun is on about).

All the sand was finished by Friday. The drainage system is now complete (I think yesterday was the final day), and it's now got 10 days to recover (don't forget - we'll train on their 2-3 times and you'll train on the pitch once or twice)

We have an obsession with pitches

I remember when Spain played Norway in a play off in Novermber, a Norwegian coach joked that they would poor water on the pitch in order to make it like ice hockey.. and the Spanish press FREAKED OUT..

(not stopping to think that the nobody would really gain by having a rock solid pitch that was liable to injure players.. )

Does anyone remember this defense

Navarro-De boer-Christanval-Reizeger

Holy s*it thats really bad....with abelardo on the bench!

I know its a ways away, however lets get the disucssion started now guys. i'm already missing watch barca already

Frank may be tempted to rotate Deco and Ronaldinho for this tie to prove that his 'rotations' apply to everybody. Even against Seville, who seem to be hulking up as actual championship contenders as each matchweek passes. There was a bit of stink when both Deco and Ronaldinho got rotated at the start of last season. Then they came back as Rey Charles and Stevie Wonder to play blinders against Udinese in the Champions League. Maybe they will do the same against Chelsea which follows this Seville clash. Then again Ant will be quicker than Twista to tell you that Chelsea aint' no Udiniese for sheezie. Anyway, corny rap superflatives aside, logic (and proper english) will tell you that if Barca hope to win this match they will need the services of Deco and Ronaldinho in the starting lineup. Ronaldinho walked through Seville's defence to score against them the last time they visited the Nou Camp. However the recent form guide states he would do otherwise. Ronaldinho has had a whisper quiet start to the season (ask mazz) and should be sold (ask mo), whilst Deco was subdued in the last game and was subbed for his troubles.

For Barca the answer may be Xavi and Iniesta pairing up in the middle, with me'Guily (when is this going to catch on? anyone? ), Guddy and Messi up front as starters, resting Deco and Dinho. It might work and it will probably leave our attack looking a little less readable. Barca was like a libary in France the last time these two teams met. Another game for Saviola may be in the cards also. However if the tabloids are to be believed, its more likely that he and his shylock agent will be using this Seville visit to finalize terms on a move back to them at the end of the season. Hopefully Saviola dose not have a pre-contract in place where if he scores against Seville, he will be made to pay a buck-fifty per goal. God knows he will lobbing shots over the bar like Aguero if it meant he might be out of pocket.

The last time Seville and Barca met in France we got hammered like West Ham. Every Barca player will need to play better. Puyol and Valdez especially. Puyol tugged on Marescas shirt, then managed to get himself into a headlock (WTF?) for the ref to blow a penalty against him. A spot kick Maresca himself had no quarms about putting away harder than Lampard does for Chelsea. Puyol will probably find Kanoute a handful as he tends to struggle against the girrafe like target men. Hopefully Thuram will be brought off the beach and used this time around to try and tame Freddy. As for Valdez, if he finds hiimself in another punching situation, maybe this time he can aim it somwhere other than Navas's head. That second Kanoute goal Barca conceeded in the Supercup was near commical. No wonder Kanoute pointed to the skies to thank God after he scored cause the game he was atcually playing was football, not hakky-sack.

The players to watch for Seville in their deep squad are Daniel Alves and Navas. These two must snort lines, before every match cause the come out and play with wreckless abandon. Imagine what they would do with some trance music playing in the background. Whoever said Navas gets the hibbie-jibbies in away games just needs to look to what happen to Barca in France and Middlesborough in Holland. This ain't no Denis Bergkamp. I think he is liable to drive a car through the Nou Camp with the top down checking out the hotties in the stands on his way to steering shots past Valdez's goal. Alves ridding shotgun.

Seville will come to the Nou Camp looking very, very dangerous, even in their Jorma kit with the players names and numbers drawn on by a 5 year old with a packet of red crayons. However I'm going to be optimistic and say Barca will walk away from this match with a win, taking them 4 points clear of the visitors in the standings.

I think you are right in bringing Thuram back into the starting line up as he should be much more effective against a target player than Márquez..

Xavi and Iniesta in midfield together is very apetising but I would rather see Deco and Xavi together, with Iniesta providing a last half an hour extra flair to put the game beyond doubt.

Márquez, our extremely talented yet somewhat out of shape, defender should be given a go in the defensive midfield. Neither Motta nor Edmílson has delivered yet this season, and as much as I respect them now it gets serious..

Guily, i agree, should start. Messi is still more of a supersub than a starter in the league.. Against Chelsea we can and should start him though.

Dinho to continue in the line up, as I don't believe it would be smart to mess with his confidence at the moment. I am sure he will come good..

Gudjohnsen or Saviola.... hmm, I would go for Saviola against Sevilla and Gudjohnsen against Chelsea.

What an awesome week we have ahead. First Sevilla on Sunday,Chelsea on Wednesday and then Madrid on Sunday. Can't wait for it.

Nervous already

I really hope that they get the TV rights solved for the Sevilla game.

Great week of football for us indeed, but every difficult as well.

Sevill (3)
Chelsea (1)
Real(3)
Chelsea (3)

maybe thats a bit too optimistic but if we can get those points from those games i'll be every happy

Messiah wrote:Great week of football for us indeed, but every difficult as well.

Sevill (3)
Chelsea (1)
Real(3)
Chelsea (3)

maybe thats a bit too optimistic but if we can get those points from those games i'll be every happy

I'd go along with that, except I think you won't get any points at Stamford Bridge in fairness (maybe I'm being a bit biased too). We've only lost 1 match ever at Stamford Bridge under JM (and that was minus a player - you can guess who to ) and I just wonder, that with Eto'o out, who will be your main threat for goals (we will almost certainly double up on Dinho and Messi)

S4P wrote:

Messiah wrote:Great week of football for us indeed, but every difficult as well.

Sevill (3)
Chelsea (1)
Real(3)
Chelsea (3)

maybe thats a bit too optimistic but if we can get those points from those games i'll be every happy

I'd go along with that, except I think you won't get any points at Stamford Bridge in fairness (maybe I'm being a bit biased too). We've only lost 1 match ever at Stamford Bridge under JM (and that was minus a player - you can guess who to ) and I just wonder, that with Eto'o out, who will be your main threat for goals (we will almost certainly double up on Dinho and Messi)

which will leave space for The Rabbit to nip in a score a goal.

I would rather see Gudjohsen play against Chelsea from the start.. I am sure he will be extra motivated for the match against the Blues..

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:I would rather see Gudjohsen play against Chelsea from the start.. I am sure he will be extra motivated for the match against the Blues..

I certainly will give Guddy a huge ovation if he starts/comes on. I'm sure everyone else in the ground will too.

I'm more worried about us facing Eidur than I am Saviola if truth be told.

Saviola's Movement of the ball and pace in close spaces will be much more of a danger to Chelsea’s defense than Guddy IMO.

Guddy is a Bit to slow and terry and Carvalho wouldn't have much of a problem with him IMO

Does Sevilla's TV crisis mean we won't get to watch the game this weekend?