^^^^

I don't think he was alive 30 years ago

Jose Angel from Gijon is a very good signing. I guess Maxwell would be the fall guy.
We don't to spend too much in this transfer window. Just one or two additions:

Defence:
Re-sign Botia
Keep Caceres or sell to Sevilla at the right price.
Keep Henrique - he'd be useful as a backup. He can play RB and CB
Promote Fontas - he'd also be useful as a backup and at times Pep wants to rotate.
Montoya and Bartra can continue at Barca B.

Midfield:
Sign Cesc but don't break the bank.
Promote Thiago and Sergi Roberto.
Sign Pablo Piatti from Almeria: Very good winger and can also play in attack and he'll come cheap since Almeria are already relegated.
Attack:
Promote Soriano - I doubt this would happen though. This guy was the segunda division's Pichichi.
Sign an experienced striker that would act as backup or can be an impact sub.
Keirrison and Bojan - One should go out on loan and one should stay.

I think we only need to buy one experience CB,Botia has come of age though.Fontas should be promoted to first team,hence we still have aging Puyol,pique,Abidal is better as a CB,and Mascherano can always fit in perferctly when needed in that position.with the way Adriano has played this season i think it will be economical to allow maxwell and Milllito to look else where.In the midfield,i strongly believe Fabregas will add more dept and different dimension to our predictable style of play,he is willing to join and that will make it a bit easier for us to bring him back.Thiago can be promoted,while i feel Sergi Roberto still need to remain with our team B and can be called when needed in kings cup.Kaita is an asset, i will love him to stay.Bojan should be sent on loan ASAP and get a bigger and fast attacker like Torres or pavlichenko.we will never buy some kind over rated players because Madrid is in the market.they are the team that needed to buy more,while we keep our winning team and add little dept to our squad.

AjanleKoko:

Well . . . it's not that Madrid are smarter, else we wouldn't have won the league more times than they have in the last 21 years (1990-2011) than they have (11 La Liga titles since 1990, while they have 6).  It may have to do with our style of play. Barcelona always want a player to be right for the team. We don't sign a player strictly for his abilities. That makes it hard to sign. In the last 10 years we have signed Riquelme, Henry, Eto'o, Ibra, Villa, Ronaldinho, but we have experienced much more stability from the homegrown or Spanish talent. Be it Puyol, Pique, Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Busquets.

In fact, its when we want to copy Madrid that we end up with disaster. Look at Chyggy and Ibra. As phenomenal as Henry was in England, he just could not cut it at Barca though some might argue that we got him when he was on his last legs. Apart from those two, plus Riquelme, I would say we have got value out of our signings over the last couple of decades. Madrid on the other hand have signed more players, especially continental players, but they have not really done as well as they should have, given the huge transfer budgets.

Oezil would have been a great buy but I don't think he's better than Cesc, or even close. Cesc is obviously doing the Henry - faking injuries and stuff - just to get out of Arsenal. If he comes to Barca, he will play the best football of his life, because he will have to impress the fans.

That said, who is this Jose Angel? And how come there's now little talk about Albert Botia? If we are sending anyone out on loan, it should be either Montoya or Batra. Fontas should stay with the senior team, I like his movement. Plus, it's very difficult to find defenders who can fit into Barca's style.

I agree with Stealthy. We've been very terrible in the transfer market. Under Laporta/Txiki especially, we made some very unsavvy signings:
Henrique - €8m
Keirrison - €14m, which could rise to €16m depending on appearances for the first team
Caceres - €16.5m
Chygrynsky - €25m
and there's the almighty Ibra madness.
Rossell/Zubi have done better as regards transfers. Afellay, Adriano have been really good signings.

The boys are already in london,they will be using Wenger's sporting facilities.
I hope no bad luck sha,lol.

Badluck no dey affect people with a successful destiny like Barca

ogazi007:

The boys are already in london,they will be using Wenger's sporting facilities.
I hope no bad luck sha,lol.

Ogazi we'll inflict a trophyless antidote instead,  lol@ your sarcastic "say"

All roads to Wembley.
I hope our boys are not taking it easy and underestimating the Scummies. But I trust Pep. The boys are fresh from 3 weeks rest, and should be firing on all 8 cylinders .

United have released their team least and they are fielding the side that beat Schalke 2-0 in Gelsekirchen. Giggs, Valencia, Park, and Carrick in the middle, Rooney and Chicarito up front. That's probably their most creative line-up. Which is good, an open game, and the win will be well-deserved by whoever gets it.

Our boys should be up for it. We have world cup winners, Euro Cup Winners, 2 Time CL winners, etc. No stage frights or loss of concentration. no Cryuff curse of 94 I hope. Our team is just beginning to peak.

^^^
The team list looks like an attacking line up,but trust me it will be different ball game in field of play,i am seeing Roney dropping deep to contain our midfield because of his work rate,leaving only Chicarito alone off front for quick counters and mistakes from our back four. sir Ferguson will not play an open game with Barca,he knows better.Manchester united defended more than Madrid in camp nou when they eliminated Barca from CL in 07/08.no team stand a chance against a full Barcelona squad,and i will not be disappointed if he takes more conservative approach to destroy our game.they will be happy to celebrate the trophy even if they will not score us ie own goal.we are Barca,we wanna play and score goals,we celebrate good game than trophy.Forza Barca

Countdown . . . . .

Yes o, count down, let the better side win and of course, the better side remains

honeric01:

^^^^

I don't think he was alive 30 years ago

omode ara mi.

I love this goal . . . .

[flash=400,350]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy1hzMiB14k?fs=1&hl=en_US"[/flash]

Messi Messi,i dont know if he wont be tested for drug after the finals in wembley.the entire team have not rested like they did now in a long while.they are planning on how to stop messi,no one is even sure where he will be coming from.this Barca team is a big problem for many coaches.u will have to plan for iniesta,xavi,alves and may be you will need an additional players to close down villa and pedro.Wahala dey o!

usbcable:

omode ara mi.

i bi small pikin too o

usbcable:

omode ara mi.

You know, Madrid aside, I really like you (in a platonic way oh!). We should get together for a beer or something sometime.

^^^^^

me nko? i no dey drink too much, but i go manager one truck of mountain dew. deal or no deal

honeric01:

^^^^^

  me nko? i no dey drink too much, but i go manager one truck of mountain dew. deal or no deal

You dey on board already. Free drinks for all cules regardless of whether we win at Wembley or not.
I just dey extend hand of fellowship to usb, he's a good guy, and he defends his colors well. Pharoh is also another good guy.

Still relating to Wembley, ZonalMarking.net provided an interesting set of analyses of the 2009 game here.

nice one guys, the Zonal marking stuff was indeed a nice one and their analyses can be buttressed by that towering leap of faith of Messi above VDS and RF to nod in the second goal, anyway Messi plays no false decoys these days. He is Messi and takes on any shape the gaffer wants.

My main concern is that lill rabbit shikarito (apologies to the Prince of Monaco fine-faced Victor Ikpeba), that guy has an uncanny knack for positioning and punishing mistakes plus Rooney's energetic runs but i guess he has Biscuits to contend with, one thing Busi does is hardly putting in a wrong foot for a tackle.

Humility, Respect, all in all we need to relax and enjoy this game. My dream is tonight, I shall reveal later.

yep Eyo, i really respect Man u too. The center ref is a Hungarian, it an all Hungarian outing, i trust no play acting from any side, lets just play this beaurifull game to the fullest.

Where is that lady culeress from the other thread, i was really impressed at her declaration, pls bring her over here man. she will gain a lot from sages like Stealthy and Ajanle

Lol, cules I don laff tire, yall need to go through this thread puleez.


https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-676279.0.html#msg8402556

eyoniggar:

Lol, cules I don laff tire, yall need to go through this thread puleez.


https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-676279.0.html#msg8402556

well, i guess that baba Adinni just wants to be heared, apart from the Pope, who else is more Chuchuous than Spain, anyway if it were so, Nigeria would have virtually won all her matches since time immemorial cos our players pray a lot.

Fortune favors the brave, the resilient and also a bit of luck and other factors, God factor dey too

Edwin van der Sar (born 29 October 1970[2]) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for English club Manchester United. He is the most capped player in the Netherlands national football team's history.
He started his senior career at Ajax and remained there for nine years before moving to Italian club Juventus and then to England, first to Fulham and then to Manchester United. He is one of the few footballers to have won the UEFA Champions League with two different teams, having won it with Ajax in 1995 and Manchester United in 2008, the latter where he was named UEFA Man of the match; he also won the UEFA Cup with Ajax in 1992.
Throughout his long and illustrious career, Van Der Sar has achieved and set numerous records. in the 2008–09 season he set the world league clean sheet record by not conceding a single goal for 1,311 minutes. Along with being the most capped player in Netherlands national team ever, with 130 caps, he is also the oldest player to win the premier league at 40 years and 205 days old. Individually Van Der Sar has won several honours such as Best European Goalkeeper in 1995, 2008, 2009 and 2010, and UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year in 1995 and 2009.
Known for his commanding presence in the penalty area and defence, he is often regarded as the greatest goalkeeper to have played for Manchester United alongside the legendary Peter Schmeichel and also one of the greatest European goalkeepers ever, culled from Google


Such an illustrious career, pity he will bow out with a 2nd defeat against the BLaugrana, any cule in the room say Ai ai

Eto'o, Larsoon the world is talking about this match, everyone is talking ooo, our old acquaintances and foes alike, even mama-gee too, men am getn butterflies like kids on parade.

Interestingly guys, under Pep, we've never lost in any game where Pique, Puyol, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi have all played. We've only failed to win 13 times(13 draws) when they've all played.
In games they've all featured in:
51 played
38 wins
13 draws
0 loss
In games they all started:
29 played
23 wins
6 draws
0 loss

The dirty octopus has started agian.we are Barca octopus gat no sh^^^t on us.aside the first el-classico we have not been able to assembly our full squad in preperation for any game,so i have a good feeling that we can lift our fouth CL trophy.most EPL and manchester united fans are so scared of Barca,yet they badmouth us and says we are overrated.nawa.

ogazi007:

The dirty octopus has started agian.we are Barca octopus gat no sh^^^t on us.aside the first el-classico we have not been able to assembly our full squad in preperation for any game,so i have a good feeling that we can lift our fouth CL trophy.most EPL and manchester united fans are so scared of Barca,yet they badmouth us and says we are overrated.nawa.

1.)STOP BELIEVING THAT THRASH OF A PREDICTION BY AN OCTOPUS. ITS BS.
2.)man U fans are quite scared(and rightly too) of barsa but that may be a problem for barsa fans that are ''over-confident''
3.)THEY BAD MOUTH YOU AS MUCH AS YOU BADMOUTH THEM. SO ITS bosom FOR TAT (or is it tiki4taka )
4.)overrated? never seen/heard/read/dreamt this anywhere till now.

AjanleKoko:

You know, Madrid aside, I really like you (in a platonic way oh!). We should get together for a beer or something sometime.

its a mutual feeling. but too bad just like honeric I drink nasmalt/[b]5[/b]alive/pepsi e.t.c.

An open letter to Barcelona

I guess the whole world now sees this team for what it truly is. . .

http://football-talk.co.uk/23906/open-letter-barcelona-fc/

@holydante
That post wasn't written by an Arsenal fan. .you'd have seen it 'somewhere' in there and if you noticed he praised Barca's style of play but found it odd that a great club with so much talent would resort to that type of tactics to get results. So, because he wrote the blog a and an Arsenal fan posted it on your thread. .it means he's an Arsenal fan? your reasoning is REALLY shallow.For all i care. .he could be a Madrid fan(you watched the match, no need to interpret how you qualified), an Inter Milan fan (Yes, they won but that was marred by so many dodgy calls).

Let adults read and post sensible stuff, not the jibberish which you just spewed (with insults) that i deleted.

v3:

@holydante
That post wasn't written by an Arsenal fan. .you'd have seen it 'somewhere' in there and if you noticed he praised Barca's style of play but found it odd that a great club with so much talent would resort to that type of tactics to get results. So, because he wrote the blog a and an Arsenal fan posted it on your thread. .it means he's an Arsenal fan? your reasoning is REALLY shallow.For all i care. .he could be a Madrid fan(you watched the match, no need to interpret how you qualified), an Inter Milan fan (Yes, they won but that was marred by so many dodgy calls).

Let adults read and post sensible stuff, not the jibberish which you just spewed (with insults) that i deleted.

so responding to a post from an MOD has suddenly become an age defining act.

Praising someone and finally rubbishing the performance amounts to nothing and why would someone be bothered about such at this stage when the train is moving forward, it irks me to see people talk about diving and play acting only in relation to the few Barcelona players who had every right to do so in the face of rough tactics from Madrid.

The title of what you embedded here reads one thing, your comment is '' guess the whole world now sees this team for what it truly is. . .'' and can you buttress what you mean by that

Deleting my comment? well i have nothing to say to that but oga, i aint no kid and that gibberish you refer to will always be directed to such article whenever and wherever it is raised.

I'd love to see Pep play Masch over Abidal in defence.
My preferred line up:
Valdes; Alves, Masch, Pique, Puyol; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Pedro, Messi, Villa.

Abidal is yet to hit top form since his return and with Valencia playing down the right for United, playing a not-so-fit Abidal will be suicidal.