Unfortunately

Well, here it is friends. Stuttgart’s biggest match of the season (by quite some margin) looms large and all sights will be set on an upset of the David v Goliath variety. I think I most often prefer the away leg first in a home/away matchup like this but in this case it’s beneficial for Die Schwaben to start at home; Stuttgart need all the home support and advantage they can get to keep this thing remotely close heading to Camp Nou.




Current form:



Where to begin? Clearly this is a confident Stuttgart side. Since Gross’ appointment the team has improved by leaps and bounds. Fresh off a 5-1 drubbing of FC Köln, Stuttgart are now firmly back in the Bundesliga Euro race and have won 4 of their last 5 domestic matches. After limping through the first half of the season under Babbel and barely making it out of a pretty weak group in the Champions League they are clearly peaking at the right time. All of this, of course, means nothing if Barcelona plays to their potential.



Barcelona, for all the injury news and whatever else you want to drum up, are by far the better team. Current CL title holders, they’ve won 6 straight competitions all told and only recently picked up their first loss in La Liga. Since then they’ve bounced back this past weekend dispatching Racing Santander rather comfortably 4-0.



Other things to look at-



Injuries:



It looks like Boka won’t figure into the home leg after dislocating his shoulder in training before the match against Köln. Sami Khedira should hopefully be match fit in time to start on Tuesday night, but it’s not looking likely.



Barcelona is a little trickier to predict. With several injuries heading into the weekend some of those question marks were answered with Toure returning. On top of that Pep Guardiola has already confirmed that Dani Alves and Xavi will both be ready for Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Zlatan Ibrahimovic injured his ankle over the weekend and is doubtful to start, but is still on the squad traveling to Germany. Keita and Abidal are both out. Xavi was expected to be out for at least another week and it’s unfortunate for Stuttgart that he’s recovered so quickly.



Weather:



Tuesday night calls for chilly and a potentially snowy/rainy mix with temps around the mid 30s Fahrenheit. Say what you want about how they’re all professionals and they should all be able to perform and be effected equally blah blah blah, I’ll still assume somebody like Pogrebnyak, born and bred in the cold, can handle it better than a Catalan-heavy, warmer climated Barcelona side. Again I am not saying this swings anything in the favor of Stuttgart to win, but slippery conditions even out the playing field at least a little bit and we need ALL the help we can get.



Weather and injuries and everything else aside it’s still a very uphill battle for Stuttgart. Frankly, most of Barcelona’s B squad would be difficult for Stuttgart to overcome. But as we all know anything can happen any given day and this is no different. The key is keeping it close and keeping their wits. I can’t help but be reminded of how rattled and nervy Stuttgart were facing Sevilla in Spain in the CL group stages. Stuttgart cannot afford even 15 minutes like that. Hopefully they can build off that earlier experience and play levelheaded from the start. That being said it’s a bigger experience now with a bigger club and far more media exposure. Those first 15 minutes or so will be telling. If they can hold the fort for that initial onslaught and settle into the atmosphere it’ll be a big step in the right direction. If this gets out of hand early, if Barcelona scores once or twice then there’s no hope for the return leg. I think realistically for Stuttgart to have ANY chance of advancing they need to come out of here with a win or draw at worst. Yeah, Rubin Kazan won at Camp Nou earlier in the CL group stage but I wouldn’t count on something like that happening again, especially with what’s at stake now.



So what’s their strategy heading in? Initially I thought something along the lines of Chelsea’s strategy last year could work best. Yep, not the prettiest, but effective. Just sit everyone in the box and defend, then strike on a quick counter-attack or two. Unfortunately, I don’t think Stuttgart have the quality of player to defend like that. Our defense has been questionable all year. And while I thought Chelsea’s strategy was effective I thought they allowed Barcelona too much time of possession. No, Stuttgart will need to attack a bit more. Here’s what Hleb had to say on the matter:



“We’ll get our chances and we must take them. We’ll need to be solid at the back and we can’t afford to make any mistakes. At Barcelona, every individual player has the ability to decide a game all by himself, so it’s not enough if you just concentrate on one or two players. If we are compact though, communicate with one another, show no fear and perform at our very best, a surprise result is possible.”



It’s true we’ll get a chance here and there. The difference between winning and losing will be converting one or two of the rare chances we get. We’ll need Cacau circa last weekend efficiency to do that. Playing a bit more compact would be a good idea too. As was mentioned pretty much everyone on Barcelona is a potential game changer so Stuttgart can’t allow acres of space to let someone like a Messi dribble anywhere at will.




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A BLOG DEDICATED TO THE MOST PRESTIGOUS CLUB IN THE WORLD

Hard Worked Win - FC Barcelona -2 , Malaga - 1




FC Barcelona needed a late goal from Lionel Messi to see off a very determined Malaga side at the Camp Nou. The scoreline could give an impression of a close encounter, but it never was. Barca was dominating all around the match and Malaga was hell bound not to concede a goal. A sensational strike from Pedro in the 68th minute broke the deadlock. But Valdo equalised in the 80th minute threatening to spoil Barca's night, but an 84th minute Lionel Messi strike gave us a very well deserving victory. Real Madrid earlier moved to the top with a 5-1 thrashing of Tenerife, that should have provided enough motivation for the players to work tirelessly to retain the top spot. Guardiola used a different formation in this match with Iniesta playing in the front left, Pedro on the right and Messi playing behind Ibrahmovic. Xavi and Busquets played in the midfield. The defense saw Alves coming back from injury, Pique and Puyol formed the central defense and Maxwell positioned himself in the left back position.

Why Barca Defense is struggling?

Now, this seems to be the question in everyones mind nowadays. FC Barcelona has been uncharacteristically sloppy in their recent games, especially their defense. A look at the stats may give a sense of re-assuring to Barca fans, but the stats not always tell the true story. In the last eight games we have conceded four goals with winning six, drawing and losing one each. Now in a normal scenario this should be considered as a very good defensive record. But a closer look shows that we have conceded four in last four games while scoring eight goals, still a very good record many would argue. But for the fellows who has been watching Barca defense's recent performance these stats are of no comfort. Against Racing our defense had a good night but the problem performance came against Atletico Madrid and Stutgart yesterday. Our defense were constantly bombarded by waves of attacks by these two teams, something which rarely happens with Barca.

Barca Escapes the Stuttgart Scare ;Stuttgart - 1, Barca - 1


Barca vs Stuttgart Match Highlights

Barca survived an absolute onslaught from Stuttgart and came out with an un-deserving 1-1 draw. The crucial away goal could prove to be very crucial in the second leg for Barca. Cacau put Stuttgart ahead in the first half but Ibrahmovic equalised for Barca in the early second half. Johan Cryuff has described FC Barcelona's performance in last match as their worst, he should have waited till this match. This was the worst Barca Performance for last three or four season. I cannot remember a match were we were so hopelessly over-run by the opponents. We looked like a second division team in the first half, but did well in the second half. We were up against the German efficiency which we usually associate with their national team, and failed miserably to stamp our authority. Guardiola chose Marquez and Pique to be in the defense, Puyol and Maxwell played the full back roles. The midfield was made up of Toure, Busquets and Xavi. The front line had Iniesta, Ibra and Messi.