25.4.10

Barcelona X Inter

FC Barcelona is at the beginning of a make-or-break week. Wednesday they will try to revert a 3-1 deficit from last weeks first leg of the Champions League semifinal at San Siro against Inter Milan.
The good thing is that they are playing at home. The dice is loaded against them on pretty much every other aspect. Jose Mourinho doesnt lose many ties, let alone when he is carrying a 2 goal cushion from the first leg.

Barcelona's keys to success:
1. Play your game and cut out the errors. Look at it this way: Inter cannot play any better and Barcelona cannot play much worse than they did in the first leg. Despite all that + poor refereeing Barcelona bossed the game in the final 15-20 minutes.
2. 1-3 away is not as bad as it seems. Infact it is better than 0-1 on many counts. In either case, you need a 2 goal win in the return leg to advance. So if the score is 0-0 at half-time dont panic.
Inter will tire out.
3. If Inter score early, it gets a bit more complicated but not much worse or difficult that it already is. Keep your poise.
4. Score early, keep the crowd in the game.
5. Tactically, keep the shape and be patient.
6. Personnel, Toure over Busquets. Busquets looks like a push over among Inter midfield (althought Guardiola will most probably start Busquets)

Keys for Inter
1. Keep things simple and in front of you.
2. Play the same line-up. This will take some cojones from JM but this is his best chance to beat Barcelona. If he sacrifices one of the forwards for a midfielder, I say Inter will lose the game and the tie.
3. Hope Sneijder and Maicon recover soon enough to start the game.
4. Put someone on Xavi or whose sole job is to disrupt the Xavi-Messi link-up. This frustrates both these players and their patience will run out at some point and the Xavi tries to push up trying to do everything himself, and so does Messi who drops further back to get the ball. a Win-win situation for Inter.

Conclusion:
Inter surprised me with their positive play in the first leg. If they do the same in Camp Nou and win the tie, they will be deserved winners.
We have a cracker in store for us. I cant wait for Wednesday.

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