March 2010 - Real Betis, Valladolid and Almeria battle Barcelona
Real Betis 3 - Barcelona 2 (29th March 2008)
Lowly placed Real Betis proved tough opposition for Barcelona in this away fixture for Barcelona which proved to be a thriller. In the first half Barcelona looked impressive and likely to walk away with the 3 points, taking a 13th minute lead with a Krkic goal, and then a 15th minute Eto'o goal to give Barcelona a decisive lead early on the game. With the first half dominated by the power of Barcelona, it looked as though Barcelona would soon grab a third to kill the game off even before the half time sangria.
This game turned out to be a tale of two halves with 2nd half substitutions for Real Betis with Sobis going off for Gonzalez and Odonkor for Capi, Betis stepped up to contrl the second half and to grab a 63rd minute strike from Edu and then to get awarded a penalty in the 75th minute, which Edu missed and which would have taken the score to 2-2. Alas, the surpise fight back by Real Betis was not complete and Betis fought back for a 3-2 home victory with goals for Juanito (76th minute) and Edu (78th minute) to make for a dramatic finale.
Barcelona still have a chance with 8 games still to be played. Their next home game is v Getafe on Sunday 6th April.
Barcelona 4 - Valladolid 1 (23rd March 2008)
This was a decisive Easter time victory for Barcelona at the Nou camp with an Eto'o goal in the first half and three second half goals scored by Iniesta and 2 for Krkic. The score was equal though, at half time after Valladoid scored a 31st minute penalty, but the might of FC Barcelona dominated the 2nd half and there only ever looked like there would be one winner.
La Liga rivals Real Madrid surprisingly lost at home, 2-3 to Valencia and this made the 4-1 vistory for Barcelona even sweeter and gave the Catalan fans hope again that the league title can be captured again. With the La Liga gap now down to 4 points again and with Barca still in the Champions League, there is a lot to play for in the coming months.
Barcelona next play this coming Saturday away to Real Betis on the 29th March and then at home v Getafe on the 6th of April. Barcelona football tickets are available still and can be booked with a number of other Barcelona hospitality events.
Almeria 2 Barcelona 2 (16th March 2008)
It has been a season of ups and downs for Barcelona with some excellent results and then some disapointing games in between and this game was one of the disapointing results. There was plenty of incentive for Barcelona with Real Madrid having lost the day before and the chance thus of moving to within 5 points of the top position in the table.
The game started off with plenty of promise and free flowing play from Barcelona and this adventurous play was rewarded quite early on with a 17th minute goal from Krkic for Barcelona. Pulido though equalised only 16 minutes later to leave the game at 1-1 going into half-time.
Thiery Henry came on in the 54th minute and the difference was immediately clear with Henry setting up the 57th minute goal for Eto'o. It should then have been 3-1 but Henry missed a great chance and this miss proved to be vital with Almeria scoring a 85th equaliser via the feet of Kalu Uche. The last 5 minutes played out to a 2-2 draw and missed opportunity for Barcelona.
FC Barcelona 1 Villareal 2 (9th March 2008)
The despair was there for all to see in the fans faces, as Barcelona finished a disapointing game with a 1-2 home loss against a strong and handy Villareal side. In midweek Barcelona advanced to the last 8 of the Champions league with a 1-0 home win against Celtic of Scotland thus the week was one of mixed fortunes for the Catalan side overall and progress in the Champions league will help to alleviate the disapointing league form.
In this game it was Villareal who scored the vital goal; a goal by Tomasson for Villareal in the 81st minute. Tomasson's goal along with Senna's 31st minute penalty proved enough despite a Xavi goal for Barcelona in the 67th minute. Henry, Eto'o and Ronaldinho all started for Barcelona but the balance of the team was still lacking and surely in the summer time, the defence will need strengthening. Rumours still abound that Mourinho will take over at the Nouc Camp at the end of this season although this still remains speculation.
Barcelona next game is away to Almeria next weekend and then at home on March 23rd to Valladolid. You can also buy tickets for Sevilla games with Spanish Football Tickets.
Atlético Madrid 4 - 2 Barcelona (3rd March 2008)
This was always going to be a tough game for Barcelona with Atlético always hard to play against in the Spanish capital. It was Ronaldinho and Barcelona though who took the lead, with an excellent Ronaldinho over-head kick for a 30th minute goal, only for Barcelona then to find themselves going into half-time 2-1 down after goals for Atlético from Aguero and Rodríguez.
The second half started off sprightly but then chances were hard to come by and it was Atlético who took the initiate again by scoring from a Forlan taken penalty, after Puyol fouled Aguero. Aguero then scored to take it to 4-1 for Atlético only for Eto'o to bring it back to what turned out to be the final score, 4-2. After a fifteen game unbeaten run, Barcelona were beaten quite convincingly this time.
Barcelona though will surely have their sites set on the Champions League game this week at home to Celtic. You can also buy tickets for Seville games with Spanish football tickets.
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