Ahead of our biggest game of the season, Barcelona born Guillem Balague has asked RoM to conduct a debate with a Barca blogger.
Part One of the Republik of Mancunia – Guillen Balague – FCB News battle
Guillem: At first glance, this is a fairly evenly matched contest between the respective title winners of their domestic leagues – and for once, the final that many predicted and wanted to see: between the two strongest sides on the continent. So, starting with FCB News, in the eyes of the fans, how do the La Liga Champions match up to their Premier league counterparts?
FCB NEWS: Barça are the better team. Last year’s semi final is a good indicator of how the two teams will play with United pinned back for most of the game looking to hit Barça on the counter attack. However, this season Barça are a much better team while United are more or less at the same level. I believe Barça have more potential match winners, while United will base all their hopes on Cristiano Ronaldo, Barça have five players capable of winning us the game. Xavi and Iniesta have both grown as players since guiding Spain to victory in Euro 2008, and are more capable of creating the chances we failed to make last season.
The 96 goals scored this season by our attacking trio of Messi, Eto’o and Thierry Henry speaks for itself. Thierry Henry has improved immensely this season, his poor form last year saw him dropped to the bench for both semi final games.
Republik of Mancunia: Messi, Eto’o and Henry, amongst others, would be enough to give any defender cold sweats, but Vidic and Rio can be confident they will keep them out. For all the possession Barça had against United last season, Van der Sar didn’t have a save to make.
Barcelona’s strength is clearly their attack which suits United fairly well given the great defence we have. Whilst the right back position is still fairly shaky, the pairing of Vidic and Ferdinand is the best in Europe. This season, Edwin Van der Sar broke the European record for the longest time without conceding a goal, which is certainly an achievement for the keeper, but a record that would not have been possible without his centre backs.
FCB News: I will concede that Vidic and Rio are probably the best central defensive pairing around at the moment but they will have their work cut out to stop Barça this year. As I said, Barça have three lethal strikers to contain who will be served by Xavi and Iniesta: two of the best passers in the game, while the Barça defence will only have to worry about Ronaldo.
I believe United’s goal scoring chances will be limited. People always say that Barça have problems defensively but teams generally have very few scoring opportunities against us. In La Liga we have the best defensive record. I imagine if Rooney plays on the left he will play most of the game tracking back to support Evra against Messi while Park will be similarly occupied by Iniesta and Henry on the other flank. Perhaps the main threat to Barça will be if Giggs gets a chance to look for a through ball to Ronaldo, but I repeat United will not get near our penalty area very often.
Chelsea only created chances when Barça were a goal down and chasing the game, and it is interesting to note that in the two semi final ties against United and Chelsea we only conceded two goals which came from the long range efforts of Scholes and Essien. With a bit of luck on Wednesday any long range shots from United will fly well over the crossbar.
Republik of Mancunia: According to UEFA, Manchester United have had 87 shots on target in the competition this year, an average of 7.25 every match. Barcelona have had 83 shots on target, an average of 6.92 every match. United also have the best defensive record in the competition this season, conceding on average just 0.5 goals per game played. Barça have the 9th best record in the competition, conceding an average of 1.08 goals per game. So, we’ve had more shots on goal than Barcelona and we’ve conceded fewer goals than Barcelona, so I’m not entirely sure where the logic is that our chances will be limited…?
Guillem: I’m surprised neither of you have made more of Barcelona’s defensive selection problems ahead of this final and, in my opinion, their problems at the back could be decisive. It is certainly going to test Guardiola’s managerial capabilities to the full: speaking of which…it`s the relatively inexperienced new kid on the block going up against the old master. How do the two coaches match up?
FCB NEWS: Pep Guardiola is the better coach. Yes, I know a lot of United fans will laugh at this one. Sir Alex Ferguson may have the experience but it took him more than ten years as United’s coach before he won the Champions League….
Republik of Mancunia: … I might point out that United had the “three foreigners” rule to battle against when Sir Alex first created a team good enough to win the Champions League. United had to pick three players from Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane, Dennis Irwin, Eric Cantona and Andrei Kanchelskis….
FCB NEWS: United fans were calling for Ferguson`s head during his first seasons in charge and he didn’t win the Champions League until after the three foreigners rule had been changed! Guardiola has already become a legend at Barcelona in his first season. As a player he was fortunate enough to play under such maestros as Johan Cruyff, Bobby Robson, Louis Van Gaal and Fabio Capello: learning from all of them and his attention to detail is second to none. Barça also wisely sent Gerard Piqué to spy on United for four years so we know exactly what to expect!
Republik of Mancunia: Guardiola inherited the second best side in Spain when he got the Barça job. United were in the relegation zone when Ferguson came to United. Messi, Eto’o, Henry, Abidal, Toure, Gudjohnsen, Hleb and Keita were all born outside of Spain but fortunately Pep doesn’t have to pick just three of those players to face United, which was the situation Ferguson was first presented with as United manager. To argue Guardiola is a better coach than Sir Alex Ferguson is hard to respond to. When Guardiola has won fourteen league titles, six European titles, and thirteen domestic cups, then you can start comparing the two. For the time being, the two are leagues apart. Sir Alex Ferguson doesn’t need to learn from maestros, he is the maestro!
Guillem: Something that both of these managers have excelled at is fostering a tremendous team spirit and keeping their players hungry. How much will that be a factor?
FCB NEWS: Barça will have more hunger and team spirit. The English teams always believe that one of their advantages over foreign teams is their greater team spirit and work rate. Chelsea believed they would outdo Barça in this respect, yet it was Barça who fought back with ten men to clinch the tie. The team spirit at Camp Nou this season is second to none. Heads may have dropped in the past when going behind, but this season we have come from behind on several occasions.
The fact that we have so many home grown players obviously helps in this respect and on Wednesday we will probably start with seven players who started their careers in the youth ranks of the club. Of the other four players, Toure, Keita and Eto’o are all battlers, and even Thierry Henry has proved this season that he will run his socks off for the team, and nobody wants a winner`s medal more than him.
Republik of Mancunia: Chelsea may have believed that team spirit was enough to get past Barcelona but they didn’t have enough quality to match that. They are 7 points behind us in the league this season so clearly Barcelona shouldn’t expect the same standard from us. We have team spirit and quality, as the Champions of the strongest league in Europe.
United have just equalled Liverpool’s league title records and now have the opportunity to go within one European Cup of their total, which makes us as hungry as ever.
Johan Cruyff might think we’ve got a team full of foreigners, but he hasn’t checked out our squad, obviously. Last season we had five homegrown players in our team for the final (with a further four Englishman) and this season we have Jonny Evans added to the mix.
Leave your comments on this blog and have it out with the Spaniards at Balague’s site.
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scott there is nothing i love to read more than when facts winn a fight
uniteds chances will be limited
no they wont and heres why
love it
That FCB guy is talking out of his ass
“Pep Guardiola is the better manager” Excuse me, but in which planet?
The FCB News guy is simply trying to wind us up with such ridiculous comments. 1 league title and you think you are better than Alex Ferguson. Forget winning 11 league titles, first be in charge of Barcelona for 11 years and then we’ll talk.
But he’s right about Xavi and Iniesta having the ability to control the game through their passing. This is probably the only thing that we have to watch out for. Anderson, Carrick & Giggs/Scholes will have their work cut out against these 2.
The Barca guy comes across as a complete T W a T
not to mention the fact that, but for a dodgy referee, the third best team in england would have cruised past barca.
If Barca’s players are as arrogant as this, than we hould not worry at all.
Have FCB NEWS forgotten that Barca was extremely lucky to be in the final in the fisrt place (not that I am complaining). For all their attacking flair they could only manage a single goal in second leg’s injury time.
We should be clear favourites tomorrow. Barcas shaky defence, and the fact that two of their main players are not match fit should swing it our way.
I hope we get a result against their lot and shut them up. FOR SIR MATT !
barca are up their own asses, and this guy is the epitome of that fact.
The Barca guy defintielt has the blinkers on!Never mentioned how pathetic the La Liga is this year?And how can he say only Ronaldo is our threat?He never heard of Rooney,Tevez,Giggs,Scholes,Carrick and even O’Shea!!
Great stuff, that Barca fan was a fucking dick. The cheek of him saying that runt guardiola is better than Sir Alex,
Complete twat..FCB News guy…how in the hell can he ever compare Pep SAF? Crazy..
Guillem annoys me, whenever ROM counters FCB he pops out from nowhere and jumps to another question. Anyway there is not much point debating with FCB. All he can say is Barca are better, super, great, fantastic, more hungry, more ( )… etc. Should have been a more sensible person.
jorju hahahaha my thoughts exactly
The FCB guy should show some respect. Guardiola better than SAF?? And come on, if barca played in the PL or the Calccio their record wouldn’t be half as good. They’re great and all, but it’s also true that they play in the weakest of the 3 big leagues, and the one with the worst defences.
jorju i bloody agree(“,) !!!
Very cocky and arrogant this guy..thought you handled yourself well, especially with the restraint, facts and statistics.
“Sir Alex Ferguson doesn’t need to learn from maestros, he is the maestro!”
That was nothing but genius. I’ve never seen better use of italics.
that FCB guy is really bias. if all he thinks is attack win everything, go check out that Euro match between holland and italy.
a super attack is useless against a good defense.
Well, let’s wait a minute – Barcelona CAN control the game. They did against UTD last year for 180 minutes, they did against the RentBoyz again this year. BUT they were beaten last year when all their control did not yield one shot on goal; they were fucking lucky this year that that big twat Drogba couldn’t score – not once, but twice – when he was in alone on the keeper (not to mention a series of refereeing decisions that ALL went in Barca’s favour).
So, OK, Xavi and Iniesta and Messi can run around with the ball but can they penetrate UTD’s two defensive walls ? That’s the question which will be resolved tomorrow night. The rest, as Hamlet might have said, ain’t silence but bullshit.
Better than saf?
I could manage barca and get them to the semi final of the champions league, lets be honest the ref got them over that hurdle.
though he was very arrogant. and you handled it very well and came across much much more astute than he did.
well done.
That Barcelona bloke don’t half chat shit. What a numpty!
After reading thru the shit that the FCB guy had said i want United to crush Barca and show europe who is the champion. Reading thru all of fcb comments is making me sick.
very interesting read from the FCB News. Obviously they will favour their team and put a positive spin on their strenghts and our weaknesess.
however, we realise that as fans we’ll always be biased in favour of our team and try to get supporting evidence to back our claim as to why we are best and why we’re favourites to win.
but trying to be objective for one moment, we’ll see that Barca have the added mental quality to stay with it and not drop their heads and keep playing there game. you have to give them credit for the way they still played their football dispite being down to 10 men with 20 or 30 mins to play. knowing that if Chelsea score they’re out, but playing with the hope that if they get one clear chance then they’ll find the net and go through. which is exactly what they did. so that takes a lot of mental strength and self belief to carry it out. you have to give them credit for this and that is down to their coach Pep.
the other observation is that we all know that their 5 attackers – Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Henry and Eto’o are dangerous and can win games on their own, so any team playing them no matter how good the defence are will be very busy. especially when they keep the ball so well and move it around so fluidly.
the reason why their defence in La Liga was so good was because not many teams could get at them or get the ball off them.
it’s a bit cherlish of FCB News to say that Ronaldo is our only dangerman. I hope the rest of Barca team thinks this way as we’ll punish them with Rooney, Carrick and Tevez. The strength of Man United is that we can vary our attack, and the solidity of our defence and most importantly raise their game both individually and collectively in big games. Plus we have a manager in SAF who now understands what it takes to win in Europe and especially in the final. No one is saying it’s going to be a walk in the park for United and that we just have to turn up and collect the trophy. because it will be a battle, with lots of key battles going on and players trying the best to win those battles.
The key area I see it, is in midfield and defence. Looking at the midfield of Barca – Iniesta and Xavi both classy players who will try and dictate the tempo of the game and create chances for the 3 forwards. For Man United, it’s Anderson, Carrick and probably Giggs, who equally can control midfield and have that more energy and defensive mindset to stop these two from controlling midfield.
this means that their defence on paper is weaker, especially with the loss of Alves, Abidal and Marquez. As good as Puyol and Pique are, you need you’re best defenders in their position and playing regularly. Yaya Toure and Slyvinho are not as good as the absent players they are filling in for. which means that this is an area that United can exploit to devastating effect.
i also think that Man United can vary their attacks and change their formation at will. In Berbatov, Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo plus Giggs for that matter SAF can and will probably use the options best suited to contain Barcas attack but also put pressure on them to win the game. this is something that Barca don’t do because they are comfortably playing their system of Messi, Henry and Eto’o in attack supported by Xavi and Iniesta – plus the majority of times it has worked.
however, this is a Man United team who can adopt any formation and have the tools and know-how to break any team down to get the result they want. which is why they should beat Barca tomorrow night in Rome.
Feel free to share your opinions on Balague’s site.
I really like Barcelona as a football club, and feel an affinity for them because I love the city so much, but how dare this pleb even dare to compare Pep with SAF? the audacity is unbeleivable and I thought your reaction to the statement was spot on – it is hard to respond to because it doesn’t warrant a response.
I also can’t beleive the amount of disrespect they are showing towards the rest of the team – they only have to worry about Ronaldo!?!?!? well, good luck to them if that is all they will be doing, sure, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, and to a much lesser degree Eto’o and Henry are all dangerous players, thats why we will be marking them all very tightly – FCB, at your own peril will you only worry about Ronaldo alone.
Excellent work STR. I am proud to have you representing all United fans when questioned by this smarmy git!
Glory Glory!
Pep Guardiola is the better coach…Of course i’m gonna laugh!
Is that Guillem “Ronaldo has signed for Real” Balague?
Scott why did you bother when you found out that the FCB guy is a total idiot? Guardiola the better coach? ALL United fans will laugh, along with nearly every other fan in the world, Guardiola got a team, added nothing to it, sold Ronaldinho and Deco and now he’s the master? He’s taught Barcelona nothing, he’s developed no one and what Barcelona are doing is nothing new, under Raijkaard they were better as Ronaldinho was probably the best player in the past 5 years to play football, Messi is nothing on a Ronaldinho that was on fire, Messi is infact a poor mans Ronaldinho, the La Liga is a very weak league, no long are Zidane, Figo etc… plying their trade there, giants have fallen and Barcelona are standing strong, they shouldn’t have gone through against Chelsea, they created little as the FCB guy clearly didn’t understand, why did Cech have to make his first save in the return leg? 70th min or so? By that time Chelsea could’ve had many more goals but poor decisions and finishing cost them. I hope we win, Barcelona are class at passing, the best in the world, they can dominate possession, but set out to prevent chances and put in some hard work and you’re on easy street, they didn’t look like scoring against Chelsea and shouldn’t have done and they didn’t against us, infact, we looked the more dangerous team in their half…
Well done Scott, you RoMped home there! As for ‘Manuel’ of FCB, well, he’s from Barcelona…
All of the signals we are getting from the Barcelona camp are inconclusive. Although we’re led to believe that Barcelona are the underdogs – an opinion which many fans of that club have echoed – it also seems that reeling off a list of the best and most prodigious talent would have us believe that they’re firm favourites. Which is it to be? It’s suddenly a case of Messi, Eto’o, Henry vs. only Ronaldo? They’ve been given this status and should be using it to their advantage, yet here they are making a fantasy football debate out of it.
Let’s be honest, their names don’t fill United fans with the dread that they might think. We United fans love a good fact, and they don’t come more conclusive than those that Scott threw into the mix. Call it overconfidence – which it may well be, we’ll soon find out – but we’ve developed a firm belief that this United side can go on and continue to do great things. Need we even get started on Barcelona’s unflattering record against English opposition. Wasn’t an almost identical frontline supposed to brush aside Arsenal with ease? I’m sure they can counter that with a nonchalant statement about newfound belief..
As for the comment about Pep being a better coach than Fergie, I think that’s completely disrespectful. Did he really need to go there? Those were some laughable misconceptions in comparing the two. Perhaps we should let Guardiola take over at Real Betis, come back in around 20 years time? The fact is, as Scott rightly pointed out, that there is a difference between reigniting a sleeping force, and building one back up from scratch. Pep winning the Champions League will not change that.
Pep better than Fergie… even Emily will tell ya the answer.
@Stephen : that is the same Guillem “Ronaldo has signed for Real” Balague and also a dippers fan i guess as he has Lpool content on his site.may be a scout for the FSW, lol
typical spanish cunt bigging his team up . no respect for the opposition , n here i was thinking barca have better morals than madrid !!
the fact is Man United do not fear Barca players. we respect their players as they are great and dangerous. no doubt about that, but we are not awe struck and we have confidence in our team, SAF and our system and tactics to beat them tomorrow night.
Barca News twat should be reminded that Fergy is a Lion..nd should never be compared to lil Pep…as my grand ma would say only a goat that is tired of life invites a lion to dinner!!
I gave up on the interview after the second paragraph.God how did you put up with him Scott?United can win both ways.They can attack and expose them at the back or they can play more defensively.Barca can’t do both and that’s what’s killing them.
Cheers Wazza!
the best part is when he talks about Sir Alex taking a long time to win the CL as a reason for Guardiola being a better manager than SAF!
Excuse me, but has Guardiola won one yet?
For all you know, he may never win it!
Anon, how can he not win it?
Who’ve United got? Ronaldo, Rooney… that’s it! Barcelona? Messi, Eto’o, Buddha, Henry, Santa, Iniesta, God, Xavi…
I just hope they take mercy on us when it gets to 5-0.
For a start Barca shouldn’t even be in the final – and they bloody know it. ‘Fought back with ten men and clinched the tie’ – my arse – ‘fought back with a bit of help from inept officials’ would be a little more honest.
On to the interview though…to say United are at the same level as last season just shows he hasn’t got a clue, but then again this is from someone who thinks Guardiola is the better manager so it’s not such a surprise.
The point this Barca fan is missing is that La Liga doesn’t come close to the Premier League and they’re playing a side who won it comfortably in the end (not that it’s easy to admit that, lol). Personally I hope United batter them.
“Pep Guardiola is the better manager” HA HA HA HA…..HA HA HA
If United play with focus, discipline and immagination then they will win tomorrow and beat Barcelona.
That FCB bloke isn’t a very good debater. He took a bit of a raping from you, Scott, in all fairness. He had to be a bit desperate to claim that Guardiola is better than Fergie.
I can’t even believe you allowed that idiot Ballache to interview you, the guy’s an utter vadge and is waay to stuck up Benitez’s(and generally anything that has to do with Spain’s) ar$e.
@Stephen: yes he is and he is also Gulliem “I can confirm Man United has agreed a deal for Fernando Torres” Ballague. The guy talks out of his deriere.
How do i say it, probably you guys from Manchester may not understand it, but as a fan fro Malaysia, I really love both clubs we are speaking about here. For Spanish league, I am a fan of Barca, and for English league, i love MU, and i feel very strongly for both. It’s a shame i feel a lot stronger for both than for my own local club hahaha.
But believe me, it’s been my dream to have this final. This time we have both of the club in their top form, with both Ronaldo and Messi in fantastic condition. It is really a dream.
Having MU and Barca in the CL final like this is a victory to the world of football.
As for the interview, hats off to Scott. Clear win for Scott. The FCB News guy is making me laugh.. Firstly with “Barça also wisely sent Gerard Piqué to spy on United for four years so we know exactly what to expect!” …spy? hahaha i take that purely as a joke
And secondly comparing Pep with SAF.. Just trying to make a comparison is unthinkable, but saying Pep is better… LOL!!!
Pep was an immense player, i really love him, but it wouldnt even cross my mind to compare him with SAF as manager yet.
Anyway, let’s have a real final!! Cheers to football!
Fuckin Idiots. Stick to watching the dippers Guillem you horrible cunt. Arrogant bastards. Nowt else to be added.
Well done Scott for the interview. You exposed their fundamental issue at player and fan level: they do not know what is going to hit them tomorrow. Totally clueless and that is the best platform for us to win the game.
Let them think Guardiola is better than SAF and Ronaldo the sole threat. Let them go down quietly in agony and anxiety and ignorance. When they wake up to the facts it will be too late.
cantona7 if I was neutal I would agree with you. But I am not.
So fuck the cheers to football fuck the 2 billion watching make sure you destroy every inch of their game and bring this fucking trophy to Old Trafford!
Some of the statements they’ve come out with, both within and outside the club, suggest that Barcelona players and supporters think they deserve to win the cup as a right before a ball has been kicked.
I really hope we shake them to the foundations tomorrow. Remember all that shite Totti came out with, before we hammered Roma 7-1, saying what he was going to do to us?
scott, i feel bad that you even had to address this idiot. unbelievable arrogance when supposedly us united fans are the arrogant ones! the only threat is ronaldo? even if that were the case, stopping ‘only’ ronaldo is no easy task. i dropped a comment over there, hope it’s posted.
Scott god bless you for dealing with that shite.
Barcelona shouldn’y even be in Rome. That ref let them through. Fighting to the end yeah right. If the ref had had even a half decent game they would have been dead n buried long before injury time. You do wonder if the ref had been bribed. Mind you couldn’t really happen to a better team(well that shower of shite from anusfield. that would have been so sweet).
Hope the Barca players are thinking the same as their fans. Really wind up Rooney and the boys.
Let them have their moment. This time tomorrow it will be a different story.
COME ON YOU REDDDDDDDDDDDDSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
I love when scott pulls out hard numbers and statistics to utterly dismantle the opposition’s point. There was so much wrong with what the “Blaugrana obsessed Englishman who lives in Barcelona” said. I can’t really think of any logical explanation of how anyone biased or not could think that.
I’m very disappointed by you Scott…..
Disappointed you didn’t call that guy a twat.
Giving Guillem Balague a platform to further boost his profile and ego…the shame of it.