Photo Courtesy of Oh-Barcelona

In American sports, pundits and journalists throw around the phrase "trap game" when describing a game that would be looked over in anticipation of more important matters in the immediate future.  With a pivotal UEFA Champions League fixture with Inter Milan on Tuesday and El Clásico on Sunday against Real Madrid, it would be human nature to suggest that Barcelona would somewhat neglect their due diligence and not focus solely on their match against Athletic Bilbao.  Although the 1-1 final at San Mamés may intimate a supposed lack of focus, it is part of a plateau trend since Valencia outplayed them in mid-October.

Excluding their home and away legs with Segunda División B side Cultural Leonesa in the Copa del Rey, Barcelona has only won twice in their last seven matches in all competitions.  They only lost once in that stretch, an inconceivable 1-2 result at the Camp Nou by the hands of Rubin Kazan, but heading into the defining week of their campaign up to this point, Barcelona needs to stem this mediocre tide in order to achieve their desired results against Inter Milan and Real Madrid.

In Barcelona's two wins against Real Zaragoza and Mallorca, they capitalized on their numerous chances within the first half hour to seize the match by the throat and force the opposition to come forward.  Both Real Zaragoza and Mallorca played into the hands of Barcelona and tried to play open and expansive football only to see Barcelona break them on the counter-attack.  To say that a team needs to score early to demoralize the opposition is an obvious observation, but in Barcelona's case, when they score that early goal, the dam breaks apart.  Scoring six against Zaragoza and four against Mallorca proves this point.  Another common thread with their two wins is the comfort of playing in front of their Blaugrana faithful at the Camp Nou.  Again, another unequivocal truth: a team usually plays better at home.  In La Liga, Barcelona has a 100% record at home, scoring nineteen while surrendering only five in five matches.

Their one loss to Rubin Kazan did come at home, but that match was an aberration compared to the rest of their matches in this seven game sample.  In the opening minutes, Aleksandr Ryazantsev's audacious and prodigious effort from nearly forty yards sent shock waves throughout Europe.  After Zlatan Ibrahimovic responded with an equalizer early in the second half, order seemed to be restored in the universe, but when Rubin Kazan broke on the counter-attack and Gökdeniz Karadeniz converted his one opportunity, suddenly the champions looked vulnerable for the first time.

The one trait that Rubin Kazan possessed and no other opponent of Barcelona will live up to this season was their sheer physicality.  One of the few ways to frustrate the orchestra is to close down their space in a robust manner.  Evidenced by this match and the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal against Chelsea last season, mucking their flow is an effective tactic if otherwise unaesthetically pleasing.

Barcelona's four draws to Valencia, Rubin Kazan away, Osasuna, and Athletic Bilbao are results of two intertwining factors.  It is no coincidence that all of these results occurred away from home.  Despite playing at home, Barcelona's opposition proceeded with an away team train of thought: break forward when the situation presents itself but otherwise soak up the Catalan pressure.  Because of this mentality, the cutting edge needed to unlock the defense has been blunted ever so slightly.

Thierry Henry has missed more than half of Barcelona's matches, but Pedro Rodríguez shifted into his position quite nicely, learning on the job while taking the lessons from his Barcelona academy days, both under Pep Guardiola.  Three of the top five contenders for the Pichichi Trophy as top scorer in La Liga currently play for Barcelona (Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Seydou Keita), and they lead La Liga with twenty-nine goals through eleven matches.  Barcelona creates more goal-scoring opportunities than any other team in La Liga, and they spend a vast majority of the time in the opposition half, but they have squandered many of these chances.  It gives their opponents an extra boost of confidence when they are able to keep them out of the back of net, whether it was because of their own defense or Barcelona's poor finishing.

This mediocre stretch is analogous to a string of matches last season in February and March, where they lost the Catalan derby to struggling Espanyol and did not win in five consecutive matches in all competitions.  The rest is history for that campaign, as Barça earned an unprecedented treble.  Although the derby match with Real Madrid will grab most of the headlines this week, there will be another twenty-six rounds of football to decide the champion of Spain.  There is a distinct possibility that Rubin Kazan will knock Barcelona out of the Champions League competition if they lose to Inter Milan on Tuesday.

Both these teams will know their fate before they kickoff as Rubin Kazan hosts Dynamo Kyiv two hours before the rest of Tuesday's action.  If Rubin Kazan defeats Dynamo Kyiv and Inter Milan defeats Barcelona at the Camp Nou, Barcelona can finish no higher than third in the group because Rubin has the tiebreaker edge over Barcelona.  When they faced potential elimination in the Champions League last season, they rose to the occasion and passed every test.  Inter Milan's defense is the best that Barcelona has seen this season, so fashioning that opening goal is paramount.  If Barcelona defeats Internazionale Milano and rises to a top two spot in Group F, that momentum will carry over to El Clásico on Sunday and renew this team with a sense of vitality, vigor, and vivacity that has slowed to this point.

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Pep Guardiola cannot believe it either.

After a workmanlike 1-0 victory against Almería and a mediocre showing in their 0-0 draw at the Mestalla against Valencia CF on Saturday, FC Barcelona looked to reverse their form in the Champions League against a supposed weaker team in FK Rubin Kazan.  To their credit, Barça did not make any excuses about their performance against Los Che, but they did suffer from the FIFA virus because a vast majority of their players contributed to their respective countries' national teams across the globe.  Pep Guardiola rested Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi flew to and from South America and competed in two crucial and stressful World Cup qualifiers with Argentina, Thierry Henry picked up a thigh injury while playing for Les Bleus, and many others not mentioned here.  Before the match, Seydou Keita spoke about their Ukrainian opponents:

"It won't be an easy game.  They will come to the Nou Camp to defend like all they do and we'll have to go out strong to create chances and score."

Rubin Kazan also entered this contest without playing at their highest standards.  In control of the Russian Premier League through much of the season and with a seven-point lead with eight games to play, the Tatars turned their focus on the Champions League.  Fairly inexperienced in juggling domestic and European responsibilities, the distraction of the Champions League led to a dip in form in Russia, which included a draw and two losses before a routine and pedestrian 2-1 win over hapless FC Khimki on Saturday.  Spartak Moscow took advantage of a faltering Rubin Kazan and shaved the league deficit to a single point with five rounds remaining.  Facing Barcelona at the Camp Nou was one of the last tasks that Rubin Kazan needed.

Rubin Kazan erased any fears of the Catalunyan atmosphere when Aleksandr Ryazantsev delivered a shock thirty-yard strike in the second minute to give the visitors the 0-1 lead.  Immediately after a Barça attack that culminated in an unanswered penalty claim, Rafael Márquez misplayed a goal kick from Sergei Ryzhikov.  The ball headed in the direction of Ryazantsev, who decided to take the shot first time from a country mile away.  His searching effort became one of the goals of the Champions League season as his sweetly struck bullet pierced the top right corner of Victor Valdés' unsuspecting goal.  The Camp Nou faithful were flabbergasted, the Barcelona players were stunned, and most of all, Ryazantsev's teammates were astonished by both the shot and the sudden lead.

The goal annoyed the blaugrana more than anything, and they continued their assault on the Rubin goal; however, Rubin Kazan's organization was outstanding, and Barça could not find the breakthrough against this highly disciplined Russian side.  When Ibrahimovic equalized early in the second half with a little spin-o-rama magic of his own, the pervasive feeling was that of inevitability.  It was not if Barcelona would win but by how many.  Apparently, Rubin Kazan did not get the memo, and they continued to persist with their defensive game plan.  Rubin would only have three shots for the entire match, but each one was on target, and their third and final shot proved to be the game winner.  After another Barcelona giveaway, Alejandro Domínguez sped down the Barça half in a blistering counter-attack.  The timing of his through-ball to Gökdeniz Karadeniz was impeccable, and Karadeniz's one-timer from fifteen yards flashed across the face of goal and bundled the back of the net.

Barcelona's attempts to make the match all-square were in vain, as two of their efforts hit the frame of the goal and the others handled by Sergei Ryzhikov.  The final statistics compare to a video game: twenty-four shots with thirteen on target, 69% of the possession, eleven corners to one, and a mind-boggling 654 passes at an 86% completion rate.  With these numbers, Barcelona won 5-0, right?  Not on this European night.  The streets of Kazan will flood with joyous supporters who will cherish this night as the night when their beloved Tatars slayed the Catalunyan dragon.

The expectations for Barcelona from the media and the team itself are so astronomical that little blips on the radar become immediate crises.  After the match, Xavi Hernández was at it again, bemoaning Rubin Kazan's tactics and overall play to the Spanish sports daily Diario AS:

"It was a very dissatisfying match from the start, conceding a goal into the top corner from thirty yards at the very beginning.  Then we had many chances and made it more difficult for them.  We played well at times, we opened up the pitch and had spells.  But it is difficult to measure a team that only defends, especially if you do not find the final pass.  They leave with an undeserved prize."

Sometimes, humility would be a nice change of pace.  While Xavi gave no credit to Rubin Kazan for their gritty display on Tuesday night, plaudits will rain from many media outlets about this fairly unknown team from Russia and their desire and intensity.  Well done Rubin and the loyal supporters who traveled many miles to the Camp Nou to witness their small slice of history.

What got lost from Xavi's remarks is a question many will ask tonight and throughout the season.  Did Valencia and Rubin Kazan provide blueprints to earn results against this unrelenting Barça side?  Somewhat.  If a less technically gifted team goes against Barcelona, follow the Rubin Kazan plan: defensive organization, midfield flooding, and opportunistic counter-attacks.  If the team can truly compete with Barcelona's talent, follow the Valencia plan: keep possession, shackle Dani Alves and Eric Abidal as much as possible, and force Victor Valdés into some contested crosses and shots.  Even if all of these principles are followed, as many teams have tried, it will likely be all for naught.  That is the beauty of this FC Barcelona outfit.  Their single-minded nature to attack and attack and attack eventually crumbles their opposition.  When Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich sacked Luiz Felipe Scolari last season, one of the main reasons was that he did not have a plan B if plan A did not work.  If Barcelona's plan A does not work, which happens quite rarely, they execute plan A even harder.

President Joan Laporta and the Barcelona supporters need not worry at this point.  Barcelona is on top of La Liga and their congested group in the Champions League.  No team will sail through a season without some difficulties, and these recent struggles might be for the best because if Barcelona started to believe in their own accolades, Pep Guardiola will surely point to their performances against Almería, Valencia, and Rubin Kazan.  Even when Barcelona was at their best, Guardiola kept them on level ground.  The players will listen to him, and they will rise from this temporary setback.

Saques de Esquina:

- With a three-goal lead at Stuttgart, Sevilla FC resorted to time-wasting tactics that an inferior team would do if it could earn a point away from home.  Really?  Stuttgart did pull a goal back from Élson's whipping free kick, but Sevilla did not need to act as though they were a Tercera División side in a Copa del Rey tie.

Courtesy of halighalie

- Hoping to squeak out a last-minute victory over Dynamo Kyiv, Inter Milan manager José Mourinho sent in defender Marco Materazzi as a battering ram forward, similar to what he did at Chelsea when he would use Robert Huth in the same fashion.  The thought of Touré Yaya or Federico Fazio acting as emergency strikers should strike fear in the hearts of defenders everywhere.

- Is Jens Lehmann always angry with someone?  After Frédéric Kanouté legitimately fell in the penalty box due to a legal sliding challenge from a Stuttgart defender, Lehmann got in Kanouté's face, likely accusing him of diving.  Lehmann seems to thrive in this role, whether he alienates the opposition or his own teammates.

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Ibrahimovic scores in his first La Liga game

Writer's Note: Unfortunately, WordPress does not recognize the "c" with an accent mark, so Bojan Krkic and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's names will not include an accent mark above the " c."

It is easy to overreact and overanalyze after one match and assume that whatever happens in that match will become a trend throughout the season; therefore, in evaluating Zlatan Ibrahimovic's performance in the Barcelona - Sporting Gijón match on Monday night, hyperbole will not be the overall sentiment of this piece.

As for the match itself, Barcelona never let Sporting Gijón play, and Sporting did not really seem interested in retrieving the ball back from Barcelona.  Barça had 74% of the possession in each half, but uncharacteristically, Barça constructed their three goals from corner kicks rather than from open play.  Bojan Krkic, deputizing for Thierry Henry, who Pep Guardiola decided to rest after playing in the UEFA Super Cup on Friday, performed at a high level with a goal and numerous individual runs that menaced the Sporting defense all night long.  While Bojan brought the Camp Nou to its feet, Seydou Keita was the man of the match with his tireless work rate in the midfield and his ability to get his head onto free kicks and crosses.  His near post flick on from a corner kick in the 18th minute directly led to Bojan's headed goal on the back post, his header from a corner kick in the 42nd minute scored the second goal for Barcelona, and another header in the 67th minute hit the post.  While Barcelona did not produce the sparkling display of football like most expect them to do on every occasion, they took the belief out of Sporting and thus could play around with the ball for ninety minutes.

With Thierry Henry resting and Lionel Messi in Argentina preparing for World Cup qualifying against Brazil, the limelight was squarely focused on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and how he would fare in his first match in the blaugrana shirt.  With Pedro Rodríguez on his right and Bojan Krkic on his left, Ibrahimovic had more than capable forwards on the wings, but they were not Henry or Messi.  His first significant touch came in the fourth minute when Pedro sent him a through ball into the box, which got him behind the Sporting defense; however, he was positioned at an acute angle and he scuffed his shot trying to blast it past Sporting goalkeeper Juan Pablo.  In the 30th minute, he made a run into the box and faked a shot, causing two defenders to go to ground in anticipation.  Open for the shot, he tried a cute, swerved shot towards the near post, and Juan Pablo saved it easily.  A diagonal run in the 40th minute set up a shot for Ibrahimovic, but Juan Pablo made a routine save.  In the first half, Ibrahimovic seemed a bit sluggish and lax in attack, but that could be directly attributed to his lack of match fitness.  He injured his hand while on a US tour with Inter Milan and did not play a competitive match until the Joan Gamper Trophy against Manchester City on August 19.

Ibrahimovic raised his energy level and involved himself more into the attack in the second half.  In the 66th minute, Eric Abidal sent a long ball to the edge of the penalty area, and Alberto Botía, a central defender on loan to Sporting from Barcelona, harassed Ibrahimovic, but he was able to fight him off and restart the attack.  His willingness to scrap and clash with the defense gave a rise to the Barça faithful.  In the 74th minute, on an average cross by Pedro, Ibrahimovic was able to rise over Botía and deliver a solid header, but it headed toward Juan Pablo's grateful hands.  Pedro's cross hung in the air, so Ibrahimovic had to supply most of the power for the header, and he accomplished that feat quite well.  His aerial ability is one of the attributes that differentiated Ibrahimovic from his predecessor Samuel Eto'o.

Then in the 82nd minute, Ibrahimovic scored his first goal for Barça.  On another corner kick, Xavi took it short to Dani Alves, and after he crossed the ball into the box, it took a slight deflection off Sporting defender Grégory's head, and Ibrahimovic executed the diving header at the back post to perfection.  It was almost a carbon copy of the first Barcelona goal where Seydou Keita's near-post flick sent the ball to the back post, and Bojan headed home the opening score.  It was not the most attractive goal he has ever scored, but at that moment, it must have been sweet for him to score in his first match for Barça.

There were a few flashes of brilliance by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, including the goal late in the contest, but he will not be putting this performance in his scrapbook of the best ninety minutes in his career.  The chemistry among his fellow forwards lacked that something extra, but anyone expecting the gears to shift seamlessly in the first match hold unrealistic expectations.  While he did not play his best, scoring in his first match was important because now he does not have to face the pressure of a goal drought to start his season.  Ibrahimovic would admit that he still needs time to adapt to life in Spain and the Barça system.  When the international break concludes and Henry and Messi join Ibrahimovic in attack for a string of games, Pep Guardiola will see if the infinite attacking potential of this trio will culminate into consecutive La Liga titles.  A straightforward win and an Ibrahimovic goal is just the start that Barcelona needed to launch a successful La Liga campaign.

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