First off, a happy Eid to all who celebrate it, and particularly to Barca's muslim players, Keita, Yaya and Abidal! Right now we're running late and you'll have to excuse us the match report for Barca-Atletico; but we've rounded up all the post-match tidbits:.
- This was the fiftieth Liga match for Gerard Pique (having played 27 with Barca, 23 with Zaragoza) and he played hella great... but starting against Atletico Madrid with discomfort in his ankle, it took a toll on him, and his condition got worse forcing his substitution for Marquez. He submitted to an x-ray that thankfully revealed no breakage or fracture, but as reported by Sport, he will most likely not be called up to play against Racing tomorrow, with Pep prefering to let him rest and recover completely.
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- We're thrilled that Dani netted a goal, a goal which might not have happened; as Dani reveals, Xavi was actually supposed to be the one to take the freekick: "For the free-kick, Xavi was going to cross it into the middle and I asked if I could have a go. He let me try and I have to thank him for that and dedicate the goal to him." We're loving Dani's Brazilian Arrocha celebration dance too, he's just the cutest thing ever..
- Victor Valdes needed just to keep a clean sheet for the first 17 minutes of the match against Atletico in order to break his own record of minutes without conceding; but he ended up going almost all of the first half before Kun Aguero found his net. Vic now has a new personal best of 569 straight minutes without conceding, congratulations!
- While the entire Blaugrana world is thrilled by Barca's result, Pep figures the boys could have done better: "It was a strange game by both sides. As the coach, this game does not excite me."We did not control it. We needed to keep possession of the ball better than we did."
Well, all we can say is hopefully the King will be more pleased by his boys after tomorrow's meet with Racing!
- The starters Pep chose to rest against Atletico - Puyol, Yaya, Abidal - may have spent the match on the bench, but their coach didn't want them to go the day without doing anything. He had the three run some exercises in a makeshift midnight training session right there on the Camp Nou as the fans left the stadium; and it's not the first time Pep has done something like this, either, as the official site reports.
- The starters Pep chose to rest against Atletico - Puyol, Yaya, Abidal - may have spent the match on the bench, but their coach didn't want them to go the day without doing anything. He had the three run some exercises in a makeshift midnight training session right there on the Camp Nou as the fans left the stadium; and it's not the first time Pep has done something like this, either, as the official site reports.
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