BARCELONA v VILLARREAL TICKETS Sat, Nov 25: Barça looking forward

FC Barcelona may be one of the world’s most glamourous and richest clubs, but they currently find themselves short of players. Attacking players to be precise, as an plague of injuries has seen them left with just four recognised forwards to fill three positions. While on the one-hand one of the quartet is, arguably, the best player in the world in the shape of Ronaidinho, one of the others is Santiago Ezquerro.
Having lost Samuel Eto’o to a meniscus injury last month that will keep him side-lined until the New Year, Barca have now seen Leo Messi with a broken toe (or fifth metatarsal to be more precise) ruling him out for three months and Javier Saviola will miss the next six weeks after suffering a thigh injury.
Barca may well be given special dispensation to bring in a new player, as is the norm in Spain when several injuries occur at once, and that has led to speculation over who they could approach.
The keen favourite appears to be Henrik Larsson, who could be loaned back from Helsingborgs having chosen to quit Camp Nou last summer to return home. With the Swedish league having just finished the timing is perfect, but for now everyone is denying that contact has been made.
Two other names in the frame are Albert Luque, who has had a torrid time at Newcastle and, oddly enough, Diego Tristan who only moved to Mallorca during the summer.
One question that Sports Matter wants to ask is; do Barca not have any decent forwards in their youth ranks, or is it that when push comes to shove they do not have the faith in youngsters that they like to portray when naming a few of them for meaningless or easy games? Whichever it is, the next few weeks are really going to be testing for the Blaugrana and the visit of Villarreal will certainly set the ball rolling.
Blighted by injuries themselves, Manolo Pellegrini’s team looked shaky at the start of the campaign, but have certainly turned a corner in recent weeks and have been moving up the table.
Before last weekend’s reverse at Atletico, the team had been unbeaten in six league outings, having won four and drawn two to move into the top ten.
Juan Roman Riquelme appears to be firing on all cylinders again and with Diego Forlan and Nihat providing pace up front, Barca will have to be at their best. Villarreal have chalked up some decent results against Rijkaard’s team in recent seasons and with the home team in this encounter short of attacking options it will be interesting to see if Pellegrini opts to attack from the start, rather than sit back without so much firepower to worry about coming at his side. With the league being a tight one this season, Barcelona can not afford to lose this.
The history of the club, nicknamed the Yellow Submarine, really is a rags-to-riches story as they pushed themselves up from the lowest echelons of the Spanish game to come to within 90 minutes of reaching the biggest stage of all.
Founded-in 1923, Villarreal played in regional leagues and the Spanish third division (la Segunda B) until 1971 when they spent two seasons in the second tier before dropping back down again. Their ascent began in 1992/93 when they moved into and stayed in la Segunda A until the tail end of the decade when a further promotion saw them join the big boys for the first time ever. After failing to survive for more than year, they went down once more but bounced straight back up and have been in la Primera ever since where they are now force to be reackoned with. Under the guidance of former Barga player Victor Munoz, the team really blossomed and European football arrived in 2003-04 as Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, having qualified via the Intertoto Cup.
Last term was a fairytale as the team, now coached by Chilean Manolo Pellegrini, made it into the last four of the Champions League only to be defeated by Arsenal in the semis after Roman Riquelme saw a penalty saved in the last minute of the second leg.