Consider this both your preview and your match comments post. No liveblog for this here little thing that takes place during the American working day when even the laziest of us (looking at you–oh that’s a mirror) are toiling away to earn ourselves a few extra Barça jerseys.
Will we be back at Allianz Arena in May to defend our Champions League title or will it be up to two different teams to crown themselves “best team other than Barça”? Oh snap, I went there. All I know is that it shouldn’t be a starter-heavy lineup, not least because a lot of starters are missing. There’s also the little matter of 2 games in 26 hours. Tis a bit harsh, especially for preseason.
Bayern Munich defeated AC Milan to make the final, so no rematch with Ibra is possible. Sad face. But we get to see Robben again and maybe show them how to possess the ball. Or we’ll start 8 children and get spanked. Not sure which.
Barça lineup: Valdes, JDS, Fontas, Busi, Maxwell, Keita, Thiago, Iniesta, Pedro, Jonathan Soriano, Villa.
Bayern lineup: Butt, Rafinha, Badstuber, Luiz Gustavo, Contento, Pranjic, Alaba, Boateng, Usami, Olic, Petersen
Barça starting XI for the Audi Cup final: VV, JDS, Fontàs, Busquets, Maxwell; Keita, Thiago, Iniesta, Pedrito, Soriano and Villa
Where the hell is JDS playing? O.o
What time does this game start, then?
I suspect Pep will roll out with a bit more serious lineup today, although it is a bit tough to have them play two days in a row. Thiago to start, being young and healthy and still fit from the Euro U21 competition. Be an awful shame if Iniesta doesn’t start as well, then. I’m going out on a limb and picking Flyboy, Villa and Jeffren for the front line. I’m probably wrong.
HA! I got the front line wrong, but the midfield right.
7:45 pm BST, which is in 40 minutes.
JDS as a right back? The hell? Or is this a 3-4-3 thing?
This oughta be fun.
Don’t hesitate to send us streams people.
This stream may only be accessible in the UK, but you could give it a go: http://www.itv.com/itv4/
I’m watching this one
http://atdhenet.tv/38254/watch-bayern-munchen-vs-fc-barcelona
Here we go:
barcastuff
Streams Bayern Munich-Barcelona: http://bit.ly/qXcxBq *http://bit.ly/prsWNa *http://bit.ly/q1VCld *http://bit.ly/pPOgzg #fcblive #tourfcb
barcastuff has lots of streams, i posted them here but my comment went into moderation.
Fixing that now…
http://nutjob.eu/
lol whats with the big ceremony and all
The Audi Cup has an ancient and glorious history stretching back to 2009.
Damn, how did I miss that! Sorry to all Audi Cup lovers, I was too ignorant 😀
I never thought I’d be happy to see the mint green kit. But I am. 🙂
Busi at CB again????????????????
Pep please….please…don’t do this to him.
We need Busi at midfield. We are not taking advantage of his wonderful skills set.
Iniesta looks like he’s been out in the sun. I almost didn’t recognize him 😉
Anyone have the Bayern lineup?
It’s up top in the post now
Aha! Thanks. Looks like a B lineup for them.
Keita down? Please be alright.
I know Pep likes skinny fit shirts but this pink polo is kids size! Or a lady’s shirt. Look at the sleeve.
The itv commentator just said we paid “well over 30m pounds” for Sanchez. Isn’t that high even with the variables or am I not thinking Euros to pounds correctly?
My memory was it was 23 million pounds, 33 with all the variables.
Much appriciated. So he was off, but not by as much as I thought.
*appreciated, sigh.
Good save, Valdes!
So (since I can’t watch the game) where is JDS playing? At RB?
Yup. He is pushing up the side like Dani. Busi and Fontas at CB, Maxwell LB as usual, Keita at DM, Iniesta and Thiago AM.
Ooof. Close one, Villa.
In a competitive match that would’ve been a PK awarded to Villa
Wow, Villa onside running down the long ball, would have been one-on-one with the keeper but he couldn’t quite catch up before Butt got there
Iniesta down and clutching the knee 🙁
He seems okay now
That Gustavo character better stop his nonsense before I kick his ass!
Andres sort him out 🙂
Dear Herr Petersen, nice try, but you’re going to have to do better than that to get it past Victor Valdes.
lovely tackle and pass combination by Inesta, thwarted by *gasp* a Villa offside.
Alaba gets a clean one-on-one with VV, and comes away with nothing to show for it. Victor’s a beast.
Goal for Thiago!
Heh, thiago golden boot?
Who needs strikers when we have Thiago? 😀
So glad we’re keeping him.
Gooooool Thiago! Beautiful header. What fraction of his first-team goals have been with the head? I remember him saying after the first one it wasn’t his specialty, but it feels like he keeps doing it. Or am I imagining things?
Its his third header.Probably only scored 2 with his feet i bet.Which is weird.
hes scored like 5 goals 3 headers
Thanks guys, that’s about what I thought. Don’t know if it’s a fluke, but it’s sure nice to have someone else who can score with the head. Usually for us it’s Keita and the CBs.
Thiago seems like much more of a goalscorer than Xavi, and maybe more than Iniesta too.
What a jump by Thiago. I’m as surprised as the commentator I’ve been listening to about it, but I’ll take it. Good times.
My stream is working intermittently thanks to the bandwidth choppin’ they do here at work, but it’s an okay way to watch a preseason friendly. Bayern look terrible, but it sounds like they don’t have many starters on the field. Peterson looks good, though and they’re just a touch or two away from running away with this.
I think JDS is a bit out of his depth at RB, but he’s had some crisp passes that I really like and some good forward runs. Hard to fault him as he’s being played well out of position.
JDS’ tackling is stellar, the only thing to blame is his positioning, and he doesn’t seem to have Dani’s pace and ability to catch up.
It must be really good to be Thiago right now. Newly promoted, playing for the best team in the world, having a brilliant run of form for club and country, earned the trust of his coaches and the respect of his peers, making all the lists of the “next big things”. And only 20 years old. And he’s ours, OURS, MWAHAHAHAHA!!!! Eat that, Wenger! 😛
Why doesn’t Pep try Keita at CB and put Busi back at DM?
And I want to see JDS and Thiago in midfield
I was wondering that as well, our other DMs have coped well.
Finally getting some good Barca action. Thiago plays like a boss with Iniesta to support him. Don’t like the idea of Iniesta going off the pitch at half time.
He’s still in there
The commentator went nuts for VV at halftime, and they really should have been. He’s been a beast the last couple of years and since 2007 has become the keeper we all hoped. Now Pinto in and the commentators are laughing saying, well maybe barca will throw it all away now…lol oooooh piiintoooo
they were pretty happy with Tiago’s header too. Easy to see why: itv = British = value ‘guts’ next to godliness.
Number 30 is in for Maxwell. I don’t even know who that is. Don’t our mint green unis usually have names on them?
I think the equipment manager doesn’t know who these guys are, either.
Schweinsteiger in for them.
Also, Ibi in for Pedro, and Riverola for Iniesta.
Pretty sure Jeffren’s in 30 today (some sort of registration mix-up).
Playing left back though?
He played LB for us at least once before.
Aaaand Soriano goes off on a stretcher. I missed the incident. Cuenca in. Müller for Bayern.
Wow, Barca playing well without Messi, Iniesta, or Xavi in the midfield. Love the youngsters.
Good save, Pinto!
Nice save, Pinto!
Wow Thiago!!!
Goal for Thiago again!
Wow, Thiago on a roll.
Are we playing a full-strength Bayern?
This is great! I’m happy the youngsters can hold the fort. Gives me real hope for our future.
Umm, Thiago golen boot O.O
Gooool #2 Thiago!
Wow, this kid can play.
damn thiago, amazing link up play by affelay. just wow. these two kids.
What a goal Thiago!!! hats off! daaamn!
Player of the tournament.
Take that EMD and Sport!!!!!!
Just a few weeks back kept creating rumors about Thiago..
Wow, best signing of the year, Thiago
This is the first time I see Pique wearing a short sleeved t-shirt!
Hello, Pique. Did they leave his long sleeves back home?
They’re in a box with all the jerseys that have names on them
You may be right. 😛
Unrelated but after some time out I saw Malaga actually got Cazorla. Wow. I love Cazorla, so much fun to watch (if only teams played with more than 11 players so we could see Iniesta, Silva and Cazorla in the same Espana line-up! Three of the most fun players to watch in three different styles) but Malaga are seriously shaping up to be a powerful side. The previous signings made them a good solid side, Cazorla is a step-up-in-class style of creative player.
Until now I was expecting them to finish behind Valencia and either Villareal or one of other rebuilding Spanish powers like Sevilla, but now I’m tipping them for Champions League spots.
Just to recap, they got in addition to Baptista Maresca Demichelis and Camacho in January: Nacho Monreal, Joaquin, Toulalan, Nistelrooy, Mathijsen, Buonanotte, Sergio Sanchez, and now Cazorla? WTF wow let’s just hope Valencia becomes strong enough to hold on to their third place.