It’s fair to say that Barcelona endured a stressful weekend, and Pep Guardiola’s men will be looking forward to a pressure-free encounter against Rubin Kazan, which will see the Catalans seek revenge for a shock defeat at the Nou Camp incurred last season.
Saturday night’s fixture against Osasuna became something of a farcical affair. Barca thought the encounter had been postponed to the Sunday when they left for Pamplona by train and bus due to a walkout by airport staff all around Spain. It soon became clear that this was not the case and they faced a mad rush to get to the Reyno de Navarra in time to play.
Having just reached the stadium in time, Barca pulled out a performance that belied the travel chaos that had gone before it, picking up a 3-0 victory, which was inspired, of course, by Lionel Messi.
Messi has since been placed in the final three for the Ballon d’Or award along with team-mates Andres Iniesta and Xavi, highlighting the talent in Barcelona’s ranks, as if that was required after the recent Clasico smashing of Real Madrid, which produced a performance of the highest quality from Barca.
There was talk earlier this season that Barcelona had lost some of their magic, but that has now firmly been pushed to one side as their top players find their very best form and the goals start to flow in all kinds of difficult circumstances.
With the race for the Spanish crown currently top of their priority list, it would be a surprise to see Barca, who have already claimed top spot in Group D, turn out with a full strength side on Tuesday, given that they face a busy festive period.
Rubin Kazan return to the scene of arguably their greatest ever success on Tuesday evening when they travel to Barcelona. On October 20, 2009, they made a similar journey and returned victorious, having picked up a 2-1 victory courtesy of goals from Aleksandr Ryazantsev and Gokdeniz Karadeniz. Ultimately their efforts were futile as they crashed out of the Champions League in third place, and a similar fate could befall them in midweek, even if they earn a victory.
Coach Kurban Berdyev, who has been stripped of the attacking talents of Alejandro Dominguez and Aleksandr Bukharov, is a typically defensively minded tactician, and this has shone through in Rubin’s entire campaign to date. Their five games have produced only four goals, with their 1-0 victory over Copenhagen in Russia last time out a particularly stale affair.
Domestically the 2010 campaign has already ended for the Ruby, who will be involved in the Champions League again next season, albeit in the third qualifying round, after finishing behind Spartak Moscow and CSKA Moscow in the Russian Premier League. Again their negative attitude was apparent as they were held to 13 costly draws, which left them 10 points off the title-winning pace.
There will come a time for action on Tuesday evening as this is a match that they quite simply have to win. Rubin will certainly be taken out of their comfort zone, but Barcelona will not be tempted to sit back and so the visitors’ counterattacking instincts could be allowed to flourish. A repeat of last season’s triumph should not be expected, but it shouldn’t be written off either.
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