My first post in some time.
First of all i want to thank the team for giving us all another great season with La Liga title and wins over RM.
Abouth the upcoming final, i am not as nervous as i should be and it's getting on my nerves. As the team always wins when i am nervous and shaking while watching the match, i hope this feelings come at the kick off.
About the team, i think its clear as day that both Puyol and Abidal will play and Masch will be benched, rightly so. If Abidal was not to play, he wouldn't have got those 70 mins against Malaga. His speed, positing and heading abilities will be crucial against ManU.
I think Pep has already leaked his approach to this game when he said ManU like RM are very good at counter attack and that they are similar in many ways. For me, this all points to that first leg of semifinal, where we will approach the game more cautiously than we used to before and thus Alves will not be making those forward runs more frequently. This has really given me more hope because ManU are excellent at counter attacking and if we approach cautiously, Sir Alex must change his game plans during the game which is not always easy.
Those 4 games against RM were useful to us not just for the results but it also gave Pep to come with a plan B when we line up against sides willing to give us possesion and then hit us on counter. Specially that 1st leg in Madrid, really taught us how we should approach the game against RM, Manu and Chelsea.
Being a final i don't want us to overcomit ourself unnecessarly. So, may be this is the reason for me not being as nervous as before, because i was always scared of counter attacks.
And i have no doubts, no matter what Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Villa and Pedro are good enough to give us a goal or two, if we stay compact at back.
To add, If i were Pep i would have a tv and DVD player ready in the dressing room and show the players footage of that scum Mourinho running in Camp Nou after that CL semi loss in case we are loosing by half time or not playing well.
Visca Barca.
Unbiased
