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Miss him. :( He played one hell of a game.

Cesc may be our best option due to how Atletico plays. He's not there to due Xavi's job. He's there to pull away defenders from Xavi and Iniesta and keep the play flowing. Atletico's midfield are really physical and give Xavi no time on the ball to do his thing, so having Pedro and Alexis...

Interesting... Because yeah I watch some highlights of a young Torres and it's like night and day... I don't get the impression he's a lazy played, necessarily. And he's 30 which though not young, is not ancient either. If Costa leaves, I wouldn't be shocked to see him go back to Atletico...

It's almost like he's forgotten how to play football... What does he do in training?

I agree he shouldn't start against Atleti. I'd rather he came on as a super sub in this match. But this thread has degenerated into a ridiculous level of criticism.

Everything wrong with the world is Cesc's fault.

We should just try moving Iniesta into Xavi's role, honestly. He has the ball retention skills and even when he loses some pace, his vision and passing will still be there. There's no need to spend big money every single summer on players. More often than not, it doesn't turn out right.

Cesc wouldn't leave anyway. Barca ain't letting him go.

People are fooled by his completed passes. He never attempts a through ball anymore and on defense he offers us NOTHING. Its not his fault. He's just old now. But it seems that even some on this board don't want to let go of Xavi and move on.

If he's back and in form against us in the return... We could be in trouble. :-/

Our fan base unfortunately is notorious for being rather hypocritical. And sadly it's even seen on this board. This mindset that a player cannot celebrate a goal he scores against us in an important match (Not to mention that scoring against Barcelona is no small feat) is just...

Your dreaming.

Cesc is going nowhere... Get it through your heads people. He's here to stay and when Xavi retires, Iniesta will move into the deep lying playmaker role and partner with Cesc. Gundogan is not coming either, and Cesc would not play for Man United if he was to go back to the EPL, just Arsenal...

He played deeper today and he did misplace some passes but he wasn't that bad. But he does need to do better if we're gonna do some damage in the CL and win this Liga.

He was good but again, way too safe. On at least 2 occasions he could have threaded the needle. This how he hurts us now. We can't win matches by playing it safe.

He was ok. Never really found a rhythm but he stuck with it and kept trying. He's been better, he's been worse.

Can't see Busquets being a captain. Not with his form in the last 2 seasons anyway. Pique is kind of shaky too. He needs to be led more than anything. When Puyol and Xavi are done, I see it being Iniesta, Messi, and with the 3rd spot up for grabs, I could easily see Cesc taking it. He's more...

He's finished! Sell right now!

I think he'd be really good at Arsenal. This kid is a great talent. Needs more playing time, though.

His dribbles were amazing today. Haven't seen Pedro play this well since 2010.