Scouts report- when Barcelona drop points

FC Barcelona. What can be said about them that hasn’t been said before? They are arguably not just the best team on the planet, but the best team ever assembled. They have a world class first 11, a world class bench, a world class youth academy and probably even a world class tea lady. How do you beat them?

Better men than me have been asked that question and not many have figured out a answer. Jose Mourinho, one of the greatest manager ever only has a record of Pld 19 W 5 L 9 D 5 against them. This makes him the most successful against them but not exactly successful.

Chelsea parked the bus and prayed and somehow managed to steal a win. I can’t see that strategy working on a consistent basis. You need to be flawless against them and to use a couple of cliches, clinical finishing is a must and absolutely no mistakes. 

Star player is obviously Lionel Messi. What can I say about him that hasn’t been said before? There are no superlatives left, he is just Messi. Did you know he scored 82 goals for club and Country last season? Our whole team scored 108 in all competitions. Amazing.

Here is an another amazing statistic for you. After reading a recent interview from Gordon Strachan about the last time we met last Barca he stated that the analysis of the game had them completing 700+ passes against us. This is a phenomenally high number of passes and equates to about 60 minutes of ball control guaranteed. 

Compare that to Man Utd completing 340 when they visited Celtic Park and AC manages 360. We have only averaged 300 completed passes per game in the 8 games so far this season. Barcelona’s “Tippy-tappy” football has a very simplistic concept, the opposition cannot score if they don’t have the ball. And no one does, they concede 0.7 goals per game. Nearly one goal every two games.

We could look at this tie another way and it should be liberating to know we are not expected to do anything in these games. Though you can say the same for Benfica and Spartak. All three of us are in same boat, playing against the best team in the world. Any points from these games are a bonus, not many people will expect anything other than Barcelona sitting atop this group after six games played.

That being said though Barcelona have never finished a Champions League group with six wins and 18 points. So they do drop points. We play them on game three and four this season. Look at these results during the corresponding fixture from previous seasons.

2011-12
16 pts
Barca 2-0 Victoria Plzen
Victoria Plzen 0-4 Barca

2010-11
14 pts
Barca 2-0 FC Copenhagen
FC Copenhagen 1-1 Barca

2009-10
11 pts
Barca 1-2 Rubin Kazan
Rubin Kazan 0-0 Barca

2008-09
13 pts
FC Basel 0-5 Barca
Barca 1-1 FC Basel

2007-08
14 pts
Rangers 0-0 Barca
Barca 2-0 Rangers

2006-07
11pts
Chelsea 1-0 Barca
Barca 2-2 Chelsea

As you can see they drop most of their points in these fixtures. They seem to start strong and finish strong, but switch off in the middle games. Maybe its a complacency issue, maybe a coincidence, but there is something there.

Barca have also had a change in manager. Not much is known about Tito Vilanova’s credentials and whether he can handle the pressure of keeping Barca at the top, because the only way is down. Still I would fancy my chances myself at winning titles with the current Barca squad.

We are under no illusions at the task we face when we meet FC Barcelona. The bookies will have us heavy underdogs, but this won’t be the first time we have been in this situation and we have upset the odds at Parkhead before. We are strong at home at don’t lose many Champions League games there. Maybe with another huge night from the lads we will have another positive result. 

CLICK HERE for Samaras quotes come back to haunt Celtic

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