Now its confirmed that Barcelona will miss the service of Bojan and Zambrotta for the upcoming crunch match against Sevilla. Zambrotta will be out for a week with the injury he picked up in the match against Portugal. Bojan, who is still suffering from gastroenteritis, which has delayed his much published debut for Spain. Barcelona is unbeaten in the last eight away matches in all competition - in the league they have drawn twice and won twice. But remaining unbeaten does not solve Barcelona's problem. As everyone knows they have to pick up every available point in order to launch a final assault on the Championship. Mexican internationals Rafa Márquez and Giovani dos Santos are expected to be back in Barcelona by Friday after a friendly match against United States. Rijkaard had a depleted squad for yesterday's training because of the international duties (i will not call it a commitment) of the players. The players who trained at La Masía are Milito, Oleguer, Xavi, Valdes, Edmilson, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Messi and Ronaldinho.
The injury to Zambrotta would be a serious setback to Rijkaard as Oleguer will be the only person left to take up that job. Edmilson should be able to fit into the defensive midfielder job. Oleguer never had any competitive game since last October or so, should be expected to be a little rusty. Another question is that whether Sylvinho be picked ahead of Abidal. I expect so. When the last time Barcelona went to Sevilla they came up with a spirited 1-1 draw. They opted for a defensive minded approach that time, but that will not help their cause this time. That was a two legged tie and Barcelona di plan well. But anything less than a victory here now will spoil all the good work done last week when Madrid slipped. Adding up to the Barcelona's worries are the fact that Kanoute, Fabiano and Alves will be available for Saturday’s tie. These three especially will be a very big headache for any defense. Therefore Barcelona has to show their offensive strength more over here. They need to surprise them in the early encounters and need to make sure that Sevilla does not dominate game for extended time. If they get to dominate for more time they will surely crack the Barcelona defense. Barcelona still have a very dangerous side even with all the injuries. We can expect Milito and Marquez to make up the defense. The attacking lineup would be made up of Messi, Henry and Iniesta, with Gudjonsen and Xavi pairing Edmilsson in the middle. To win they have to dominate, they have to defend upfront and importantly not to give away possession cheaply. My prediction will be Barcelona winning 3-1 with Messi scoring a brace. This is the time when Messi has to move out of the shadow of his legendary colleagues.
There is a sense of resentment among Barcelona fans - that the international duties will be the one harming Barcelona's chances. I always believe that a player belong to his Country more than the Club. Barcelona has a very big squad to work with and the unavailability of some players should not harm them. If Barcelona is finding them in a very tough situation, it’s solely because of their lack of commitment, not because of any international duties.