FCBARCELONA.CAT

Barça defence again best in the league

For the second consecutive season, Barca boasted the best defence in the League and after getting through a tough start, the team finished high enough to make it as a seeded team in the Cup.

The League began in the middle of September with a very tough calendar for Marc Carmona’s team who had to face the top three teams in the first six games.

Great start

The team came through their difficult schedule well, winning in the always difficult court at MRA Navarra ( 2-3 ), before receiving Inter at the Palau when 5,000 turned up to see the first home game of the season and helped the team to a valuable 4-4 draw with all four goals coming from Igor, the last with just 15 seconds left to play.

Another away win at Santiago de Compostela ( 2-6 ) where the team hadn’t won for three years and a 5-1 thrashing at the Palau of Pinto, who’d beaten them in the cup quarter finals the previous year, confirmed the good start to the campaign. Youngster Juanito made his debut in that game and scored a great goal to mark the occasion.

After an international break, the team travelled to the struggling Benicarlo, but were only able to take a point in a 3-3 draw, before beating the reigning champions Elpozo Murcia 4-1 at the Palau on October 23rd to break a run of 19 defeats against the Murcians. After six games, Barca had the best defensive record, having conceded just 13 goals.

First defeat

After a 2-6 win over the recently promoted Zamora, Barca suffered their first defeat going down to Sala 10 Zaragoza ( 3-4 ), before bouncing back with a 3-5 win over Carnicer Torrejón thanks to a hat-trick from Fernandao.

With that win, Barca were fighting for second spot, but a month and a half layoff for Ari Santos exposed the team’s lack of firepower and a 2-2 draw against Azkar Lugo (2-2) set their challenge back, before they again came back with a 2-4 win at Guadalajara which extended their excellent away form – just one game not won, and that was a draw.

Poor December

Unfortunately, December proved to be a disappointing month with a 1-1 draw against Playas followed by 2-1 defeats at Reale Cartagena and Marfil Santa Coloma . Three results that belied Barca’s good play, but stressed their lack of power up front.

The team had to play for the last seeded spot in the last game of the first half of the season at home to Caja Segòvia and a 2-0 win ensured that, but unfortunately they then lost again, 3-4 to Xota at the Palau.

Good start to 2010

With the European Championships taking place in Hungary, where Javi Rodríguez, Cristian and Fernandao won gold, the league didn’t get started again until February and Barca travelled to Inter, who were leading the league, for their first game after the break and beat the leaders 0-2 to give them a great boost.
After a further break for the Cup , Lobelle visited the Palau and with both teams looking for a win to help them forget their poor showing in the Cup, Barca won a tight game 5-4, only to again slip up with a 2-2 draw at bottom club Pinto. With the visit to ElPozo coming up, Barca saw off Benicarlo 3-0, before losing 3-2 in Murcia in a game that the Barca fans were happy about given the fine performance their team put in.

Fight to the end

With Fernandao ruled out for five weeks and Ari Santos away at the South American Games, Barca beat Zamora 5-1, then lost 4-1 a week later in Zaragoza to lose the fourth spot and set up a tense finish to the season. The Palau proved to be a fortress though and the 3-0 win over Carnicer was the fourth home win on the trot. A draw away to Azkar Lugo ( 1-1 ) and wins against Playas (1-3), Cartagena (6-3) and Marfil (5-1) left Barca going into the last game with a chance to finish third, but unfortunately they lost that 2-1 at Caja Segovia and ended up in fifth place.

Quarter final win

That finish meant Barca faced fourth placed Lobelle in the play offs with the Galicians having home advantage. After losing the first game at the Palau, Barca had to win both matches in Compostela to progress and after first winning 4-8. They then beat the home team on penalties after a 2-2 draw to make the semis.

There they met ElPozo and again lost the first game at the Palau. This time there was no way back though and ElPozo won 3-2 in Murcia to put Barca out.

With just 57 goals conceded, one more than last season, Barca were again the best defence in the league.