Rafinha gives us more of what we miss w/o Messi out there - false 9, all over the pitch/overloading midfield. Deulofeu gives us another winger but Montoya and Planas / Adriano are still getting forward to provide wing support so Tello is OK as sole wing man. Other theories are that they don't want GD to get too far ahead of himself (expectation and ego-wise -- look how they slowly worked in Thiago over a few years). GD is also supposedly on the outs with Barca B coach partly for not working hard on D. Finally, GD needs to sign a new contract, Barca is already worried one of the big squads is going to pay his buyout clause of 10M Euros. EDIT - also Rafinha is the perfect one to sub off for this promising 24 y.o.
Juventus are winning 1-0 which means Chelsea should be going out Actually looking at my avatar I should probably stop writing stuff like that
Right now we could play one of 5 teams in the next round: Cluj, Porto, Milan, Arsenal or Shaktar. Cluj most at risk in last 15 minutes as Galatasaray just need to score or have ManU score v. Cluj for Galatasaray to advance instead.
Why? Shakhtar only hurt themselves by dropping down to second place by losing. A draw is enough for them to win the group.
Galatasaray now one of the 5. Celtic going through too - means Benfica must score which means Messi gets a goal or assist EDIT - oh no, just what we don't want in a meaningless game.
A meaningless match for Barca. No reason to play him. Plenty more chances to get the record. Could all mean jack shit now. Rivalry thread should be in business fairly soon.
Hindsight is always 20-20; besides the injury seemed to involve a kick with no one around him - sadly that could mean he really hurt something (ligament or tendon).