BARCELONA vs REAL MADRID: 2011 Spanish Super Cup Preview (August 17 - Second Leg)

BARCELONA vs REAL MADRID: 2011 Spanish Super Cup Preview (August 17 - Second Leg)

David Villa's goal 1st leg match spanish super cup 2011

Real Madrid may have taken more shots, and were the more aggressive club on Sunday, but European and La Liga champions Barcelona have the two away-goal advantage after holding their rivals to a 2-2 draw, with the second leg on Wednesday at Camp Nou.


Goakeeper Iker Casillas didn't make one save, as Barcelona was perfect in their two shots on goal, and on only four total shots. Such efficiency is very rare, so head coach

Jose Mourinho will likely stick with the same strategy in the second leg. His squad may have put together their best performance against Barcelona since his his arrival in

2010.

Real Madrid has to go into Nou Camp confident that their effort in the first leg will carry over. Los Galacticos looked very fit, and were not thrown off by Barcelona's

normally dizzying passing strategy.

Though Karim Benzema didn't score in the match, his assist to Mesut Ozil was a key play in the match. Cristiano Ronaldo also was on his game, and Mourinho got solid play from

his defense, with the exception of Pepe's slip that resulted in Lionel Messi's goal before halftime.

Barcelona's Carles Puyol was sidelined for the first leg, and will be unavailable on Wednesday. The centre back's absence was very apparent, as Barcelona's defense lacked

cohesion at many points of the match. Though Javier Mascherano did a solid job in central defense, Eric Abidal looked tentative.

The big question facing Pep Guardiola will be if he plans on playing new midfielder Cesc Fabregas, and if so, how many minutes. Fabregas trained with his new teammates on

Monday, and is obviously well-acquainted with the squad from his time with the Spain National Team. However, he hasn't played with Arsenal in quite some time and a rusty

performance might risk the match against an elite squad like Real Madrid.

Guardiola conceded that Barcelona had key players who were not match fit going into Sunday's first leg. Regular starters Xavi Hernandez, Gerard Pique, and Pedro came off the

bench in the first leg. David Villa only played 73 minutes despite not receiving many touches in the match.

Should Barcelona receive better efforts from their starters, Real Madrid may be in for a long night in Camp Nou.

It's advantage Barcelona: Pep Guardiola

Real Madrid and Barcelona drew 2-2 in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup on Sunday in front of 80,000 fans in Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu as the two bitter rivals kicked off the new season.

Pep Guardiola

Mesut Ozil gave Real a 13th-minute lead before David Villa and Lionel Messi put Barcelona ahead at the break.
The Spanish and European champions then celebrated their interval advantage by announcing that they had finally agreed a deal with Arsenal to end their long-running pursuit of Cesc Fabregas.


But Real took a little shine off the news when Xabi Alonso levelled the tie nine minutes into the second half. Barcelona boss Josep Guardiola remained cautious over Wednesday's second leg. 


"We hope that with our crowd we will have an advantage," he said. "I'm satisfied with our efforts tonight, but they were dangerous," he said.

FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: Can Cesc Fabregas Win a Trophy in His Debut Game?

Cesc Fabregas

On Wednesday night, Barcelona will host Real Madrid in the second leg of the Spanish Cup. But for Barcelona this game has a lot more meaning that just a regular Super Cup game—it's the game where the Catalan prodigal son, Francesc Fabregas, returns home. It was a long, exhausting transfer saga, but Cesc Fabregas is finally home again.

Cesc probably won't start the match, but he will surely at least make a cameo; after all, what better way for him to debut than at Camp Nou in El Clásico?

Cesc started training with his new Barcelona teammates today and he has claimed to be fully fit; there's no doubt he'll get his debut on Wednesday. Ironically, after endless years of failure in North London, Cesc Fabregas might very well get a trophy in his first match as a Barcelona player.

In the first leg, Barcelona got a somewhat lucky 2-2 draw. Real Madrid were clearly the better team throughout the 90 minutes and Barcelona were a shadow of themselves, but two moments of genius by Lionel Messi and David Villa got the Blaugrana two vital away goals in their only two clear-cut chances.

Despite a very lackluster performance, Barcelona take the advantage (on away goals) to the second leg at Camp Nou. But given both teams' form at this point in the season, Madrid might even be considered slight favorites ahead of the second leg even if Barcelona will be playing at home.

But Barcelona won't just relinquish the advantage they struggled so much to get in the first leg, especially with the added motivation of offering Fabregas a trophy as his homecoming gift.

Unlike in the first leg, Pep Guardiola is likely to feature a lineup a lot closer to Barcelona's strongest. Even so, Real Madrid's much better form at this point in the season means that Barcelona will inevitably have to suffer a lot to get their hands on this trophy, but they've shown that they can do that. They will do everything they can to hold on to their lead and win the 10th Super Cup in the club's history.

Regardless of the result, it will be a night to remember for Barcelona. It will be a night for celebration even if Barcelona do end up losing the Super Cup—not even that could overshadow the much-awaited return home of the prodigal son, Cesc Fabregas. Lifting the trophy in the end would only put the icing on the cake in a memorable night for the club.