Going on from what Stevie said in the Arse Thread..

===

i think barca are about as 'unbeatable' as it's possible to be in the modern game m. perhaps that deserves its own thread. you simply can't beat them if you haven't got the ball and i think the best way to get something off them is to go really alehouse, big lad up front and try to upset them with a style of football they're not used to. sitting back and inviting them on means you'll probably lose 9 out of 10 and maybe nick a desperate draw in the other.

===

I agree, they're the Team most likely to be unbeatable in teh modern Game, they're fcukign wonderful, great to watch & an absolutely pleasureable 90 minutes of viewing for any real Football Fan when they play, win, lose or draw..

But they are beatable, both domestically & in the Champions League.

I remember watching a Team called Hercules, newly promoted, go to the Nou Camp at the start of the Season & beat them 2-0, absolutely amazing..

I'd say that in the Game they had less than 35%, even maybe less than 30% possession too, incredible..

Mourinho's Inter Milan ( not the Inter Milan of this Year, no way ) also showed that they are beatable in the big Games when defending, when getting absolutely played off the Park too, in virtually both legs.

They pretty much played Arse off the Park in the first Leg at Le Eirates anyway, just happened to conceede 2 Goals & lose that particular Game..

It's all about posession, & without doubt Barca are a million miles ahead of any other Team on the Planet in be able to control it.

The scary thing is Arsenal are meant to be the best at the in teh Premiership & last night, & in big spells of the first leg, they couldn't even get near the Ball, quite incredible really..

& when they did get near the Ball last night, i felt they were so overawed that they got it, they virtually gave it straight back to Barca.

The 0 shots on target, 0 shots on target & 67% - 33% posession Stats suggest it aswell..

I've never seen a more dominant Footballing display than the CL Semi Final Second Leg last Year

benitez was doing the studio punditry the other night and made a good comment about barca. the host asked him 'won't barca start to tire in the second half if they keep playing at this high tempo pressing game?'. benitez replied 'why would they? they are only playing in half of the pitch'.

they've managed to do something previously thought impossible, which is that they rest and recover energy when they're in possession of the ball, leaving them loads of energy for closing opponents down in their own half and winning the ball back closer to the opposing goal. it's an incredible set up. and brought about by every, single player being totally comfortable in possession in however tight a space.

there's some brilliant stats about for them this season. '9 out of the top 10 passes completed' players in la liga are barcelona players is just one of them.

benitez was doing the studio punditry the other night and made a good comment about barca. the host asked him 'won't barca start to tire in the second half if they keep playing at this high tempo pressing game?'. benitez replied 'why would they? they are only playing in half of the pitch'.

they've managed to do something previously thought impossible, which is that they rest and recover energy when they're in possession of the ball, leaving them loads of energy for closing opponents down in their own half and winning the ball back closer to the opposing goal. it's an incredible set up. and brought about by every, single player being totally comfortable in possession in however tight a space.

there's some brilliant stats about for them this season. '9 out of the top 10 passes completed' players in la liga are barcelona players is just one of them.

That's the key..

I previosuly thought that of Arse until the other night, but on the rare ocasions they did get the Ball, they panicked & gave it straight back..