Pre-season friendlies are often snubbed by football supporters. They tend to be dull affairs that are played more like a training exercise than a truly competitive football match and normally feature sides who are experimenting with new players and formations.
However every so often, a friendly match comes along that really captures the imagination of the public, and this one most certainly falls into that category. The hype surrounding the mighty Barcelona’s visit to Scotland this week has been exceptional for what is still just a friendly match. The aura surrounding this huge institution of a football club (they essentially represent a nation rather than just a city), that football fans the length and breadth of the country are likely to form a crowd expected to be in the region of 55,000. I’m sure that they are also interested in seeing Barcelona as well!
Hearts will be hoping to showcase some new signings ahead of the new season, but as ever it seems, injury problems and behind-the-scenes disharmony with training methods (allegedly) have disrupted their preparations. It’s a safe bet that the sight of Eduard Malofeev in the Hearts dugout tomorrow is unlikely to bring smiles to many Jambo faces either!
However not even that can deter the general feeling of excitement around the capital at the prospect of some of the world’s best players strutting their stuff.
The thought of watching Ronaldinho attempting to come to terms with the defensive prowess of Robbie Neilson is simply mouth-watering, as is the impending battle of the heavy-weights in midfield between Deco and Neil McCann(!).
It promises to be quite an afternoon…..
Hearts Team News:
The perennially injured Roman Bednar, Mauricio Pinilla and Deividas Cesnauskas are…er…injured. Craig Gordon is expected to play though and new Spanish signing Ruben Palazuelos could also take part at some stage.
Player to watch: Saul Mikoliunas
Has the perfect stage to prove that he’s among the best wingers in the world. Should literally wipe the floor with the ageing Thuram and likely to outshine anyone on the opposing side. I’ll get my coat…
Barcelona Team News:
Captain Carlos Puyol and striker Eidur Gudjohnsen miss out through injury, while Milito, Marquez and Messi did not travel to Scotland. Ronaldinho, Henry and Eto’o are expected to play at some stage.
Player to watch: Deco
Others have more colourful reputations, but this man is arguably the guy that makes Barca’s engine room tick. Generally involved in everything positive and can control the game.
Match Prediction:
It’s just a question of how many Hearts will win by isn’t it?!
Watched the Utd v Barca game tonight on Setanta. Barca weren’t even in first gear – they seemed to hardly break a sweat. If they play like that and we play as well as we can, we could actually win. How funny would that be – even though it doesn’t matter?