05.12.2008 16:55
The best attacking trios in the league
David Puig
FC Barcelona and Valencia have some of the best forwards in la Primera to call upon as Barça’s trio of Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi have scored 27 goals between them this term and Valencia’s Villa, Mata and Joaquín have 21 goals.
Only the suspension of Eto’o will prevent all six players lining up in Camp Nou on Saturday
in what would be a display of the most attacking stars in La Liga. The 4-3-3 of the Blaugrana and
Los Che’s adventurous trio at the front of their formation have meant that between the six of
them they have recorded no less than 49 goals in total for their respective sides.
Strength in depth
With 14 goals to his name alone Eto’o will be missed by
the Blaugrana for the game, but Valencia will have their top scorer available with Villa looking to
add to his tally of 12 for the campaign. FC Barcelona do have other options available within their
squad to compensate for the absence of their Cameroonian star though.
Messi and Henry
Messi has scored nine times this term for Pep Guardiola’s side and is the second top
scorer for the team in the league this season while Henry has four to his credit already. Behind
Villa in the Valencia scoring charts is Mata with six and Joaquín who has three goals this season.
Eto’o not being available will give other players a chance to shine.
Behind the strikers
Barça have a better scoring record among their
midfielders and defenders this season than Valencia with Unai Emery’s team having Manuel
Fernandes on two, while Rubén Baraja and Alexis have just one each. For Barça though, Xavi and
Eidur Gudjohnsen have scored three times, Seydou Keita twice and Rafa Márquez and Dani Alves have
netted once.
1-1 a good bet
Despite the fact that when Barça play Valenica there always appears to be plenty of goals, an
average of three-per-game overall, in the 73 matches between the teams in Camp Nou the most common
scoreline is 1-1, with games ending with that result on 15 occasions. Barça winning 2-1 has
happened seven times, 1-0 to the hosts six times and only eight games have been played where the
Blaugrana failed to score at all, while Valencia have not done so in 20 of the games.