The lost star: Halilovic

It was March of 2014 when amidst the surprising and disappointing quietness that FC Barcelona management was maintaining in the transfer windows there came a name from the Croation lands 'Halilovic'. As is it is often done Catalan Press took no time in naming him 'the next Messi' which is enough to woo the Blaugranas.

"I didn't request his transfer,talks were going on before my arrival" Tata Martino was reported saying.

The kid was bought for 5 Million dollars from Dynamo and was initially seeded to the B team for a year. Due to his contract which guaranteed him promotion in just one year, Lucho and staff decided it would be best for him to continue his development at a Liga team. And was subsequently loaned to Gijon(club trusted by Enrique). He was part of 24 games in his time at Sporting where he gave fairly average performances throughout the season.
His return from the loan was where his agents tried to play the gambit for him, Now Barca either had to keep him or sell. Halilovic declined another loan spell which could've kept him in the Barca loop. Another spin was his wage demands. His agent tried to make sure the tag 'wonder kid' fully paid off. Valencia, Sevilla, Betis all rejected his offer citing the former condition. It was HambGermany where he finally landed getting Barca exactly what they bought him for i.e. 5 Million dollar.
It was the move that earned him stern reproachment from the Spanish Press and they were right, there was no coming back.
He had the worst time of his already fleeting career in Germany where he was involved in just 6 matches where his side lost 5 of it drawing once.
Now it's rumoured that Halilovic has approached Barca sporting director for help and is seeking a return to Liga where he hopes to again excel in what he's best at. It is important to note that Barca still holds the 10 Million buy back clause on the Croatian youngster and a packed midfield too.
Time will tell his final destination till then stay tuned to La Liga Cafe.

The Luis Enrique report by La Liga Cafe.

"Treble on his very first season" It is actually a big achievement for any manager and his team. Luis Enrique was the second manager from FC Barcelona to achieve this honour (after Pep). With him Barcelona even ended up winning 5 major trophies out of the possible 6 in the calendar year (2015). He was a hero for every Barca fan after that amazing season and he even got success in following season completing domestic double (La Liga and Copa Del Rey).  And after two great seasons expectations were high from every Blagurana fans in his third season in command.


Transfer Window
Luis Enrique is famous for his unpredictable and direct moves, which was seen on his transfer moves in this summer transfer window. So it was quite a busy summer for him as he brought 6 new players to strengthen the squad. Also big names like Dani alves, Marc Bartra, Claudio Bravo and Thomas Vermaelen (Loan), Douglas (Loan) departed with happy or unhappy faces. By signing Paco Alcácer from Valencia, Munir El Haddadi was subjected to move other way around for a season long loan spell, Sergi Samper to Granada was also his move for the youngster to develop and gain some first team minutes there.

Pre season 2016-17
Pre-season was full of high and lows for Lucho as he gave chances to La Masia players to shine and so their ability to break in in first team. Defeat against Liverpool was hard to accept for fans but the brighter side of it was that mixture of first team and La Masia players showed great chemistry in that game. Though it was not enough but at least not below par, which is always a good sign for a manager.



Season 2016-17
After great two previous seasons, expectations was high from FC Barcelona and specially from Luis Enrique.
Winning Super Cup de Espana against the newly appointed Sampaoli's side in Sevilla (5-0) was dream start for Luis Enrique & Co. but only loss was that Iniesta got injured in the first leg and was declared out for 3-4 weeks. They entered the La Liga with winning mentality and won fashionably (6-2) vs Real Betis. They also clinched the important away win at San Mames with help of Rakitic's rocket header. But they sufferrd a shock defeat of 1-2 against newly promoted side Alaves at home which was totally unexpected for the team and also for the manager. Lucho took the responsibilty for the loss and also stated that players played below their best which lost them vital three points. Barca came back stronger after that defeat and performed well in both competitions (La Liga & UCL) scoring 20 goals in 5 matches but that form also didn't last long and again this new style and midfield dilemma resulted in loss (4-3) against Celta de Vigo. Then Iniesta came back in starting 11 and gave barca the much needed form and team won 4 matches icluding 4-0 against Manchester City and important away win (2-3)at mestalla.

 In match against Valencia, Iniesta once again got injured just after 14 minutes following  a challenge from Enzo Perez, with Barca later confirming knee ligament damage for the midfielder. Which made Luis Enirque to shuffle his pack and find perfect replacement for "The Magician (Iniesta)" and the veteran gave chance to Denis Suarez and Andres Gomes to shine in absence of their captain but they couldn't perform as per par and which affected team at most and even with MSN Barca scored only 9 goals in 8 games. Also they dropped 6 points and now stands 2nd in the table with six points gap to their arch rivals Real Madrid.

Lucho on journey to find perfect midfield

Trio of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets took Barcelona to new heights under Pep Guardiola between 2008 and 2012. Those days, however, are long gone. But also many new faces have come to retain the same magic with new style. Players like Euro Cup winner Andres Gomes, La Masia graduates  Denis Suarez, Rafinha and even Rakitic mighy not be capable enough to replace THAT trio but they can give much more under Luis Enrique.

After watching previous two seasons one can easily say that Lucho has changed barca's style of play with more direct approach towards goal and addition of long passes with their short passing aka "Tiki-Taka" to counter more often.
With Iniesta sidelined frequently through injury, Busquets below his best and Ivan Rakitic off colour as well, Barca's midfield has appeared ordinary in recent matches and this led Enrique to try 12 different combinations in midfield.
Lucho needed to find perfect combination of midfield which can easily cope up with this mixture of long-short passing style and he tried many different combinations. With Iniesta's golden era coming to end it is compulsory for barca to find a replacement of him and play as fluently as before with all other available players like Busquets, Rakitic, Denis, Rafinha, Turan and Gomes.
Till date most used midfield is Gomes, Busquets and Rakitic which has won only 2 matches out of 5 played together. But combo of Denis, Busquets and Rakitic has shown good quality in every game they played combined winning 3 out of 4.  This doesn't mean that Enrique will be satisfied, he always wants more from his players in each game.
Finding perfect combinations is neither easy nor fast, it takes time and also costs some points but it is in favor of club as a long term investment.

Sevilla vs Malaga Match Preview #Laliga

A match between team standing at  3rd and 11th is not attractive in other leagues but when it comes to La Liga, it not recommended to miss such match and specially when it includes a great quality team like Sevilla FC.
Sevilla FC topped the group stage in UCL which gave them boost in their performance to compete with two giants (FC Barcelona & Real Madrid) in La Liga race. And  yet they won (3-0) against Celta de Vigo last Sunday, which was very tight until break. Then manager Jorge Sampaoli sent Captain Iborra in for Argentine Pareja, who ended up unleashing a second half hat trick to take away the much needed three point in La Liga standings. Los Rojiblancos might be standing 3rd on table but they are not upto their best yet as they won only 2 in last 5 matches.

Talking about the visitors, Malaga winless in last three matches which includes two draws in last two matches. Juande Ramos’s men will come to Seville to win with their full strength. They were unlucky to draw last match, after taking the lead in 24th minute with help of cross from Roberto Roasales meeting Camacho’s head they conceded an own goal in a set-piece situation. Malaga were amazing on Friday but because of lack of awareness in set piece situation they have to satisfy with 1 point.

Sevilla vs Malaga is very exciting fixture as their head to head statistics are as follows
Sevilla Won 10 Lost 9 Draw 7 Avg Goals 1.4
Malaga Won 9 Lost 10 Draw 7 Avg Goals 1.3

Predicted line up
Sevilla (3-4-2-1)
Rico; Mercado, Pareja, Rami; Sarabia, N'Zonzi, Nasri, Mariano; Ben Yedder, Vazquez; Vitolo
Malaga (4-2-3-1)
Boyko; Torres, Villanueva, Rosales, Llorente; Juan Carlos, Juanpi; Fornals, Ontiveros, Camacho; Sandro