Barcelona 0 - 0 Espanyol

A well played game for Barça against a determined Espanyol defense, but in the end the Blaugrana were unable to finish. It's been a complaint for some time that with the likes of Eto'o, Messi, Henry, and Ronaldinho one would expect a lot more goals. Like I've said before, there have been many injuries amongst the Barça strikers this campaign, resulting not only in reduced performances from recovered players trying to get their edge back, but also increased difficulty in the strikers being able to develop a rapport with one another. It's no wonder that the only Barcelona forward currently within the top 10 scorers for La Liga is Eto'o at #8. And for someone who's been injured as long as he has it's almost impressive he got that far for the amount of time he's actually played this season.

It was nice to see Barcelona active in both attack and defense. A lot of movement from the forwards too, on both counts. Messi looks like he has his edge back as well (he'll need it against Man U). There was no Ronaldinho, of course, but also no Henry. Both Giovani and Bojan saw a lot of game time, which only builds their confidence--especially the younger Bojan. He was getting hammered by the Espanyol back line, but that's part of the game. Giovani had to pay his dues as well. Everyone does.

Still, Barcelona had nothing to show for all their finesse and grace. The Espanyol keeper, Cameroonian Kameni, was phenomenal, likely having a career performance that game with at least 8 saves. It was also a 'derby' between the two Barcelona clubs, and that always brings a little more piss and vinegar to the table, so to speak.

Will Rijkaard be back next season? Got me. But, I have to say I liked the squad I saw out there in Nou Camp on 19 April. Tixi will probably dump up to 8 players from this season (hopefully including Ronaldinho and Henry), but if he can score Alves from Sevilla and Fabregas from Arsenal, this squad could really go places in 2008-2009. At the very least, beat the snot out of Los Merengues.