All hail the messi-ah

Once again it was the night of the "Little Magician" from Rosario - Lionel Messi, who scored all the four goals for Barca. Arsenal took the lead with a goal from Bendtner, but was unprepared for what Messi had in hand for them. In the end it was yet another beautiful match between two of the most attractive sides in World football at this moment. Guardiola employed a 4-1-2-3 formation. I have to admit that I was quite worried about our full-backs getting exposed. As predicted by myself earlier, Marquez and Milito started in the centre of defense. Abidal was back doing his duty as a full back along with Alves. In front of the defense Busquets held the role of defensive midfielder. The midfield had Xavi and Keita in a narrow formation. And the attacking line-up had Bojan on the left, Messi on centre and Pedro on the right. Actually Messi sat a bit behind Pedro and Bojan.

FC Barcelona Starts the Game at a low tempo

FC Barcelona looked to have learn from the first leg and started the game in a very low tempo. The basic idea was to cut off any wide balls down the flanks. Arsenal also learned from their mistakes and was pressing very hard. Marquez throughout the game looked susceptible. Xavi was the outlet for all Barca move throughout the game. In the 4th minute Messi saw his shot palmed away by Almunia. In the 10th minute Pedro had a decent chance but he dragged his shot well wide. Barca were more interested in laying back and absorb the pressure, than attack from the onset. That tactic looked to have back fired when Bendtner fired Arsenal into a shock lead from a quick counter attack. In the 18th minute a great challenge from Diaby saw Milito losing possession (it looked like a foul at first), the ball was passed to Nasiri. Nasri passed the ball to Walcott who shockingly sent a poor pass to Bendtner which enabled Valdes to save the initial attempt but the rebound also fell to Bendtner and he didn't miss on that. But the pivotal moment in the match happened in the 20 th minute when Diaby on a counter attack failed to spot Walcott's run. If he had done that, it could have been easily 2-0 up. Arsenal was made to pay up for that mistake immediately in the next minute with Messi equalising. Messi received the ball from Pedro, tried to feed xavi on the box but the defense cut that out, but Sylvestre played the ball back to Messi who didn't need a second invitation before curing the ball into the goal. In the 32nd minute Alves free kick was saved by Almunia. In the next minute Barca broke on the counter which ended with Messi hitting the sidenetting. In the 37th minute Messi put Barca ahead with a move which was started by him and finished by him. Messi played a great ball to overlapping Abidal, Abidal's cross was poor as it was behind both Pedro and Bojan, Pedro tracked back and laid of the rebound to Messi, who got past Silvestre and clipped it over Almunia. That second goal looked to have unrattled Arsenal defense. The thrid goal came in the 42nd minute when Keita played Messi onside with a great header near half line. Messi set off on his run getting into the box, calmly chipping the ball above an advancing Almunia.In the 44th minute Messi had another great chance but his touch failed him in the box.

FC Barcelona Played Cautiously in the second half

Gaurdiola was hell bent in making sure that a repeat of first leg was not on the cards. We started pressing more in the second half giving less space for Arsenal to play with. There was a reluctance to atatck but the way we held onto possession was great. In the 49th minute Alves sent in a great cross which was just wide off a sliding Lionel Messi. In the 52nd minute Abidal was replaced following an injury with Maxwell. It looks like an harm-string injury. In the 55th minute Guardiola brought in Yaya Toure for bojan to shore up his defense. In the 60th minute Bendtner had a great chance but Milito did well to block that. Yaya Toure was struggling on introduction finding it difficult to settle into the formation. But soon he was back to his best. In the 72nd minute Pedro had a great chance after Messi played him on from a quickly taken free kick, but he shot wide. In the 82nd minute Messi sets off on another great run into the box, I lost the count of time he turned defenders inside out in that move but it was a shame that it didn't end up with a goal. In the 88th minute Messi sealed the game for Barca with his fourth goal of the night. Eboue played Messi onside, gets past Vermaelen but his initial shot was blocked by Almunia, but the rebound fell to Messi again and he made no mistake with that.

It was a great performance inspired by Lionel Messi. He has now became the top scorer for Barca in Champions League overtaking Rivaldo. We will now face Inter in the semi-final, a team whom we have already beaten this year. Xavi was simply awesome throughout the night, commanding ball like a General. Milito did very well with his job, eventhough it was his mistake that led to the goal. Marquez was pretty average at times and should have been in trouble. Bojan may not have anything special in terms of attacking display, but he worked really hard interchanging position with Messi and distributing ball well. Keita for me had a poor first half apart from the assist for the third goal, but worked really hard in the second half. Overall I have to say that I liked the way Guardiola approached the game. Eventhough the team's initial reluctance to attack could have hurt us, but that helped in making sure that we were not much tired at any time in the match. He did well with his substitution also, something unlike Guardiola. The only drawback on the night was the injury to Abidal.

But still we lead (FC Barcelona - 6, Arsenal - 3) on aggregate.....

beware real madrid here we come,,,...

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

I've felt a little... alone lately. I'm not sure alone is the right word, but it's what I'm going with for now. I seem to be stuck.

I can't figure out a good way to explain this tactfully, so I'm just going to jump in.

I have a great friends. I've always believed that you build your family, and my friends have always been mine. I have my high school friends, I've got my early high school friends friends, I've got my basketball friends, I've got my graduation friends, and I've got the ones that don't fit into those groups.

I love all my friends - but something just hasn't been clicking lately. I still feel lost.

And my high school friends... well I just don't think we're alike anymore. Yes they're always going to be dear and near to my heart, but we've, or at least I have, grown apart. I don't find the same things funny as them anymore, and that's really saying something. But I will always value them and love them, for they're the only ones that could really know my background. They know the struggles I had between balancing my family values and sports.

But I still feel like nobody knows the "new" me. I've definitely changed these past 2 years, and when I'm talking about what I'm doing next year, I not only get a lack of support, but also a lack of understanding. Or if I'm going through something, I'll get sarcasm, an insult, or some witty retort - but not support. This was really made apparent to me when I realized that the only support I was getting about my decision was from my advisor.

Even if my decisions aren't liked or agreed with, I expect support. I expect an understanding of why I'm doing what I'm doing because I expect that I'm understood as a person, and therefore the reasons are apparent.

Perhaps its my fault - perhaps I've become a recluse these past 2 years, not talking to people everyday, and therefore losing my bonds with my friends.

Maybe it's good that graduation is upon us .

The Power of Routine

No one ever wants to get into a rut, but for me, for many things, I need to do them the same way over and over again everyday for them to "work."
Take writing for example.
When I first started writing, when it was a hobby, and something I didn't really believe I could do, I only wrote sporadically. I only wrote when I was inspired. Writing was mostly fun, but I didn't revise most of what I wrote, and none of it was ever really good, though some of it was promising.
When I finally was hit with a burning desire to really write, to try to write something worth having written, I decided to see what all the fuss was about writing every day, the BIC (butt-in-chair) method. It's much harder, in a way. There are many days I don't feel "inspired" and I sit at much computer feeling as though it takes a monumental effort to type each word. But lately I've noticed that these days happen more often if I'm not writing every day. Even if I write only one paragraph, it's still easier to sit down the next day to write another paragraph than if I hadn't. It's a habit.
I know I'm not the first person to make this observation, and I didn't even make it for myself. I've certainly heard others talk about it before I felt it. But some things are like that. You can hear them over and over, but then one day you live them, and it means something completely different.

Are we the genesis

Are We The Genesis?
Man is looking out into space
Longing for there to be
Other sentient intelligent beings.
He cannot bare the thought of being
Alone in this great ocean of space.
He insists the law of averages must apply
That other life must exist.
But just suppose that we are the Genesis.
That here on this planet all life will evolve
That will ever evolve in the universe,
That we are still in the primeval stage
Of all that God would have us be.
We have seen the ascent of man,
We witness it in our growing knowledge
Of where we have been and
From where we have come from.
In language and architecture
In developing cultures
In theological and philosophical ideas,
Layer upon layer has been laid down
So now in this present time
We are unlocking more of ourselves
In terms of genetic understanding.
We are out in space with no idea where to go,
For all seems dead
Beyond our light and understanding.
Yet in spite of this we remain primitive,
Unable to find ways to stop humanities
Urge to kill and go to war.
Unable to find a means to feed the millions
Who starve in a world of plenty,
Unable to work together despite our fear
Of loneliness in the cosmos.
So perhaps we are the Genesis
Evolving moving on reaching out
Into our unknown
Discovering how to grope our way
Into space into our minds
Into what makes us what we are;
Until the time will come when from here
All life will seed the universe,
That man will either go on and up
Or here the experiment in freedom
Will grind to a shuddering cataclysmic halt.
Yes maybe we are the Genesis
The Revelation lies far ahead.

an excerpt from my never written diary

14 dec.....7:00 pm
Another day of the fucking end sem holidays end. God knows why college had given one month long holidays when actually all students are getting bored at their respective homes. so do i. I had nothing to do except for sitting idle at home doing nothing.How much could we surf net when actually there are no friends online.Although watching movies kept me apart from getting bored but how could i watch movies all day long.I went for playing basketball today at stadium and to my surprise there was no one else except for me. i dribbled,practiced shots but all in vein no one came and then i returned home.I wonder if my registrar could read this please sir end the vacations and help the students from getting bored....