Hey BlauGrana Futbol,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei, and I'm here to help you get adjusted to the new home we've built for you. If you have questions or trouble with the new system, post a comment in this thread and myself or one of the team (lovitt, sixfoot6 or odacrem) will try to point you in the right direction.

Before we begin, I want to let you know we still consider this a beta platform, so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. We hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter at bugreport@sbnation.com. We'll be continuing to make changes and improving things.

Please take a few minutes to read about what's new below. But if you just can't wait to jump in, here are some quick things to check out:

1. Sign up for your SB Nation network account and claim your old blog accounts
2. Once you're logged in, press your  Z  key in any thread with new comments
3. Explore your dashboard and setup your profile
4. Read the guide to the new FanPost editor
5. Install the FanShot bookmarklet and post videos to BlauGrana Futbol from YouTube or images from Flickr
6. Click the "Rec" button on posts and comments to help other people find the good stuff.
7. Customize display options on your Edit Settings page

What Has Changed

SB Nation Network Accounts - the Big Change

Readers across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account to use on every SB Nation blog. To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new, since every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition. We tried to be as fair as possible in deciding who gets to keep which name, using a formula that takes into account length of membership and frequency of activity.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of our blogs, but we don't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and initiating flame wars. To maintain friendly communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog in order to participate. It's a two-click process, but it does means accepting each blog's community guidelines. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

You can claim old accounts from multiple SB Nation blogs, and your new username will be retroactively attached to all your old comments and diaries. So now you'll be able to access all your writings from your single profile page... like magic.

To get started, click here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the Section Formerly Known as Diaries)

We changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for fans, and these are the blog posts we make. So we call them FanPosts. When you're at a bar telling someone to check out your online sports opinions, you don't have to suggest they read your diary.

FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - we include your avatar to give more credit for the time you spend writing great posts. The new post editor has a WYSIWYG view that provides easy formatting. It also auto-saves drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you compose a post within the web browser. And you can now associate teams, players and games with your posts: these tools promote your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, in HTML mode the new editor doesn't auto-create a new paragraph from two line breaks. But it does offer a whole array of new features. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips, and take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember to wrap <p></p> tags around each paragraph so your text doesn't run together.

Visual Redesign

This one is probably the most obvious change of all. Like other major websites working to improve readability for their audience, we've adopted a fixed-width layout optimized for the 1024 x 768 resolution used by the majority of BlauGrana Futbol and SB Nation network users. Use the switcher below the user menu if you prefer the wider layout designed for 1280 monitors. We've introduced a top navigation bar with quick links into old and new sections of the site. We also polished a few edges, made some things larger, others smaller and moved a few boxes here and there. More changes and adjustments to come.

Search

We've completely replaced the old search engine with a new one. We're excited to make it easier to find old posts and comments, but we've only taken our first pass on the tools we're offering. We're focused on making search even better than what you had before, so please know that we're aware search is missing key features and we're working on it.

What's New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

BlauGrana Futbol now has all the basic information about the Barcelona and hundreds of other teams. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, and as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step, so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so. We now have special pages that aggregate all blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Recommending FanPosts

Some writing deserves more attention and more conversation. If you want to bump a FanPost up to the top and keep it there for awhile, just click the 'Rec' link under the body of the post. When a FanPost receives enough recommendations it will make the recommended list.

Auto-refreshing Comments

You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the C key on your keyboard. Unmark a new comment after you've read it with the X key. And use the Z key if you want to umark comments as you're cycling through them.

As you use these shortcuts to cycle through comments, press the R key to reply to the current comment. All these helpful keyboard shortcuts are listed at the top of each comments section for reference.

Recommending Comments

Now you can reward those folks who take the time to look up stats and make smart arguments in the comments. Next to each comment there is an 'actions' link that you can click to find the recommend and flag options.

Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. Only moderators can see those flags.

FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote, but don't need a full FanPost. We've got you covered: FanShots let you share YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter-gatherers of Barcelona material, install the bookmarklet onto the links bar of your browser and share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Archives

It's much easier to find that post about a certain deadline trade or prospect retro feature. You can browse by year and month.

Avatars

Upload an image so folks can see your custom avatar on your profile, your FanPosts, and all your comments.

Network Profiles

Now that we have unified SB Nation network accounts, your profile will be your central hub for all of your activity on any blogs where you are a member.

Network bar

The top bar stays with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name which links to your profile. The icon to the right leads to your Dashboard area where you can edit your settings, profile, account details and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. As we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way to navigate between the blogs you've joined.

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There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made, so please take a careful look around and explore this new system. We appreciate your patience and hope you'll help us improve the new platform for this and all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start by claiming your old blog accounts and creating a new SB Nation network account.

404 minutes

That is how long since Barcelona scored a goal.  

That is why Rijkaard will not be on Barcelona's bench next season.

That is why Thierry Henry will be heading out of the Nou.

That is Exhibit A of how important Ronaldinho is to this team.

That is why my hair has grayed so much over the past couple of months.

That is why we will end this season with no trophies.

And that is why the high expectations of the preseason seem eons ago.

Thanks to the most fundamental defensive mistake by Zambrotta, Scholes put Man Utd up 1-0 with a great strike.  Every single futbol coach teaches their defenders to never clear the ball to the center of the pitch.  And that is exactly what Zambrotta did! Aghhh.  Thankfully, we always new Barcelona needed to score one goal.  And they have had some nice chances and the first 15 minutes were great (until Scholes's goal).  We are still in it.

Let's see what Rijkaard does.  Do we see Henry? I think we need someone else with a nose for goal.

Crossing fingers!!!

90 Minutes.  By the end of 90 minutes we will likely have 1/2 of the 2008 Champions League final match-up set.  Disaster or glory awaits both of these clubs.  Two clubs that had the highest of expectations at the beginning of the season face off to head to Moscow.  The amazing thing is that the loser of this match may in fact end up trophyless this season.  Barca's season success hinges on the next 90 minutes and Man Utd are hanging on to the EPL title by Goal Difference.

Who's the pressure on? I don't know.  Man Utd have to be seen as favorites playing at home needing a win.  But you cannot say Barcelona have nothing to play for.  There is plenty of evidence to show that this might be the last meaningful match for this group of players.  

What does Barcelona need to do? They need to do something they have not done in 314 minutes, score a goal.  An early goal will put all the pressure on Man Utd to score twice.  If Barca cannot score early, they will have to withstand the early onslaught that is sure to come.  Barcelona will on occasion have to just go for goal.  Too often they could not crack Man Utd's 1/3 of the field and waited too long for that perfect pass.  When Henry came on with a nice strike in the 85th minute in the 1st leg it was actually the best chance all match.  Man Utd ended up sitting back because they knew Barca weren't going to strike from outside the box. They have to keep the defenders on their toes and their is no doubt all of Barca's attackers are capable of long strikes.

Key Players - The obvious choices are Ronaldo and Messi, but I don't expect either of them to disappoint.  I see  Tevez and Deco as more critical for either teams success.  If Tevez can replace the bulldog nature of Rooney, he could give Puyol and the back 4 trouble.  Barca seem to have trouble with players of that nature and only Puyol is capable of 1 on 1 tackles w/o fouling.  And as I have said over and over again, Deco is critical for Barca.  His work rate in the midfield helps Barcelona maintain possession and reduce Man Utd's counterattacks.  If we can get the same performance from Deco as in the 1st leg, I think we will have a great chance at stealing this match.  His doggedness is even more important away.

Key Absence It is hard to figure if Man Utd will miss Rooney or Vidic more.  Tevez is a capable replacement to Rooney with similar stlye.  Vidic has a settling effect on the Man Utd Defense.  But I will say I'm glad to see that Rooney is nowhere near the pitch!

For Barca, the most interesting (temporary) absence is Henry's start on the bench.  You figure his years of success at Old Tratford would have earned him a starting spot.  However, if Barca is down at the half, I see Henry coming in at the beginning of the 2nd half.

Prediction-An Amazing Match!

Official line-ups:

Manchester United:

HARGREAVES----FERDINAND---WES BROWN---EVRA
----------------CARRICK-------------SCHOLES---------
NANI------------------------------------------------PARK
-----------------RONALDO--------TEVEZ-----------------

Bench: Kuszack, Anderson, O'shea, Giggs, Fletcher, Silvestre, Welbeck

Rooney and Vidic are not on the bench*

FC Barcelona:

-------------------VALDES------------------
ZAMBROTTA----PUYOL----MILITO-----ABIDAL
-------------------TOURE--------------------
------------XAVI----------DECO-------------
MESSI-------------ETO'O-------------INIESTA

Bench: Pinto, Gudjohsnen, Henry, Edmilson, Sylvinho, Thuram, Bojan

Manchester United also suffered a defeat at the weekend.  Chelsea knocked off Man U 2-1 to go equal on points with Man U with 2 matches to remain.  Man Utd are ahead on goal difference.  When it seemed like Man Utd would have clinched the EPL title by this weekend, Man Utd have some more pressure on them because of the potential they will be finishing the season empty handed if they don't win their next three matches (Barcelona, Wigan, and West Ham).  

I hope we see Man Utd play with that pressure on their shoulders and if Barcelona can come out and score quickly Man Utd will press even more.

Another thing that Man Utd will have to contend with is the absence of Rooney and Vidic.  It is uncertain whether both will be in the line-up.  Despite Ferguson's statements that he will be unleashing Rooney on Barca's defense, it is unclear if he will be healthy after picking up a hip injury.

26 hours and counting...

Barcelona seem to have resigned themselves to a 3rd place finish.  Deportivo deserved their 2-0 win against a Barca side that was filled with substitutes.  Rijkaard was clearly resting players for the midweek champions league fixture.  I have not problem with that and Deportivo have been on a hot streak recently.  It is official, La Liga is now a 2 dog fight between Villareal and Real Madrid.  But in reality, Madrid needs one more win and it's theirs (aghhh!!!).  Barcelona have fallen 4 points behind Villareal for the 2nd spot (in reality 5 points due to H2H).  It looks like Barca's season will start in late July for 3rd round Champions League qualifying.  This will be rough considering the many players who will be playing in the Euro 2008.  But let's not worry about this now.

For me, La Liga can be described with one word: Frustrating!

Tomorrow afternoon, Manchester United will be looking to effectively clinch the EPL title against fellow Champions League contenders Chelsea.  Tomorrow's match will be a hard fought battle and it could rarely wear out some Man Utd players.  Chelsea play a stagnant, physical brand of futbol that could    cause Barca's complete contrast of play confuse Man U a little.  I know this is being hopeful, but I sincerely believe that a strong effort by Chelsea could be an advantage to Barca.  I see two potential scenarios playing out that may be positive for Barca:

1. A Man Utd win would clinch the title and set off a day or so of massive celebration.  Hopefully there will be a win hangover that will diminish the tenacity of Man U.
2. A Man Utd loss would shift a lot of pressure on Man U in that if they lose to Barca on Tuesday they may be on the path to win no hardware if Chelsea overtakes them.  They may play tight in front of a nervous Old Tratford crowd.

Trust me, I know these are all views of Barca hopeful and they aren't driven much in reality.  But hey, I can still cross my fingers can't I.

Barcelona controlled possession for an mesmerizing 65% of the time, however, were unable to convert that into goals.  Barca was lucky to escape with a 0-0 score line as Cristiano missed 2nd minute penalty after a Milito handball.  After that miss, Barcelona eased into full control of the match with Man U rarely threatening.  Unfortunatley, Barca had very few clean shots at goal and the best came in the 86th minute from Henry, who had come on late in the 2nd half.  Other than that Van Der Sar was not tested.

Honestly, I was impressed with Barca's performance. Anyone who has been watching them the past month would be shocked at the high quality of play that Barca produced.  Sure they did not score, but they did face arguably the top club in the world right now.  I feared C. Ronaldo, but he was definitely blunted (and pushed around).  Even though Messi could not contribute much, his presence provided Barca with another threat that they have been missing for the past few weeks.  Also, I was quite happy with Deco's introduction into the squad.  He did look rusty, but I have always viewed him as a controlling figure in the midfield.  Barca do not have as many lulls on the pitch when he plays.  Next week we will be missing Marquez, but Puyol will be back.  I am not feeling  confident about next week, but I think Barca has the opportunity and moments of class to put in that single away goal.

Advantage Man U, but Barca still have a great shot if they play as well and structured as they did today.

6 days til 2nd leg at Old Tratford...

Barcelona are effectively done in La Liga, save for fighting for the 2nd automatic qualifier for next seasons Champions League.  They were eliminated by eventual Copa Del Rey champion Valencia and now face the current juggernauts of Europe, Manchester United.  This semifinal will likely make or break this season.  Heck, the season may already be broken but for me, a Champions League victory is glory enough.  However, Barcelona have stumbled for the past few weeks in falling out of La Liga and the Copa.  Take a look at their recent results since the 1st leg of the Copa Semis:

Valencia        1 - 1 (Copa)
@ Atlético M    2 - 4    
Celtic          1 - 0 (CL)
Villarreal     1 - 2
Almeria     2 - 2    
@Valencia     2 - 3 (Copa)
Valladolid     4 - 1
@Real Betis     2 - 3    
@Schalke 04     1 - 0 (CL)   
Getafe             0 - 0
Schalke 04      1 - 0 (CL)
@Recreativo     2 - 2    
Espanyol        0 - 0

So in their last 11 matches, Barcelona has 4 victories.  2 against Schalke 04, 1 against Celtic , and 1 against cellar dwellers Valladolid.  Beating 2 teams from the 2nd tier leagues is not all that impressive.  In that time span, Barca have been knocked out of the Copa del Rey and have earned 7pts out of a possible 21 in La Liga and have seen themselves dropping behind Villareal in the race to the 2nd automatic qualifier.  They must have more points than Villareal at the end of the season because if they are equal on points, Villareal will get the nod thanks to dominating Barca in 2 head to head matches.

But all of this can be set aside (or almost all of this) if Barcelona can take care of business in these next two legs.  The feat will be quite a task.  I understand that these are two juggernaut European powers, but a more astute observer will see that these two teams are playing on a different level than one another, Man U ready to clinch the EPL with Barca struggling to stay together.  A team that has seen their Ronnie elevate his game to another level (Man U) and the other that is watching their once talismanic striker exit stage left (Barca).  The fortunes of these teams are clearly diverging, but they have met at this spot and can put on quite the show for us fans.  Just look at this list of stars that will be on the field at the same time:

C. Ronaldo
Wayne Rooney
Carlos Tevez
Thierry Henry
Samuel Eto'o
Lionel Messi

....and I'm just scratching the surface obviously, but I'm definitely looking forward to an exciting match that I'm sure will include a lot of nail biting.  The onus is on Barca to perform as the home side.  I'm curious to see how Barca will react to a team that Barca will have difficulty in dominating possession against and more importantly how will they deal with Ronaldo's cutting runs.  Barca will also have to deal with a couple of towering players like Rio Ferdinand on set pieces, something that has been one of Barca's weakest links.

I'm hoping for the magic of 2005-2006. And Messi, I'm looking to you!

Last year this derby helped decide the winner of La Liga with Espanyol destroying Barca's chances with Tamudo's 88th minute equalizer.  This time around, it is more about European positioning.  It should definitely be a match, but I'm curious how many starters Rijkaard is going to rest for the midweek clash with Man United.  Barca looking to firm their grip on the 2nd automatic qualifying Champions League spot and Espanyol looking to get back into the UEFA cup race.

Match may lack the excitement of years past, but lets hope Barca can take a solid performance into their major clash with Man U.