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disposed of mediocre Bulgarian side Levski Sofia with relative ease, they struggled against the top sides- failing to beat Chelsea both home and away, not managing to get the all important second goal at Anfield when they needed it as well as dropping two points in Germany against Werder Bremen. With three of Ronaldinho, Henry, Messi and Eto'o on the pitch as well as one of them on the bench, this Barcelona attack should find even the toughest defence in the world only slightly hard to breach. While Henry has never won the Champions League before, he has scored a total of fifty goals in European competitions- as well as spearheading a youthful Arsenal side into the final of the competition that they ironically lost against his present employers.

As Barcelona won nothing last season, most would agree it is obvious that they need strengthening. They have done so- bringing in Yaya Toure to play in midfield as well as Eric Abidal to play in defence. While perhaps a fully fit Barcelona squad would not need Thierry Henry, the realities of the modern game are that players will pick up injuries, and when they do it is priceless to have someone like Henry waiting to come in and play in their role up front. This became a reality when Samuel Eto'o was recently ruled out for at eight weeks at the very least following a thigh injury. He will also be missing at least a month of the season during December/January due to the African Cup of Nations (ACoN)- how happy will Barcelona fans be to have Henry come in and play up front instead of the erratic Eidur Gudjohnsen or the ageing Santi Ezquerro?

Since adding too many big names to a squad can cause huge problems with so many large egos in the dressing room (as the Galacticos of Real Madrid found out during their unsuccessful spell between 2003-2007), Barcelona head coach Frank Rijkaard will have a difficult task on his hands handling the four superstars up front, but it is probable that injuries, suspensions and international events like the ACoN will make his task easier in deciding who to play up front. If Rijkaard is able to successfully integrate all four players as well as the new arrivals into a team unit that plays together coherently, Barcelona will definitely be in contention for not just domestic honours, but European ones as well.

Learn more about this author, Jason Pereira.
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