Barça held their final training session this Friday afternoon at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper before Saturday’s game against Villarreal in round 21 of the Liga. After this final training session, the Barcelona coaches made available the list of players for this weekend’s match, which includes the 14 available players from the first team and also Cuenca, Dos Santos, Sergi Roberto, and Tello from the reserves.
“Messi is the best player on the planet and he keeps on improving at Barça, now the best team in the world. What Messi does on and off the pitch is an inspiration for children who dream of becoming a footballer.”
- Tennis world no. 1 Novak Djokovic (Serbia), when speaking with Sport.es
FC Barcelona have reached an agreement with Spanish forward and La Masia product Isaac Cuenca (20) to extend and improve his contract until June 30, 2015. The signing of the new contract will take place on Tuesday 31 January. He will exchange his no. 39 jersey for the no. 23.
Former FC Barcelona forward Maxi Lopez (27) has switched teams withing Italy, joining AC Milan on a loan deal until June 2012 from Catania. After alleged unsuccessful deals for the exchange of the elusive Carlos Tevez (from Man City) for forward Alexandre Pato (to PSG), the Rossoneri have added another former Barcelona player to their ranks.
The other ex-Barcelona player in the transfer news is Sevilla defender Martin Caceres (24), who shall be playing for Italian club Juventus on a loan deal till June 2012.
We present Mourinho’s most charismatic rag dolls – some toys made in ‘Mouñeco Llorón’ [Crybaby Doll -- muñeca = doll]
The mouñeco MacarioKaranka – Do what you want with the rag doll on the market with the least personality!!! It imitates all your gestures!!!
Mouñeco Pepegón [pegar = to hit] — It hits! It stamps! It injures involuntarily! And no one can stop it
Mouñeco Quesillas [quejar = to complain - pronounced ‘K -sillas’] – A super complete rag doll!!! It complains, it cries, it loses its cool and acts ridiculous in all of the Clásicos
Tomorrow, more mouñecos
“Have you seen what happened to me on Wednesday?”
So what if he couldn’t grace the cover of Time as the Person of the Year of 2011. Argentina international and FC Barcelona striker Leo Messi, cited by the magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World last year, has landed on the cover of the magazine’s February edition. Interestingly, all of Time‘s editions barring United States - Asia, Europe and South Pacific - will have Messi on the cover. The US edition of the magazine has opted for the ”The Power of (Shyness)”, which in hindsight is a story that could also feature Leo Messi in it.
With a portrait of Messi solemnly looking straight at the camera, this is the first time that a male footballer alone has graced the cover of the magazine. Earlier popular sportsmen like golfer Tiger Woods, basketball player Michael Jordan, boxer Muhammad Ali and tennis player Bjorn Borg have all been Time’s cover stars. The coverline reads “King Leo” and goes on to say, “Lionel Messi is the best football player in the world – possibly of all time. So why don’t his countrymen love him?”
Read excerpts from the interview (you can read more here) and see a video of the photo shoot after the jump.
Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho has now confronted FC Barcelona nine times in the Camp Nou. His record so far: five defeats, four draws, zero wins. His teams have thus far been outscored 19-9 across these encounters.
Stats: @barcastuff
MESSI IS GOING FAR
Leo, in addition to scoring goals, is the king of assists; he already has 18
The crack is on the cover of TIME, which calls him “King Leo”
Valencia, Barça’s rival
MOU WENT TOO FAR
The sore losing coach — he waited here for the referees to rebuke them
He shouted at Teixeira: “How you like to screw professionals!”
Iniesta will be three weeks KO
Alexis will try against Valencia
Cesc: “We can do it all.”
Top Secret: Pepe could have played for Barça
ACUTE BARCELONITIS
Madrid cries about the elimination
The symptoms:
1. Complaining about the referees – Mourinho, Casillas, Sergio Ramos, and Pepe blame the ref for the KO in the Cup
2. Victimization – Florentino manipulates it so that Teixeira will not whistle a game for them again
3. Not recognizing their errors – they cling to a moral victory without any sporting value
Valencia’s 3-0 away victory against Levante last night means that they now face FC Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey competition. Over 180 minutes, Valencia emerged victorious over Levante with an impressive aggregate score of 7-1. They now host Guardiola’s injury-marred team on Feb 1 at La Mestalla and then head to Camp Nou a week later, on Feb 8, for the second and final leg of the tie. The winner over two legs will compete in the final to be played on May 25.
La Mestalla has certainly not been Barca’s favourite ground of 2011. The team lost the Copa del Rey final to Real Madrid there and early this 2011-2012 season managed only a 2-2 draw against Valencia. Cules will hope for a better outcome this time around.
It was Cesc Fabregas’s turn to face the press after the training session on Thursday in Sant Joan Despí. Unsurprisingly, the player was profusely asked about the last clásico. Here are some of his responses. The rest can be found here.
Just after turning 32 years old, we can say Xavi is not only a crucial player for Barça, but also one of those players that could be called a legend. His impressive achievements, such as being the player with the most games played for Barça (607, counting the latest Clásico) and winning the most trophies, puts him right next to the likes of Kubala, Ramallets, or Cruyff. Yes, that kind of legend.
Unlike all those other huge names and players who are mythical for culés and have their own place in football history, I would say that Xavi’s biggest contribution to this team is not related to statistics. It does not have to do with the impressive amount of games he has been involved in since Louis Van Gaal called him up at 18 years old. It is also not his involvement in the 3 Champions League, 6 La Liga titles, 5 Spanish Supercups, 2 European Supercups and 2 Club World Cups that he has won over his 20+ years in the club. It has to do with a much more lasting legacy: football. Pure and simple football.
Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him. – Sun Tzu’s The Art of War
Or, to put it another way: tempo.
In the the opening leg of the Clásico quarter-final in the Copa del Rey, Real Madrid manager José Mourinho fielded a starting eleven sans German playmaker Mesut Özil. It wasn’t an undeserved seat on the bench for Özil: he had, after all, been nullified in Madrid’s first La Liga meeting with Barcelona in December. But instead of playing Kaká in his place, Mourinho changed Madrid’s shape from a 4-2-3-1 to a defensive 4-3-3, opting to play Pepe, a centre-defender, in midfield over the Brazilian, the idea being to disrupt the rhythm and intricate passing that is Barça’s offense.
Are you ready for another Crackòvia episode? Today we will discover how Pepe (with a little help from Mourinho) recorded his heart warming apology to Lionel Messi. Hit continue reading to watch the video.
There was a happy atmosphere in Sant Joan Despí this morning. FC Barcelona, now a semi-finalist in the Copa del Rey, returned to work with a training session at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper. The match against Madrid required an enormous physical effort from the players, therefore the starters from Wednesday evening spent Thursday’s training session doing recovery work. Iniesta and Alexis were both absent, having been injured during the game.
Further tests carried out this Thursday at the Ciutat Esportiva have confirmed that midfielder Andrés Iniesta has a tear in the hamstring muscle of his left leg. He will be out for approximately three weeks.
Iniesta was replaced by Pedro in the 29th minute of Wednesday’s Copa del Rey match against Real Madrid. He will join Alexis Sanchez on the injury list, with the Chilean out for one to two weeks with a pulled shoulder muscle.
The biggest news to emerge in the aftermath of the second leg of the Copa del Rey was that Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho had refused to congratulate Pep Guardiola on Barca’s progress to the semi-finals of the competition. In the post-match conference, Mourinho explains the reason behind his decision to not to do so and reflects on the game in which his team put in a better performance compared to the first leg.
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