After successfully recovering from their respective injuries, both Pique and Puyol have been recalled by Spain national team manager Vicente del Bosque, who has named a total of nine Barcelona players in his squad for European qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Scotland. The nine players cited are Valdés, Puyol, Piqué, Sergio, Xavi, Cesc, Thiago, Pedro and Villa.
The 17 available players have trained this morning at the Ciutat Esportiva. Andrés Iniesta, who is still in the process of recovering, was seen on the grass of the pitch working for part of the session with the rest of his team mates.
FC Barcelona has now scored at least one goal in 23 consecutive Champions League encounters. This eclipses the former record of 22 established by German club Bayern Munich between 1998 and 2000.
Stat & image: Uefa.com
THE GREATEST!
That’s how Piqué, Alves, Xavi, Villa, Pedro, Mascherano, Abidal, Neymar, Ramallets, Pau Gasol and Kubala junior describe him
Messi has become a myth being only 24
After equalling Kubala’s goals record, now he will try to equal César, who scored 41 more goals than him
Alexis travels to Chile to get over his injury
ETERNAL BARÇA
Kubala and Messi, two myths that link the last 60 years of Barcelona
Carles, Laszi’s son: “My father told me that he had seen an Argentinean kid who had impressed him”
Ramallets: “Both are myths, one was blonde and one is dark-haired”
Kubala and Messi, icons of Barça’s mythology
FC Barcelona midfielder Ibrahim Afellay (25) will undergo surgery on his ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee this coming Monday, October 3 at 14:00 Barcelona time. Dr. Ramon Cugat, a surgeon who specializes in this type of injury, and Barcelona first team doctor Ricard Pruna will preside over the operation.
Every week at totalBarca, we bring you the results of the top five youth sides of La Masia: the Juvenil A, Juvenil B, Cadet A, Cadet B and the Infantil A sides respectively. We also name the Man of the Match (MOM) performer for each category.
FC Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fàbregas (24) confirmed today the rumor that has been circling for weeks; he has officially signed a new sponsorship deal with Puma, terminating his longtime relationship with Nike. The sponsorship with the Germany-based company is reportedly worth $2.5 million annually, which Nike sponsored Barcelona will not profit from.
It’s Crackòvia Thursday! We all know that the world of football is full of great personalities and strange characters. Some are loved, while others are the butt of jokes. This week we join one of the most unique players in La Liga: Cristiano Ronaldo. Don’t worry, Crackòvia deals with this case in its own funny way. Join the Cristiano in his campaign against jealousy. Enjoy the episode after the jump. Continue reading »
According to Barça’s official website, FC Barcelona Captain Carles Puyol has suffered some bruising to the ribs on his right side during the Champions League match against BATE Borisov. As he was still experiencing discomfort this morning, the player will do specific recovery work the next few days and his progress will determine his availability for Sunday’s match.
Source: fcbarcelona.cat; Image: AP Photo
Watch the exciting moments from yesterday night’s game against FC BATE in great video quality, courtesy of Ivaylo (FCBHiDef) after the jump!
FC BATE Borisov head coach Viktor Goncharenko spoke modestly in a post-match press conference after his team’s 5-0 loss to FC Barcelona in the Champions League group stage. Though BATE had the home field advantage, the players failed to show their capability “against the best team in the world.” Continue reading »
MESSI EQUALS KUBALA, 194 GOALS!
He scored two goals yesterday and, being only 24, he is one goal from passing Laszi
Leo, happy: “It’s an honour for me to have reached a player who is so important on the club’s history”
Another “manita” Barça fixed the mistake made against Milan by winning with a bunch of goals and being leaders of their group.
Bate 0 – 5 Barça
LEGEND
Bate 0 – 5 Barça
Leo equalled Laszi’s 194 goals by scoring two great goals yesterday against Bate
Messi: “It’s a pleasure to reach a myth like Kubala”
“Manita” by Barça which now leads Champions’ H group
A multitudinous goodbye. The whole Spanish football said goodbye to Chus Pereda in a very touching ceremony.
Barcelona couldn’t have reacted better to the home draw against Milan in the first day of the Champions League group stages. Today in Belarus, Barcelona annihilated BATE Borisov 5-0 with a dominant performance. Lionel Messi made history by equaling Kubala as the second highest scorer in Barcelona history. It’s only a matter of time until he overtakes Cesar Rodriguez in first place.
Here are the ratings for today’s match.
FC Barcelona broke their ‘away from home draw’ jinx for the season by slapping a manita onto FC BATE. Watch the goals after the jump!
Catch another video with a few of the players’ post-match comments after the jump.
The reigning Champions League Champions left behind a sunny Catalonia for the bitter chills of Minsk as they continued along their long and winding road which will hopefully end in Munich next May. Guardiola’s Champions League away form has left a lot to be desired in recent seasons, but his offensive line up smacked of a steely resolve and an intention to continue scoring for fun. Busquets and Fabregas were relegated to the bench to make way for a midfield of Keita, Xavi and boy wonder Thiago, who has defied expectation by consistently securing his place in the starting eleven this season ahead of more household names.
BATE Borisov – FC Barcelona
Champions League
(Wednesday September 28, 2011 @ 20:45 Barcelona time – Convert to local time)
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The assistant coach for Barça, ‘Tito’ Vilanova, is convinced that Belarusian champions FC BATE Borisov “will do something different from what we have seen … They are used to playing a 4-2-3-1, but normally, against Barça, teams change strategy,” he said, speaking to Barça TV ahead of Wednesday’s match.
A few things have emerged after this weekend. As you might have noticed, there is a lot of talk about Pep’s words towards the former Barça directive board. Some members of the board led by Joan Laporta have been forced, by a legal dispute, to present a financial back up for the losses his board inherited from Joan Gaspart’s presidency in 2003. Laporta and seven of his old board members- which, for some reason, does not include Sandro Rosell himself, vice president in 2003- need to present financial back up of about 2.9 million euros each. Back in 2006, a Barça member filed a lawsuit to make Laporta and his board responsible for the previous losses. Laporta and the rest lost the legal dispute and have to present the back up this Friday.
Wednesday’s match against Bate Borisov will be FC Barcelona’s 400th match in UEFA competitions.
Stats: @messistats • Image: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images Europe
NOW PEACE…
Guardiola ends the controversy: “Sandro is a good president, I only wanted to point out that there are eight families suffering right now”
Guardiola and Rosell hug each other in Minsk Stadium
…AND THEN GLORY
Bate – Barça (20.45h)
Barça must win Bate to avoid suffering at the end of the knock-out round
The myth “Chus” Pereda passed away
Madrid 3 – 0 Ajax. Easy victory for the white team
GOOD FEELINGS
Guardiola and Rosell confirmed in Minsk that their relationship has not changed
Guardiola reaffirmed his words: “Speaking well of Laporta doesn’t mean to speak badly of Rosell”
FOR CHUS
Barça wants to dedicate the victory against Bate to Pereda. Barcelona fans and staff are in mourning for the loss of the legendary player, who will be cremated today
Bate – Barça (20.45h)
FC Barcelona held its annual members’ assembly on 24th September. Out of 120,000 members with right to vote, 4,850 were randomly called to assist as “compromisaris” or representatives of the rest of the members. Finally, not more than 850 could attend.
According to FC Barcelona’s website, the board is closing the 2010/2011 season with losses of 9.3 million euros, while income was 473 million euros and direct expenses, about 472.6 millions euros. The losses are explained by financial expenses of about 11 million euros, which might be related to the loan the club got earlier last season, of 150 million euros.
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