Pedro and Iniesta partly train with the group
FC Barcelona’s first team returned to training this Monday, after taking Sunday off, focused on preparing for the important Copa del Rey match on Wednesday at Camp Nou against Valencia, which will determine who plays in the final. Despite this being the first session following Saturday’s match with Real Sociedad, all the players trained at full capacity. The best news of the day was the presence of Pedro and Iniesta on the training pitch. The two footballers, who are still recovering from their respective injuries, worked for part of the session with the group.
Sergio Busquets spent the session working on his recovery. The player received a blow to his right knee during Saturday’s game that required stitches. Leo Messi was also at the Ciutat Esportiva, but in the gym rather than the pitch, doing specific work.
For this training session, Pep Guardiola called 7 players from the Barça reserves. This included recent familiar faces Dos Santos, Tello, and Sergi Roberto, who were part of the squad for the match against Real Sociedad, as well as Bartra, Muniesa, Montoya, and Gerard Deulofeu.
Source: fcbarcelona.cat; Images: Miguel Ruiz (FCB)
A double roulette against Valencia,incredible runs forward during the Sociedad game, and now double kicks in training and 2 goals in the cup,looks like Puyol's going to cover our shortage in attacking players soon and he'll do it exceptionally great.
Best news of the day, seeing Pedrito and Don Andres back in action, been missing them both!
Is there any news on afellay? He will greatly help us when he recovers…..
he reached the next stage of his recovery but he won't be back until April/May
Thats odd. The initial assessment of the time of recovery was that he would be back in 6 months, which means March, but during recovery, I’ve read that he is progressing much better than expected. Yet you’re saying that he basically wont play for us this season (season ends in mid-May).
I think he made a mistake, you are spot on with that. He's coming back mid-March.
assessment
i remember i've read "April/May" on barcastuff. transfermarkt.de say he'll be back by the end of march
I've read May as well but I think March is more reasonable.
He's supposed to be back in mid-March, but it all depends on the evolution of his recovery.
OT: XAVI SPEAKS ENGLISH!!
[youtube Mn0khFJZHxw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn0khFJZHxw youtube]
Just two words "good luck". What's the fuss? Better pray someone would help get his mind straight before everything is ruined!
I'm with you. I don't care that it was only 'good luck'. It was cool to hear. I think I read that Xavi, Iniesta and Messi are all learning English. The more players the better. Pep, Cesc and Gerard speaking English is music to my ears. Love it.
I worry when i hear that they are learning English as I wonder why??? Hopefully not for a move to the Prem…………… !!!!!!!!!! ahhhhhh
I think it's good that they're learning another language. I don't think it has anything to do with the premiership. Learning English can only help the already global appeal of our Barca players.
I think it's a move to… be a great coach for Barcelona (after Pep's leaving)
I love to see that the best in the women's football acts like she's just a tourist who got a special pass to see the team train and take a photo with a player and stuff like that!
Wow , Amazing news , I think if the ING Stopped we will win all the trophes this season I am sure
who is the dude tryna break Iniesta's leg on one of the pics??
looks like sergi roberto i think
No, it's not. That guy wear white Nike Tiempo or white adidas 11pro. Sergi wear a blue CTR 360 II and also he wear a short.
I bet it's Dani Alves or any guys who wear Tiempo (Pique, Puyol, Abi or Muniesa).
OT: interesting article about problems and analysis on what is different in current Barcelona from Barca 2011 and ways forward from Carlos Bianchi, ESPN (Argentinian coach): http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/news/story?id=145…
(need to use google translate)
one does not simply trust google translator =p
still worth reading! If other options are not available
well i'm learning spanish in school but at the moment my spanish is not good enough to understand this article and the grammar in english (just tried it) is not very good but as it's about barca i will read it later. (gotta go to my spanish lessons now ^^)
PIQUE&BARTRA
barca away shits leaked
http://www.footyheadlines.com/
….
I think it looks cool!
I think it looks fucking horrible
me too. Our away colors have always been ugly on purpose it seems. It was once fluorescent green, the one before pink, etc. ahh well.. the Qatar wording there is the one that really spoils it though. UNICEF with the globe. Now that was nice.
@ bender, What ? "Away shits leaked ?"….. Damn, that would be disgusting dude!!
It looks pretty fake!
Puyol just practicing his scoring for the next clasico…
We miss u boys long time.
puyol start to do some amazing thing lately lol
it seems puyol is the chosen one
very good news if they cant recover for valencia its not so bad i think we will get throw without them but against a strong osasuna side especially at home we need them both like never before busquets can stay on the sidelines thats just good for barca if pep plays masche in the middle if not i will say it again its a scandal and the fans and media shouold react for the good of the team busquets can just positioning himself good thats i think all in my opinion masche is fast with good movement can dribble and open up spaces that we need so much for sanchez and messi without villa has a very good shot he runs like a dog all over the pitch he is all that busquets is not for a dm believe me iniesta mascherano and xavi will be again like the real motor of barca we dont need cesc and busquets they are good cover but we have too much class to play them as especially cesc is off form busquets believe me is not worth the place above mascherano he is very slow he cant play a final pass thats for sure he has a bambini shot like a kid with both feeds he is physically not strong he and he goes down too often and acts like a chicken that everyone gets a bad image 1 thing is to put masche in the middle 2 to play again with xavi and iniesta in the middle sanchez left wing pedro right and messi upfront that would be our best formation possible right now we are a winning team right we go always for one goal more and therefore we need mascherano and not busquets toure was ideal but he is gone and i will say it again i dont know why is this happening but its not the best for the club and not fair to the better player
where is your punctuation, messi? it is hardly to decipher where your sentences begin and end:)))
masche is great but so too is busquets. he has really good and accurate passing skils, he reads the game very good solves problems before they appear. his positioning is great hence he doesn't need to be fast and please please don't tell me he can't dribble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLUwnQ2xLr8
i hope Alexis is fine. Marca is reporting that the club is hiding his injury. Hope it is not true.
Of course they are… business as usual. Ugh.
When do Barca hide injuries ? they are one of the few clubs that report their injuries properly and let the public know exactly whats happening, every time a Real Madrid player gets injured there is no date or disgnosis and then they return in like a week after a 'serious injury'.
I think he means it's business as usual at Marca.
She.
But yes, that is what I mean.
Alexis is in the pictures. You don't see his face but you can tell from his stature and his boots. The 2nd picture from the top he is beside Pique
OT: Anyone knows when Villa and Afellay is set to return??
They will not be able to play in this season…
But Villa said that he want to play for Barça in the Champions League final.
Afellay is back in March and there is still hope for Villa…
final ucl??
don't ever think about that with current performance.
You're right… There are "only" 5 strikers in the team who are better than Villa: Messi, Alexis, Cuenca, Tello and Pedro…
Villa was on pace for 4 months. So April or May
i read in goal.com that ibra got an offer from madrid…. i can't imaging how 3 egos (mourhino,ronaldo and ibra) in madrid dressing room get along… ha ha ha……
They would kill each other…
No, Ibra would kill them
Yes, with his nose! He can use it as a sword.
cristiano is actually humble you dumbass, he donates money to charities, does messi do that? no
dafuq ? u call cristiano humble ? while being interviewed he once said that the people in zagreb don't like him because he's rich, beautiful and a good footballer. so that's what u call humble ?
well, tbh, i think that's pretty funny, i think he does have a sense of humor. i love Messi as a player, and there's no visible character flaws, but otherwise he's a pretty boring guy
He's just not interested in spending much time on his fans or media, which is probably a smart thing. But other then that ronaldo acts like a diva, tbh i cannot say he comes across like a dick like Pepe, or Sergio Ramos, or Marcelo. Ronaldo is more levelheaded than those 3 primates.
well i'm not saying he's crazy and a dirty player like pepe and so on. actually considering brutality from rm players ronaldo's one of the players i like most because he's (trying to) play(ing) football.
i'm also not hating on ronaldo because he's obviously a good footballer but if someone doesn't like him i don't think it's because he's rich or something but because he seems arrogant. not saying he is arrogant since i don't know him personally.
Messi is a shy genius.. Thats what he is, he talks on the field, idont care about footballers otherwise, why would i care what for exampel Messi does in his free time, our what ever! Messi, Iniesta, Xavi are unique, they acts in way like normal person, its easy to relate to. And + the fact is that 99% of the footballers including, Barca players are just not that special, they have talent from god, and money, thats the diifrence.
i mean, i'm pretty sure messi RUNS a charity.
i will say though that cristiano treats his fans much better than messi does
Thanks alot, i really miss ibi's style and Villa's influence on the team
Last pic Xavi couldn't intercept Muniesa's passing. Muniesa! Seriously?
Even when they’re scheduled is packed I can never get enough to watch them play
Lezzgo boys, we believe.
Dam you carles what a player even cesc is like wow!!
For a second there I thought Puyol was attempting bicycle kick with a blindfold on
Why not? He is Puyol afterall
(8th pic)
Please is pepe now a barca player. Cos i see someone with a pepe’s challenge on iniesta. Its really annoying.
clearly the angle is making it look worse than it was.
No one would go out and tackle iniesta like that
Didnt see any photos of Busquets. Hope he's ok.
OT: Funny pic of Pique and Puyol:
http://i.imgur.com/pUUbF.jpg
How can they find those statues? Amazing!
it's simply amazing how to effect iniesta to barça's game. just incredible. he changes everything.
I just wanted to say that the Spanish Football Federation (REF or whatever) is a JOKE!
Im refeering to the situation where Pepe stamped on Messis hand. The federation probably didnt even look at it and Pepe was able to play whenever, no sanction. But in England and Italy the players get suspended for 2-5 matches all the time. For both situations where player is booked during the match, or where they look at the video later. The latest example is the Zlatan situation, he got suspended for 3 matches for that little "slap".. I still cant get over Pepe not beeing sactioned..
Thats all for now….
thats all forever you mean. lets not sound like mourinho complaining. like pique said "nosotros solamente jugamos al futbol!!"
you are the one swallowing the propaganda of Mou. Your attitude is exactly what he hopes for. Mou knows that he has nothing to whine about, and its been like that for years (it is just sour grapes from an inferior team!), but he hopes that by doing so, he prevents Barca from airing LEGITIMATE CONCERNS about the decisions of the ref and Spanish FA. And u are falling into his trap with both feet!
and by constantly whining about refs we're not improving our image any either, we look like we think we're entitled to special treatment. honestly, unless we do our talking purely on the pitch, mou and the press will find a way to spin our words.
I dont care what Mou thinks, or doesnt think and neither should you!
dude you literally JUST posted about how you were worried about falling into mou's trap.
like seriously, at least backtrack so you don't step all over yourself
no the plyers do the playing , here we do the comenting,
I belive that R.Madrid is been help outside the field by whom picks the refs . in the last games the worst refs are apply for the classicos and is to alowed Madrid to get away with the poor spotmanship that they are applying in this matches, clear example will be the last "copa del Rey finnal" that ref(Machenco) , would he have been applying the rules the right way at least 2 players would have been expulsed from Madrid team. If a fair ref is assigned to the classico we will have a lots of goals like in last times , Is simple all about politics Have to realize that more than a few directors of Spanish Primera can be Real M fans and this is corruption , with all this still BarcelonaFC is the best team on the world . if we can only shake the bad luck and take some of Messi extra load and reverse the momentum that we are going tru ( in la liga only) we'ill have a great year.
Can’t believe tB din coverage to this. We are being awarded as the Best Sports Team on the planet. The Prestigious Laureus Award also known as the Sports Oscar!!! Visca Barca!!
they did.
Puyol going for bicycle kicks now :O forget Messi let Puyol play striker
Put Busi in attack instead! http://www.barcablaugranes.com/2012/2/7/2781755/s…