On a rain filled evening in Barcelona, the newly crowned champions welcomed Real Valladolid to the Camp Nou for round 36 of La Liga. The torrential downpour led to the local authorities advising people to only venture outside if it was necessary, and while not a full stadium, plenty of people found it a necessity to go and see Barça lift the league trophy and celebrate as a team at the end of the match.
totalBarça welcomes you all to the Liga game between FC Barcelona and Real Valladolid!
(Sunday May 19, 2012 @ 21:00 Barcelona time - Convert to local time). We also have the return of the Match Countdown Timer at the right side of the main page above the Search bar!
FC Barcelona have been crowned champions of La Liga, so what would motivate them against the Valladolid outfit? For some, the chance to chase Madrid’s 100 points last season is one valid reason although it would be a pity if that means Barcelona will keep under-utilizing their youngsters. With Valladolid already safe from relegation at 43 points, this match will be a platform to prepare the next season for both teams.
Miroslav Đukić’s men has won twice, drew twice, and lost once in their last 5 games. The loss came from a 7-goal-thriller against Real Madrid in Santiago Bernabeu. This shows at their current form, they are certainly no pushover. Playing a starting 4-2-3-1 formation, they like to attack from the middle and never hesitate to shoot from long range if the chance presents itself. Their top scorer and joint top assist maker is their attacking midfielder Óscar who has scored 12 and assisted 7 goals.
FC Barcelona B faced Alcorcón this weekend in a match that went down to the wire. While Barça B looked to solidify their eighth position in the league table, the visitors, tied in third place with Villarreal and Almería (65 points), were keen to secure a position in the play-offs for promotion to the Primera División.
After yesterday’s uninspired victory over Atlético Madrid, several FC Barcelona players spoke to the press about the much larger victory of regaining the Liga championship.
FC Barcelona took to the Vicente Calderon field surrounded by the Atlético Madrid guard of honor, with friendly greetings and congratulations between the two sets of players. As the new champions of Spain, the blaugrana went into the game with nothing but pride forcing them to go for the victory, which they did in one of the most testing games of the season.
Although this season’s La Liga title seems like a small achievement to many football fans around the world, that is only due to the extremely high standards that Barça has set throughout the last five years, and the high expectations from their ruthless displays early in the season. However, the fact still remains that they have won this trophy because of an amazing showing in the domestic league, with the only slump happening later on in the season because of many unfortunate events at the club.
A league title is won by the best team, so imagine a team winning it with our point difference, and a possible 100 points collected, to equal last year’s Real Madrid record.
totalBarça welcomes you all to the Liga game between Atlético Madrid and Liga Champions FC Barcelona!
(Sunday May 12, 2013 @ 19:00 Barcelona time - Convert to local time). We also have the return of the Match Countdown Timer at the right side of the main page above the Search bar!
The other Madrid went ahead and smashed Málaga Wednesday evening so any ideas of an especially early La Liga party for FC Barcelona were put to bed. Still Barça are eight points clear of Real Madrid, with a game in hand, ahead of either one playing this weekend with four match-days remaining. Mou’s men travel to Barcelona to face Espanyol and dependent on the result there, a fiesta may break out. A victory for Tito Vilanova’s men Sunday against Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid will clinch FC Barcelona’s 22nd La Liga title and hand Tito his first cup as head boss, irrespective of Real Madrid. Yet, while trips to the Vicente Calderón, or any match against Atlético for that matter, are routine visits for Real Madrid, historically this fixture has in general been arduous for Barcelona. Though from a purely footballing standpoint this matchup is usually a proper spectacle with a high tempo, defensive lapses and normally plenty of goals. Atlético have locked the 3rd place spot so in that sense have nothing much to play for, though this Diego Simeone has their manager’s fight to the end spirit. What could potentially play beneficially into Barça’s hands is the Copa del Rey final on Friday May 17th where the Madrid sides square off and provides the only opportunity for Atlético to pick up silverware this season.
FC Barcelona faced Segunda División leaders Elche CF in Alicante on Friday evening. The youngsters played in the nearly sold out Martínez Valero stadium. Elche will be promoted to the Primera División next season for the first time since 1989, so Eusebio’s side were to face tough opposition. Besides the strength of the opposition, Eusebio also had to start the match without Sergi Roberto and Carles Planas, who picked up injuries against Lugo last week. This resulted in playing time for Portuguese defender Edgar Ié and midfielder Javi Espinosa.
Watch the highlights from last night’s game between FC Barcelona and Real Betis after the jump!
Last night FC Barcelona took on seventh-place Real Betis and defeated them with an impressive, though slightly shaky, 4-2 scoreline. Betis pressed and attacked well, exposing the continuing frailties of Barcelona’s defense, but ultimately the blaugrana attack, led by Andres Iniesta and substitute Lionel Messi, proved to be too much for them.
totalBarça welcomes you all to the Liga game between FC Barcelona and Real Betis!
(Sunday May 5, 2012 @ 21:00 Barcelona time - Convert to local time). We also have the return of the Match Countdown Timer at the right side of the main page above the Search bar!
Avoiding the blame-game for the time being, the main thing learned from the previous few matches is that errors cost games. Defensively, there were three errors committed throughout the second leg against Bayern Munich, and they all resulted in goals. Offensively… there was no end in sight. Pedro had a good shot on goal, in a single unexpected long distance attempt. Dani Alves broke through the box with no one covering him, but then hesitated to finish it, waiting for someone to break into the box, to pass it to. The problem is that the Bayern defense recovered during his wait. The rest of the attempts were either similar or less important.
There are many reasons as to why these displays happened, and there are many theories as to how they can be addressed, but the one sure thing is that regardless of the scoreline against Betis in La Liga, Barça will not claim the title on Sunday night.
Real Madrid had battled to a 4-3 score at the Bernabéu against Valladolid, and so pushes our party to at least next week, if we manage to draw and win our next two games (including Sunday’s Betis game). So how will Barça bounce back after the German hammering?
The Catalans faced a mammoth task to overturn the four nil deficit against FC Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou. Comebacks against AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain were somehow possible this season. But without Messi this task proved to be too much and a seven nil drubbing from the Germans over the two legs left FC Barcelona licking their wounds and scratching their heads.
Several players from FC Barcelona sent out messages to the fans via various social media mediums (Facebook, Twitter) following the defeat to Bayern Munich and resultant exit from the UEFA Champions League. Read their posts and tweets after the jump.
FC Barcelona was well and soundly beaten by Bayern Munich over the two-legged semi-final. And while the players expressed the hurt, which was visible enough on the faces of most after the match (Gerard Piqué and Cesc Fàbregas in particular), they also tipped their caps to a worthy opponent and exited the tournament with humility and class. Much more after the jump.
totalBarça welcomes you all to the UEFA Champions League Semi Final game between FC Barcelona and FC Bayern Munich!
(Wednesday May 1, 2013 @ 20:45 Barcelona time - Convert to local time). We also have the return of the Match Countdown Timer at the right side of the main page above the Search bar!
Let’s keep this one short and simple. Everyone knows the task ahead, everyone knows of the difficulty. What remains is one shot, one opportunity to make history. Realistically, statistically, and perhaps even logically Barça will bid adieu to the Champions League on Wednesday. Yet sport is so often filled with magic, the improbable and unreasonableness. Sport is not scripted, the conclusion is not predetermined so there is always room for hope. “Hope is what makes us strong. It is why we are here. It’s what we fight with when all else is lost.”
There are many quotes that exist on the subject but essentially the message is: it’s not the falling down that matters, it’s whether and how one gets back up. Tuesday evening’s 4-0 defeat in Munich was a humbling experience but life goes on, competition continues and Saturday at 6pm local time FC Barcelona travels to the San Mamés with the possibility of wrapping up the 2012/3 La Liga crown. Barça currently lead Real Madrid by 13 points, a victory in Bilbao coupled with a defeat for Real in the Madrid derby would guarantee the league. Atlético Madrid trail Real by three points and will look at Saturday’s game as the perfect opportunity to vanquish the demons of not winning in over a decade. Mourinho is without doubt solely focused on the return leg versus Dortmund. He knows the league is beyond him and that his legacy at the club lies solely in an unlikely comeback in the Champions League. The game is at the Vicente Calderón and ‘Mou’ will be without Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo. But a trip to “La Catedral” is never easy and this trip being the very last FC Barcelona will ever play in the stadium (Athletic Bilbao are moving to a new stadium next season), the ever proud “Lions” could put up an extra fight.
Both the international press and local analysts pointed out the obvious: Bayern Munich put on a masterful performance on Tuesday against FC Barcelona. Some headlines inevitably called it the end of an era. The Guardian’s Sid Lowe called it “a changing of the guards”, while Graham Hunter of ESPN mentioned that “Barcelona has now passed the baton.” Jonathan Wilson, author of Inverting the Pyramid, argued that “while tiki-taka is not dead, Tuesday’s game showed that the center of New Total Football has moved from Barcelona to Munich.”
A number of FC Barcelona’s players made comments to the press after 4-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals. “They are faster and they are stronger. They played better than we did and this Tuesday they were superior. We need to pick ourselves up, play well in the return leg and win La Liga as soon as possible,” said Gerard Piqué. He continued: “I don’t think we need to talk about the referee. They were better and we have to congratulate them.”
<!–more–>Marc Bartra noted that “it’s a difficult day. Losing 4-0 isn’t easy, we have to move forward and finish with our heads held high. We scored against Milan four times, why can’t we score four again?” The full back added: “We need to be optimistic. We owe it to ourselves to finish well. I had two chances to score tonight, that’s not normal, but they didn’t go in. We have to keep on fighting.”
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