Unconfirmed sources claim that Barcelona are following Porto attacking midfielder Fernando Daniel Belluschi (26). Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola would reportedly be a fan of the Argentinian player, who has been tracked by the Catalan club since his days in Argentinian team River Plate. Belluschi has struggled in his first season in Portuguese league, where he joined from Olympiacos, but that hasn’t put off Guardiola, who reportedly rates highly the midfielder’s versatility.
Reports in both Portugal and Brazil claim that Barcelona loan-out and Benfica forward Keirrison (21) might move to Liverpool in a six months loan deal. Barcelona’s summer move for the Brazilian disappointed Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez who had been tracking the youngster for some time and had failed with a move in the last January transfer window. Keirrison’s loan move to Benfica was supposed to allow the player to get used to the European style of play but the young Brazilian’s chances in the first team have been limited. Barcelona are reportedly unhappy at their striker’s lack of playing action at Benfica and are willing to loan him to another club in Europe or back to Brazil where several clubs are targeting the player.
Keirrison has enjoyed a prolific record in Brazilian league, where he has played with Coritiba and Palmeiras and was the best scorer in the year 2008. His record in his homeland speaks for itself so it’s of no surprise that a number of European clubs had been alerted to his talent. Despite Keirrison’s young age he has already shown just how prolific he can be. Last season alone he has scored an impressive 20 goals in just 31 league appearances, 30 from starting lineup. This is a remarkable feat since this was only his second league season after scoring 12 goals in 32 league appearances in his first campaign. Few youngsters in world football have boasted such an impressive strike rate as 37 goals in 70 league appearances.
Read more »
Italian sports paper Tuttosport claims that Juventus is ready to sign permanently Barcelona loaned-out defender, Uruguayan international Martin Caceres (22).
Caceres joined Barcelona on 4 June 2008, with a reported transfer fee of 16.5 million euros (unconfirmed) from Villarreal. A buyout clause of 50 million euros was included in the deal, which expires in June 2012. Unable to break into the starting eleven permanently, he was used sparsely by the Catalan team during his first season at Barcelona. He was only the fourth choice defender, behind the Catalan captain Carles Puyol, Rafael Marquez and Gerard Pique.
On 30 July 2009, it was announced by Barcelona that the Italian Serie A club agreed to take Caceres on loan with the option to buy him at the end of the 2009-10 season. On 12 September 2009 Cáceres scored his first goal with Juventus in his debut Serie A match against Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy.
Read more »
According to reports from Iceland, former Barcelona player and Monaco forward Eidur Gudjohnsen (31) owes 9 million euros to two banks. Reports claim that Gudjohnsen would have become addicted to gambling while he was recovering from an injury at his former club Barcelona. Reports reveal that Gudjohnsen has spent his last two summer holidays in Las Vegas, but the Icelandic international has vowed never to set foot in a casino again.
Gudjohnsen is said to owe Banque Havilland in Luxembourg 6 million euros and Glitnir Bank in Iceland 2.7 million euros. Other debts make the figure more than 9 million euros. Gudjohnsen is paid 4.5 million euros a year by his current club, Monaco. Unidentified source has reportedly said: “Eidur is a lovely guy and everyone thought he had beaten his gambling problems.” A spokesman for Gudjohnsen said: “If there are some debts it can’t be too serious.”
For a Madrid based sports paper, and one that is seen as putting Real Madrid ahead of other teams, the result is kind of surprising.
Following the disclosure of the short-list of the five players nominated for this year’s FIFA World Player, Marca organised an online survey among its readers and the result is pretty clear; the three Barcelona players are way better than Real Madrid’s two candidates.
Nevertheless, being a Spanish-language paper, it is no wonder that Xavi Hernandez, for everything that he has achieved with Barcelona and Spain, was polled ahead of Argentine’s Messi.
Read more »
British newspaper The Mirror claims that English Premier League team Blackburn and several other clubs would be interested in a loan deal for Barcelona forward and Spanish youth international Jeffren Suarez (21).
Barcelona are reportedly willing to loan Jeffren out as he is not currently in their first team plans – with Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Pedro all ahead of him in the pecking order for the wing-forward roles – and with Barcelona eager to sign another left winger in January, Jeffren’s first team chances would be in jeopardy. Barcelona have decided to loan him out in a bid to give him regular first team playing time to show what them what he can do.
Jeffren, believed to be one of the best of Barcelona’s current academy players alongside Pedro, Marc Muniesa and Thiago Alcantara, caught the eye of Arsenal whilst playing for Spain in the Euro Under 19’s Tournament in 2006 but Barcelona are reportedly unwilling to let him go on a permanent deal, making a loan switch to any other smaller club possible.
Read more »
Speaking to Catalan radio channel RAC 1, Barcelona defender and Ukrainian international Dmytro Chygrynskiy (23) is confident that if Barcelona continues to play with their usual game, they are sure to achieve a decisive victory against Dynamo Kiev in the last group stage game in the Champions League. Chygrynskiy however warned that Dynamo Kiev players are physically strong and well prepared for the match: “Shovkovsky, Shevchenko and Milievski are their best players, but sometimes Dynamo relies too heavily on them. If we play our kind of game we should have no problem.”
Chygrynskiy, a former Shakhtar Donetsk player, noted that the temperature is now higher than expected in Kiev: “Normally during this period the temperature is usually at around -14 °C or -15 °C (5-7 °F), but it may now be between -2 °C and -4 °C (25-29 °F). It is not that cold,” he said jokingly.
Read more »
In a press conference held at the club yesterday, Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic said he feels the team is “ready” for the immediate challenges awaiting the team towards the end of the year: “First is the match against Kiev, then Espanyol, but the Club World Cup trophy is a very important title, one that is still lacking with this club. If we win it, Barcelona would have conquered everything, all in a year and a half, and we are ready to win every one of them,” said a confident Ibrahimovic.
However, the striker is well aware that it will “not be easy” to beat Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday but after overcoming Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Deportivo, he is optimistic: “In the last few weeks, we have won against tough opponents, and now against Dynamo. We want to win this because it is a great chance for us to top our group. It will be another tough match as they are last in the group (though still with a chance), but if we win, everything will be fine.”
Read more »
Dec8
WORLD TREBLE
Messi, Iniesta and Xavi, Blaugrana majority among the FIFA World Player finalists.
Cristiano and Kaká complete the list of this year’s FIFA World Player finalists. The winner will be announced on December 21st.
EMD’s Interview. Xavi’s 100th match in Europe “We’ll risk our life against Dynamo”
Ibra resigns playing for Sweden this season to create history with Barça.
With everyone brought to Kiev. Pep’s Barça has never lost by more than two goals.
[Non Barça Related]
Olympique – Real Madrid (20.45/ TVE-1). Marsella will be hell without Kaká.
Tamudo won’t play the derby and Moisés’ presence is doubtful.
Dec8
‘MESSI AND ME WILL DO SOMETHING BIG’
Ibrahimovic is feeling confident 24 hours before the Champions’ return.
‘I want to win against Dynamo, Espanyol and the Club World Cup.
‘I only think about Barça; this season I won’t play with Sweden again’
Milito’s back after 20 months.
Kiev awaits Barça with cold but without snow.
And now…for the FIFA World Player. Barça 3 Madrid 2. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká are the finalists.
[Non Barça Related]
Olimpique – R.Madrid (20.45h/TVE-1). (Madrid will play) Without Kaká, who may need surgery. Only another defeat like the one against Alcorcón (4-0) – called ”Alcorconazo” in the media – could prevent Madrid from qualifying for the Champions League’s next round.
Espanyol: Tamudo will not play in Camp Nou.
The votes have been counted and the results are in! This time around we had 869 participants.
Read more for full results.
Read more »
Catalan sports paper Sport reports that Barcelona defender and Mexican international Rafael Marquez (30) has withdrawn of the bid for Mexican football team Atlas. “I am convinced that we were bringing the best option for Atlas, but there was some other obstacles on the deal too,” Marquez said in a statement that his group of partners made official its withdrawal from the bidding for the Mexican team. Marquez felt bad by having to make this decision because he wanted to retire in Atlas and also wanted to foster a long-term project at the team where he started his professional career.
The bid was planned between Marquez and Mexican singer Alejandro Fernandez. Businessman Guillermo Romo provided the strategic engagement of the Chicago Fire of the United States and a partnership with FC Barcelona to train forces base. “It was a great opportunity to Atlas become a XXI Century team, becoming a national team that would have added the passion of many Mexican football fans,” Romo said. Confirming the official withdrawal of its bid, the Marquez group expressed willingness to submit a new bid in the future for the club, provided there is transparency in the process.
Read more »
Every weekend at totalBarca, we bring you the results of the top four youth sides of La Masia: the Juvenil A, Juvenil B, Cadet A, Cadet B sides respectively. We also name the Man of the Match (MOM) performer for each category.
Juvenile Division Of Honor (Juvenil A):
FC Barcelona 1-1 Hospitalet
Goals: Rafa Alcantara (16) 1
MOM: Rafa Alcantara, scored an incredible goal from outside the area and was immense throughout the game in what was a surprisingly dull display from the Juvenil A side.
National Youth League (Juvenil B):
Riuprimer 0-4 FC Barcelona B
Goals: Giorgi Chanturia (16) 2, Gerard Deulofeu (15) 1, Roger Canadell ‘Cana’ (16) 1.
MOM: Giorgi Chanturia, opened the scoring in the 35th min, created another for Canadell and capped off a great performance with another goal from the edge of the box in the closing stages.
Read more »
THIS IS A FEATURED POST. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR THE REST OF THE NEWS.
It’s back… This is your chance to prove not only your knowledge about the game of football but also your psychological insight by cracking the code of Josep ‘Pep’ Guardiola’s master brain:
Predict Barcelona’s Starting Lineup
You can give your starting line-up until 3 hours before the start of the game.
Read more »
Catalan sports paper Sport reports that former Arsenal player Tony Adams is about to become coach of the New York Red Bulls and reportedly wants to take Barcelona forward Thierry Henry (32) with him to the USA. Adams played in Arsenal during the years 1983-2002, where he even played alongside Thierry Henry. They both have made history in Gunners shirt and now Adams has personally asked the French international to follow him to New York. The British coach knows that Henry has planned to finish his career in MLS, therefore he wouldn’t hesitate to ask Henry to join. Henry’s possible departure from Barcelona would obviously become effective from next season, because the player has no intention to leave the Catalan club sooner. Henry also wants to ensure his place in the World Cup, which will most likely be his last.
According to Catalan sports paper Sport, Barcelona forward and Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic (28) plans to stop playing friendly matches for his country in order to concentrate on games of FC Barcelona. Sweden failed to qualify for next year’s World Cup in South Africa and Ibrahimovic said he had reached a point in his career where matches with Barcelona have to take priority. “It has always been a great honour to play in Swedish national team,” Ibrahimovic told in a press conference before Barcelona’s Champions League match at Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday.
“For the time being I won’t play for the national team because I am not motivated. There are no important matches or the World Cup and so it’s very difficult. It would be expending energy for no reason, a sacrifice for nothing.” Ibrahimovic moved to Barcelona from Inter Milan in the summer and has scored 10 goals in 12 La Liga appearances, putting him second in the scoring charts behind Valencia striker David Villa, who has scored 11 goals. “There are so many games with Barcelona and so many things to think about that I hardly have time to think about the national team,” Ibrahimovic said. “I don’t know what could happen in the future, let’s see what happens next year.”
The contenders for this year’s FIFA World Player of the Year awards, which will be presented at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, FIFA’s home city, on 21 December 2009, were announced today.
The males nominees are:
Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona)
Xavi Hernandez (Spain, Barcelona)
Andrés Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona)
Read more »
Congratulations to our Ballon D’or recipient.
With a vote count of 647 votes:
Messi: 90%
Ibrahimovic: 2%
The Whole Team: 2%
Outstanding! Messi received 583 votes out of the 647. Ibra and The Whole Team got 2%. The rest of the team players received 1% or less. Thanks to his accomplishments, Messi has been finally named Man of The Match, something he hasn’t received since September. As of now, Messi will face Ibrahimovic for what will prove to be an exciting Man of The Month poll this December.
Original article @ http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/news/newsid=1144984.html#messi+end+year+style
Messi: End the year in style
Monday 7 December 2009
Life could not be much sweeter for Lionel Messi at the moment. The Argentinian wizard won everything there was to win with Barcelona last season and is playing a central part in their impressive progress this term. Inspired by the mercurial player, the reigning Spanish and European champions stand top of la Liga, are poised to advance to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League and will shortly set off on their quest to land the FIFA Club World Cup crown.
Displaying his usual modesty, Messi spoke exclusively to FIFA.com about Barcelona’s rich vein of form, the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup – one of the few trophies the Catalans have yet to win – and Argentina’s chances of success at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010.
Read more »
