The Liga Comité de Competición has punished Pep Guardiola and Zlatan Ibrahimovic with one match bans for the red cards that both men received during last week’s match against Almeria, according to all major Spanish news outlets. Read more »
This is a featured post, kindly scroll down for all the latest news.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (28) has been the subject of a lot of heated FC Barcelona fan discussions lately. After being transferred to FC Barcelona from FC Internazionale Milano this season in a swap deal that included Samuel Eto’o (28) and a sum of money as the transfer fee, Ibrahimovic quickly garnered media and fans’ attention.
According to Catalan sports paper Sport, Barcelona’s management have found it hard to accept the red cards for both Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Catalan manager Pep Guardiola earned during their La Liga encounter against Almeria.
In the last few weeks much has been said about Barcelona fowards Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. People have called for Pedro to start over Henry and for Barcelona to sell Henry in the summer in order to buy a new footballer for the left side. After 26 goals last season, fans came to expect much of him in his third season in Barcelona and have rightfully been disappointed. Henry has only scored 3 goals since the start of the season.
According to Mundo Deportivo, FC Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has again missed training today as he continues his recovery from what appears to be a back strain.
Real Madrid forward and Portugal international Cristiano Ronaldo (25) doesn’t rate Barcelona’s star Lionel Messi (22) among the current top 3 football players on the planet.
“Everyone in Holland thinks that Barca is a bunch of good players who go out onto the pitch and simply improvise. No tasks, no instructions, basically trying to play ball nicely and score goals. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We work extremely hard, in particular without the ball. We have the task to repossess the ball within three seconds. Guardiola is totally explicit. If a player of the opponent gets the ball, we immediately circle in, like a pack of wolves. The whole team tightens up and puts pressure. The moment we lose the ball is effectively the best moment to repossess it, because the opponent’s team is not placed well. They’ve been hunting us and in that turn around time, is our chance to overwhelm them. And we train this endlessly.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (28), Barcelona striker qouted in a interview published on worldcupblog.org
Sweden international and FC Barcelona player Zlatan Ibrahimovic (28) is enjoying his undisputed reputation as an excellent striker. But like any other player, Zlatan had his ups and downs during his professional career.
Good news has arrived from Germany, as Sport is reporting that both Spanish international Xavi Hernandez [30], and Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic [29] have been declared fit to take the field in today’s Champions League match against Stuttgart. Both players were given the green light to play by the Barcelona medical staff just hours before the start of the match. In the same report, it was noted that neither Brazilian Dani Aves, nor Frenchman Thierry Henry would be in Pep Guardiola’s starting eleven.
The complete starting lineup was reported to include goalkeeper Valdés, defenders Puyol, Piqué, Márquez and Maxwell, a midfield comprised of Busquets, Touré and Xavi, and an attacking trio including Messi, Ibrahimovic and Iniesta.
Xavi and Alves have made the trip to Stuttgart despite not having the medical green light. However, both players, together with the Ibra, took a full part in Monday evening’s training session.
The 20 players named by Guardiola for Tuesday’s Champions League match had their first contact with the Stuttgart stadium and pitch on Monday evening. This was their final training session before the match.
Xavi, Ibra and Alves
It seems like after the recent injury wave that stuck Barca and left a couple of key players sidelined the recovery periods have cut significantly. While Brzilian full back Dani Alves (26) and Spanish internaitonal midfielder Xavi Hernandez (30) are on the list for the octavos, they are still awaiting the green light from the Barca medical’s. Meanwhile, Swedish international forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (28) is a certainty for Germany, despite having unpleasantries with his right ankle.
Dani Alves suffered an injury during warm-up before the Getafe clash and Xavi was injured in the Vicente Calderon against Atletico Madrid.
FC Barcelona forward and Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 28, gave an interview to BBC’s Football Focus programme. During the interview the forward looked relaxed and calm, smiling and laughing throughout. Some excerpts:
You’re the second most expensive signing in world football, was it a dream move for you when it came about?
Of course to come to Barcelona is a big thing and to make a transfer possible from two big clubs it’s not easy, like you said there was a lot of money involved and i’m happy that it went good and was sorted out in the end, now i’m here in Barcelona so i’m very happy.
“There is no No. 9 in the world like Ibra, no other centre forward will have as many assists as he scores.”
FC Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova during an interview with catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo
A chart was released by Portuguese marketing agency futebolfinance.com publishing the top 50 player salaries for 2009. Cristiano Ronaldo tops the list with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi completing the top 3 list.
FC Barcelona leads the rankings in the top 50 with 8 players followed by Chelsea (7), Real Madrid & Manchester City (6), Manchester United & Bayern Munich (4), and AC Milan with 3 players. Liverpool along with the 3 other big Italian sides (Inter, Roma, and Juventus) have 2 players each in the rankings. Andrei Arshavin is the only player representing Arsenal on the list.
Seven of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s twelve goals have come from first touch strikes, including the one that made it 2-1 at the Calderon.
Ibrahimovic is renowned for his ability to strike the ball first time, and his amazingly sharp reactions are the reason for such impeccable goals as the one he scored from a corner last night at the Calderon. His is a skill that very few footballers have mastered to such a high level.
Lethal weapon
In the post match press conference the players and the president all agreed that Atletico deserved to win the game and that Barcelona didn’t play very well. However, they all recognized that the team is still in first place and aren’t too worried about Real Madrid having pulled within 2 points.
Iniesta
“Losing is never good. We lost a difficult game but we must continue. We didn’t play as well as normal but we gave it our all until the end. Atletico has a great team and is always capable of winning.”
Xavi
Inter Milan striker and Cameroonian international Samuel Eto’o (28) has revealed that he misses life in Spain following his summer move to Inter Milan.
THIS IS A FEATURED POST. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR THE LATEST NEWS.
Who’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic beyond press conferences and hasty half-time interviews? Who is the man behind the sports columns praise choruses or the blurry paparazzi pictures? In a unique one-hour portrait of the TV3, Rene Nyberg has closely been following the circus Zlatan.
totalBarca is proudly powered by Wordpress
