Neymar: "Ronaldinho pushes me toward Barcelona"

 

- Ronaldinho I always looked with marked respect. And as a player and as a person. Because his words are always particularly absorbent and have a greater weight on me - said Neymar and then explained what this is about:

- Ronaldinho told me amazing things about Barcelona. Not only about the club, but also about the city, the whole atmosphere. Somehow I can not ignore it all. I'm attracted to Barcelona.

Thiago Silva: "Dream of every player is to play for Barcelona"

One of today's best defender, Thiago Silva, has confirmed his interest to move to Barcelona. He admitted that every player dreams to play for Barca.

 

Brazilian midfielder has been repeatedly linked with Barcelona in the last 18 months and admitted that it would be difficult to deny Barcelona and playing at the Nou Camp.

"Although they are not going too well in the league, for me they are still the best team in the world. Nothing is official, no proposal has come, but you never know" said Silva. 

Next game - FC Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijon

Leo gives Barça the lead!

First goal for FC Barcelona scored Dani Alves in 35 min.

But in 49 min. Falcao scored for At. Madrid and Barcelona starts with attack again.

Amazing free kick from Argentine as his shot goes into Courtois' goal. Excellent goal from the Argentine magician! Min. 80

FC Barcelona - Valencia: Brilliant Messi leads fight back (5-1)

Barça came back from an early goal by Piatti for the visitors to bury Valencia with four goals from Messi and a fifth from Xavi to round off a fantastic performance that showed the team are still up for the fight for the league title

Messi put in an extraordinary game to destroy the third placed team in La Liga and reiterate Barça's faith in their chances of fighting for the La Liga title. The team showed immense character and commitment when they came back from a sticky looking situation – 13 points behind the leaders, trailing 0-1 to a Piatti goal on 9 minutes  - to blow away Valencia.

Led by the four goal hero Messi and with Xavi putting the icing on the cake with the fifth, Barça could have won by an even wider margin, such was their superiority on the night.
The win leaves Barça 10 points behind Madrid in second place and will be a real boost ahead of a difficult game at the Vicente Calderón next Sunday.

Piatti puts Valencia ahead
A goal within the first 10 minutes from Piatti, who met a Feghouli cross from the right and took advantage of a mix up between Valdes and his defence, put the visitors one up before Barça really knew what had happened. Their response, however, was devastating with Pedro and Alexis opening up the flanks and Abidal and Montoya pushing forward from the full back positions, Barça were soon creating plenty of danger.

Messi brace leads fightback
After a somewhat cold start, Barça's stars soon began to fire on all cylinders. Alexis, Cesc, Iniesta and Pedro were all at the top of their game and Messi was playing at his very best. The equaliser came after a Pedro cross from the left which Rami mis-cleared and Messi put away. Five minutes later, a great cross from Abidal allowed Messi to calmly make it 2-1 and as the team began to play some of their best football, Alexis and Cesc, with a spectacular bicycle kick that hit the bar, both came close to making it three before the break.

Barça delight Europe once again

Barça have given their fans the perfect Valentine’s Day gift – a convincing win away to Bayer Leverkusen that puts them well on course for a place in the quarter finals. Alexis (2) and Messi scored the goals for the visitors

 

 

The European champions resumed their title defence in style. For the first time under Guardiola, they won the away leg of a second round tie, 3-1 at German side Bayer Leverkusen. And it was thoroughly deserved win too, with the Catalans dominating from start to finish, and Alexis Sánchez playing the decisive role. The Chilean was on target twice, while Messi finished things off with Barça's third. Kadlec had managed to pull the Bundesliga side back level early in the second half, but an outstanding Valdés managed to prevent Beyer from adding to their tally.

The result puts FC Barcelona in a wonderful position and they can rightly feel optimistic about their chances of ensuring a place in the last eight on March 7 at the Camp Nou.
 

Leverkusen, first stop on road to Munich

The Champions League returns at a good time for Barça following the weekend's slip up in Pamplona, which left them 10 points adrift of the league leaders, leaving no time for regrets, as they pick up the title they won at Wembley last season. The last sixteen tie at Bayer's ground is near enough to this year's final venue to whet the appetite for more European glory.

 

The first stop on the road to the Allianz Arena is at Leverkusen and although the stats aren't too favourable for Barça, who have failed to win the away game in the last three ties at this stage - against Lyon (1-1), Stuttgart (1-1) and Arsenal (2-1), they have always managed to turn it around in the second leg at the Camp Nou. On the other hand, Barça have already won away to BATE Borissov, Viktoria Pilsen and Milan in the competition so far this season.

The League is complicated, but not lost

The Barça captain appealled to the pride and professionalism of the team to keep fighting for the League title, until the end of the season 

 

The central defender accepted that Barça didn’t play well in the first half in Pamplona, and believes that the state of the pitch was more detrimental to them than the intense cold

Win games and hope Madrid slip up

For Puyol, Barca must now carry on in the League the same way they did in other years, when they were leading for much of the season. "Before, we were in front and we were forced to keep winning win because they were close behind. Now we must try to win, to put pressure on them to do the same" said the central defender. He added that, although they're dependent on Real Madrid to be able to reduce the distance between them, their objective is " to focus on ourselves. We have to try and win, and if we get there, great, and if not, at least we tried".

Barça caught cold in Pamplona

Barça are further than ever from retaining their league title after losing at the Reyno de Navarra. The visitors struggled to get into their stride in a game played on a freezing evening on a pitch in appalling condition. But Osasuna did a far better job of interpreting the situation, and went 2-0 up early on. Barça came out much stronger after the break and had Osasuna pegged back in their own half for most of what remained of the game. At moments it looked like the Catalans might be able to turn things around, but ultimately they were missing the luck they needed to get anything positive out of a frustrating game.

Talks between LFP and AFE Break Down, Light Recovery Training for Players

 

Talks break up between league and players
However, the league (LFP) said it had now been forced to halt talks in the face of what it described as AFE "intransigence". "After months of talks, the LFP yesterday felt obliged to break off negotiations over a Collective Accord for professional football given the intransigence of the AFE's position at the table," an LFP statement said.

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell hopeful Pep Guardiola will sign contract extension
Barcelona president Sandro Rosell remains hopeful that coach Pep Guardiola will imminently extend his contract with the club. Guardiola's current deal expires at the end of the season and the former B team coach has yet to give any indication as to whether he intends to remain at Camp Nou beyond the summer.

Count on Barcelona at the end of the season

 

Gerard Piqué was upbeat when he talked to the press after the team’s training session at the Ciutat Esportiva: “If someone told me we’d be here at the beginning of the season, I’d sign on the dotted line. We’ve won the three competitions we’ve played in, we have a fourth final secured, we’re alive in the Liga and we’re about to play in the last 16 in the Champions League. We give it our all every weekend and that’s the most important thing. Count on us at the end of the season ... There’s a lot of Liga left and we’ll give it our all. Other teams will have to win, perhaps the competition will prove a bit too long for them. People need to have confidence in us.”

Piqué called on his team to keep up their form ahead of this weekend’s match and he also said that there is no need for the Barça first team to prove itself: “I don’t think we have to prove ourselves. I believe that we always want to do the best job possible. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t, but the desire is always there.” After a very demanding January schedule, Piqué said: “the load is brutal. You have to be very strong both physically and mentally. We have all participated and we all feel important [within the team]. We feel as though the load is a bit lighter after getting into the Cup final, our schedule isn’t as demanding now.”

FC Barcelona beat Valencia thanks to goals from Cesc and Xavi

Barça midfielder Cesc Fàbregas talked about the post-match atmosphere: “We’re happy, very happy. The objective was to reach the final and we achieved that. I’m enjoying the moment.”

Isaac Cuenca

“I’ve always enjoyed getting to a final and this one all the more, it’s a special match, plus it’s with Barça.”

Alexis

“I always want to play. I’m never satisfied with what I do, I always want to keep on winning." 

Moment of truth....

It's still only early February, but what Barça face today is one of the most decisive games of the whole season. It's the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi final. 

 

This is just one of a tough series of matches ahead for FC Barcelona. In the league they have trips to Osasuna and Atlético Madrid this month, as well as welcoming back Valencia, this time in the league, and travelling to Leverkusen in six days time for the first Champions League match of the new year.

One of the most positive notes is the return of players from injury. Xavi, Alexis, Busquets, Pedro and Iniesta are all working their way back into the team.

FC Barcelona wins Laureus World Team of the Year Award

FC Barcelona was adjudged the World Team of the Year by the Laueres Award comittee, in a grand ceremony held in London. This is the first time FC Barcelona is winning the prestigous award, which in some circles is called "The Osacr of Sporting World". Club president Sandro Rosell received the award for Barca. Two Barcelona players who were in contention for individual honours in the night unfortunately lost out. Lionel Messi, lost out to Novan Djokovic in the World Sportsman of the Year category. The Serbian Tennis No.1, Novan Djokovic now join an esteemed list of Sportsmen, Roger Federer , Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, Usain Bolt, Lance Armstrong and Rafael Nadal who all have previously won this award. Many Barca fans believed that Messi will win it this year and seems to have been disappointed big time. But I have predicted this earlier - The Farce called Laueres Award, it was clear from the start that Messi will not win this one. We football fans will be lucky if we see atleast one from the footballing world win this award in our life time.
Eric Abidal, also was nominated for the Best Comeback of the Year category but lost out to Golf start, Darren Clarke. The complete list of awards presented are as follows:

World Sportsman of the Year: Novak Djokovic (tennis)

World Sportswoman of the Year: Vivian Cheruiyot (athletics)

World Team of the Year: Barcelona (football)

World Breakthrough of the Year: Rory McIlroy (golf)

World Comeback of the Year: Darren Clarke (golf)

World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability: Oscar Pistorius (athletics)

World Action Sportsperson of the Year: Kelly Slater (surfing)

Lifetime Achievement: Sir Bobby Charlton (football)

Sport for Good Award: Rai (football)