FC Barcelona News

FC Barcelona V Lyon - Champions League

2009-03-11T16:46:00.002Z

Tonight the might Barcelona will face Lyon in the Champions League in a bid to reach the quater finals of the competition.

Barcelona will be without their inspirational captain Carlos Puyol who has been ruled out for three weeks after spraining his left ankle in the 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao. The absense of Puyol is a blow to Barca and an in form Lyon will be looking to expose any weeknesses.

The biggest threat for Barca will undoubtedly be coming from Juninho with his dead ball skills. Barca will be looking to their midfield for deffensive cover and don't want to be giving any gifts of a goal away easily.

"Juninho is a massive danger at set-pieces because some of his free-kicks are impossible to defend against," said Guardiola.

"He has all the time in the world to decide where to put the ball and enough talent to pull it off. We have to be smart and not give away fouls in the last third of the pitch.

"Now I expect my team to push Lyon back, create more chances and score. The best way to defend is to attack well."

Barca should be confident of finishing the job on home soil following their 1-1 draw a fortnight ago, although Pep Guardiola's side haven't looked as sturdy in recent weeks.

They have lost two out of their last three Primera Liga matches and now lead Real Madrid by only six points with 12 games remaining.

Henry On His Way To Man City In The Summer?

2009-03-09T16:45:00.003Z

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi may not be heading to Manchester City this summer after the club denied they have made enquiries, however rumours have started to circulate that Thierry Henry may be targeted by the english club.

Henry has found his goalscoring touch again having netter 18 ngoals for Barca in all competitions this season. British newspaper 'The People' believe that City’s Arab owners are preparing an €11 million offer to bring the Barcelona hotshot back to the Premier League. Sources say Henry would consider a move back to the Premier League to be closer to his daughter.

Eto'o Contract Uncertainty

2009-02-12T11:27:00.004Z

Barcelona are holding internal talks this month regarding their plans for next season and it appears contract renewals are at the top of the agenda.

Talks will be held with Victor Valdes, Rafael Marquez and Carles Puyol to ensure long term deals can be arranged, however contract issues surrounding Eto'o are becoming a matter of priority.

The Barcelona hot shot is under contract until 2010 but Barcelona are not prepared to let that run down and to see him leave on a free transfer. Eto’o, however, is in no rush to renew his contract at this stage.

"If Laporta and Begiristain asked me to sit down and negotiate now, I would ask them not to distract me and that we can wait until the summer," Eto'o told La Vanguardia.

Barcelona could be prepared to cash in on Eto'o given his reluctance to talk, his expected wage demands and the fact that he will almost certainly be at the African Cup of Nations for six weeks of next season.

Barcelona Target Arsenal Trio

2009-02-10T21:08:00.004Z

Barcelona have targeted three Arsenal players with a view to reinforcing their squad this summer, making Robin van Persie their priority target. The La Liga leaders had an offer of Alexander Hleb plus cash rejected in January but they do believe they can persuade Arsenal to sell in the summer as he enters the final 12 months of his contract.

Barcelona are working on deals for Emmanuel Adebayor and Cesc Fábregas. While Barcelona don't realistically have a chance of capturing three of Arsenals Key players in a single transfer window, they do regard Arsenal as a club who are willing to sell and expect them to release at least one of their star names to raise funds for reinforcing their own squad.

Spain Squad Announced For England Friendly International

2009-02-09T00:18:00.000Z

Barcelona starlets Sergi Busquets and Gerard Pique are the most notable new names in the Spain squad announced for Wednesday's international friendly against England.

The match in Seville will also see the return of Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta and Valencia's David Silva, both back from injury.

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas remains injured with a knee problem.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Jose Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Juanito (Real Betis), Alvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool), Raul Albiol, Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal)

Midfielders: Andres Iniesta, Sergi Busquets, Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso, Albert Riera (Liverpool), David Silva (Valencia), Santi Cazorla, Marcos Senna (Villarreal)

Forwards: David Villa (Valencia), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Daniel Guiza (Fenerbahce)

Barca KO'd Almeria with 5:0

2008-10-25T23:16:00.001+01:00

FC Barcelona ran over Almeria in the tonight's Primera Division game with 5:0. Barca are took the 3 points with ease and are leaders in Primera in the current table. The goals were scored by Eto'o (5th, 21st and 24th minute) , Henry (13th minute) and Dani Alves (37th minute). Almeria was lucky because they could've easily taken a two-digit loss. Tonights show is a second great game in a row for Barca after the crushing victory (0:5) over Basel three days ago. With tonight's hattrick Samuel Eto'o has 86 goals in 115 games.

I hope that those two games are the sign we all were waiting ... the Barca we want to watch is back.

Barcelona with a strong start in Europe

2008-10-24T16:17:00.000+01:00

FC Barcelona have made a superb start to the Champions League group stage this season and have picked up nine points from a possible nine to take a huge stride towards qualifying for the next stage.

The Blaugrana are in great form and that has also been noted in la Primera, where Pep Guardiola’s team have won their last five consecutive matches. But it is in Europe that the team has really shone with three wins from their opening three games that has seen them move clear at the top of Group C.

The only teams with three wins

It may only appear to be three matches on the surface, but each game in the Champions League is a new test. The best demonstration of just how tough it is record such a run is that Barçá are the only one of the 32 teams in the competition to have won all three of their opening group games.
Goals galore

It can also be said that all three wins have been deserved after strong performances and, above all, creating plenty of chances. The team has scored ten goals in their trio of games, which gives them an average of 3.3 goals-per-game. Only Arsenal have an equal record. Another important factor is that eight of the ten goals have been scored by homegrown players .

Leaders in possession

Barça are not only out in front in terms of goals though. Also they are the only team in the competition to have had more than 60 per cent possession (62 per cent exactly). Real Madrid are second with 58 per cent. The Blaugrana are second in number of chances created with 24, behind Villarreal who have 27, and also in free-kicks won with 58, with Bayern Munich above them on 68.

Leo Messi scored his 50th goal

2008-10-23T10:27:00.000+01:00

Lionel Messi scored his 50th goal for FC Barcelona in Saint Jakob-Park on Wednesday night with what was a superb effort that gave the away side the lead after just four minutes.

The first goal of the night by the Argentinian forward against FC Basel saw him clinch his half-century of goals for the Blaugrana. Messi has played 119 official matches since making his debut for the club on October 16, 2004 against Espanyol in Montjuïc.

37 goals in the league

The 50 goals that Messi has scored are divided up in the following manner: 37 in the league, ten in the Champions League and three in the Copa del Rey. His first ever goal came in week 34 of the 2004/05 campaign in Camp Nou against Albacete.

Eighth goal of the season

Of that half-century , eight have come in the 2008/09 campaign with five in the league and three more in the Champions League, tow of which came in the final minutes against Shakhtar in Donetsk.

Messi’s has netted eleven goals in 24 matches in Europe, which gives him an average of almost two goals-per-game.

fcbarcelona.cat

FC Basel 0 - 5 Barcelona FC

2008-10-22T21:05:00.000+01:00

I think the results tells it all. We won 5-0 and Barca played one of the best games I've ever seen. A great game by our leaders Messi and Xavi. Dani Alves was the God of the right wing and Hleb helped a lot. I think this is a great achievement for Pep Guardiola.

After entering the game Henry tried pretty hard to score with all he's got but luck wasn't on his side tonight. However he managed to keep the opponent's defense busy for the last half an hour of the game.Brilliantly played game with almost no errors in defense and with beautiful and scoring offense.

Lets hope that every single fixture this season will be played with the same determination and ease as today's game.

Guardiola doesn't want to focus on the result against Basel

2008-10-21T10:34:00.000+01:00

Pep Guardiola does not want the emphatic 0-5 scoreline secured against FC Basel to “confuse” his players as they turn their attention to the game at the weekend against Almería.

The Blaugrana coach believes that his squad should be focused “more on how it was achieved rather than the final result”, he told reporters. “I want to highlight the performance because we were able to not move a lot by moving the ball a great deal and that gives me great confidence,” he continued. Always exacting with his players and remaining prudent, Guardiola said that the 0-5 “cannot confuse” the squad and that the result “will not do us any good when looking towards the next game”.

Talent and strength

Despite that, Guardiola was happy with the attitude of the players throughout the 90 minutes and stated that victory against Basel came about through “talent and strength” of everyone of his team as they “played together and worked hard” throughout. “I sincerely believe that we have played better. With respect to FC Basel, we have not played as well as we have done in previous games,” he added.

Praise for Bojan and Hleb

Bojan Krkic scored two goals after being named in the starting team for the first time this season and was one of the main stars of the game. “Bojan is a very young player and has much to learn,” the trainer insisted. “He has played very well from the start, above all in the first half, and worked very well in the centre of the pitch. He done well and I am very pleased for him. I have to say that I am delighted with him and not just because of the goals. He deserves it because he is a great lad.

Guardiola was also keen to highlight Aliaksandr Hleb’s performance. “He knows how to play the game so well,” the coach continued. “He can play in four of five different positions. In his case I am especially pleased because I have been able to test him in the centre of the park. I know he will give a lot to the team this season.”

Confidence in the squad

On the matter of squad rotation, Guardiola insisted that he has “faith” in “all his players”. He went on: “The victories always justify the coach’s decision, but when the results do not go our way I will be the first one to explain things. I would never put anyone in the side that I did not think could contribute anything to the game because I have faith that every player here can give something. I am happy because I completely trust them all.”

fcbarcelona.cat

Barcelona one goal away from Moscow

2008-04-30T16:19:00.000+01:00

Barça’s Champions League challenge came to end this evening away to Manchester United. They gave it their all and took every risk they had to, but once again the lack of goals proved costly. A thunderous strike from Scholes after Barça had dominated the first quarter of an hour put the home side in the driving seat, but Rijkaard’s knew that if they could equalise, they would qualify by virtue of the away goals rule. But it wasn't to be, and Barça's unbeaten record in Europe this season came to a sad end.

Scholes destroys Barça’s promising start

From the outset, it was clear that Barça were going for it in a big way. They piled on the pressure from the very first minute, and Manchester United were held back in their own half as they had been at the Camp Nou. It was the dream start, but disaster struck after 14 minutes when Scholes latched onto an unfortunate clearance from Zambrotta and slammed the ball into the top left corner from 25 metres, leaving Valdés well beaten.

End to end stuff

The goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Barça, while the Red Devils burst into life and started creating all kinds of problems for the Barcelona defence. The action was relentless, and Barça picked themselves up after a brilliant individual run from Leo Messi, followed by a Park effort for United that just went wide of the post, and two dangerous shots from Deco that missed by inches.

Intensity rised every single second

The game pressed on at the same extraordinary pace, with Nani almost scoring from a header after 40 minutes, and Milito going close with a similar chance at the other end. The first 45 minutes had offered some memorable football from two great sides desperate to secure their places in Moscow, and the second half proved to be just as much of a thriller. Deco led the Barcelona midfield in style, and the United fans held their breath every time an electrifying Messi came near the ball as the visitors pressed forwards in search of that elusive equaliser.

Miracles were not supposed to happen...

Manchester United decided to withdraw and keep things tight at the back, yet still looked dangerous on the counter attack, which was how Tevez almost scored in the 57th minute, but Valdés got a hand to the ball. Henry and Bojan were sent on to add some new spark to the Barcelona attack, and the Frenchman came frustratingly close to scoring with a 78th minute header that brought out the best in Van der Sar.

As the minutes ticked by, the tension reached boiling point, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry spearheading their respective sides’ attempts. But try as they could, Barça just could not score, and the game drew to a close. They can go out of the competition with their heads held high, but it will be the Premiership side, and not FC Barcelona, that will be enjoying a trip to Moscow in May.

Barcelona kill Man Utd without scoring

2008-04-23T22:02:00.000+01:00

Barcelona's Champions League Semi Final first leg game against Manchester United ended just minutes ago and now its time for a short summary.

Barca played their game and totally commanded the field with a possession higher than 65%. We contained the ball most of the time and the only reason the game ended 0-0 was the fact that our attack was lacking creativity.

Manchester had the chance to score from a penalty in the 3rd minute of the game but Cristiano Ronaldo sent the ball over the crossbar. The penalty was inflicted by the hand of Gabi Millito and actually was pretty obvious and undoubtful.

The game was full of fouls and the game often was stopped. There were yellow cards and lot's of tackles in the middle of the field. Both teams were playing carefully and while Barca was constantly on the attack , the Red Devils were counting on counter attacks organized by the fast Ronaldo.

Leo Messi was above all in tonight's game , organizing Barcelona's attacks and being the most dangerous played on the field. He was later substituted by Bojan and was loudly applauded by the fans.

Eto'o had bad luck and was unable to complete succesfully several good attacks that Barca's midfielders had organized.

Henry , who substituted Deco tried several shots but nothing serious came out of his feet.

This Champions League semi final cannot be remembered with anything significant and the only think we should hope is that Barcelona will have more luck next week at Old Trafford.

Henry shakes off fever and is ready to return

2008-04-22T19:50:00.000+01:00

Thierry Henry spent today's morning training alone at Camp Nou in order to be ready to play against Manchester United and is set to join the rest of FC Barcelona's squad for the evening session.

With the first leg of the Champions League semi final approaching, Barca's head coach Frank Rijkaard was recovering most of his players and now Henry is set to be given the green light and play against the Red Devils. The Frenchman has missed two training session because of a severe fever, but he is now back and looked in good shape as he worked with the team's fitness coach - Albert Roca.

Three goals in this year's Champions League

This season, Henry has played in eight of Barcelona's ten Champions League games and has three goals. Two against Olympique Lyonnais and Rangers at Camp Nou and one at Parkhead against Celtic in the quarter finals.

Barca and Manchester United have similiar road to the semi-finals

2008-04-21T21:45:00.000+01:00

Both FC Barça and Manchester United have reached their semi-final without facing any real difficulties and what is more interesting – they have statistically identical records in this year’s Champions League.

Two of Europe’s biggest football clubs are going head-to-head in one of the Champions League semi-finals super clashes. And in fact the Catalans and the Red Devils have taken absolutely identical routes to get there.

Eight wins out of ten games:

Both teams have deserved their way to the semi-finals having won 8 out of their 10 matches so far in this season’s Champions League. As if that weren’t enough, in the quarter finals both FC Barcelona and Manchester United won both the home and away legs against their opponents. The Catalans passed through Schalke (0-1, 1-0) while the Red Devils put out Roma (0-2, 1-0).

Unbeaten throughout the whole campaign:

As if that was not enough - neither side has lost a game so far in this year’s edition of the Champions League, drawing the two games they didn’t win. Barca drew in the group stage versus Lyon (2-2) and Glasgow Rangers (0-0), while Man United drew in their group with Roma (1-1) and in the away leg of their last 16 tie with Lyon (1-1).

Same goal records - amazing:

And if this was not convincing enough let me round things off by just saying that both Barcelona and Manchester United have absolutely equal goal records. Each of the teams have scored 18 goals and conceded 5 (only Chelsea is better – 4) so far.

I think all this is just a drop in the sea of reasons that points at this semi-final clash as one of the most anticipated ties the Champions League has ever seen.

Final preparations for the Champions League Semi Final behind closed doors

2008-04-20T14:10:00.000+01:00

Barcelona’s first team is continuing with its preparations for the upcoming first leg of the Champions League Semi-final against Manchester United. Our today’s training was held at the Miniestadi and was preceded behind closed doors.

Henry, Thuram and Edmilson were absent…

Henry, Thuram and Edmílson were all three missing from the training as were the injured Ronaldinho and Jorquera. Henry still has a high temperature which stopped him from joining his teammates at Miniestadi for training this Monday. Thuram was given the morning off by the club and is to train this afternoon, while Edmílson stayed in the gym due to problems in his back area.

The players began training as usual with a warm-up, though Gaby Milito spent the first few minutes apart from the rest of the squad as he worked with a fitness coach as part of his recovering program.

Training on Tuesday

The Barça players will be training again this Tuesday at 7.30 pm. Prior to that Rijkaard and a player will be at a press conference set for 6.45 pm. After the training session, which will be open to the press for the first 15 minutes, the team will head off for their pre-match hotel.

Cheering up with some Barcelona highlights

2008-04-10T00:00:00.000+01:00

We are in a hard period and I decided to post this two videos in order to cheer you guys up. The first one reminds us of the best moments in the past 3 years and the second one is a compilation of the best plays of our current team leader that is injured - Leo Messi. Enjoy!

Thierry Henry is the richest sportsman in France for 2007

2008-04-08T22:39:00.000+01:00

Barcelona's supesrtar striker Thierry Henry is officialy the highest-earning sportsman in France for the last 2007. The French magazine "Equip" has estimated that Henry has earned the amazing 17.4 milion euros in 2007.

Second is the point guard of San Antonio Spurs Tony Paker with 9.6 milion euros. Other famous soccer players in the top-list are Patrick Viera (8) , William Gallas (5.9) , Djibril Cisse (7) and Nikola Anelka (5.8).

According to the american edition "Sports Illustrated" the highest-earning sportsman in the world for 2007 is golf superstar Tiger Woods.

Barca players speak after yesterday's draw againsta Getafe

2008-04-07T12:59:00.000+01:00

After the dissapointing draw last night against Getafe FC Barcelona didn't manage to melt down the lead of the leader in Primera Real Madrid. The players were dissapointed but they all made it clear that Barca won't give up till the very end of the season.

Xavi

“I’m disappointed because I thought we were better.”

“We tried our best but the ball just wouldn’t go in.”

“It’s another missed opportunity.”

“It’s now very hard, but we still haven’t given up on the League.”

“The players are down but we’ll try to turn things round.”

Valdés

“It’s a pity that we haven’t got the three points and yet again we haven’t taken advantage of Madrid slipping up.”

“Every game that goes by when we don’t cut the gap will make life harder. We’ve had lots of chances, not only today, when we could have done it but didn’t. As players and professionals we’ll keep on trying.”

“We have to change our mindset. We have a good chance of getting into the semis of the Champions League. We want to win a trophy or two.”

“Arguments about non-sporting matters affect the team.”

Eto'o

“Every day is hard. But while God continues to give us health, we have to be thankful. There are more important things than football.”

“We aren’t going to give up – we’ll keep fighting to the end.”

“I still reckon we have a chance in the League and on Wednesday we could get through to the semis of the Champions League. We have to move on.”

“We’ve have lots of opportunities to catch up with the leader but we haven’t taken advantage of any of them.”

“Getafe played well and we were unlucky.”

“Me being substituted? The coach did what he thought was right and thought about Wednesday.”

“I want to win the European Cup because I know what these fans going out into the street to celebrate is like.”

Zambrotta

“It’s a pity but we’re still just seven points behind.”

“We did everything we could to win, and we played well.”

“We hit the woodwork three times which shows you how unlucky we were.”

“Sometimes when you win people say you didn’t play well, and today we played well but we didn’t win.”

FC Barcelona 0 - 0 Getafe CF

2008-04-06T22:00:00.000+01:00

Barca played another dissapointing game that ended just minutes ago. Rijkaard's players played againsta Getafe and the result was more than dissatisfying - draw.

Barca's players had their chances - they hit 3 sidebars but still were not able to score a goal. Xavi and Iniesta played really energetic , distributing the ball during the entire game but this was not enough and Getafe took a point from Camp Nou.

In the end of the game the Barcelona's fans that were on the stadium took out white handkerchiefs and waved them in sign of protest.Joan Laporta left the stadium with the sad face on and I think that we all know it is time for changes...

Rijkaard uses same players as in Germany for the next 2 games

2008-04-05T22:24:00.000+01:00

Frank Rijkaard will use the same 18 players for the upcoming matches in Primera (against Getafe) and in the Champions League Quarter Final Seond Round match against Schalke 04 as he did last week. The squad is Valdés, Pinto, Thuram, Zambrotta, Sylvinho, Abidal, Edmílson, Milito, Puyol, Márquez, Touré Yaya, Gudjohnsen, Xavi, Iniesta, Bojan, Henry, Giovani i Eto'o.

All of the mentioned players have travelled to Gelsenkirchen for the first match.By this uncommon move Rijkard is showing that he is happy with the performance of thoose players.Furthermore he is short-handed by the numerous injuries in the team.

The good news are that Rafael Marques will eventually play his first game since February 3 so we can expect a better level of defence than that of the last few games.

Ronaldinho six weeks out .Rijkaard calls "B" Team reinforcements

2008-04-04T16:24:00.000+01:00

Ronaldinho

FC Barcelona's superstar Ronaldinho will be out of the terrain for about six weeks due to an injury. He suffered a harmstring strain in his right leg during Thursday's training session.

The Medical staff at the club confirmed this morning that tests have shown that the injury will keep him out for aproximately six weeks.

Deco and Gabriel Miltio

Fali , Pedrito and Toribio were called from the"B" side to help the first team.Deco was present, but he trained at the side with a personal coach as he bids to recover from his latest setback. Milito, like the Portuguese midfielder, also worked on a specific recovery programme.

Leo Messi returns to Barcelona on Thursday

2008-04-03T12:02:00.000+01:00

Leo Messi will arrive at El Prat airport on Thursday evening after completing the second part of his recovery schedule in Argentina.The Argentinian striker will be transfered directly to Camp Nou for a medical examination by the Barca's specialists.After the tests Messi promised to give the media a public interview in the stadium's press rooms.

about the injury...

Messi's left thigh femoral biceps was seriously injured during the game with Celtic in the Champions League second round that took place on the 4th of March this year.

Then the doctors predicted a six week absence from the fields for the superstar of FC Barcelona.

Rijkaard is happy with last night's win over Shalke 04

2008-04-02T14:37:00.000+01:00

FC Barcelona's coah Frank Rijkaard said that he is happy with the mentality that his players played the game against Shalke (Barca won 1-0). He stated that after the horrible loss against Real Betis last weekend Barca's players have learnt their lesson and are now playing with formidable matureness and mentality.Here are other comments from the Dutch coach:

about the hard work paying off...
Rijkaard wasn't willing to analyze last night's game deeply but he said it clear : "It is difficult to compare the game with Shalke with the one vs Betis , but it is a fact that our team worked hard and earned the victory.Obviously we had to suffer at the end of the game but that is due to the fact that Shalke is one really physical team and they worked hard to challenge the result."

"We started the game well and our positional play was very good and characterised our opening," Rijkaard continued. "We pressurised the opposition defence well too. Later in the game we became too direct at times and we took note of that."

about the scorer Bojan Krkic...
Barca's coach was short in his comment on Bojan's : "He does things that great players do".
Bojan Krkic scored the only goal of the game after 11 minutes and Rijkaard was impressed with the striker, who became the second youngest goalscorer in the competition and the first player born in the 1990's to score.

about the possibilities in the league...
In the end of the interview Rijkaard pointed out that Barça will not concentrate all their strenght in the Champions League: "We still have a chance in the league and we have to keep going in order to be there. What we want now is to win every that we play."

Barcelona beat Shalke with one goal and dissapointing performance

2008-04-01T22:42:00.001+01:00

The Champion League Quarter Final game facing FC Barcelona and Shalke 04 ended just one hour ago. I am confused and not sure what to write right now. Once again a dissapointing performance from Barca and yet we won. In fact my opinion is that tonight's game was a result of Rijkaard's upcoming firing. He was aware that if he loose this game he is out of the club and he made everything possible so this doesn't happen.

Barca started without the injured Leo Messi and Ronaldinho but performed really well in the first minutes of the game , maintaining the ball and playing their well known passing game. In the 11th minute a wonderful pass from Iniesta sent Henry in front of the keeper and he made a powerful shot which was boxed out clumsy. This gave Henry the chance to pass the ball and he did , he passed it to Bojan Krkic - GOAL! 0-1

After the goal the picture slowly began to turn around - Shalke's physical game started to override Barca's passing strategy and at the end of first half the strenghts were even. The second half belonged to the Germans. They become the leading team on the pitch with endless counter-attacks and powerful air plays.

In a result of that picture Rijkaard took out one by one our offensive players replacing them with defensive ones.Thanks God , Shalke weren't able to score till the end of the game and we won a very important victory.

After the game was over I stared at the TV for one more minute asking myself all those unanswered questions about the future of my favourite club and now , one hour later, I am still unable to find the answers...

Chelsea give up the chase on Ronaldinho

2008-03-23T17:41:00.000Z

After two year of non-stopping rumours about Ronaldinho being transferred to Chelsea this story is history. The official chairman of Chelsea Bruce Buck has put an end to all talks with his last reaction:

"I don't see it being likely that Ronaldinho will be here next year. Anything was a possibility and certainly there had been rumours and discussions of that, but I don't see it happening."

As a main reason the following was given:

"We are looking to balance some losses at the club, and a player like Ronaldinho will blow up the already huge money spent in recent years on buying new players. We have to focus on less expensive players and hope they will become of great value to us in the future when we want to sell them."

However people talk that the real reason is the fact that FC Barcelona are refusing to sit down on the table and negotiate over Ronnie's eventual move.

Barca vs. Shalke 04 - Round 1 - Fight!

2008-03-20T17:05:00.000Z

Ok , lets be honest. The season so far is not what we all expected. After going out of the cup and underperforming in the league Barca's best chances of succes this season are in Europe's Champions Cup. The best part is that after the speculations of Rijkaard's firing we the fans must be prepared for one great show. I personally hope that Barcelona will perform as we were used to watch them in 2006 CL games and will end with a good win at the end.

Gabriel Milito and Rafa Marqes are back and ready to improve Barcelona's defensive line. Their help will be needed because the strong German players are always playing physical football. The game plan for the two teams is absolutely different.

FC Barcelona will strive to maintain possesion with lots of passes and strenght in the middle of the pitch .On the other side what we should expect from Schalke is plenty of balls in the air , physical superiority and endless stamina.

Lets hope for the best and wish all the best to our "orange" players in the tonight's game.

Brief History of FC Barcelona

2008-03-01T13:30:00.000Z

Everything started on November 29, 1899 when Hans Gamper founded Futbol Club Barcelona, along with eleven more “foot-ball” enthusiasts, a game that was still pretty unknown in this part of the world.

FC Barça has become, for millions of people all around the world, more than a symbol of their identity, and not just in a matter of sports, but also in terms of social environment, politics and culture.When the times were most difficult Barca was the bond that kept Catalonia together and stimulated Catalan people’s desire for freedom , a symbolism that has continued to be closely
related to the ideology of the club and its members to our days.Within the understandings of Spanish people, Barça is seen as an open and democratic club. And all around the world, Barça is linked with charity causes, and most especially children through its sponsorship agreement with Unicef.

In its more than 100 years of history, FC Barcelona has passed through moments of both pain and glory, periods of brilliance and other less successful ones. Our club has suffered humbling defeats but what we remember are the endless epic victories. All these different moments have helped Barca to be defined as a Club, considered unique in the world.

With over a century of history, there naturally have been countless periods in the development of the Club, both in sporting and social sense. In the early years ( between 1899 and 1922) , FC Barcelona was a club that distinguished itself from every single other football club in Catalonia and therefore was related to the name of the city itself. This is the period when Les Corts stadium was build and Barca became the leading club in Catalonia.

1922-1957 From Les Corts to the legendary Camp Nou, the club went through different periods. Its official fan club reached 10 000 for the first time, while football slowly developed into a worldwide phenomenon and turned absolutely professional. Those were the years of such legendary players as Alcantara and Samitier. Due to material problems and political difficulties of the Spanish Civil War and post-war period, Barca had to overcome several unhappy circumstances, including the assassination of the president Josep Sunyol in 1936. He was the person who promoted the slogan ‘sport and citizenship’. The club survived, and a period of sporting and social recovery appeared in front of the doors of Camp Nou. At this time a truly influential person arrived in Barcelona and his name was Ladislau Kubala.

1957-1974 From the construction of the Camp Nou stadium to the celebration of the 75th anniversary , Barça suffered mediocre results but was consolidated as an entity, with a constantly increasing membership and the slow but steady recovery, in the face of adversity, of its identity. A very clear sensation that was manifested for the first time ever in the words ‘Barça, more than a club’ proclaimed by president Narcís de Carreras. The board presided by Agustí Montal brought a player to Barcelona who would change the history of the club, Johan Cruyff.

1974-1992 From the 75th anniversary to the first European Cup the club saw the conversion of
football clubs to democracy, the start of Josep Lluís Núñez’s long presidency, the extension of the Camp Nou on occasion of the 1982 World Cup and the Cup Winners Cup triumph in Basle (1979), a major success not just in a sporting sense but also in a social one, with an enormous and exemplary expedition of Barça supporters demonstrating to Europe the unity of the Barcelona and Catalan flags. Cruyff returned, this time as coach, and created what would come to be known as the 'Dream Team' (1990-1994), whose crowning glory was the conquest of the European Cup at Wembley (1992), thanks to Koeman’s famous goal.

1992-2006 From Wembley to Paris was when the club’s most recent developments occurred in between its two greatest achievements, becoming champions of Europe. Josep Lluís Núñez’s long presidency came to and end, and the club displayed its finest potential during the celebrations of the club Centenary. Following on from Joan Gaspart (2000-2003), the June 2003 election brought Joan Laporta into office, and the start of new social expansion, reaching 150,000 members, and more successes on the pitch, including two league titles and the Champions League won in Paris.

The grandeur of Futbol Club Barcelona is explained, among many other factors, by its impressive honours list. Very few clubs anywhere in the world have won so many titles. The Intercontinental Cup is the only major football trophy that has never made its way into the club museum, where the club's greatest pride and joy remain the two European Cups won at Wembley (1992) and in Paris (2006).

These were Barça's finest hours on the continental stage, but the Club also has the honour of being the only one to have appeared in every single edition of European club competition since the tournaments were first created back in 1955. Barcelona's many achievements in Europe include being considered 'King of the Cup Winners Cup', having won that title a record four times.

In addition, FC Barcelona also won three Fairs Cups (the tournament now known as the UEFA Cup) in 1958, 1960 and 1966. In 1971, Barça won that trophy outright in a match played between themselves, as the first ever winners of the competition, and Leeds United, as the last. But Barça not only rules in Europe, but also in Spanish competitions, specifically in the national cup, the Copa del Rey, which they have won 24 times, more than any other club.

The Spanish League has traditionally been one of the competitions Barcelona has found the hardest to win, but especially thanks to some wonderful seasons in the 1990s, a decade when six championships were won, and two more championships in the last two years, Fútbol Club Barcelona has now won 18 Spanish League titles.