Barça stay top of La Liga for another week after a 4-2 win over Mallorca which was more down to taking our chances than to good play. Pedro Rodriguez, playing on the right in place of Leo Messi, responded well to Pep Guardiola's trust by scoring twice in the first half and goals from Thierry Henry and a late Messi penalty were enough to ensure the three points.

Guardiola surprised everyone by leaving Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Dani Alves on the bench. If it was a wake up call to the players, it didn't do a lot to improve our play. However, we took the lead with our first chance after 11 minutes; Piqué played a ball forward and a defender missed his kick and they...

It's back to La Liga and back to Camp Nou tomorrow where we play hosts to fifth placed Mallorca (kick off 8pm). After two disappointing draws away from home we will certainly be hoping to win this one. For the first time this season Pep Guardiola has all 20 first team players (bar Gabi Milito) available for the game. Guardiola said today that "in many aspects we are a better team this season". While I would agree that Ibrahimovic offers us new options and Seydou Keita has been a much improved player, unfortunately there are other parts of the team that are not performing so well. Let's hope that tomorrow the team show us what they are capable of by knocking in...

Barça's Champions League qualification hangs in the balance after a 0-0 draw tonight in the cold of Kazan. It might have been a different story had Zlatan Ibrahimovic had taken a golden chance in the 3rd minute but his shot hit the base of the post. Barça dominated possession and created more chances but Rubin also had their opportunities the best of which fell to Ryanzantev in the 41st minute but he was denied by a magnifent save from Victor Valdés. We will now have to wait and see what happens between Dynamo Kiev and Inter Milan, but as things stand at the moment Barça will definitely qualify if we beat Inter Milan at Camp Nou and get a draw in the final match in Kiev.

We...

Barça have Dani Alves and Thierry Henry back for tomorrow night's crucial Champions League Group F game against Russian champions Rubin Kazan. However, for once we may be more preoccupied with the weather news than the team news because it is very cold in Kazan at this time of year. Just checking on the internet now and as I write (6pm in Spain) it is -6ºC (21ºF) in Kazan with a wind chill factor which makes it feel like -11ºC (13ºF). Tomorrow it is likely to be similar, but we can hope it is a wee bit warmer in Rubin's Central Stadium than it is at the airport which is where the weather reports come from, and hopefully the stadium will also offer a bit of protection...

Let's be honest, it wasn't our best month ever. However, we could also say we only lost one game (to Rubin Kazan) in six and of the three main leagues in Europe - Spain, England and Italy - we are the only team to remain unbeaten in our domestic league. Whatever the case, when I look back at the six games from this month there are very few individual performances that stand out. After some careful consideration I have decided that the Fcbnews October Player Of The Month has to go to Seydou Keita. His hat-trick against Zaragoza was the best individual performance of the month and that was backed up by another goal on Saturday against Osasuna which also makes Keita the top scorer of the month.

The award very nearly went...

A Gerard Piqué own goal with the last kick of the game cost Barça two points tonight in Pamplona in a complicated game with Osasuna. A draw had looked on the cards until the 72nd minute when Seydou Keita put us ahead, we then had plenty of late chances to seal the victory but we lacked the killer punch and we paid the penalty with a defensive lapse right at the end.

It might have all been very different had Messi scored after just 50 seconds but Osasuna keeper Ricardo made an excellent save to tip the ball over. However, after this first chance it was Osasuna who had the better of the first 20 minutes with Aranda causing our defence problems, he had one shot wide after a...

It's back to La Liga tomorrow night with a trip to Pamplona to take on Osasuna (kick off 8pm). Thierry Henry is fit again and has been included in a 19-man squad for the trip, the only first team players missing are the injured Gabi Milito and Dani Alves. With an important Champions League game at Rubin Kazan on Wednesday, Pep Guardiola may be tempted to rest a couple of players. I have a feeling that Henry won't start but will come on as a sub in the second half to get him warmed up for the game in Russia.

Osasuna's coach José Antonio Camacho has all his players available except for Esparzaand Delporte. Carlos Aranda has been declared fit and will probably return to partner Walter Pandiani in attack. Osasuna are currently 10th in the table with 11...

As expected Carles Puyol signed a new contract today which will keep him at Barça until June 2013. There had been speculation a couple of months ago that Puyol would not sign a new contract and he was reported to be considering a move to play in England. The fact that Barça had signed Chygrynskiy, combined with the fact that last season Puyol was left out for the first game against Chelsea, may have given our captain doubts about whether Guardiola valued him.

However, it has all been resolved now and Puyol seems happy to stay even though he could have earnt more money elsewhere. The main change in his contract is the lowering of the release clause to €10 million which will give him a chance to leave...

You can tell we are moving towards the end of the year by the number of awards ceremonies. Last week we had the list of candidates for France Football's Ballon d'Or and now it is the turn for the other most prestigious individual award: the Fifa World Player. Fifa have released a list of 23 candidates for 2009 which includes six Barça players, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Henry and Ibrahimovic plus ex-blaugrana Samuel Eto'o. Compared to the Ballon d'Or list which you can see HERE the difference for Barça is the inclusion of Carles Puyol and the omission of Toure Yaya. We all know that Leo Messi is going to take...

At the age of 38, Henrik Larsson, played his final game as a professional last night for Swedish side Helsingborgs. Larsson was one of the greats of modern football and he was loved by the fans of all the teams he played for. He won many honours in the game but the crowning point of his career came in Paris on 17th May 2006 when he helped Barça lift the Champions League trophy by setting up both of our goals in the 2-1 victory over Arsenal.

Larsson began his professional career in 1988 for Högaborgs and he went on to play for Helsingborgs, Feyenoord, Celtic, Barça and Manchester United before returning to finish his career in Sweden with Helsingborgs. He joined Barça in the summer of 2004 and did an...