A bad night for Barça players was completed when Mexico were knocked out of under-20s World Cup in Canada. A goal in the 45th minute from Argentina's Maxi Moralez was enough to end Mexico's dreams and settle the quarter final match in Ottawa.

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It wasn't to be for Leo Messi and Gabi Milito as Argentina succumbed to Brazil in tonight's Copa America final in the Maracaibo in Venezuela. A goal after just four minutes from Julio Baptista left the Albiceleste with an uphill struggle for the entire game. Baptista received the ball inside the penalty area before unleashing a thumping right-foot shot into the roof of the net.

Argentina almost equalised after eight minutes when Messi's cross from the left finally came to Joan Roman Riquelme who shot left-footed against the post. It was to be Argentina's best chance. Riquelme came close again after 35 minutes but Doni saved well. Brazil were defending their lead well and playing on the break. In the 40th minute a counter attack lead to Brazil's second goal. Dani Alves got free on the right and his curled ...

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I was coming home from the fiestas in Poble Sec tonight when the taxi driver told me a very strange story. Apparently, the driver's sister-in-law works as a cleaner in one of those posh hotels on the Costa Brava and one of the guests last week was none other than the hero of the Rambo and Rocky films, Sylvester Stallone.

Anyway, the sister-in-law got talking to the muscular star one day in the hotel lobby. Apparently, Sly was saying that his big aim in life at the moment is to buy Michael Jackson's entire collection of art. As you will probably all know, Wacko Jacko spent millions accumulating one of the naffest collections of paintings and sculpture ever seen. Stallone though was very keen and said that Jackson needed the money and wanted to sell. The only problem was that every time the famed actor put in a bid, Barça's Ronaldinho put in a higher one. The sister-in-law said that Sly seemed seriously pissed off about it all.

Stallone has recently been s...

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With the signings of Thierry Henry, Toure Yaya, Eric Abidal and Gabi Milito, and the incorporation of Giovani dos Santos, Bojan Krkic and Marc Crosas into next season's first team squad, there is now a serious overload of players and Txiki Begiristain is looking at who can be offloaded before the players return to training on July 21st.

So far this summer only Giovanni van Bronkhorst who moved to Feyenoord and Javier Saviola who has signed for Real Madrid, have left the club. Santi Ezquerro and Maxi Lopez are top of the clearout list, Maxi's possible transfer to Sporting Lisbon having fallen through. Barça are also trying to find a move for Ludovic Giuly and Thiago Motta. Motta would like a free transfer but Barça are interested in recuperating some of the money spent this summer.

Other players who cou...

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Barcelona's budding star forward Giovani dos Santos opened the scoring for Mexico in their 3-0 win over Congo in the last 16 of the Under-20s World Cup in Canada. Giovani converted a 23rd minute penalty to set Mexico on the path to victory which will now see Mexico travel to Ottawa to take on Argentina in the quarter finals.

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La Liga has announced the fixture list for 2007/8. Barça will begin their campaign with a visit to Santander to play Racing on 25/26th August. They will recieve Real Madrid at Camp Nou on Dec 22/23rd and visit the Bernabéu on May 7th. Barça's last game of the season will be a visit to Murcia. Here are all Barça's games:

Week 1 (26-8-2007) / Week 20 (20-1-2008)
Racing-Barça

Week 2 (2-9-2007) / Week 21 (27-1-2008)
Barça-Athletic

Week 3 (16-9-2007) / Week 22 (3-2-2008)
Osasuna-Barça 
   Week 4 (23-9-2007) / Week 23 (10-2-2008)
Barça-Sevilla 

 Week 5 (26-9-2007) / Week 24 (17-2-2008)
Barça-Zaragoza

Week 6 (30-9-2007) / Week 25 (24-2-2008) 
Levante-Barça 
   

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Leo Messi and Gabi Milito's Argentina overcame Rafa Marquez's Mexico 3-0 to reach the final of the Copa America where they will meet Brazil on Sunday. All three Barcelona players played the entire 90 minutes, and Messi capped his performance with a classy goal. Argentina's other goals came from Gabriel Heinze and Joan Roman Riquelme who was also in great form.

Rafa Marquez will not stay in Venezuela for Mexico's third-place match. After talking to Mexico's coach Hugo Sanchez, Marquez has decided to come back to Barcelona to start his preparation for the new season. 

Brazil qualified for the final after beating Uruguay on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the other semi final.

Watch Messi's goal here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fegJUGRLI9...

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Zaragoza have today announced on their webpage that an agreement has been reached with FC Barcelona for the transfer of Gabi Milto. Barça will pay Zaragoza €17 million for the Argentinian defender with another €3.5 million to be paid for appearances and titles won. Milito will officially sign for four seasons when he returns from the Copa America where he is appearing alongside Leo Messi for Argentina.

I think Milito is an excellent reinforcement for the defence. He signed for Zaragoza four seasons ago after he failed a medical at Real Madrid. I was always very impressed with him and wondered how Madrid could have let him go. He is strong, brave and quick, and now Madrid's loss is Barça's gain, at 26 he is at a perfect age to give Barça the best years of his career. I expect him to form a ...

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New Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has confirmed that ex-blaugrana Javier Saviola has agreed to sign for Real Madrid. Saviola left Barça as a free agent and Madrid therefore will not have to pay a penny for him. Saviola has been at Barça for the last 6 seasons though he did spend time on loan to Sevilla and Monaco. Last season he had few opportunities to play and the refusal of Barça to renew his contract under the same conditions led to his inevitable departure. It remains to be seen if he will have more chances wearing the white shirt of Madrid.

Madrid have also signed two central defenders this week. Cristoph Metzelder from Borussia Dortmund, and Porto's Pepe who has cost a whopping €30million.

Barça are still trying to come to an agreement for Gabi Milito but Zaragoza are refusing to d...

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Leo Messi scored his first goal of the tournament last night as Argentina cruised to a 4-0 victory over Peru. Argentina will now play Rafa Marquez and Mexico in the semi final, Mexico having beaten Paraguay 6-0.

Argentina had to wait until the second half before opening the scoring through Roman Riquelme, furthur goals from Messi, Javier Mascherona and Riquelme again saw the Albiceleste to an easy victory. Mexico also had it easy as Paragauy had goalkeeper Aldo Bobadilla sent off after two minutes. the Mexican goals came from Nery Castillo(2), Torrado, Fernando Arce, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Omar Bravo.

In the other quarter finals, Brazil hammered Chile 6-1, and Uruguay beat Venezuela 4-1. Brazil will now face Uruguay in the other semi final.

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