FCBnews

Barça 4 Mallorca 2

Sat, 7 Nov 2009 12:03:48 -0600

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 ball came to Ibrahimovic who controlled the ball and then surprised the defence with a delightful flick that went through a flock of defenders and arrived to Pedro running into the area to firmly place the ball beyond Aouate's reach. Soon after Ibra laid back a nice ball for Henry to shoot right footed, the goalkeeper failed to hold the ball but recovered in time as Pedro rushed in.

However, the goal did not help us to take control of the game. Mallorca gave their first warning with a shot over from Marti in the 17th minute. then two minutes later a ball between Piqué and Chygrynskiy set up Webo in front of goal but Valdés came to the rescue diving to tip the ball around the post. From the corner Piqué jumped at the near post but only succeeded in flicking the ball on to the far post where Nunes had escaped from Keita to head home. One might have thought that with so many taller players in our team today we might have defended better at set pieces but this was not the case.

The game then entered a period with no chances for either team. Apart from a Toure shot over we were doing little to feed our forwards which wasa shame as both Pedro and Ibrahimovic were looking inspired when they did get involved. Then in the 40th minute a long ball from the left from Keita found Pedro at the far post, his volley was well stopped by Aouate then Henry and Busquets fired in shots that were both incredibly saved by the keeper but he could do nothing to stop the fourth shot from Pedro that went in from close range off a defender. Just before half time we won a free kick out on the left. Pedro's centre found Busquets ghosting in at the far post unmarked and when Busi headed across the goal Henry was quickest to react, springing forward to head in his first goal of the season for an undeserved 3-1 at half time.

Messi came on for Pedro early in the second half but the change did little to improve our game. Chygrynskiy, who continues to look uncomfortable in the defence, gave the ball away in a dangerous position and had to be rescued by an excerllent tackle by Toure. Ibrahimovic continued to show some delightful control in attack but the support was generally lacking. The wind was making things difficult for both teams, and Barça's flow was also continuously broken by Mallorca's fouls.

It wasn't until the last ten minutes that Barça began to look like Barça. With Iniesta and Xavi now on, there was a great move involving these two and Messi but Ibrahimovic missed the chance, shooting into the sidenetting. We then might have had a penalty when Ibrahimovic's cross hit Nunes's hand but the referee ignored Ibra's appeal and had me remembering that we still haven't received a penalty all season. Messi had a great run into the area, the ball ricocheted to Ibrahimovic who flicked the ball over the keeper and crossed but Messi's spectacular overhead kick went over.

Then in the 86th minute we finally got our penalty! Messi made another good run before playing the ball on to Ibrahimovic who went down under the defender's challenge and the ref pointed to the spot. Messi stepped up to coolly send Aouate the wrong way. With the job done we again let down our guard and Valdés had to make two saves in injury time. But with his defenders sleeping he could do nothing to stop a last minute consolation from Mallorca's substitute Alhassane Keita.

We lacked a lot of fluidity today in our play but it was good to see some goals going in. Guardiola's decision to leave out Messi & Co was controversial and could well have backfired. However, the positive side of the decision is that it sends a message to all the players that nobody is untouchable. Pedro responded superbly to a new opportunity and took his goals well, Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a very impressive game despite not getting on the scoresheet and Victor Valdés again made some good stops and was unlucky that Mallorca scored immediately after his two best saves. The negative side today was the lack of imagination from midfield which might be expected when we play without Xavi and Iniesta, and also Piqué and Chygrynskiy did not look a good partnership. Piqué will undoubtedly have better days but Chygrynskiy is definitely beginning to worry. With Rafa Marquez also going through a bad pàtch and Gabi Milito's lengthy injury we are going to need to see better from our Ukranian defender if we are not going to be made to pay as the season goes on.

We now have the return Copa del Rey game with Cultural Leonesa followed by a break next weekend. La Liga is back in on November 21st with a visit to Athletic Bilbao and we then have the massive games at home with Inter Milan and Real Madrid. We will have to improve on today's performance to win those crucial games.

Barça: Valdés 7.5; Puyol 6.5, Piqué 5.5, Chygrynskiy 5, Abidal 6; Busquets 6.5 (Xavi m61, 6.5), Toure 6.5, Keita 5.5; Pedro 8 (Messi m51, 6.5), Ibrahimovic 8, Henry 6.5 (Iniesta m82, 6).

Goals: m11 Pedro 1-0, m20 Nunes 1-1, m40 Pedro 2-1, m44 Henry 3-1, m87 Messi (pen) 4-1, m92 A. Keita 4-2

Barça yellow cards: m66 Keita

Attendance: 77,491

Preview: Barça - Mallorca

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 12:51:43 -0600

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 a few goals.

Mallorca will not be easy as they proved last season in the four matches between the two sides. In the corresponding league game we had to come from behind to win a bad tempered game 3-1 (Click here for this blog's report on that game). We won the Copa del Rey semi final tie to a large extent thanks to Pinto's penalty save, and then we lost 2-1 in Mallorca at the end of the season when La Liga was already won. Mallorca are flying high this season but 15 of their 17 points so far have been won at home and they are yet to win a game on there travels. The danger from Mallorca could come from left winger Gonzalo Castro, while if he plays it will be interesting to get a look at their young right back Felipe Mattioni whose excellent debut in last week's 1-0 win over Racing earned him comparisons with Dani Alves.

We need to win this match if we are to guarantee top spot going into the next international break. Real Madrid are just a point behind and it seems like they always win their derby match away to Atletico. We are due a few goals but to get them we need an improvement in play from the likes of Leo Messi and Andres Iniesta. Thierry Henry should get a bit more than the eight minutes he played on Wednesday but he may still begin on the bench. Guardiola will have to see if anyone is showing signs of fatigue after the long journey to Kazan but if they are all ok I imagine he will start with the same team. Our next game after this is on Tuesday against Cultural Leonesa in the Copa del Rey so it seems pointless to rest anyone tomorrow.

In 24 league encounters between the teams in Barcelona, Barça have won 15, there have been 6 draws, while Mallorca have won 3.

Possible starting XI: Valdés; Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Keita; Messi, Ibrahimovic, Iniesta.

My prediction: Barça 3 Mallorca 0

Rubin Kazan 0 Barça 0

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 10:37:47 -0600

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 knew it was going to be cold tonight and there were various combination of gloves, leggings and neckscarves (what do you call those slip-over-the-head scarves?) but Captain Carles Puyol, along with Seydou Keita, showed a fine example by playing with none of the above and in short-sleeved shirts. (When I say a fine example, I do not mean you should try to copy this as you will almost certainly catch a cold!)

The game was very similar to the game two weeks ago in Camp Nou with Barça having control of the game with Rubin defending in numbers while looking to hurt us on the counter attack. After just three minutes Keita won the ball and fed Iniesta who pushed the ball through to Ibrahimovic who faced with Rhzhikov side-footed the ball past the keeper towards the corner but the ball came out off the upright. Having twice hit the woodwork in the first game one had to wonder if The Russian coach's habit of playing with his rosary beads might have hadan effect. Whatever the case we took a while after Ibra's effort to come close again. In the 19th minute Xavi received a pass from Alves, turned his man, looked up but his chip from 20 yards went just over.

Leo Messi moved infield but had little luck with his attempts to dribble through the middle, in the 21st minute he managed to get past two and into the area but Rhzhikov dived at Messi's feet to gather. Xavi then sent a great flick for Alves to cross but Keita's spectacular attempt to volley at the far post failed to make good contact with the ball. rubin had their first half chance in the 25th minute after a low cross from the left but Puyol did well to block Karedeniz's shot. Messi continued to lose possession trying to break through the middle and he and Iniesta both had hopeful long shots that failed to trouble the keeper.

Then in the 41st minute a long ball found Ryazantsev on the right, with Abidal forward it was left for Iniesta to defend but Ryazantsev skipped inside and sent a low shot that looked to be going in but Valdés got down brilliantly to save one-handed. Immediately after Barça won a free kick 30 yards out, Ibrahimovic shaped to shoot but instead sent a clever pass giving Iniesta an excellent chance but Rhzhikov was quick off his line to save Iniesta's effort with his legs.

It was a pretty good first half from Barça but we once again lacked the killer punch in the chances for Ibrahimovic and Iniesta, while Messi continues to struggle to find his form. In the second half we probably had even more of the ball but we had more difficulties to create chances. Toure drove one in the 52nd minute which the keeper failed to hold but the defence was first to react to clear the danger. Iniesta then had a chance but he was slightly off balance and his shot went wide. We were not getting crosses into Ibrahimovic, and when we did Ibra's head back across goal was again cleared by the defence.

In the 62nd minute Bukharov replaced Karedeniz and rubin began to look a little more dangerous. Dominguez had a couple of hopeful efforts while Xavi and Keita both failed to find the target at the other end. Ibrahimovic then sent in a drive that went straight at the keeper but we were not having any chances close to goal. In the 74th minute Bukharov had his first chance but he messed up his control allowing Valdés to come out and save at his feet. Puyol was booked for a foul on the Russian substitute, and then in the 78th Bukharov got through the space between Puyol and Abidal, and Valdés made a great save diving at his feet, as play continued Puyol did well to clear the danger.

Pep Guardiola waited until the 82nd minute before making a chance, putting on Thierry Henry for Keita, and Henry had two chances near the end to win the game. With the first he didn't expect Alves's cross to reach him and when the defender missed the ball Henry was too surprised to react quickly enough. Then in the 90th minute Messi broke, feeding Henry into the left side of the area but the Frenchman was falling as he attempted to score and he sliced the ball well wide.

This was in no way a bad performance from Barça against a very good opponent, we played with a good attitude and dominated most of the game. However, the tendency of both Messi and Iniesta to drift inside meant we caused few problems on the wings and we saw in the first game with Rubin that it is extremely difficult to find spaces trying to go through the middle of their defence. Our best players tonight were Victor Valdés, whose save at the end of the first half was splendid and probably his best save of the season, and Carles Puyol who made countless interventions and was only caused problems a couple of times by Bukharov near the end. On the negative side we gave the ball away too often going forward and unfortunately Leo Messi was particularly guilty tonight; the sooner Messi finds his form the better as we need him to make the difference in games like this. I'm sure Messi is told to try his luck by dribbling and we know he has the talent to do it, however he is way off his best at the moment and none of his runs are coming to anything.

We are going to suffer to get through this group and the idea of needing to get a result in Kiev is worrying. However, we knew this group was a tough one and we still have everything to play for. In some ways it's nice to have the emotion as the games against Inter and Dynamo are going to be massive. But we have three weeks before Inter come to Camp Nou and now we'll have to get back to La Liga as we have an important game on Saturday at home to Mallorca

Barça: Valdés 8.5; Alves 6, Piqué 7, Puyol 8.5, Abidal 6.5; Xavi 6.5, Toure 6.5, Keita 6 (m82 Henry, 5.5); Messi 5, Ibrahimovic 6, Iniesta 6.5.

Barça yellow card: m75 Puyol.

Champions League Preview: Rubin Kazan - Barça

Tue, 3 Nov 2009 10:43:41 -0600

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 against the wind. The good news is that the likelihood of snow is low.

Besides the cold we will also have to worry about Rubin's top scorer Aleksandr Bukharov who is back after injury. Bukharov missed the game at Camp Nou with a wrist injury but he was back scoring twice in the 4-1 win over Krylia Sovetov on Friday which maintains Rubin one point advantage over Spartak Moscow at the top of the Russian league. Coach Kurban Berdyev will have to choose between Bukharov and Karadeniz to partner Alejandro Dominguez in attack. Karadeniz showed how quick he is scoring the second goal at Camp Nou, while Bukharov, at 1.91m, will pose more of an aerial threat. Also back in contention for a place is the wonderfully-named midfielder Macbeth Sibaya who missed the last three Champions League games through suspension.

Having lost 1-2 to this lot at Camp Nou two weeks ago we know it is not going to be a push over, but it is crunch time now and we have to take something from this game. With the closeness of the group we will almost certainly qualify if we can take five or six points from our three remaining games. However, if we lose tomorrow it will leave us needing to beat both Inter at Camp Nou and then Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine in December which will be no easy feat. We will have to hope that Alves is completely recovered and ready to play 90 minutes or we will have to play Puyol at right back which will mean the out-of-form Rafa Marquez will partner Gerard Piqué in central defence. Thierry Henry could also return but perhaps the good form of Seydou Keita will mean the Frenchman begins this one on the bench with Iniesta playing wide on the left. However, given the defensive nature of our opponents I think Guardiola will go with Henry from the start.

I imagine the boys will show the right attitude regardless of the cold, indeed I wouldn't be surprised to see Carles Puyol playing in a short-sleeved shirt as an example. It won't be easy as Rubin will probably play as defensively as they did two weeks ago, and they proved they are a disciplined and well organised team who can also play quick one-touch football going forward. However, we are the better team and I'm predicting that unless we have the same bad luck as in the defeat at Camp Nou we can take all three points in this one.

Barça's squad for the game: Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Marquez, Abidal, Maxwell, Toure, Busquets, Xavi, Keita, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro, Bojan, Ibrahimovic, Henry, Jeffren.

Possible starting XI: Valdés; Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Iniesta; Messi, Ibrahimovic, Henry

My prediction: Rubin Kazan 0 Barça 2

Player Of The Month: October 2009

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 11:22:56 -0600

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 to Victor Valdés. He saved us from defeat against Valencia and has generally been in very good form. He would probably have been first this month but he might have done more to stop Zaragoza's goal, so he'll have to settle for second place. Third place goes to Carles Puyol who has been solid first at centre back against Almeria and Valencia, and then filling in at right back after Dani Alves got injured. One has to wonder whether we would have lost to Rubin Kazan if our captain had been playing that night. In fourth place is Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has scored three in his four games this month and continues to impress with his all-round game. Fifth place was a bit complicated to choose, it could have gone to Piqué, Abidal, Xavi or Toure but in the end it's going to Pedro. He might have been a bit off against Valencia and Rubin, but his goals won two games this months against Almeria and Cultural Leonesa and his three goals came from fewer minutes than Ibrahimovic's three.

What is remarkable this month is the absence in the top five of our three main Ballon d'Or candidates, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. Everyone has a right to a drop in form (even Xavi who has been in the top 5 practically every month since I began the awards), but for me this explains more than anything else why this has not been a vintage month. Let's hope all three are back to their best soon.

So, to recap, the top 5 for October 2009 are as follows.

Seydou Keita
Victor Valdés
Carles Puyol
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Pedro Rodriguez

Send your comments and let us know whether you agree or not.

Osasuna 1 Barça 1

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:01:17 -0500

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 slip from Keita and then was unlucky to receive a yellow card after going down in the area after a brush past Piqué, and then Valdés was quick and brave to save in front of the Osasuna forward at the near post from a corner.

Barça gradually started to come to life and Xavi had a shot straight at the keeper after 23 minutes. Then Iniesta escaped on the left but his pass was just behind Ibrahimovic who couldn't quite control it. Ibra had an excellent chance in the 29th minute when he found space on the edge of the area from a corner but his shot hit a defender, seemingly on the arm, and Puyol couldn't get the rebound with the goal gaping.

The defences were generally on top, but Barça had problems to play the ball out of defence, Busquets kept dropping back between the two centre halves allowing our full backs to push forward but there was little connection with our main playmakers Xavi, Iniesta and Messi. Osasuna were showing more aggression in midfield and despite not having any clear chances they looked more comfortable with their game than we did. Just before half time Aranda slipped away from three defenders and only a last ditch tackle from Puyol saved the day.

We continued to struggle to create chances in the second half but Osasuna were not creating danger either. The frustration began to show as Chygrynskiy, Keita and Ibrahimovic all got yellow cards. The game might have changed in the 68th minute when Ibrahimovic won the ball from Flaño only to be brought down by the defender as he set off with a clear run on goal, the referee Rubinos Perez inexplicably didn't even blow for a foul when it was quite clearly a possible sending off offence. However, four minutes later this was all forgotten as we finally took the lead. Messi played the ball through to Puyol overlapping into the area and our captain's low cross was missed by Xavi at the near post but the defence failed to pick up Keita who had an easy finish from close in.

The hard work seemed to be done and in the last ten minutes we had five attempts on goal that should have put the result out of Osasuna's reach. Xavi set up Puyol in space but his left foot shot went well over. Ibrahimovic then had a shot save and in the 89th minute Messi nearly sneaked a free kick under Ricardo. Then in injury time Messi had two chances, the first a one on one that the goalkeeper won and soon after Messi failed to chip the keeper when he had Ibrahimovic free in the middle.

We paid for the misses in the very last move of the game. Marquez failed to control Camuñas who escaped with the ball and crossed from the left, Piqué at the near post tried to clear but only succeeded in slicing the ball and the ball flew into Valdés's face and into the net. It is easy to blame Marquez for the goal and he really should have done a lot better, but Piqué was also at fault and if the forwards, especially Messi had finished better, it would not have mattered.

This should have been a very important victory, where we could have said we won despite not playing well. The second half performance was not so bad but when we are only winning by one goal we really need to kill these games off. We are still missing our star players with Xavi, Iniesta and Messi all well below the level we have come to expect, but perhaps the most worrying thing was the poor form of defenders Chygrynskiy and Marquez. Chygrynskiy struggled throughout against Aranda and is doing little to show why we spent so much money for him, it is still early days for him and maybe he needs more time to fit in. Marquez, however, is looking a long way from the player he once was and his form since coming back from injury has been well below what we would expect from one of our defenders. With Milito still injured we are going to need these players this season and we will just have to hope that they can both get better. On the positive side we had another goal from Keita who continues to impress this season while there were also good performances from Puyol and Abidal, Valdés and Piqué also looked good until the unfortunate own goal right at the end.

We now go to Russia where we need to take something from Wednesday's game with Rubin Kazan. In case you didn't know there is an early kick off in that game which will start at 6.30p.m. Spanish time. and not at the usually Champions League time of 8.45.

Barça: Valdés 6.5; Puyol 7, Piqué 6.5, Chygrynskiy 5.5 (Marquez m61, 5), Abidal 7; Xavi 6, Busquets 6.5, Keita 7.5; Messi 6, Ibrahimovic 6.5, Iniesta 6 (Pedro m90, --).

Goals: m72 Keita 0-1, m93 Piqué o.g 1-1.

Barça yellow cards: m50 Chygrynskiy, m55 Keita, m63 Ibrahimovic

Preview: Osasuna - Barça

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:04:09 -0500

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 points but so far this season only Sevilla have come away from the Reyno de Navarra stadium with all three points. Last season we suffered a lot in the corresponding fixture, with ten minutes to go we were losing 2-1 but then goals from Xavi and a corker from Messi earned us a 2-3 victory (Click here for a report on that game and here for a link to Messi's goal). In total Barça have played Osasuna 31 times in the league in Pamplona with ten victories for Osasuna, ten draws and eleven wins for Barça.

I don't usually talk about the referees in my match previews, but this is a week that saw one referee, Carlos Megia Davila (who has bizarrely recently been signed as a refereeing delegate by Real Madrid) give an interview where he happily declared he had been a Real Madrid fan since childhood. This is a man who refereed 24 Barça matches between 1995 and 2009 of which we only won 11 times. The record is not that remarkable, it amounts to 45% of games won in a period when we won a total of 57% of our matches (according to El Mundo Deportivo). However, how is it possible that 1) he can sign for Real Madrid in any form, and, 2) he can admit publicly to be a Madrid supporter? What confidence does this give us when tomorrow's ref for the game, Antonio Rubinos Perez, is also from Madrid (at least geographically)? You can accuse me of being paranoid, but this is the same Antonio Rubinos Perez who last year caused a massive protest at Camp Nou after sending off 17-year-old debutant Marc Muniesa against Osasuna for a foul that never deserved anything more than a yellow card. Let's just hope there is no such controversy tomorrow, who knows we may even get awarded our first penalty of the season.

It will certainly be a shame if the ref is biased against us as games at Osasuna are never easy. We will need to be near our best to win this one. A victory will be very welcome indeed as it will keep us three points clear of second place Real Madrid and six points clear of third placed Sevilla. However, I've not got a good feeling about this game and I'm going to predict a draw.

Barça's squad for the game: Valdés, Pinto, Puyol, Piqué, Chygrynskiy, Marquez, Abidal, Maxwell, Toure, Busquets, Xavi, Keita, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro, Bojan, Ibrahimovic, Henry, Jeffren.

Possible starting XI: Valdés; Puyol, Piqué, Chygrynskiy, Abidal; Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Ibrahimovic, Pedro.

My prediction: Osasuna 1 Barça 1

Puyol Signs Until 2013

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:47:26 -0500

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 if he is not getting enough games.

I don't believe Puyol is as good as he was three or four seasons ago, however, he is an extremely important part of the club and his commitment deserves to be rewarded. He is still an international class defender whether he plays at right back, left back or centre back and I'm sure he still has plenty of heroic performances ahead of him defending our colours.

Six Blaugrana On Fifa World Player List

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:40:25 -0500

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 Cristiano Ronaldo's crown, let's just hope that Xavi and Iniesta make the top 5 as they both deserve it.

Here's the full list of candidates:

Michael Ballack, Gianluigi Buffon, Iker Casillas, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Samuel Eto'o, Steven Gerrard, Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andrés Iniesta, Kaká, Frank Lampard, Luis Fabiano, Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol, Franck Ribéry, Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Fernando Torres, David Villa, Xavi.

Henrik Larsson Retires

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:17:26 -0500

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 excellent job in his two seasons in Spain. Despìte suffering a horrible knee ligaments injury in a 3-0 victory over Real Madrid in November 2004 Henke recovered to return before the end of the season to celebrate the league title. In 2005/06 he played more regularly and won the league again before that great day in Paris, with Barça a goal down to Arsenal, Larsson came on as a sub and set up the goals for Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Belletti that gave us our second European Cup.

Larsson played 106 times for Sweden. He will be remembered as a gentleman and a true professional but most of all as a fantastic player. He is now likely to take up coaching in Scotland.

From Fcbnews we wish him every success in the future. Hasta siempre Henke!