Barça responded to the pressure of the situation with a magnificent performance against Italian champions Inter Milan to take a giant step towards the last 16 of the Champions League. There was no need for either Leo Messi or Zlatan Ibrahimovic as two early goals from Gerard Piqué and Pedro Rodriguez left Inter without an answer and leave Barça almost classified as we can now only go out if we lose by more than one goal to Dynamo Kiev, and we would still go through if Inter and Rubin draw in their last game in Milan.

Right from the beginning Barça were in total control, showing excellent concentration and putting the Inter players under pressure whenever we lost possession while...

Barça lose the top spot in La Liga to Real Madrid after a frustrating 1-1 with Athletic Bilbao in San Mames. If the result was disappointing what is even more worrying is the injury to Leo Messi which will see him miss the game on Tuesday with Inter Milan and sees him doubtful for Sunday's clash with Madrid. Messi was substituted in the 76th minute and immediately put an ice pack on the inside of his left thigh, his face told the story that he is obviously concerned with the injury. Added to the injuries to Ibrahimovic and Abidal and the problems with swine flu we go into a vital week with plenty of problems, we have talked about the size of the squad before and we may pay heavily for the lack of...

Five second half goals gave Barça an easy win over Cultural Leonesa to put us into the last 16 of the Copa del Rey, but the big news in the Copa tonight is the elimination of Real Madrid who could only beat little Alcorcon 1-0 and go out 1-4 on aggregate. Pep Guardiola was taking few risks that Barça would suffer a similar humilliation and the only player from Barça Atletic who started the game tonight was Johnathan dos Santos who showed his potential with an excellent assist for our second goal.

As is so often the case in games like this, there was a lack of intensity from the team in the first half. There were a lot of imprecise passes and early on a couple of loose back passes might have  seen us go behind. First...

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...

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...

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...

There was no surprise tonight for Barça who comfortably beat Cultural Leonesa 0-2 in the first leg of the last 32 round of the Copa del Rey. We proved tonight, that unlike Real Madrid who were humiliated last night, we continue to have the right mentality whoever we play against. while our main stars were rested it was left to Pedro Rodriguez to score a goal in each half to give us victory. Pedro now has the curious record of having scored in all five competitions that we have played in so far this season. 

It is normal that in the first round of the Copa del Rey we see a few experiments, the most notable today was the use of Jeffren who was asked, not too...

How things can change in a few days. On Tuesday night following the defeat to Rubin Kazan there were some doubts being raised about this team, tonight after a splendid 6-1 victory over Zaragoza we are three points clear at the top of La Liga and everything is hunky dory. Seydou Keita returned to the team and capped his best game for Barça with the first hat-trick in his career while Zlatan Ibrahimovic also had a very good game and chipped in with two goals. Leo Messi looked to be somewhere nearer his true self but let himself down with his finishing, however, his insistence finally paid off with a goal near the end.

It has been said that we have problems on the left...

Barça's classification for the last 16 of the Champions League has suddenly become much more complicated after a surprise 1-2 defeat at home to Russian champions Rubin Kazan. We were stunned as early as the second minute by a fantastic strike from Ryazantsev, and despite an equalizer from Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the start of the second half we were unable to recover after Rubin hit us with a second in the 73rd minute. Ibrahimovic and Toure Yaya both rattled the woodwork near the end but it wasn't to be our night. And to make things worse Dani Alves was injured near the end of the game and the first reports say he will be out of action for three weeks.

Pep Guardiola made just two changes to the...

As in 1929/30, 1990/91 and 1997/98 Barça were unable to continue a six-game winning start to the season and we had to settle for a draw in the seventh game. A hard fought 0-0 draw with Valencia keeps us on top of La Liga and having suffered in the first half we can not complain about taking a point from this game though our performance was well below par. 

Right from the start Valencia played with a great intensity and they had an excellent chance after just one minute when Pablo Hernandez beat the offside trap and got a clear run on goal but his finish was poor shooting straight at Victor Valdés. The pressure from Valencia caused us to play nervously, we gave the ball away too easily and...