Funny game football. Pep Guardiola rested Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gerard Piqué for today's game at Malaga, but both players had to come on due to what appeared to be minor injuries to Thierry Henry and Dmytro Chygrynskiy and both substitutes scored soon after coming on to give Barça a 0-2 win in a bad tempered game mainly due to an awful performance from referee, Delgado Ferreiro, who allowed Malaga to get away with some highly unsporting behaviour particularly from defender Weligton.

Malaga started the game well, pushing up on Barça's defenders and we struggled to get any passing movement going. In the 8th minute Malaga had the first chance when Obinna got goal side of...

As on Saturday against Atletico Madrid, Barça won this game thanks to a fantastic first half display. Three goals in the space of seven minutes from Ibrahimovic, Messi and Piqué put the result beyond doubt before the clock had reached the half hour. Messi added his second of the game in the second half but with the points in the bag the intensity dropped and Racing pulled one back through a terrific strike from Oscar Serrano. 

Pep Guardiola made only two changes to the side that beat Atletico Madrid 5-2 on Saturday with Puyol and Abidal returning in place of Chygrynskiy and Maxwell. Toure Yaya was surprisingly left on the bench again. The team are really beginning to click now...

Barça ripped Atletico Madrid apart this evening with a superb display of attacking football in the first half which brought back memories of some of the best football from last season. Leo Messi responded to signing his new contract with a fantastic display, scoring twice and setting up another for Seydou Keita. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Dani Alves added the other goals which see us retain our 100% record in La Liga this season.  

After just 54 seconds Thierry Henry, who was obviously motivated after his substitution on Wednesday, turned on the left and fired in a terrific shot from 20 yards which hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced out. The shock...

Barça begin the defence of the Champions League with a valuable goalless draw against Inter Milan in the San Siro. Neither Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Barça nor Samuel Eto'o for Inter came close to scoring against their ex-team as both defences dominated. Barça had the better of the game but only managed three attempts on target, all from Leo Messi in the first half

Barça started the better team and in the first ten minutes we had four attempts on goal. After just 70 seconds Xavi played the ball forward to Messi who ran at the defence before cutting inside two defenders and shooting low from outside the area but Julio Cesar got down easily to save. Alves and...

When Pep Guardiola announced the team for today's match I have to admit to being a bit worried. As expected there was no Leo Messi or Andres Iniesta, but there was also no place for either Thierry Henry or Dani Alves. Chygrynskiy came into defence for his first game after only two training sessions with the team which meant Puyol switched to right back, while up front we had Zlatan Ibrahimovic supported by two youngsters, Pedro and Jeffren. After surviving a first half in which Getafe twice struck the woodwork Barça came to life after the 58th minute when both Messi and Iniesta were brought on, then goals from Ibrahimovic and Messi gave us a victory that had looked unlikely until the double substition, and leaves us as...

Barça began their defence of the league title tonight with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Sporting Gijon at Camp Nou. First half goals from Bojan Krkic and Seydou Keita put Barça in the driving seat, but the biggest cheer of the night came in the 82nd minute when record signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his first goal for the club to seal the win. 

Barça started the game in typical style and the speed of passing and movement quickly had Sporting on the back foot. Ibrahimovic had the first chance in the fourth minute but he shot across goal after goodwork from Bojan. Despite Barça's dominance Sporting tried to get forward when they could and had two early half chances, one going over and one being saved by Valdés. Then in...

A late goal in extra time from substitute Pedro Rodriguez gave Barça victory tonight in the Uefa Supercup which makes it five out of five now for Barça in 2009. In my match preview I predicted a narrow victory for Barça but I never expected it to be as tight as this. Shakhtar Donetsk proved to be a very difficult opponent but Barça kept plugging away and we finally got our reward in the 115th minute when Pedro found the net after an excellent combination with Leo Messi.

Before the match that had been talk about the poor condition of the pitch at the Louis II stadium, and while it is difficult to appreciate watching on the TV the slow rhythm of the game suggested the players...

Barça won the first trophy of the season tonight with a 3-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao to complete a 5-1 aggregate win in the Spanish Supercup. Two second half goals from Leo Messi and one from substitute Bojan Krkic gave Barça a deserved win in a one-sided encounter from start to finish. Pep Guardiola had announced that nobody would be rested for this game and the only slight surprise in the starting line-up was the appearance of Maxwell in place of Eric Abidal. This is a clear sign that the left back spot this season will be hotly contested between the two players.

Barça dominated from the beginning but early on the final pass was not finding its target. Zlatan...

Manchester City won this season's Joan Gamper trophy thanks to a first half goal from Martin Petrov. Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his debut for Barça coming on for the second half but he had no luck in front of goal. Johnathan dos Santos and Leo Messi both had shots against the woodwork in the second half but the luck was not with us, despite constant pressure especially in the second half we just could not find a way through. 

Barça began the game reasonably well, dominating possession and creating early efforts from Toure, Montoya and Jeffren. However, the chances were all from distance and our forwards were guilty of too much individualism that came to very little. With Busquets covering in midfield, Toure...

Barça took a big step tonight towards winning the first trophy of the 2009/2010 season with a 1-2 victory over Athletic Bilbao at San Mames in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup. Athletic took the lead through De Marcos just before half time but second half strikes from Xavi and Pedro gave us a deserved victory and an advantage to take into next Sunday's second leg at Camp Nou. 

Barça started the game well and for the first half hour we played as we had done for most of last season. Bojan Krkic, who will be hoping to feature more in the first team this season, had two early chances, in the third minute he shot across the face of the goal and then a minute later he shot right-footed from 25...