Thierry Henry scored his first league goal at Camp Nou to put Barça on the road to a 2-0 win over Almeria. Leo Messi who was kept on the substitutes bench, came on with fifteen minutes to go and converted a controversial penalty after Giovani dos Santos went down in the penalty area.

Gianluca Zambrotta and Toure Yaya both returned to the starting line-up after recovering from injury, but Frank Rijkaard decided to leave Messi on the bench as a precaution, Giovani took his place on the right wing and was involved in both goals.

The game started slowly and there wasn't a shot until Toure tried a long shot after 12 minutes which was blocked by the defence. Ronaldinho who had a poor game tried to curl one in after 15 minutes but it was an easy save for Cobeño. Almeria then had two shots ...

A poor performance from Barça was duly punished by a far superior Villarreal at El Madrigal this evening. A goal from Cazorla after just two minutes was just the beginning of a frustrating night for Barça. The only good thing in the 90 minutes was a goal from Bojan Krkic who at 17 years and 53 days becomes the youngest player ever to score a league goal for Barça.

Barça were hit by two early goals. Cazorla's came after a neat one-two with Guille Franco, and then after 12 minutes Abidal brought down Pires in the area and Senna converted the penalty. Barça pulled a goal back after 24 minutes when a fine pass from Messi found Bojan whose shot from just inside the area went in off the post.

Villarreal restored their two-goal lead ten minutes later through another penalty. Pires dribbled past P...

Goals from Gabi Milito and Leo Messi gave Argentina a 0-2 victory over Venezuela in the Maracaibo stadium last night in the second qualifying game of the 2010 World Cup. Milito put the Albiceleste in the lead after 16 minutes when he headed home a free kick from Juan Roman Riquelme. Messi made it 0-2 just before half time with a cracking left footed shot from just outside the area. Messi also had a goal disallowed in the second half. Both Milito and Messi played the whole game with no obvious injury problems.

click here to see the goals

Goals from Carles Puyol and Leo Messi gave Barça a deserved victory over a hard working Stuttgart team who threatened to cause an upset. Barça paid a price for the victory with injuries to Rafa Marquez and Puyol which left Barça playing with Thuram and Abidal as centre backs for the last half an hour.

 Ronaldinho returned to the starting line up which meant Andres Iniesta moved back to the defensive midfield role occupied until his injury by Toure Yaya. Gabi Milito failed a fitness test so Barça began with Rafa Marquez and Thuram in the centre of the defence while Rijkaard preferred to keep Puyol on the bench. An injury to the right calf of Rafa Marquez after just six minutes gave Rijkaard no choice but to send on Puyol. Unfortunately Puyol could not complete the game as he also suffered...

A hat-trick from Thierry Henry and another goal from Leo Messi gave Barça a comfortable win against bottom of the table Levante. Henry had failed to score in the league before today from a total of 17 attempts on goal. Today he had three chances and buried them all. 

Frank Rijkaard decided to leave Carles Puyol on the bench which meant a start for Lilian Thuram alongside Milito while Oleguer Presas played at right back in place of the injured Zambrotta. The first fifteen minutes were pretty uneventful with just one chance for Milito who headed Deco's free kick well wide.

In the 16th minute Abidal slotted a pass through to Iniesta who ran into the left side of the area but his cross was diverted for a corner. From the corner Levante keeper Storari punched clear but only as far as Xavi who ...

A magnificent first half display of attacking football, led by an unstoppable Leo Messi, gave Barça their third home win in a week against Zaragoza. The game began at an electric pace with three goals and a post inside the first eleven minutes. Barça began with the same eleven that started against Sevilla, but Zaragoza unlike Sevilla did not come just to defend. After only three minutes Messi gave the first warning of what was to come, making a good run before shooting wide. Two minutes later Messi accelerated past two defenders, played a one-two with Henry, and curled a superb shot that gave Cesar in the Zaragoza goal no chance.

To their credit Zaragoza responded quickly. First Diego Milito beat the offside trap then cut inside Marquez and shot against the base of Valdés' near...

Two second half goals from an inspired Leo Messi gave Barça a deserved victory against an unambitious Sevilla. The game marked the 50th anniversary of Camp Nou and before the game there were the typical celebrations which football tends to do so badly: ex-players introduced, giant footballs floating about, an orchestra to play the Barça hymn, drummers, fireworks and a light show.

When the real action began Barça were soon on top. After just 80 seconds Messi passed to Iniesta who beat a defender, got to the by-line and crossed to Henry who tried to flick it in but a defender managed to divert the ball for a corner. After five minutes Messi shot wide after cutting in from the right, and five minutes later the Sevilla defence made a hash of a Henry cross from the left and Iniesta got in a shot that w...

The return of Leo Messi proved providential tonight for Barça who saw off a disappointing Lyon. An own goal from Clerc, one from Messi and then a  first goal from Thierry Henry in injury time gave Barça an important victory after all the criticism for the performance against Osasuna on Sunday. Barça were in control from the beginning. The first chance came after six minutes when Ronaldinho combined well with Eric Abidal down the left, Abidal put in a hard low cross and Thierry Henry was inches away from getting a touch. Shots followed from Toure, Deco and Ronaldinho without luck. In the seventeenth minute good work from Messi and Henry set up Ronaldinho with a good chance but instead of shooting Ronnie tried to run into the area only to be tackled as he was about to shoo...

Thanks to Nick Lloyd for bringing my attention to this. Rivaldo's hat trick against Valencia in 2001 has been named one of the best six hat tricks of all time on the Guardian blog - http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/09/11/the_joy_of_six_great_hattricks.html

Rivaldo came in for a lot of criticism but at times he was outstanding. This was one such day. It was the last game of the season and Barça needed to beat Valencia to get into the following season's Champions League. I remember the third goal but not the other two so I looked for it on youtube, here it is for you all to enjoy.

 http://www.youtube.com/wat...

Barça chalked up their first league win of the season with a fairly comfortable 3-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao. Two first half goals from Ronaldinho and a hotly disputed second half strike from Touré Yaya were enough to earn Barça the three points.

 There were three changes from last week's team against Racing. Deco, Henry and Marquez came into the team in place of Iniesta, Eto'o and Thuram, but there was no place for Gabi Milito who sat on the bench alongside the likes of Iniesta and Giovani dos Santos.

Barça got off to a great start and were 1-0 up after seven minutes. Ronaldinho ran at the defence through the inside left position and was fouled 25 yards out. Ronnie took the free kick himself smashing a tremendous shot into the far top corner of the goal.

Barça played some good football ...