The team responded to the criticism by turning in a fine display to beat a lucklustre Inter Milan 5-0 in tonight's Joan Gamper. Before the game the club remembered Antonio Puerta by having the team run out all wearing the number 16 Sevilla shirt that he wore. There was also a remembrance for Nicolau Casaus who died earlier this month.

Barça started well with two goals in the first twelve minutes. For the first Xavi robbed the ball in the Inter half and slid a pass to Giovani dos Santos who was playing his first game at Camp Nou, Giovani surged into the penalty area and was brought down. Ronaldinho scored from the resulting penalty high to Toldo's left.

Then it was Touré's turn to win the ball and feed Giovani. This time the young Mexican cut in from the right side of the area to lash a fierce left fo...

Yet another goal from youngster Giovani dos Santos gave Barça a well-deserved victory over Yokohama Marinos in front of 56,000 fans at the Nissan stadium in Yokohama. Barça began the game with Henry on the right side of the attack, Eto'o on the left and Ronaldinho playing through the middle. Eto'o and Henry soon switched wings but for the first twenty minutes Barça created nothing. The first chance of the game went to Marinos in the 19th minute, a twenty yard shot was well saved by Valdés.

Barça's first chance came a minute later when Eto'o played a one-two with Ronaldinho but was foiled by the keeper coming out quickly. Then after half an hour Ronaldinho put Eto'o through twice within a minute, the first time a defender managed to get across and block Eto'o's effort, the second pass was taken well by Eto'...

Goals from Giovani dos Santos, Iniesta and Ronaldinho gave Barça an easy win in the first game of their Asian tour. After just nine minutes Eto'o found Xavi in space and his pass was finished well by Giovani who curled a left foot shot past the keeper. The rest of the first half was a pretty dull. Thierry Henry was a bit disappointing, playing on the left wing he showed signs of his undoubted class but nothing really came off. He had two chances to score at the end of the first half; first a great pass from Xavi put him clean through, but his left footed drive was well saved by the keeper. Then he volleyed wide with his right foot after Eto'o had surged into the area.

Things livened up a bit in the second half, mainly through the excellent contribution from Ronaldinho who played through the middle with Eto'...

Ronald Koeman will always be remembered for scoring the winning goal in the 1992 European Cup Final at Wembley. For those lucky enough to see him play regularly in his six seasons at Camp Nou, there are many other great memories. Koeman was a great leader who led Barça from the back. Playing in the middle of a three-man defence was never going to be easy for a player who was not so fast, but Koeman made up for it with good positioning and a quick mind.

He moved to Barça from PSV Eindhoven for a fee of approximately 1,000 million pesetas (€6million) in the summer of 1989. He had already won the European Cup with PSV in 1988. Johan Cruyff originally wanted him to play just in front of the defence, but the rise of a youngster called Josep Guardiola made Cruyff put Koeman in defence.

Koeman was strong in t...

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...

Hristo Stoichkov moved from CSKA Sofia to sign for Barça for 4oo million pesetas (2.4 million euros) in July 1990. He went on to become arguably the most important player in Johan Cruyff's Dream Team of the early 1990s. Cruyff signed Stoichkov because he wanted a player with speed, finishing and attitude. He certainly got what he paid for.

Stoichkov's attitude was to get him into all sorts of problems with referees, in a Supercup game against Real Madrid in his first season at Barça he earned himself an 8-match ban for treading on referee Urizar Azpizarte's foot and pushing him in response to the ref sending Cruyff off. This just made the fans love him even more.

Hristo wasn't only controversial on the pitch, he didn't mind criticizing his own directors, arguing with his team mates, he even...

Twenty years ago today Lionel Andrés Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina. Few players arrive so far in such a short period of time. Even after suffering important injuries in the last two seasons Messi has become a first team regular for both Barça and Argentina, and a big favourite with fans around the world. Many people have compared him to Maradona, if you don't know why have another look at this:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rElfMwe0Evo

Leo Messi continues to emulate the great Diego Maradona. However, unlike his wondergoal in the cup against Getafe, Messi’s effort in scoring his first goal against Espanyol was not so praiseworthy. Messi clearly handled the ball into the net just as Maradona did against England in that memorable World Cup Quarter-Final in Mexico.

No doubt many will now label him a cheat, but in today’s money-spinning world of football t...