Football Club Barcelona all but booked their place in the last eight of the Champions League with a 2-3 win over Celtic. Very rarely will Celtic Park have witnessed such a superb display of football as that offered by Barça tonight. Two goals from Leo Messi and a Thierry Henry special gave Barça the victory which looked in doubt as Celtic took a 2-1 lead in at half time.

Frank Rijkaard surprised everyone by putting Ronaldinho back in the starting lineup for the first time in 2008, but the Brazilian responded with his best game for a long time. Samuel Eto'o was not considered ready to start the game and Xavi was also left on the bench.

Barça started well  and after 12 minutes Henry intercepted a poor defensive pass before pulling the ball back to Iniesta who forced the first save o...

A nail-biting 1-2 victory for Barça in La Romareda has reduced the gap with Real Madrid to only five points, after Madrid lost earlier to Betis. A late penalty from Ronaldinho gave Barça an undeserved but vital victory in a game dominated by the referee's controversial decisions. Thierry Henry's opening goal looked to be after the Frenchman had used his arm to control the ball. Zaragoza were awarded a doubtful penalty that Diego Milito missed, and then Barça's penalty near the end was also very questionable.  

Frank Rijkaard once again decided to rest players in the league with an eye on Wednesday's Champions league game with Celtic. There was no place for Andres Iniesta or Toure Yaya, and Giovani dos Santos was preferred to both Bojan and Ronaldinho in the starting lineup....

A goal from Xavi Hernandez fifteen minutes from time earned a weakened Barça side a point at Sevilla, but it will go down as two points lost, as Madrid tomorrow can go eight points clear at the top if they beat Valladolid. Barça managed to scrape a point out of a game which looked lost, and in the last 15 minutes after the sending off of Sevilla's Keita, they really should have won it.

With so many players out Barça could have done with having Ronaldinho at 100%, but despite him playing two games as substitute la...

A goal from substitute Xavi three minutes from the end gave Barça three vital points which kept their title chances alive. After Madrid lost yesterday it was imperative that Barça beat Osasuna today, but their lack of ideas in front of goal threatened to end the weekend with disappointment until Xavi made the most of a rebound to beat Ricardo from 20 yards.

Frank Rijkaard played the same eleven that started the second half against Villarreal with Thuram once more filling in for the injured Puyol and Marquez continuing in the defensive midfield role. On a wet pitch after the rain in Barcelona today, Barça started the game well. In the seventh minute Messi touched the ball into Henry who backheeled it into the path of Messi, but the Argentinian's left foot shot went over. A minute later Osasu...

Once again a single goal from Thierry Henry was enough to get Barça through a round of the Copa del Rey. Having scored Barça's only goal in two games against Sevilla in the last 16, Henry's header before half time gave Barça a 1-0 aggregate win over Villarreal to secure a place in tomorrow's semi-final draw.

Henry got the goal, and Ronaldinho made his long awaited return when he came on for the last 15 minutes, but the star of the night was Leo Messi who caused the Villarreal headaches all night with his dribbling skills and provoked the sending-off of Pascal Cygan. Frank Rijkaard selected his strongest team with Milito and Abidal returning to the defence which was solid all night, giving Victor Valdés one of his easier nights in goal.

The first half was quite cagey with Villarreal a...

Barça lost two vital points in their visit to San Mames thanks to their failure to score a second goal. Bojan Krkic put Barça ahead in the 35th minute but an own goal from Lilian Thuram in the 79th minute left Barça regretting their lack of fire power. Frank Rijkaard will no doubt be questioned for leaving out Abidal and Milito especially as Athletic's goal came down the left-hand side.

Rijkaard also decided to play the three pequeños in midfield and after just two minutes the lack of a strong defensive midfielder was evident when Orbaiz was allowed to shoot unchallenged from 25 yards forcing Valdés into a diving save. Barça were imprecise in the early minutes and didn't come close to Athletic's goal until the 17th minute when Messi received a throw-in and turned inside befor...

Barça gave a vastly improved performance from the last time they visited El Madrigal and were perhaps unlucky not to achieve more than a 0-0 draw to take into next Thursday's second leg at Camp Nou. Carles Puyol had to pull out hours before kick off due to a heavy cold which meant a game for Lilian Thuram in defence, and Frank Rijkaard preferred to reserve Leo Messi for the second half.

Barça started the game in determined mood and showed the aggression and concentration needed against an opponent of the level of Villarreal. After just five minutes Deco crossed to Iniesta who tried to dribble through a crowd of defenders and the ball broke back to Thierry Henry but his side-footed shot went just wide. Villarreal had their first shot in the 12th minute but Valdés saved easily from Nihat's ...

A goal after half an hour from Thierry Henry was enough to see off an organized but unambitious Racing Santander. Leo Messi returned after five weeks out injured to play the last twenty-five minutes and lift a pretty ordinary performance from Barça. After Real Madrid's win in their game against Atletico this was a vital win for Barça to stay in contention for this season's league championship.

Frank Rijkaard once again chose to rest some key players with an eye on next week's Cup game at Villarreal. Xavi, Marquez and Abidal all started on the bench along with Messi and new goalie Pinto. For the first time both teenage strikers Bojan and Giovani started a game together alongside Henry in attack.

However, Barça started slowly and Racing created the first attacks of the game with Oriol h...

Barça are through to the last eight of this season's Copa Del Rey on the away goals rule after an intense 0-0 draw at Camp Nou with Sevilla. Thierry Henry's goal in the 1-1 draw last Wednesday in the Sanchez Pizjuan now counts double and means the end of Sevilla's fantastic run in cup competitions. This is the first cup tie they have lost in two years having won last season's Spanish Cup and the Uefa Cup for the last two seasons.

In a frenetic game of few chances there was very little to divide the sides. After just 18 seconds Sevilla created their first chance but Chevanton could not make full contact with Alves's cross from the right. In the fourth minute a good first time pass from Gudjohnsen sent Iniesta scurrying towards goal but his shot didn't curl enough and went past ...

Samuel Eto'o leaves tomorrow to join up with the Cameroon national team for the African Cup of Nations, but he left us with two goals to let us remember what we will be missing. Thierry Henry had probably his best game at Camp Nou setting up two of the second half goals.

Frank Rijkaard gave a rest to Abidal, Milito and Iniesta which meant a start for Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram in defence. Rafa Marquez was given the defensive midfield role, and Bojan Krkic started on the right side of the attack. Eto'o and Henry changed positions to great effect throughout the match

The game started evenly with both sides creating chances in the first ten minutes. Samuel Eto'o had two early attempts on goal, first with a speculative shot on five minutes and then two minutes later he forced Murc...