Preview: Barça - Valladolid

Saturday, 15 May 10, 09:25 AM

Could Zlatan score the goal that wins us the title?

This is it. No room for mistakes tomorrow. A win at home to Valladolid will earn us our 20th La Liga title with a historic 99 points and leave Real Madrid, who spent a ridiculous amount of money last summer, with nothing. Of course we are clear favourites to win the game and I'm extremely confident we will do the job, but watching today's FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Portsmouth reminded me of the amazing things that can happen in a football match, Chelsea could have lost after hitting the woodwork five times if Portsmouth had scored their penalty.

Barça will be without Xavi and Maxwell, but Keita seems to be over his injury and Andres Iniesta could well play a part in the game after a month on the sidelines....

Read Post »
Like this blog? Help spread the word: Facebook Diggicon Reddit Delicious
Posted by fcbnews_nic | Comments (15)

Preview: Sevilla - Barça

Friday, 07 May 10, 09:41 AM

Leo Messi scores one of his two goals in last season's 0-3 win at Sevilla

The most incredible battle for the Spanish league title is reaching its climax. Tomorrow night in the penultimate game of the season against Sevilla in the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium we will attempt to defend our one point advantage over Real Madrid. If we win in Seville, La Liga will almost certainly be ours as we will only have the relatively easy task of beating Valladolid at Camp Nou in the final game to clinch the title. Tomorrow is make or break time and Pep Guardiola has taken the entire first team squad, including the injured Andres Iniesta, to Seville for the game. Gerard Pique and Eric Abidal will face late fitness tests, and while Abidal's participation is quite doubtful I feel sure that Piqué will play whatever the state...

Read Post »
Like this blog? Help spread the word: Facebook Diggicon Reddit Delicious
Posted by fcbnews_nic | Comments (12)

Preview: Barça - Tenerife

Monday, 03 May 10, 06:45 AM

leo Messi celebrates one of his three goals in the 0-5 win at Tenerife in January.

Tenerife will always have a place in the hearts of Barcelona fans after their victories over Real Madrid on the last day of both the 1991/92 and 1992/93 seasons helped us to clinch the league title. However, tomorrow night there will be no favours as the three points are vital to us. Real Madrid, somehow or other, continue to win every week which means there can be no letting up. We may all feel that the big game is at Sevilla on Saturday but both our remaing home games are against relegation threatened teams who are fighting for their lives.

Tenerife have looked like clear relegation favourites all season but a recent run of nine points in their last four games have given then a lifeline and they will be desperate to take...

Read Post »
Like this blog? Help spread the word: Facebook Diggicon Reddit Delicious
Posted by fcbnews_nic | Comments (20)

Preview: Villarreal - Barça

Friday, 30 April 10, 10:46 AM

Action from last season's 1-2 win at Villarreal.

With just four games to go our one-point lead over Real Madrid is looking pretty fragile. Tomorrow night we need to pick ourselves up after the disappointment of being knocked out of the Champions League and take on an extremely difficult game at Villarreal. It is our second do-or-die game in three days and we really do have to win it or we will be left relying on Real Madrid's opponents to stay in the race. Eric Abidal is still not fit to play while Xavi Hernandez and Sergio Busquets have both travelled for the game despite carrying knocks, the latest reports suggest that Busquets has  a better chance than Xavi of being declared fit for the game.

On January 31 Villarreal were 10th in the table after losing 0-2 at home to...

Read Post »
Like this blog? Help spread the word: Facebook Diggicon Reddit Delicious
Posted by fcbnews_nic | Comments (9)

Champions League Semi Final Second Leg Preview: Barça - Inter Milan

Tuesday, 27 April 10, 08:39 AM

Dani Alves battles with Samuel Eto'o during Barça's 2-0 win over Inter in November.

Tomorrow night we play one of our biggest ever games at Camp Nou as we attempt to overturn the 3-1 defeat last week to Inter Milan with the aim of reaching this season's Champions League Final at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on May 22. It may seem like a massive task, but a repeat of our 2-0 win over Inter in the group stage back in November would see us go through, while we can also look back on the last two occasions where we lost 3-1 in the first leg of a Champions League tie: in 2000 we needed extra time before finally beating Chelsea 5-1, and in 1993 we beat Dynamo Kiev 4-1 in a match that many remember as the best performance of Johan Cruyff's dream team.

However, Inter, with José Mourinho at the...

Read Post »
Like this blog? Help spread the word: Facebook Diggicon Reddit Delicious
Posted by fcbnews_nic | Comments (43)

Preview: Barça - Xerez

Friday, 23 April 10, 09:52 AM

Action from the 0-2 win at Xerez in December.

There is no doubt that it will be impossible not to be thinking about Inter Milan when we receive Xerez for their first ever game at Camp Nou tomorrow. Xerez are bottom of the table and we are top and so a victory seems certain while are chances against Inter are much more limited. However, we cannot afford to slip up in tomorrow's game, and if we fail to win La Liga this season I would much rather it was through dropping points at Villarreal or Sevilla than at home against the bottom club. Quite frankly it would be very difficult to live with the idea that we lost the league because we couldn't beat Xerez.

And despite Xerez's lowly position we could be in for a horrible surprise if we don't give them the respect they deserve. It is their first ever season...

Read Post »
Like this blog? Help spread the word: Facebook Diggicon Reddit Delicious
Posted by fcbnews_nic | Comments (25)

Champions League Semi Final Preview: Inter Milan - Barça

Monday, 19 April 10, 07:46 AM

Thiaggo Motta and Xavi Hernandez during the 0-0 draw in September.

There's no time to relax as our hectic season continues tomorrow with the Champions League Semi-Final with Inter Milan at San Siro (kick off 8.45pm). Due to a volcano blowing its top in Iceland - which was probably instigated by the Spanish Football Federation who will stop at nothing to mess up our season - the team travelled the 985km to Milan by coach, leaving yesterday at 1.45pm the team spent the night in Cannes before continuing the journing and arriving in Milan at 2.30pm today. The journey will obviously not have helped our chances but it is no time for excuses if we want to reach our goal of the final in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on May 22. The 5000 Barça fans who have tickets for the game are also suffering the problem of...

Read Post »
Like this blog? Help spread the word: Facebook Diggicon Reddit Delicious
Posted by fcbnews_nic | Comments (32)

Preview: Espanyol - Barça

Friday, 16 April 10, 10:00 AM

Carles Puyol

With just six league games remaining a win tomorrow in the local derby at Espanyol (kick off 8pm) will be a big step towards regaining the title. We may be without Andres Iniesta but Eric Abidal and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are both fit again and will probably feature at some point as it is important for both players to get some minutes before the Champions League semi-final at Inter Milan on Tuesday. There has been a controversial decision today as the Comite de Competición have lifted the red card given to Espanyol's goalkeeper Carlos Kameni in the 3-1 defeat at Racing Santander, and he will therefore be eligible to play tomorrow. I have to say it seems incredible that this decision can be made as Kameni gave away a clear penalty on Munitis and prevented a good chance of a goal....

Read Post »
Like this blog? Help spread the word: Facebook Diggicon Reddit Delicious
Posted by fcbnews_nic | Comments (17)

Preview: Real Madrid - Barça

Friday, 09 April 10, 11:10 AM

Will we put Casillas on his arse again?

From one massive game against Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday we move to another tomorrow night in La Liga against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium (kick off 10pm). We have been neck-and-neck with Madrid for some weeks now and the winner tomorrow will take a giant step towards winning the title this season. Barça are without Eric Abidal and Zlatan Ibrahimovic but the good news is Gerard Piqué is fit again and will probably start in defence tomorrow.

Since losing 1-0 to Athletic Bilbao back in January, Madrid have won their last twelve league games, scoring an impressive 41 goals in the process. They also have a 100% record in the league from 15 games at the Bernabeu where they have scored 50 goals and only conceded 13. They are...

Read Post »
Like this blog? Help spread the word: Facebook Diggicon Reddit Delicious
Posted by fcbnews_nic | Comments (21)

Champions League Preview: Barça - Arsenal

Monday, 05 April 10, 09:39 AM

Leo Messi goes for goal during the 2-2 in last week's first leg with Arsenal.

A massive week for Barça begins tomorrow night with the visit of Arsenal to Camp Nou. After last week's thrilling 2-2 draw in London we are in a good position to reach our third Champions League semi final in the last three seasons. Of course, we could easily be in a much better position if we hadn't thrown away a 0-2 lead in the first leg and we will have to be aware of Arsenal's fantastic fighting spirit if we do not want to see an upset tomorrow. We will have to make do without the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Andres Iniesta and the suspended Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué, while of course Dmytro Chygrynskiy is not eligible to play having appeared for Shakhtar Donetsk earlier in the competition.

If...

Read Post »
Like this blog? Help spread the word: Facebook Diggicon Reddit Delicious
Posted by fcbnews_nic | Comments (31)