A little late perhaps, but I've finally decided on my player of the season. Some will say his stats are not great, but even so Leo Messi has to win the award because he is quite simply head and shoulders above the rest. Only three other players can really take much credit from a generally disappointing season. Andres Iniesta is second because of his remarkable consistency and because he continues to improve, only a niggling knee injury towards the end of the season saw his level drop a bit, let's hope he gets over the problem. Third place goes to Toure Yaya whose performances in midfield had a lot to do with the improved defence in the first half of the season. His back injury had a lot to do with Barça's defensive frailty as the season wore on though he deserves tremendous credit for bravely playing on. Next i...

Gabi Milito's knee injury was worse than initially thought and he could be out for as much as nine months. In today's operation surgeons needed to extract part of a tendon from his left leg and insert it into his right. This is terrible new for the player as injuries of this length can be career threatening. Right now I just hope he can make a full recovery. There was better news for Toure Yaya whose back operation was a complete success, doctors say he shouild be back to full fitness in six to eight weeks.

Gabi Milito and Toure Yaya both go under the knife tomorrow (Tuesday) for operations on their injuries. Milito will have his cruciate ligament in his right knee seen to by Dr. Ramon Cugat at 2pm at the Clínica Quirón. While at 3.30pm Toure will have the operation on his slipped disk that he has bravely put off since March. Dr Enric Caceres will do Toure's operation at the Instituto Dexeus. Club doctor Ricard Pruna will give a press conference tomorrow afternoon to report on how the operations have gone. If all goes well Toure should be fit and well for the start of the preseason, but Milito is not expected to return until November. It's a shame the season has ended like this for the players who turned out to be Barça's best two signings of last summer. 

Dreadful news for Gabi Milito and Barça as doctors today confirmed he will need an operation on the cruciate ligaments in his right knee. Milito noticed discomfort after the Champions League game at Old Trafford and tests have now shown the extent of the damage. The recovery time is expected to be six months.

Gabi Milito and Andres Iniesta have both been ruled out of Barça's next two games, at home to Valencia on Sunday and Wednesday's Clasico against Real Madrid. Milito is suffering from a cartilage problem while Iniesta has had a recurrence of his meniscus problems which forced him to miss the game at Recreativo. Iniesta is also doubtful for next weekend's game at home to Mallorca.

Another month where it seems there is little to smile about. However, as usual when the chips are down our very own Captain Marvel, Carles Puyol, raises his game, and he thoroughly deserves to be named April Player of the Month. He was excellent in the quarter final games with Schalke, and stayed at a decent level throughout the month despite all the team problems. The top five for April is as follows:

1. 
   
   
2. Carles Puyol
   
3. Leo Messi
   
4. Toure Yaya
   
5. Andres Iniesta
   
6. Gabi Milito

Ronaldinho did not train today due to him feeling more discomfort in his adductor muscle. The chances of him playing on Sunday are now very slim. Deco who limped out of yesterday's session, today followed a specific recovery plan but is also doubtful. Gabi Milito also trained apart from his team mates due to a minor injury problem.

Carles Puyol had to come off after 15 minutes with an ankle injury in Spain’s 1-0 win over Italy. The extent of the injury is not clear yet though it is not thought to be serious and he may be ok to play against Betis on Saturday. Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez both completed the 90 minutes while Gianluca Zambrotta came on as a substitute for Italy in the 68th minute.

In tonight's other friendly internationals, Lilian Thuram and Eric Abidal both played 90 minutes in France’s 1-0 win over England in Paris. Thierry Henry missed the game due to more back problems but he has not been ruled out of Barça’s game at Betis. Eidur Gudjohnsen scored Iceland’s winner in the 82nd minute of a 1-2 win in Slovakia. Gabi Milito missed Argentina’s 0-2 win over Egypt in El Cairo ...

Andres Iniesta has had his last yellow card rescinded by the Appeal Committee and will now be available for Sunday's game against Valladolid. Barça appealed against Iniesta's card in the game against Almeria as well as Gabi Milito's first yellow card. The appeal for Milito, however, was unsuccessful and he will miss Sunday's game. The down side of the Iniesta decision is that we could now lose him for a more difficult match. I have to wonder about the wisdom of appealing in the first place.

Gabi Milito has had to make a late withdrawal from the Barça squad for tonight's Champions League match with Celtic due to suffering a fever. Edmilson has been brought into the squad as a replacement. Milito was expected to partner Carles Puyol in central defence but that role will now most likely go to Lilian Thuram.