As is so often the case we get a player back injured after an international break. This time it is Eidur Gudjohnsen who will miss the games with Athletic Bilbao and Basel due to a muscle injury in his left leg. On the positive side Alexandr Hleb is fit to return to action after being out injured since September 13.

I take pride in trying to bring you a decent blog here so it is with great embarrassment that I have to admit I made a cock-up of the May player of the month award (see previous post). Regular readers will remember I couldn't see the Barça-Valencia game and therefore there is no corresponding match report. In my haste to prepare the post I clicked on match reports and therefore only came to three games (Madrid, Mallorca and Murcia) when the Valencia game was also played in May. Sincere apologies to everyone as now Giovani dos Santos has been relegated to fourth position. Thanks to Titi 186 for reminding me of the Valencia game though he won't be happy cos Henry still didn't win. The revised top 5 for May is as follows:

1. 
   
   
2. Leo Messi
   
3. Thierry Henry
4. Carles Puy...

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 ...

With the apocalyptic feel surrounding Barça this week it is easy to forget that aside from the not-so-classic Clasico Barça played some good football in December. There were valuable victories over Deportivo, Stuttgart and Valencia, and a half-decent draw with Espanyol, which had given Barça fans some cause for optimism before Madrid came along to spoil it all. Shining through has been Andres Iniesta who was Barça's best player against Espanyol, Depor and Madrid, making this month's winner a formality. December's top five is as follows:

1. 
   
   
2. Andres Iniesta
   
3. Xavi Hernandez
   
4. Samuel Eto'o
   
5. Eidur Gudjohnsen
   
6. Rafa Marquez

Having rushed my report I need to share a few more thoughts on yesterday's victory. Firstly, Messi's injury has been confirmed and he looks like being out for five weeks. This means that as well as the Madrid match he will probably miss three more league games: the visit to Mallorca and the home games with Murcia and Racing. Although he is obviously a big loss, I see no reason why Barça can't win all these games.

Barça's problems this season have all been away from home, the return of Samuel Eto'o is a great bonus in this respect. I've already written about the importance of Eto'o in putting the opposition defence under pressure /blogs/FCBnews/posts/why-barca-suffer-away-from-home/ and yesterday demonstrasted this perfectly i...

There were mixed fortunes for Barça players in the latest international matches. Ronaldinho came out better than Rafa Marquez as Brazil beat Mexico 3-1 in Boston, Giovani dos Santos came on as sub for the last 16 minutes.

Xavi scored Spain's opening goal in their 2-0 win over Latvia, Andres Iniesta played most of the second half after coming on as sub for David Villa. There was also a successful night for Zambrotta who played all 90 minutes of Italy's 1-2 win in the Ukraine. 

Leo Messi had a good game, hitting the post and setting up Argentina's goal, scored by Demichelis, in the 1-0 win over Australia in Melbourne. And Eidur Gudjohnsen played his first match since his injury, coming on in the 53rd minute of Iceland's 2-1 win over Northern Ireland.

There was a poor night, however, for Thuram ...

Ronaldinho Gaucho capped a fine performance with a goal in Brazil's 4-2 win over USA in yesterday's friendly match. Ronnie also played a part in Brazil's first two goals. First he set up Kaka to shoot and the goalkeeper's save rebounded off a defender for an own goal. Lucio then headed home a Ronaldinho corner to put Brazil 2-1 up early in the second half. Ronnie's goal came in the 75th minute when he converted a free kick.

In the weekend's other international games, Iniesta came on as sub to save a point for Spain with a late goal in the 1-1 draw in Iceland, Xavi and Gudjohnsen played the 90 minutes.

Zambrotta, Abidal, Thuram and Thierry Henry all played in the 0-0 draw between Italy and France. Henry picked up a booking and will now miss France's game against Scotland through suspension. Deco played 90 mi...

Barça fly out tomorrow to Scotland where they will play their first two games of their pre-season friendlies. Eidur Gudjohnsen is not expected to travel after suffering a recurrence to the knee injury that saw him miss the last league game of last season. Barça will play Dundee United at Tannadice Park on Thursday 26 July, kick off is 9pm Spanish time, and on Saturday they take on Hearts at Murrayfield, kick off 5pm. The following players are making the trip: Oleguer, Abidal, Henry, Eto’o, Maxi Lopez, Marc Valiente, Jorquera, Sylvinho, Touré, Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Valdés, Belletti, Deco, Ezquerrro, Olmo, Giovani, Zambrotta, Thuram, Xavi, Motta, Bojan, Oier Olazábal,  Marc Crosas and Dimas.