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Dec 31, 2014

The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow. H.G.Wells

The Year 2014 ended in a sober note with Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissing FC Barcelona's appeal against a two window transfer ban imposed by FIFA. For many who followed the entire chronicles of event this come has no surprise. Only the extremely optimistic believed that the transfer ban will be revoked or at least reduced. Now with the transfer ban in place Barca cannot sign any players in January 2015 (which we hardly do!) and summer of 2015. The summer transfer ban would be the one which will hurt us a bit. As I wrote earlier, this ban could force the management, who notoriously have a habit of not trusting La Masia, to trust our kids again. If there any other team who could overcome such a transfer ban, then it has to be FC Barcelona. And that's all down to the strength of our recruits at La Masia.

Dec 20, 2014

Lionel Messi's brilliant finish scoring the second goal and Barca's fifth against Cordoba.

Dec 17, 2014

FC Barcelona qualified for the next round of Copa del Rey with a 12-1 aggregate victory over Huesca. The tie was more or less sealed in the first leg when we won 5-0 away from home. But that didn't stop the young turks of Barca from going for the kill.

Dec 15, 2014

Barcelona Futbol Club has been paired once again with Manchester City at this season's UEFA Champions League Round of 16 knock-out stage. It's a repeat of last season's face-off, in which a Messi inspired Barca energed comfortable winners. Manchester City struggled through the Group stage but that should not be taken on face value, as on their day they could be quite devastating. Many Cules are actually angry at the constant tough luck being presented on Barca. Once again we got the toughest draw whereas the two Spanish teams from Capita got relatively easier opponents, incidently both German. Schalke vs Real Madrid will be once again a repeat of last season's knowck out stage, and barring any miracle Schalke could get murdered again. Meanwhile Atletico got the other German team, Bayern Leverkusen - a macth they should win without much sweat.

Nov 26, 2014

Just days after becoming the Leading scorer in La Liga history, Lionel Messi did the same in UEFA Champions League - becoming the leading scorer in the Competitions History. Prior to the match he was tied with Raul for the top spot.

Nov 24, 2014

A GIF animation of Lionel Messi's Record Breaking goal becoming the all time leading goal scorer in La Liga.

Nov 23, 2014

How better can one equalize a Record that was held for so long?

Highlights from FC Barcelona's 5-1 victory over Sevilla at the Camp Nou. Messi created history scoring a hat-trick becoming the all time leading goal scorer in La Liga.

Nov 12, 2014

A video compilation of Barca wonder kid Seung Woo Lee. His transfer along with other nine earned Barca the two window transfer ban.

Nov 8, 2014

Luis Saurez was the hero of the night when he created two goals which helped Barca to overcome a 1-0 deficit. We were in course for a third consecutive defeat until Saurez turned the creator in chief. The beneficiary of his creativity was Neymar who scored the equaliser and Alba who put Barca in the lead. As expected Neymar and Saurez started from bench against Almeria. In their absence Munir, Pedro partnered Messi up front. Rafinha, Rakitic and Busquets formed the midfield trio. Adriano, Mascherano, Bartra and Alba formed the defense with Bravo taking his usual spot under goal.

Nov 4, 2014

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit. Napoleon Hill

All the Euphoria about Barca's excellent start to the season has suddenly fizzled out. The unbeaten start, the Goal Keeper who doesn't concede all those stories which regularly found themselves in the front pages have been replaced by a mid-season crisis story. And to an extent we are in a bit of a crisis. That crisis is not a result crisis but more or less an identity crisis. I can't remember when was the last time we found ourselves fourth in the La Liga table. I do remember instances of losing matches twice in a row but failure to score at home also is an event which is so far in memory. Doubts are suddenly creeping into our game, players and more importantly the fan. Everyone fear that this could all end up with that familiar feeling. With Quarter of the season done we suddenly are looking at a repeat of last season's issues. The only positive side from all this is that this is happening pretty early which should give Luis Enrique enough time to rectify, if he chooses to.

Oct 19, 2014

Brilliant Lionel Messi goal against Eibar. With this goal Messi have gone to 251 La Liga goals, just one short of all time record.

Highlights from FC Barcelona's victory against a hard working Eibar side. Xavi opened the scoring followed by Neymar and Messi. Messi with yet another assist and goal continued his great start.

Barcelona continued their great run in to the season with a hard won 3-0 victory against the newly promoted Eibar. The match remained goal less for almost an hour, thanks to Eibar's dodgy defense but Barca courtesy of Messi, Xavi and Neymar secured a vital three points going into Clasico. Ahead of the Clasico last next week, Real Madrid threw up a challenge with their 5-0 victory earlier on the night. So everyone was waiting to see how Barca would react? Going in to the Clasico Enrique should be pretty confident because of Neymar's and Messi's form and also most importantly due to the fact that Bravo is yet to concede a goal this season. Luis Enrique gave Mashcerano a rare start in midfield along with Xavi and Sergi Roberto. The defense had Alves, Pique, Mathieu and Alba. Pedro surprisingly despite a string of poor results started along with Messi and Neymar. Iniesta started on the bench while Busquets and Rakitic were rested.

Oct 4, 2014

FC Barcelona vs Rayo Vallecano Match Pictures.

Claudio Bravo extended his clean sheet record by another match with Barca wining 2-0 away against Rayo Vallecano. After the defeat to PSG in mid-week Barca needed to get to winning way quickly but Rayo presented a huge challenge. In the end Barca's exceptional quality secured three precious points. With Valencia climbing to the top of the league with a surprising 3-1 victory over defending Champion Atletico Madrid, there was no lack of motivation for Barca. Xavi's position in starting eleven has been a subject of great discussion especially after the defeat in Paris. So it wasn't a huge surprise to see him returning to the starting eleven and the tried and trusted trio of Barca midfield was back with Iniesta, Busquets and Xavi forming the midfield. Pique returned to the defense and partnered Bartra in the center with Alves and Matthieu as full backs. It was pretty nice to see Matthie playing left back which simply added enough height to our defense like we had when Abidal was the Left back. The front trio remained unchanged with Neymar, Messi and Munir.

Sep 28, 2014

Ivan Rakitic continued his goal scoring streak with a brilliant headed goal against Granada. Ivan Rakitic is fast proving to be one of the best signing in recent times.

FC Barcelona vs Granada all Goals video. Barca thrashed Granada 6 - 0 courtesy of a hat-trick by Neymar, a brace from Lionel Messi and one brilliant header from Ivan Rakitic. Enjoy the goals...

Pictures from FC Barcelona's 6-0 thrashing against Granada. This was a match of all of us to savour.

Sep 27, 2014

Barcelona Football Club got back to winning ways and back to the top of league with a brilliant 6-0 victory against Granada. After a series of away games, Barca players really cherished the chance of playing at home. There was no let off from them and it was really hard on a brave Granada side who actually did quite well. The scoreline did justice to the intensity shown by the Barca side, which was a far cry from the boring performance against Malaga. Once again Lionel Messi was pivotal in Barca victory - scoring twice and almost playing a hand in almost all other goals. The biggest beneficiary of his creativity was Neymar, who scored his first hat-trick for the season. Luis Enrique did some shuffling to his starting eleven from their last start against Malaga. The biggest change was the introduction of Xavi Hernandez in place of Iniesta. In defense there was a complete change with Matthieu, Alves, Mascherano and Adriano replacing Pique, Doughlas, Alba and Bartra. Once agains Bravo kept his starting place and one was left to wonder when Ter Stegan will make his debut. THe midfield had Xavi, Busquets and Ivan Rakitic. Munir, Neymar and Messi formed the front trio.

Sep 26, 2014

Malaga put an end to Barca's Winning streak but still they couldn't stop the Catalans from keeping the clean sheet. Here are some of the best pictures from the encounter.

Sep 25, 2014

FC Barcelona's perfect start to the season ended yesternight against Malaga when they were held onto a goalless draw at the Estadio La Rosaleda. In a match where chances were at a premium, Barca struggled to make anything out of their possessional advantage. They have yet to concede a goal this season but is currently tied at the top with Sevilla. Sevilla moved to second place with a win against Real Sociedad courtesy of a goal from Barca loanee Deulofeu.

Sep 22, 2014

Pictures from Barca’s 5-0 thrashing of Levante away from home.

Two of the most brilliant moments from Ivan Rakitic in yesternight's match against Levante.

FC Barcelona continued their winning start to the League with a 5-0 thrashing of Levante away from home. With the arch-rivals Real Madrid winning 8-2 against Deportivo on Saturday, it was essential for Luis Enrique's boys to sent a clear signal. And they did more than that. The team is yet to concede a goal this season and Luis Enrique would be proud of the boy's hardwork.

Sep 20, 2014

Sep 18, 2014

Pictures from Barca's 1-0 victory against APOEL from last night at the Camp Nou. Pique scored the only but decisive goal to start FC Barcelona's UEFA CHampions League 20145-15 Campaign.

Inspite of all the strike force at their disposal, Barca had to rely on their star defenders heading capability to see off Champions League minnows APOEL at the Camp Nou. Once again FC Barcelona dominated the match from the start but failed to capitalize on that. That's quite a headache for Luis Enrique as this seems to happen every game now.

Sep 14, 2014

Full highlights of FC Barcelona's 2-0 victory against Atletic Bilbao at the Camp Nou.

GIF animation of Neymar's brilliant two finishes against Atletci Bilbao. Honestly these two has been two of the simplest finishes he had in recent times. But in a match where our forward players struggled to finish off a huge number of chances these two goals were precious.

Sep 13, 2014

FC Barcelona consolidated there position on the top of the La Liga standing with a 2-0 victory against Ateltic Bilbao at the Camp Nou. Ina match Barca dominated throughout, they struggled to opened the scoring for so long. In the end it was the substitute Neymar who opened the scoring followed it up with one more to make the night comfortable in terms of scoreline. There wasn't much surprise in the line-up fielded by Luis Enrique for this important clash in La Liga. Munir was once again rewarded by a start with Messia and Pedro, thanks to all his good work so far. The midfield saw what we all expected with Busquets, Rakitic and Iniesta lining up. Once again Xavi was not given the start position. Mascherano, Mathieu, Montoya and Alba formed the defense in front of Bravo. Incidentally there were rumours that Bravo rushed back from International duty earlier than expected due to the intense competition for the position at Barca! Truth or Not it worked!

Aug 28, 2014

The draw for UEFA Champions League 2014-15 has been completed and Barca has been drawn in to Group F along with PSG, Ajax and Apoel Nikosia. Like last season we will be meeting Dutch Champions Ajax again in Group stage. Ajax may possess some trouble but may not be able to harm us. The biggest test in Group stage will come in the clash with French Champions, PSG. The winner of these clashes is expected to top the Group. Apoel would be considered a light-weight in this group but they will be competent at least at home. To be honest every Barca fans would be happy with the draw as we are drawn in to a very much manageable group. That is not the case with Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich team who have been clubbed with Manchester City, Roma and CSKA Moscow. That definitley is the "Group of Death".

Aug 25, 2014

FC Barcelona started their pursuit for La Liga Title 2014-15 with a comfortable 3-0 victory against Elche. It was business as usual for Barca where we were entertained to the normalcy of Lionel Messi scoring a brace.

Aug 7, 2014

All the actions from yesternight's friendly clash with Italian side Napoli. A horrendous mistake from Keeper Bravo conceded a late goal which saw Barca go down 1-0 against the Italian side.

Jul 23, 2014

Barcelona Football Club has announced the much awaited signing of defender Jeremy Mathieu from fellow Spanish Club, Valencia. The transfer of the French national was stuck up for sometime with dispute arising about the final fee and the way in it will be structured. But finally it looks Barca has succumbed to Valencia's demand and agreed to pay €20 Million. Jeremy Mathieu, who has been a pretty known face in La Liga was one of the best performing defender in last season. He usually plays in the left-back role, but did really well when he was shifted to the center back role last season. With this signing FC Barcelona have finally started to take steps to improve the defensive situation associated with the team. We may still need a number of signing as the sword of transfer ban is still hanging on our head.

Jul 22, 2014

FC Barcelona has announced that La Masia product Bojan Krkic will be joining English Premier League club Stoke City this coming season. Bojan Krkic is expected to sign a four year deal with the English Club. This will be the start of yet another chapter in his footballing career which has gone sideways more than going forward. After Pep guardiola deemed him surpless, he has tried his luck with Roma, Milan and Ajax. All of them failed miserably. Let's hope at Stoke he is able to get his career back on track.

Jul 17, 2014

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit. Napoleon Hill

This will be tough, even for a person like Lionel Messi - who to his credit keeps his emotions under check at most of the situation. After losing the final it was clear that he never wanted to spend anymore minute on the pitch. But he has to. He was the losing Captain! His colleagues, many who towers him in size couldn't hide their tears. Aguero, Mascherano, Garay, Demechelis all were crying like little children but not Lionel Messi. There was disappointment in the face but no tears. But one look in to those eyes told a different story. Inside we were crying, screaming, breaking down; but still presented an emotionless face. It didn't end their! He has to make that long walk up the stairs twice - first to collect the Golden Ball Award, then to the mandatory medal for the losing team. It was too cruel!

Jul 12, 2014

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adams

This has to be Lionel Messi's moment of reckoning - the chance to permanently etch his name among the pantheon of the greatest in football. Frankly he don't have to win the World Cup to be considered as one of the greatest of all time; but then some people just wouldn't shut up. So a victory tomorrow night in the final of the greatest competition in the footballing world will silence the critics forever. Or at least for sometime! You cannot judge the greatest players of teams on what they won. In that case the greatest Dutch team ever featuring Cryuff wouldn't make the list. That would be a tragedy. The bigger tragedy would be thinking the likes of Italian team of 2006 or the Brazil of 1994 making the list because they won the damn thing! The same with players. The greatest should be judged on whether they have revolutionized the game or not. In that simple criteria, Messi made the list a long time ago.

Jul 11, 2014

FC Barcelona signs Luis Saurez

FC Barcelona have announced that the club has reached an agreement with Liverpool for signing Uruguayan striker Luis Saurez. The club will be paying €88 Million for signing the controversial striker, who won't be allowed to play any kind of football till the end of October. FIFA has already rejected Luis Saurez appeal against the sanction which was for biting Italian Chiellini. Barca fans are divided about the signing of the controversial striker, but for the time being the Club has looked to other way about Saurez's controversial on-field behaviour. He will travel to Spain next week for the medical and signing a five year long deal. He will be wearing the number 9 shirt at Barca.

You all may have forgot that we had a player named "Isaac Cuenca". It's easy to forget isn't it? Especially when the player missed the majority of season through injury. Now at least he gets to put his career back in shape at a different team where importantly he would get playing time. Isaac Cuenca has joined Deportivo La Coruna on a free transfer after FC Barcelona decided to cancel his current contract. He has been not in our club's plan for a long time and should have been released last season itself. Even though it was late, the club did the right thing by releasing him for free. All About FC Barcelona wishes Isaac Cuenca all the best for his budding career and let he take the La Liga by Storm once again.

Arsenal signs Alexis Sanchez for 42 Million

Arsenal has officially announced the reaching of an agreement between FC Barcelona and themselves for the signing of Star Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez. The deal will fetch FC Barcelona €42 Million Euros, a substantial part of it would be as incentives. We are not yet clear about the fine print, but the initial rumours are we will be paid €30 Million in cash and the rest as incentives which are rumoured to be easy to achieve. Alexis Sanchez was signed by Barca from Udinese in 2011 for a deal with total to €38 Million. Now, selling him for €42 Million sounds like a brilliant deal; especially considering that the player never had the desired impact at Barca. His stocks rose after a brilliant World Cup and Barca may not find a better time to cash on him.

Jul 10, 2014

Finally it will happen - Jonathan Dos Santos will get a chance to do other things than twitter updates. Yes, you heard it right - he decided that he has time left to play football and decided to join Villareal. I was one of the few who was delighted to see him stay last season. But an injury and general reluctance by Tata Martino to use youngsters saw him doing nothing other than social media updates. In one of my previous post 5 Player's who could leave Barca, I have mentioned why he needs to leave this summer itself. Al least he heeded the advice and acted quickly. From what I have heard, Villareal will pay 1.5 Million for the player. There is a bonus of 0.5 Million in the deal which will be paid if Villareal make it into the Champions League next season. It is not clear whether the 0.5 Million is included in the 1.5 Million or additional to it. At Villareal he will be joining Giovani Do Santos, his elder brother - who actually got his career back in shape with a spectacular season with Villareal. These two players are so crucial for the Mexico national team future and hope they fulfill the promise and become a strike force in itself.

Jul 8, 2014

Messi at the World Cup
A leader is a dealer in hope. Napoleon Bonaparte

With a confident 1-0 victory against the Belgians in the Quarter Finals, Argentina has surpassed a huge mental barrier on its own - The Quarter Finals. A look at the rich Argentinian history at the World cup shows that the two time World Champions have stumbled at the last eight more often than any other country. From 1986, when the knock-out stages were officially introduced as we have now, Argentina have exited three times at the Quarter Finals. The two times they managed to get past their Quarter-Final opponents, they have managed to reach the tournament finals. Now that's a nice statistics to focus as Argentina needs a lot of history to back them up when they meet the Dutch on Wednesday. Since the 1990 World Cup, Argentina has never managed to go beyond Quarter Finals. In that sense this team has already succeeded where many of its illustrious predecessors failed. But then for this team led by the Mercurial Lionel Messi anything short of the ultimate triumph is a disaster.

Jul 4, 2014

Messi at the World Cup
It's not what you achieve, it's what you overcome. That's what defines your career. Carlton Fisk

Quarter-Finals, that has been quite a dreaded word in every Argentinian football fans dictionary for some time! There is rather good reason for it too. In three of the last four tournaments they featured, they made unceremonious exit at this stage. And funny Messi was an integral part of all the three. In 2006, José Pekerman's decision not to bring a young Messi drew huge criticism and it's safe to say that it resulted in their exit. In 2010 World Cup it was Messi's inability to inspire his team which resulted in an absolute thumping at the hands of Germany, which also took the only entertainer in the competition, Diego Maradona out of sight. The case was no different in 2011, even though Tevez was one who missed the penalty; Messi's lack of effectiveness was questioned as Argentina failed to make a fist of the challenge thrown by eventual champions Uruguay. So yet another Quarter Final beckons; a chance for Lionel Messi to correct a lot of wrong!

Jul 1, 2014

  • Rumours have become strong about the impending transfer of Luis Saurez to FC Barcelona.
  • FC Barcelona is rumoured to have come to an agreement with the Striker for signing a 5 year Deal.

Finally Luis Suárez issued the much awaited apology for the disgraceful biting incident; it came after a lot of denial, strange excuses and may be even fooling the entire nation to stand behind him. For those who watched the incident (even in real time) there was no doubt about what happened on the night when Uruguay dumped Italy out of the World Cup; unless you were an Uruguayan! It was quite a disgraceful incident and the history of the player suggests that he is a walking danger to fellow players on the pitch. One could argue that his early struggles in his life are the reason for such a volatile character; but for the assaulted player that is not any reason for comfort. The inside story about the sudden U-Turn by the player may have a FC Barcelona dimension to it. Considering just days ago even the President of his country openly supported him, the apology came a bit too early. Am not sure how his supporters should feel about this? After all they were the only one who believed his story of "Losing balance and accidently clashing his face on to Chiellini".

Jun 26, 2014

  • Lionel Messi scored the opening two goals for Argentina against Nigeria.
  • Messi has now equalled Maradona's feat of scoring four consecutive goals for his country.
Sensational Lionel Messi helps Argentina Top the Group
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way John C. Maxwell

They said he is crap as he can't score at the international stage with his country. Once he started doing that, they said he still is crap, since he has only scored once in the World Cup. I am not sure what will be their excuse this time around. But trust me they will find some odd statistics to say he still is crap. "He has not yet scored with his head in a World Cup" could be the ideal line for defense of Lionel Messi haters; don't worry you will most probably here it soon. For those who followed him closely, which most the entire world does; this is not any surprise. He always has done one thing - score goals and tons of them. So Argentina has scored 5 goals in the tournament so far, not surprisingly four of them came from one player - Lionel Messi. The likes of Lavezzi, Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria all are yet to find the net, but no one is worried about that. Messi is scoring for all of them for the time being. Like Barca may Argentina is also realising slowly that you can't escape Messidependencia, not that they are complaining!

Jun 25, 2014

Lionel Messi once again proved the decisive factor scoring two goals. This second of his night was an absolute gem.

Futbol Club Barcelona has made an official announcement about reaching an agreement with Real Sociedad to sign Chilean Goal Keeper, Claudio Bravo. It is speculated that the deal will cost FC Barcelona 12 Million Euros, even though it is not yet clear whether it would be a one time payment or would be linked to incentives. Claudio Bravo, who is currently Captaining the Chilean National team at the World Cup's in Brazil was considered an ideal choice due to his experience in Spain. He has already spend eight seasons in Spain. His performance for Chile in the World cup also shows that he is currently playing at the top of his game. For many Barca fans, this signing sounds like music to ears especially considering he will be replacing Jose Pinto. For all his brave heart performances, Pinto never was able to instill any confidence into the side and fans.

Jun 22, 2014

Lionel Messi wonder goal secured a last gasp victory for Argentina and secured their place in pre-quarters. It took this brilliance from Messi to overcome an almighty Iranian performance. All Iranians should be proud of the efforts from their team. Funny enough with Bosnia losing to Nigeria, both Iran and Nigeria both still can have hopes to qualify.

Jun 21, 2014

Logic! Good gracious! What rubbish! E. M. Forster

Can we call this a Miracle? May be not! Calling this one could be equivalent to demeaning the Costa Ricans. For them this wasn't any miracle; they simply won two matches in which they clearly were the better team. The only problem was that the two sides which lost to them were Italy and Uruguay. And they were made to look pretty ordinary by a Costa Rican team whom many know nothing about. I swear to myself that the only player I knew in the squad was Navas, the Keeper. He has been the best Goal Keeper in La Liga last season. But then having a very good Goalkeeper counts for nothing especially when you are paired with three former Champions - England, Italy and Uruguay; in a group which everyone considered as the "Group of Death". In my preview for both Uruguay, Italy and England I have mentioned how all those teams could murder Costa Rica as in the end everything could come to goal difference. How much more Wrong can I be?

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