With eight FC Barcelona players in the national squad, Spain has to be the name on every Barca fans lips. I have to admit that they are just my second choice behind my all time favourites Argentina. Spain will be the most fancied team in this World Cup. Spain always had a wonderful team but somehow managed to fail consistently at the biggest stage. They were never counted as a favourite in any tournament prior to the Euro 2008. The Euro 2008 success has put Spain to where it belongs. That triumph has instilled a sense of self belief in the Spanish National side and most importantly in their fans. Spain comes to the World Cup with an extra ordinary unbeaten run behind them. The only blemish was the defeat to United States of America in the confederation cup. That may be come as a blessing in disguise as no Confederation Cup winners have ever lifted the World Cup. (History has this uncanny habit of repeating itself.)
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May 30, 2010
World Cup Preview - Spain
With eight FC Barcelona players in the national squad, Spain has to be the name on every Barca fans lips. I have to admit that they are just my second choice behind my all time favourites Argentina. Spain will be the most fancied team in this World Cup. Spain always had a wonderful team but somehow managed to fail consistently at the biggest stage. They were never counted as a favourite in any tournament prior to the Euro 2008. The Euro 2008 success has put Spain to where it belongs. That triumph has instilled a sense of self belief in the Spanish National side and most importantly in their fans. Spain comes to the World Cup with an extra ordinary unbeaten run behind them. The only blemish was the defeat to United States of America in the confederation cup. That may be come as a blessing in disguise as no Confederation Cup winners have ever lifted the World Cup. (History has this uncanny habit of repeating itself.)
Written by AllAboutFCB at Sunday, May 30, 2010
Tags: World Cup
May 24, 2010
Dilemma in Barca's Cantera
For the past two weeks, David Villa and Cesc Fabregas has been dominating FC Barcelona news columns throughout the world. There is no clarity still with the pursuit of the ex-Barca star, but there looks like more trouble emerging for Barca from within the house. FC Barcelona management and fans has always been proud about their youth academy and the quality that churns out every season. Now it looks like that abundance of quality is going to give us a new headache this summer. Almost five players from FC Barcelona Athletic is at the end of their contract. Jonathan dos Santos, Thiago Alcantara, Victor Vasquez, Gai Assulin and Marc Bartra are the youngsters whose future needs to be resolved quickly. The biggest problem for negotiating a deal is the lack of first team action at Barca. Jonathan dos Santos and Thiago saw some first team actions this season under Guardiola, but with Barca going for a buying spree they may see very limited action next season.
Written by AllAboutFCB at Monday, May 24, 2010
May 23, 2010
May 21, 2010
Nike Write The Future Ad - Quite Smart
Written by AllAboutFCB at Friday, May 21, 2010
Tags: Special Videos
David Villa Presentation Pics
Written by AllAboutFCB at Friday, May 21, 2010
Tags: Barcelona Photo Album
Official 2010-11 Season Barca Jersey Revealed
Looking for Barca Jersey at the Best Prices? Find it here - FC Barcelona Jersey
FC Barcelona has revealed the Official Jersey for 2010-11 season today coinciding with the presentation of David Villa. The traditional home jersey have the thicker Blaugrana stripes compared to last season. The other change is the introduction of Red shorts compared to the last season's blue ones. Inside the collar the words "Tots units fem força" (Together we are strong) are taken from the club hymn and on the left sleeve the slogan "Més que un club" (More than a club) is embroidered. . There is a drastic change in the new Barca away jersey. The away jersey is pre-dominantly green with the Blaugrana colours across the chest. I seriously like the away green colours but the Blaugrana stripe kills the look. The last time we wore the Red shorts was in the season 2005-06 which was a Champions League winnng season. From the official site - "The new FC Barcelona shirts are unique in the same way that the shirts worn last term were also in the fact that they are manufactured from recycled plastic bottles".
Written by AllAboutFCB at Friday, May 21, 2010
Tags: FC barcelona
Rumours, Rumours Everywhere, not a single one to Believe
Ain't it quite strange? When I wrote the match report for the Valladoid vs Barca match, many here thought that ideally would be my last post for the next two months. With my experience with previous transfer season, I knew that wasn't the case. The truth simply is that the real entertainment off the pitch starts the moment the transfer window opens or in other words when the season ends. Usually in a World Cup year, the transfer market usually heats up after the Showpiece event. But this time it has become hyper active much earlier. FC Barcelona should be blamed for setting the fire with their early pursuit of David Villa and Cesc Fabregas. They didn't wait for Real Madrid to inflate the market and started their business from the very next day after their La Liga defense. Already huge war of words are going between Arsenal and Barca fans all over the web for their pursuit of Cesc Fabregas. As I wrote in my earlier post, At 80 Million, Fabregas Deal Better Be Dead, the entire Cesc Fabregas story has shot up after Spanish Journo, Guillem Balague has suddenly reported about Fabregas expressing his interest to return home. The entire Spanish media based in Barcelona and the likes of Sid Lowe, Martni Samuel from England helped in raising the story to enormous proportion. The truth still remain that all these are mere specualtions and nothing has been clarified by any parties. Arsenal fans are rightly feeling being targetted not only by Spanish Journalist but also those from their own countries. At this moment nobody can say anything about this one and we may have to wait and watch.
Written by AllAboutFCB at Friday, May 21, 2010
Tags: Transfer Rumours
May 20, 2010
Pedro and Valdes Makes into World Cup Squad
Spanish National side Coach, Vicente del Bosque has announced the final 23 men squad who will be making the trip to South Africa. The biggest surprise has been the inclusion of Victor Valdes and Pedro Rodriguez. To an extent Victor Valdes inclusion should not have come as a surprise. With two years of consistent performance he has earned the right to represent Spain in international level. Isn't it very strange that this is his first call to National side. The real surprise was the inclusion of Pedro. It's a great reward to the wonderful season he had. With the addition of David Villa we right now have eight players in the World Cup squad. As expected Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol, Pique, Busquets and Villa all have made in to the list. The full list is given below :
Written by AllAboutFCB at Thursday, May 20, 2010
Tags: FC barcelona
At 80 Million, Fabregas Deal Better Be Dead
With reports emerging from London about Arsenal slapping a price 80 Million pound, the Cesc Fabregas transfer saga has truly heaten up. Suddenly the great enthusiasm that surrounded the Barca Management regarding Fabregas has made way to caution. The recent comments made by sporting director, Txiki Begiristain is a testimony of the sudden realisation that this one is not going to be easy. Begiristain recently said "What counts here is Arsenal and what their decision is, because Cesc is a very important player for them. It is great news that he wants to come. Sometimes what players want does not happen ,they have contracts in force. I think that at some stage Cesc will come to FC Barcelona. I don't know when but I have the feeling that he is a Barcelona player and he would love to play here. But we have to respect Arsenal and the contract he has there." Now that's a sudden change in attitude as it was reported that the Barcelona Hierarchy recently gave a "Now or Never" ultimatum to Cesc Fabregas. Now there is a realisation that Arsenal will do whatever needed to hold on to their captain and it's essential not to irritate the Premier League club.
Written by AllAboutFCB at Thursday, May 20, 2010
Tags: Transfer Rumours
May 19, 2010
Barca and Valencia Agree on Villa Deal
FC Barcelona signs David Villa for 40 Million Euros
FC Barcelona has completed their first signing of the summer in the form of David Villa from Valencia. THe official FC Barcelona website has broken the story just moments ago. Barca was widely expected to copmplete the signing by Friday. FC Barcelona will pay Valencia 40 million Euros for the prolific Spanish striker. Villa is expected to reach Barcelona on Thursday evening and will undergo mandatory medical tests on Friday morning. We all know these are mere formalities. Villa is expected to sign the deal around Friday afternoon followed by the official presentation to the Camp Nou public. Camp Nou will be open for public during the presentation and trust me we may see scenes similiar to Ibrahimovic signing. Villa will sign a four year deal with an option for a further year. It is not yet known how much Villa will take home at Barca.
Written by AllAboutFCB at Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tags: Barcelona Transfers
Best Barca Goals of 2009-10 Season
1) Xavi's Wonder Through Ball
It's a huge injustice that the record books will have Messi as the goal scorer and Pedro as the player who provided the assist. Nonsense, it was Xavi singlehandedly who created this one. After seeing this you feel pity for all other midfielders in the world.
Written by AllAboutFCB at Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tags: Special Videos
May 18, 2010
Barca close to Signing Villa and Cesc
If rumours emerging from Spain and England are to be believed, FC Barcelona is pretty close to completing the signing of David Villa and Cesc Fabregas. Joan Laporta has made it a priority to complete the signing of these two Spanish internationals before the end of his tenure. Actually Cesc Fabregas has expressed that he would like to see his future resolved before the World Cup in South Africa. If Barcelona based daily Sport is to be believed, then we most probably will sign David Villa by the end of the week. That may be a bit of exaggeration but Laporta himself have said that the negotiations with Valencia over David Villa is in an advanced stage. Mean while David Villa has learnt from last season's mistakes and is not revealing anything about his desire. He has stated that he will make a move away from Valencia only if the financial situation forces the club to sell him.
Written by AllAboutFCB at Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Tags: Transfer Rumours
FC Barcelona Player Rating for 2009-10 Season
Victor Valdes - 8.5 - Victor Valdes won his third Zamora Trophy by a whooping 10 goal margin. A closer look and you will say that this won was the most deserving of all his trophies. Even in last season, he was his usual self, producing some telling saves, but at the same time producing some disastrous mistakes. This season he was a revelation. There were very few mistakes he made and was called upon on action in more than the usual occasion. He proved to everyone that he is the best when it comes to one on one situation and with every passing year he is improving by leaps and bounds. He should consider himself really unlucky if he is not on the plane to South Africa.
Dani Alves - 7 - Another consistent year, but nowehere near his performance of last season. He had to live up with a patch where his form was really below par. Very lively in most of the matches and I firmly believe he is missing playing with Messi on the right. But overall a very decent season, struggled against quality opponents. With Alves we may have to live up with the occasional low profile performances.
Gerard Piqué - 8.5 - Still don't understand how a manager like Ferguson could let him go. Good for us though. After joining his childhood club back, he has been stunning. Constistent performance throughout the match and the advantage with him is that he present a good option in attacking corners. There were some excellent performances but the best has to be the 1-0 win against Inter Milan at Camp Nou.
Rafael Márquez - 6 - Way past his prime and many believe he to be leaving soon. But I expect him to stay here for one more season. He is quite a utility player but his lack of speed nowadays is killing him. Still not a bad cover for our top three defenders. Pep Guardiola did show confidence in him in many matches, but he was responsible form a number of goals we conceded.
Written by AllAboutFCB at Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Tags: FC barcelona
May 17, 2010
FC Barcelona Pics of Title Celebration
Written by AllAboutFCB at Monday, May 17, 2010
Tags: Barcelona Photo Album
FC Barcelona vs Valladoid Pics
Written by AllAboutFCB at Monday, May 17, 2010
Tags: Barcelona Photo Album
FC Barcelona Crowned La Liga Champions
Written by AllAboutFCB at Monday, May 17, 2010
Tags: Barcelona Match Report, La Liga
May 14, 2010
Why Bojan Krkic has been so good lately?
Written by AllAboutFCB at Friday, May 14, 2010
Tags: Bojan Krkic, FC barcelona
May 12, 2010
National Coaches goes Crazy with World Cup Squad Announcement
Crucial Updates : Jonathan Dos Santos makes into 26 men Mexican Initial Squad along with his brother Giovanni.
Written by AllAboutFCB at Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tags: Soccer Discussions, World Cup
May 9, 2010
Barca - 3, Sevilla - 2; One Hand on the Trophy
Barca beat Sevilla in a nervy encounter.
It may not be arrogance to say that we have one hand firmly placed on the La Liga title following our 3-2 victory against Sevilla at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium. At the end of penultimate week of La Liga, Barca stands one point clear of their bitter rival Real Madrid. Coming to the last four matches of the league, we had two risky away encounters against both Villareal and Sevilla. Now with those test passed, only Real Valladoid stands between FC Barcelona and the La Liga title. In the preview of this match - Barca vs Sevilla Preview, I have written about the necessity of our players being at the best. And indeed they were at their best for the first 65 minutes notching up three goals and starving Sevilla off any meaningful chance. Then in the spate of three minutes, we decided to make the encounter more interesting - conceding two goals in three minutes and almost conceding the equaliser in the end moments. But in the end the team prevailed the momentary lapse of concentration and emerged deserving winners. As expected Bojan started the match instead of Ibrahimovic. He formed the attacking trio along with Pedro and Messi. The midfield consisted of Keita, Busquets and Xavi. The defense had the expected look with Alves, Pique, Puyol and Maxwell.
Written by AllAboutFCB at Sunday, May 09, 2010
Tags: Barcelona Match Report, La Liga
May 8, 2010
Barca vs Sevilla Preview; Failure is not an Option
Written by AllAboutFCB at Saturday, May 08, 2010
Tags: Barcelona Match Preview
May 5, 2010
FC Barcelona stays Firm in La LIga Title Hunt
Written by AllAboutFCB at Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Tags: Barcelona Match Report