Barca - 3, Real Valladoid - 1

• FC Barcelona gave the best Get-Well Message to Vilanova with a 3-1 win
• Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Christian Tello scored for Barca

FC Barcelona went into the Christmas break with a comfortable 3-1 victory against Real Valladoid. It was comfortable till the time we conceded an unnecessary goal in the 89th minute made it a bit nervy. Xavi Hernandez opened the scoring for us, Messi scored teh customary goal in the second half and Tello made it a comfortable win for Barca. This match was a testing point to see whether Barca will struggle with the absence of Tito Vilanova. The initial signs are not good for our opponents. The starting line-up selected by Jordi Roura was in the expected line. Valdes, Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Thiago, Messi, Pedro and Alexis. Iniesta was supposed to carry a knock and expectedly started on the bench. The only surprise was not to see Villa in the starting line-up.

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FC Barcelona to face AC Milan in UEFA KnockOut Stage

FC Barcelona will face the Italian side AC Milan in the first knock-out stage of the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League. The match is a repeat of last season's Quarter-Final tie, which Barca won convincingly. AC Milan has been struggling for some time in their League this season, but if the past some weeks results are to be taken into account - they may have finally found some stability. The lose of Ibrahimovic and Silva could come as a huge problem for Milan when they face the Spanish league leaders. But still AC Milan is the second most successful team in European Cup history and they have to be treated with much respect. The match also should see ex-Barca player Bojan Krkic playing against us, if he gets the opportunity. The tie will be held in February and March 2013. Everyone expects Barca to get past the Italian side, but it could prove to be a real tough task. But the fact that we play the second leg at home is a very positive thing.

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Tito Vilanova suffers a relapse of Tumour

Update : Tito Vilanova will have surgery tomorrow.
Barca fans across the globe today was shocked on learning of the relapse of tumour on Tito Vilnova. It is believed that this could keep the Barca coach out of action for sometime. On the positive side, the initial reports coming out in media suggests a small growth near where he had surgery earlier. As reported by Sport.es, the doctors remain extremely optimistic about the surgery and his recovery as it is less serious that last time. there were rumours that Barca could approach Luis Enrique or Guardiola for an interim job. But the club has denied approaching anyone. The club has yet to make an official statement. It is believed that the statement will come only after Vilanova talk to his players during today's training session. This news has come as a shocker for many Barca fans, as they were over joyed yesterday with the fact that Abidal was given the Go-Green to start normal training with first team. Supports have been pouring from all direction for our Coach and at the moment he needs all our prayers to come through this.

Xavi, Puyol and Messi Contracts Renewed

FC Barcelona gave all it's fans a beautiful Christmas present with the announcement of the renewal of Messi, Puyol and Xavi's contracts. There was never a doubt of their renewal. All the players have categorically asserted their wish to stay with the club, and the club also wanted them to stay. So the fact that they renewed was not a surprise, but the stealth which the club did it caught everyone by surprise. It was just brilliant. Something which should have been just a normal news ended up being "The Breaking News". In coming days the players will sign and complete the formalities in the presence of the President and others. As we understand Xavi and Puyol's contracts will be extended to 2016. Messi's contract will be extended to 2018.

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From Scared to Over Joyed in 45 Minutes

If there is an apt title to describe last night's clash against Atletico Madrid, then it has to be this headline. Thirty minutes into the first half most of the Barca fans were a bit scared. Falcao has already scored once, he had hit the post once and almost came close to scoring another. This all happened even with Puyol doing his very best marking the most sought out center forward in the World. Atletico Madrid came out with a plan and was executing the plans with near perfection. They stayed compact in the midfield, closed down our midfield and double marked Messi out of the game. Forget shot on goal, we didn't even have a shot at goal for so long last night. Watching the proceedings it was clear that we may require a bit of individual magic to see us through this match. But from where will it come? Messi was made completely ineffective by the brilliant marking of Atletico midfield. The next option had to be Iniesta who also was struggling to run at the back four. To make matters worse we had Pedro and Sanchez competeing with each other to find out who had the worst game of the night. So the only hope was to somehow reach the half-time with no more new damages done.

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FC Barcelona - 4, Atletico Madrid - 1

• FC Barcelona emeregs 4-1 winners agaisnt second placed Atletico Madrid.
• Adriano, Busquets and Messi scored for Barca

FC Barcelona emerged 4-1 victors against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou in the top of the table clash. We went into the match with six points lead over Atletico and eleven point lead over real madrid. We increased the lead to 9 and 13 respectively after tonight's result. Falcao shocked Nou Camp with a brilliantly taken goal, Adriano responded with what could be described as the Goal of the Season. Then onwards we bossed the game with Busquets scoring once and Messi scoring twice. In the match between the top two teams in the Points Table, Vilanova went with a more or less expected line-up. Valdes was tha goal keeper of choice. The defense had Adriano, Puyol, Pique and Alba. The midfield had Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets. Messi, Pedro and Alexis made the front three. Both the teams received the good news of Real Madrid dropping points again, this time held to draw at home by surprisingly Espanyol.

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Relax Guys, Messi is absolutely Fine

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FC Barcelona - 5 : 1 - Athletic Bilbao All Goals

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FC Barcelona - 5, Athletic Bilbao - 1

• FC Barcelona has won 13 of 14 matches of this Season.
• Lionel Messi is just one goal shy of Gerd Muller's record of 85 goals.

Tito Vilanova's FC Barcelona side rode into the La Liga history books with a crushing 5-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao. With that victory Barca has recorded the best ever start seen in La Liga. Right now FC Barcelona has 40 points from 14 matches. Against a unsettled Athletic side, our tasks weren't difficult. Goals from Pique, Fabregas, Adriano and two from Messi made life very easy. Once again it was Iniesta who controlled the entire proceeding and was constantly running riot at Athletci Bilbao defense. The starting line-up had Adriano playing the right full back and Alba on the other side. Pique and Mascherano made the central defense. The offensive side was similar to the one selected last week. Busquets, Xavi and Cesc made the midfield. Iniesta, Messi and Pedro made the front three. Villa, Pinto, Montoya, Puyol, Song, Thiago, Tello all started from the bench.

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Messi, Iniesta and Ronaldo will Fight for FIFA Balon d'Or 2012

FIFA and France Football have selected the final three footballers who will fight for the 2012 FIFA Balon d'Or today. As expected, Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo were nominated to be the three finalist for 2012 FIFA Balon d'Or. This was the same line-up who fought for UEFA Player of the Year. That time Andres Iniesta was selected the winner ahead of Messi and Ronaldo. But this one every one expects to be a choice between Messi and Ronald, but Iniesta still could spring up a surprise, that will be totally deserved.

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FC Barcelona - 3, Deportivo Alaves - 1

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Barca - 4 : 0 - Levante Highlights

Levante - Barcelona Highlights HD 25.11.2012 by FCBHighDef

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Deulofeu Golazo against Racing Santander

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Barca - 4, Levante - 0 Goals

Goles - Levante 0-4 Barça I @Emenderk by Emenderk

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Magical Iniesta destroys Levante; Barca - 4, Levante - 0

• Barca scored four goals against Levante
• Iniesta scored one and assisted all three other goals of the night.

FC Barcelona kept their three point lead on top of the league with a brilliant 4-0 victory against Levante. The three point lead is brilliant but many Barca fans had another statistics in their mind - 11 points. That is the difference between Barca and Real madrid on the La Liga table right now. The match was all about Iniesta, who scored one and assited all other goals. Everyone knew that this one would be a very difficult task from the moment we looked at the fixtures. With Real Madrid losing yersternight it became more crucial. Even though Real Madrid lost, Atletico won and were equal to us in points at the start of the match. David Villa was ruled out of this encounter due to an injury. Vilanova went with the line-up of Valdes, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Cesc, Pedro, Messi and Iniesta. The bench had Pinto, Montoya, Mascherano, Adriano, Song, Thiago and Tello.

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Barca vs Spartak Moscow Highlights

Spartak Moskow - Barcelona Highlights HD 20.11...

by FCBHighDef

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Barca - 3, Spartak Moscow - 0

• FC Barcelona secures Champions League Knock-out Qualification with thumping win.
• Lionel Messi scored twice to take tally to 80 Goals in 2012.

FC Barcelona secured qualification to UEFA Champions League Knock-out stage with a 3-0 victory against Spartak Moscow. Dani Alves opened the scoring, followed by Messi scoring two secured a very good win and overall a very brilliant performance on the artificial pitch in Moscow. The happiest person tonight in the cold would be Valdes, who finally got a chance to secure a clean sheet. Lionel Messi with his two goals sits now with 80 strikes in the 2012 calendar year, just five short of Gerd Muller's record. This was one of the best performances by the team especially considering the conditions was very difficult for the team.Vilanova went in with Valdes, Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Cesc, Iniesta, Pedro and Messi in the starting line-up. Pinto, Montoya, Puyol, Song, Dos Santos, Villa and Deulofeu started from the bench.

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FC Barcelona - 3, Real Zaragoza - 1 Highlights

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FC Barcelon - 3, Celta - 1 Highlights

Barcelona - Celta Highlights HD 03.11.2012 - Funny bloopers R us

Barca - 5, Rayo Vallecano - 0 Extended Highlights

FC Barcelona vs Celtic Extended Highlights

Barca Steals Three Points with Last Gasp Winner; FC Barcelona - 2, Celtic - 1

• FC Barcelona secured a deserving winner with a 94th minute Jordi Alba goal.
• FC Barcelona came from behind after going down to Celtic early in first half.

Jordi Alba scored a last mminute winner to take all three points off their match against Celtic. Celtic was really unlucky not to have got a point from the match. They scored first and then defended with their live only to see all their hopes get destroyed at the very last minute. An own goal from Mascherano(the credit should go for a great free kick and a Samaras header) gave Celtic a surprise lead. Iniesta equalised for us in the last minute of first half and then Jordi Alba sealed the match with a 94th minute goal. Vilanova chose a back four of Adriano, Bartra, Mascherano and Alba to face Celtic. Iniesta, Xavi and Song formed the midfield. Pedro, Messi and Sanchez formed the front three. Pinto, Montoya, Dos Santos, Sergi Roberto, Cesc, Villa and Tello were on the bench.

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Barca - 5, Deportivo - 4

• Lionel Messi garbbed a hat-traick in a nine goal thriller.
• Mascherano got send off and Barca were down to ten men in second half.

A stunning Lionel Messi hat-trick secured Barca vital three points against Deportivo La Coruna. It was an unbelievably thrilling nine goal thriller which saw the pendulum swinging with every action. It was quite crazy - we went 3-0 up, then allowed it to become 3-2, then went 4-2 up, then it became 4-3, then 5-3 and eventually 5-4. But the performance especially after going down to ten man following Mascherano's expulsion was quite nervous at times. The starting line-up was as expected without the presence of Xavi. The defense had Montoya, Song, Mascherano and Alba. Cesc, Busquets and Iniesta made up the midfield. The front three saw Villa getting a start along with Tello and Messi.

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Argenitina vs Chile Highlights

Lionel Messi against Uruguay

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Pedro's Hat-Trick Against Belarus

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Being Dani Alves, It's Quite Tough Isn't it?

• Barca Fans are concerned with Dani Alves sudden dip in form.
• Dani Alves was at fault for goals against Sevilla and Real Madrid

Barca fans across the world has been concerned by the form of Dani Alves this season. From the start of the League he was having a kind of up and down season. There were some matches where he looked really good. But even a hardcore Dani Alves supporter would admit that, those were few and far between. And in his last two outings he has been guilty of exposing his goal keeper too easily. At Sevilla everyone was shocked seeing Dani Alves staying away from Trochowski and kind of inviting him to take a shot at goal. Against Madrid it was a bit tougher as he had to move quickly to close down Ronaldo. But he never made an attempt to put himself infront of Ronaldo's shot is quite surprising. The Dani Alves of the old always used to do that. And the bigger question was why he was marking a player who was comfortably in Adriano's control, leaving so much space for Ronaldo to exploit. We will discuss about Valdes' part in the goal later.

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FC Barcelona - 2 : 2 - Real Madrid Highlights

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FC Barcelona -2, Real Madrid - 2

• FC Barcelona drew 2-2 against Real Madrid at Camp Nou
• Lionel Messi scored twice, so did Ronaldo.

FC Barcelona retained their eight point lead against Real Madrid with a 2-2 draw. People were saying that this Clasico should give us the winner of the Balon d'Or, think again. Both Ronaldo and Messi scored twice and that means you will still struggle to pick a winner from them. Unfortunately for us the draw means we will lose our 100% record in the season. Vilanova surprised everyone with his choice of center back. Everyone expected Maschernao to partner Song, but Tito brought in Adriano instead of Song. So we had a defense of Alves, Mascherano, Adriano and Alba. The midfield had Cesc, Xavi and Busquets. Messi, Iniesta and Pedro made the front line. Tito ommitted Tello(a player who has been regular this season) from the squad and the becnh had Pinto, Montoya, Bartra, Song, Sergi Roberto, Alexis and Villa. Real Madrid official line-up had Casillas, Arbeloa, Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo, Xabi Alonso, Khedira, Di Maria, Ozil, Ronaldo and Benzema.

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FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid Preview

• FC Barcelona will host the first Liga Clasico tomorrow night at Clasico.
• Barca will be without the presence of both Pique and Puyol in defense.

So the scene is set for the first of the Liga Clasico. Already we had two of them, with Real Madrid winning the Super Copa. With so many Clasico's happening in quick succession, there was a serious doubt whether people will lose interest in them. That's proven wrong and with every passing Clasico the interest in them seems only increasing. Estimated TV viewership is expected to reach half a billion. Barca is going into the Clasico with an eight point lead over their arch-rival. That's unprecedented in recent times. That gives us some breating space. But the fact that we will have to feature a make shift defense takes a bit out of that advantage. But still an eight point is still eight points. Tito Vilanova has the almost the entire attacking and midfield squad except the absence of Thiago and Cuenca. But where he is been stretched is in defense with only Bartra, Alba, Alves, Adriano, Song, Mascherano and Montoya at his disposal. That means we don't have our tarditional central defenders available for this match. Song and Mascherano will be pertenring in teh center of defense. They worked well to an extent against Sevilla, had to see how it goes against Real Madrid.

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Barca Toons Ready for Clasico

Puyol Injury Dampens Barca Victory; Barca - 2, Benifica - 0

• Barca secures victory against Benifica with a 2-0 scoreline.
• Carles Puyol broke his arm and may miss action for sometime.

FC Barcelona secured their second victory of UEFA Champions League group stage with a 2-0 victory against Benifica. Goals from Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas secured Barca the three points. But the night's atmosphere were dampened with the news of Puyol injury. Puyol who returned from injury in this match looks to have broken his arm trying to score from a corner. Barca ended the match with ten men after Busquets received a straight red for a simple looking challenge. Everyone expected Puyol to gat some playing time in this match but not to start. But Tito Vilanova had other ideas. He started with Alves, Puyol, Mascherano and Alba in the defense. Xavi, Busquets and Cesc started in middle. Pedro, Messi and Alexis started upfront. Once again Villa started on the bench along with Pinto, Song, Adriano, Sergi Roberto, Iniesta and Tello.

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Barca - 3, Sevilla - 2 Extended Highlights

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Barca - 3, Sevilla - 2; Villa Scores a Last Minute Winner to Sink Ten Man Sevilla

• Barca scored a brilliant come back from behind victory against Sevilla away from Home .
• Barcelona over turned the 2-1 deficit with 2 minutes of normal time left.

Cesc Fabregas against Sevilla

FC Barcelona over turned a 2-1 deficit in last five minutes to conquer a ten man Sevilla side. Cesc Fabregas scored twice and Villa scored a stoppage time winner to secure three points for Barca. This win put us at 11 points clear off Real madrid as of now but they have a chance to reduce it to eight tomorrow. Sevilla would feel really hard done by some refereeing decisions. First was the sending off of Medel, which I don't think he can complain much about after trying a small head-butt on Cesc Fabregas. It was nothing like Zidane headbutt but still you are not allowed to do those things. The second was a bit more controversial because that lead to the equaliser. In the build up to the second goal, there was a hand ball from Thiago which the referee couldn't spot as it was on his blind side. As I predicted in the Barca vs Sevilla Match previewIt was surprising to see Alexis once again in the official line-up chosen by Vilanova. The Chilean has not been any kind of form lately and he himself acknowledged that. He formed the attacking trio with Pedro and Messi. Tito went with a midfield featuring Cesc, Xavi and Busquets. In the defense we had Alves, Mascherano, Song and Alba. Pinto, Montoya, Bartra, Sergi Roberto, Thiago, Villa and Tello started on the bench.

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Barca vs Sevilla Preview

Worried by the ever growing loist of injuries, Barca fans finally got some good news. Actually a set of good news. The biggest of all is the fact that Abidal has started his come back to the game and may even feature in late November. The other news were that Iniesta, Puyol and Pique would all could be fit for the first Clasico at the Camp Nou. But that's a week away from now, but tomorrow we will be facing our toughest test yet this season at Sevilla. Last season we won this away fixture 2-0, thanks to the goals from Xavi Hernandez(a brilliant free kick) and an extra-ordinary chip from Lionel Messi. Those two should feature tomorrow night, and we may need similar outstanding goals to see this through. Sevilla has been in some form from the start of the season. They are still unbeaten and has already sunk Real Madrid at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. So this has to be the real test. Add to this the fact that we hate to play Sevilla, a very physical and comptitive side and also add the fact that we may have to field a make shift central defense again - that's a tough task. But then normal reasoning usually does not work with this Golden Generation of footballers. Over the past few years, they have done extremely well at places they where expected to struggle and struggled at places where they were expecting easy victories. Last week's performance against Granada itself could be a prime example for that.

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FC Barcelona - 2 : 0 - Granada Highlights

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Late Goals Secures Victory; FC Barcelona - 2, Granada - 0

• FC Barcelona broke a Rigid Granada defense with two late goals.
• Xavi Hernandez scored in the 87th minute to break the deadlock.

Xavi Hernandez against Granada

FC Barcelona continued their winning streak in the La Liga with a 2-0 victory against Granada at teh Camp Nou. We surely did came close to losing the winning streak tonight, but an 87th minute Xavi goal made sure that we are going home with three points. Vilanova gave David Villa his first official start of the season tonight. He made the attacking trio with Messi and Sanchez. The midfield saw Thiago partnering Cesc and Busquets. Vilanova doesn't look interested to start Bartra instead went with a defense which had Alves, Mascherano, Song and Adriano. The bench had Pinto, Bartra, Alba, Xavi, Sergi Roberto, Pedro and Tello. It was surprising to see Sergi Roberto in the squad and Jonathan Dos Santos out of it. That clearly says that he has no future under Vilanova at Barca.

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FC Barcelona - 3, Spartak Moscow - 2 Highlights

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FC Barcelona - 3, Spartak Moscow - 2; Messi double Secures Three Points for Barca

• FC Barcelona starts their Champions league Campaign with Victory.
• Messi scored two goals to give Barca a hard fought victory.

Tello Opened Scoring against Spartak Moscow

Tito Vilanova's Barca got off to a winning start at Camp Nou with a come-back from behind victory against Spartak Moscow. When Tello scored early everyone thought it going to be a routine win, maybe a massacre. BUt it wasn't to be. Two defensive lapses saw us going 2-1 down. But when we have the World's Best Player, you don't have to worry much. Messi scored twice to give us a tough 3-2 victory. Tito should be happy with the victory but he surely have a huge task at hand with defense and now with Pique also picking up an injury. As expected Vilanova went with a predictable line-up. Valdes started on goal with a defense of Alves, Pique, Mascherano and Adriano in front of him. Busquets, Xavi and Fabregas formed the midfield trio. Pedro, Messi and Tello started upfront. Pinto, Villa, Sanchez, Thiago, Song, Bartra and Montoya started on the bench.

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Vital Three Points; Barca - 4, Getafe - 1

• Barca extended their winning streak to four match against Getafe.
• Lionel Messi, came in second ahlf and scored two goals..

FC Barcelona kept on with their perfect start into the La Liga season with a brilliant 4-1 victory against getafe away from home. Adriano opened the scoring in first half and second half substitutes Messi and Villa made it a comfortable victory. Incidently the Getafe goal was an unfortunate own goal from another substitute Javier Mascherano. The line-up selected by Tito surprised many. Technically it has to be said that Jordi was in charge as Tito was serving his two match ban. Vilanova deicded to give Montoya his first start of the season. So he started at the right back of defense with Puyol and Pique partnering in the middle and Adriano on the left. The midfield saw Xavi and Busquetsa start along with Thiago, who was declared fit to play last week. No one expected him to get his start here. Tello and Pedro joined with Cesc Fabregas at the front line of attack. The substitute bench had Pinto, Mascherano, Alves, Villa, Song, Messi and Deulofeu.

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Barca vs Getafe Preview

Ok, playing after an International Break has been always tough for Barca. Playing at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez has been more difficult. Last season we tasted defeat there, even though there were some controversies about the disallowed goal. But this season Getafe could be even tougher. They gave Real Madrid a their first defeat of La Liga campaign couple of weeks back. So this was a very tough job, As if it wasn't tough enough, we are put in a situation where we will be missing Iniesta, Sanchez and Alba all due to injury. I believe now everyone understand the difficulty of the task at hand. We will be going to one of the toughest place(atleast for us) missing some cruical players and also with the rest of the squad bit tired after the midweek duty. But Messi and Co. wouldn't want to give up the perfect start to the season and most importantly the five point lead on defending Champions, Real Madrid. So get ready for a blood bath.

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Hillsborough - At Least No One can Deny Truth Now

• Finally after 23 years, the Authorities accepts the truth.
• It's become clear that the Police inaction could have cost 41 lives.

All those lies, all those damn lies, finally have been proven wrong. The allegations of drunk fans responsible for the loss of 96 lives on that fateful day in 1989, has been proven wrong. The release of documents related to the disaster has clarified and proven what the families of victims and the Red fans has been saying for all these 23 years. Now it's officially accepeted that the disaster was a result of collosal failure on the part of Police and other related authorities. But the real disaster or tragedy was the cover-up and the shifting of blame after the disaster. It took 23 years, yup 23 long years to know the truth or should I say for the officials to accept the truth. It was clear from today morning that those related to the authorities knew the truth from the very first day. It was no coincidence that 23 years later Sheffield Wednesday chose to apologise for the disaster. The better use of word would be "Forced to Apologise". For a person sitting miles away from England, the Hillsborough disaster was at first just yet another sad disaster day. That was until I started to read about the cover-up that followed. This is not only a failure of the Government organisation but also the Justice system who should have given these families peace of mind years earlier. Instead they failed them, not only that they rubbed more salt into those bereaved families.

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Simply Superb Messi - Argentina vs Paraguay Highlight

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What is happening with Cesc Fabregas?

• Cesc Fabregas looks like a mis-fit in Barca midfield.

It was all supposed to be really smooth. He was the one with the Barca DNA, so getting into this midfield was not at all a big task for Cesc Fabregas. The only factor to weigh in was how Iniesta and Xavi would be rotated to accomodate Cesc in. And he didn't start badly at all. Scored a number of goals and suddenly gave Barca a new dimension, which no one though existed. But when the crunch time came towards the end of the season, he simply stood as a misfit. Nobody knows what happened. From then on, in Barca's midfield he always looked like someone who is forced in the wrong place in a football field. the more he play, the more it gets worse. To make matters worse for him, the ones who cried for his signing has turned kind of against him and is demanding a subsqeuent change in attitude and performance. For the record, I have never been a huge fan of his signing. I did write about it earlier in two post, you can read it here Stop Fabregas Obsession and Do we really need Cesc Fabregas?. Everyone expected Cesc to take almost a year to integrate into the side. What puzzles everyone is the fact with each minute playing in that midfield he looks totally confused. So why this is happening. Let's look into the reasons affecting Cesc at Barca.

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FC Barcelona - 1, Valencia - 0

• FC Barcelona opens a two-point lead in La Liga .
• Adriano wonder strike gave Barca three points against Valencia.

Adriano celebrating after Scoring against Valencia

FC Barcelona went back to the top of La Liga with a really hard fought 1-0 victory against Valencia. A wonder strike by Adriano gave Barca the tough victory against a team which neutralized Barca's attack efefctive with little ease. Alex song made his first start in Barca career and showed that the money spend on him was not at all wasted. With this victory, FC Barcelona remains the only team which has won all their games in this season's Liga. Tito Vilanova was suspended for the match. Jordi Roura substituted for him on teh touch line. After his impressive debut at bernebeu, Alez Song was given his first start in a Barca line-up. Alves was declared fit following the mid-week absence and came straight into the line-up. The back four had Alves, Pique, Mascherano and Adriano. The midfield had Song, Xavi and Cesc, which worried everyone especially to see how Cesc cope with brilliant pressing by Valencia. The front line once again remained unchanged with Messi, Alexis and Pedro. The substitutes were Pinto, Alba, Batra, Iniesta, Tello and Villa.

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Andres Iniesta - UEFA Player of the Year

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Let's Get Some Perspective, Shall We Fellow Cules?

• Barca fans needs to look at the Super Copa loss through a broader lens.
• In Barca set-up defending is a collective effort.

Perspective, it's not a bad thing to have especially when the times are difficult. That also raises the big question - "Are these times tough?". My answer will be a resounding no, but we football fans have a tendency to forget the past and panic without any reason. So when I say tough times, it only refers to the losing of Super Copa and some reaction of Cules to our defense and Keeper after that. Oxford dictionary defines the term Perspective as "true understanding of the relative importance of things; a sense of proportion". Yup, A Sense of Proportion, that's what we are missing now. I am really fed up with people calling for Valdes, Adriano and some even Mascherano all to be sold. Come on guys, a week before we were praising them for their brilliant performance against the same side at the Camp Nou - FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid First leg Highlights. Ok, may be not Valdes.

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Andres Iniesta wins UEFA Player of the Year

• FC Barcelona piared with Benfica, Spartak Moscow and Celtic in Group G.
• Andres Iniesta won the UEFA Best Player of the YEAR beating Messi and Ronaldo.

Andres Iniesta wins UEFA Palyer of Year

Andres Iniesta won UEFA's top Award in a night when FC Barcelona was drawn to play Benifica, Spartak Moscow and Celtic in Group G of this 2012-13 UEFA Champions League. As you can see it was a comparitively easy group even though travelling to Moscow could turn to be tricky. Benifica and Celtic would play a more fancy style of football and could be much easier opponents for us. But still being complacent is not something which could harm us. But the a look at other groups , we can say how lucky we have been. The toughest group of all is Group D, which features Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax and Borussia Dortmund. The Group A has Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Paris St-Germain and Dinamo Zagreb. Group B has Arsenal, Schalke, Olympiakos and Montpellier. Group C has Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, Anderlecht and Malaga. Group E has Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus and Nordsjaelland. Group F has Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille, Bate Borisov. And Group H has Manchester United, Braga, Galatasaray and Cluj.

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Barca - 1, Real Madrid - 2

• Real Madrid beat Barca to win the Super Cup.
• Messi scores a brilliant free kick in a 2-1 defeat to arch-rival.

Lionel Messi against Real Madrid

Real Madrid won the 2012 Spanish Super Cup with a resounding 2-1 victory over Barca at teh Santiago Bernebeu. This was incidently their first victory over Barca at their stadium in over four years. As if gifting Di Maria a goal in the first leg wasn't enough, we gifted two more Real Madrid from actually minimal of pressure. Mascherano, Pique and Valdes all were responsible for those mistakes. A brilliant free kick from Messi reduced the deficit, but Barca couldn't find that crucial second goal which would have won them the Cup. Tito Vilanova started with Valdes, Adriano, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi and Sanchez. Meanwhile Real Madrid had Casillas, Pepe, Ramos, Arbeloa, Marcelo, Xabi Alonso, Khedira, Ozil, Higuain, Ronaldo and Maria.

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Barca - 2, Osasuna - 1 | Below par Barca takes Three Point against Osasuna

• Barca scored the first away victory against Osasuna.
• Tito Vilanova was sent off meanwhile Messi scored two for FC Barcelona

Lionel Messi against Osasuna

Going to Pamplona was the most difficult task for Pep guardiola's Barca. And it looks like it is going to remain the same with tito's Barca also. We turned around a one goal deficit to win the match 2-1 at the Reyno de Navarra stadium. Lionel Messi who had a very quite night, scored both the goals in the match in a span of five minutes. Osasuna would have felt really unfortunate not to have won the match after dominating Barca for the majority of the game. In the FC Barcelona vs Osasuna Preview, I wrote how tough this match could get, that was proven to be an understatement. Tito Vilanova started with Valdes, Alves, pique, Puyol, Alba, Busquets, Fabregas, Iniesta, Sanchez, Messi and Tello. Pinto, Mascherano, Xavi, Adriano, Song, Pedro and Villa started on the bench. Osasuna lined up with Fernandez, Betran, Arribas, Damia, Flano, Punal, Sisi, Cejudo, Lamah, Cedric Loe and Llorente.

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Barca vs Osasuna Preview

• FC Barcelona will Face Osasuna in their First Away Trip.
• Barca will be looking to avenge last season defeat.

Lionel Messi against Osasuna

The defeat at Reyno de Navarra stadium in Pamplona kind of sealed our La Liga fate last season. Even though we recovered from that to take the League fight close, that effort took a lot from our players. So it's better to start the La Liga away Campaign at the same place where we really get owned up last season. The conditions there could be complete contrast from last season. Last season we played there in a Cold and Windy night, but most probably we will be playing on Sunday in a more hot conditions. But the state of the pitch could remain the same - something which resembles a dug up paddy field. Last season we lost the League title with our terrible away record. So this match will watched carefully by mot Cules and even their opponents to see how home sick we will be this season. The mood in the camp should be electric following FC Barcelona's victory over Real Madrid, mid week; eventhough there will be a bit of disappointment. And also a number of star players could be rested ahead of the return leg.

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FC Barcelona - 3, Real Madrid - 2 : All Goals Video

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FC Barcelona Wins Super Copa First Leg | FC Barcelona - 3 : 2 - Real Madrid

• FC Barcelona wins the First Clasico of the season.
• Pedro, Messi and Xavi scored for Barca in a five goal thriller. .

FC Barcelona will be taking a narrow 3-2 lead into the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup El Clasico, which will be held at the Santiago Bernebeu. It should have been ideally a two goal cushion with a scoreline of 3-1 but a combination of Referee and a little bit of stupidity by Valdes resulted in us giving away teh second goal. That second away goal do put us in a rather precarious position. After a goal less first hal the match came into life with a five goal second half thriller. As expected Tito Vilanova chose the strongest possible line-up for his first Clasico in charge. Valdes was on the goal, Alves, Pique, Mascherano and Adriano made the defense. The midfield had the usual Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta. Pedro, Sanchez and Messi made the front three. Real Madrid lined up with Casillas, Arbeloa, Albiol, Ramos, Coentrao, Alonso, Khedira, Callejon, Ozil, Ronaldo and Benzema.

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FC Barcelona vs Real Sociedad Full Highlights

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Impossible Without You - David Villa is Back

Impossible Without You

watch the Video of David Villa Scoring Against Real Sociedad below:

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FC Barcelona - 5, Real Sociedad - 1

• Barca Mesmerises Camp Nou on Tito Vilanova's Debut.
• Jordi Alba made his Debut in a match where Puyol, Messi, Pedro and Villa scored.

Carles Puyol Celebrates Scoring

Tito Vilanova started his La Liga campaign of 2012-13 seasocn with a 5-1 victory against Real Sociedad at Camp Nou. This victory has taken Barca to the top of the League Table at the end of first lef of Spanish league. Carles Puyol opened the scoring, followed by a double from Messi and one each from pedro and Villa. David Villa also marked his return to competitive football scoring the goal which sealed FC Barcelona's victory. Tito Vilanova went with Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Alba, Busquets, xavi, Fabregas, Pedro, Messi and Tello for his debut in La Liga. As I said in the FC Barcelona vs Real Sociedad Preview, Tito Vilanova went with a standard 4-3-3 formation for this match. The substitute list had Pinto, Iniesta, Villa, Adriano, Sanchez, Pique and Sergi Roberto.

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FC Barcelona Reach Agreement on Alex Song

• FC Barcelona and Arsenal has agreed deal for transfer of Alex Song.
• Barca has agreed to pay Arsenal £15 Millon for the Cameroonian International .

Barca agree on Alex Song Deal

FC Barcelona has agreed on a £15 Million deal with Arsenal to bring the Cameroonian midfielder to Camp Nou. Along with Jordi Alba, Alex Song completes Barca's transfer market activities of this summer. Alex Song has been long linked to Barca and a need to find a cover for Busquets definitely was the reason why we went all out for him. He will undergo a medical on Monday followed by the signing and the official presentation. The buy-out clause for him will be expected to set at around €80 million. This one is a brilliant signing. He had a good season with Arsenal last year. One can even say after Van Persie, he was their best player. We were always having a problem finding a cover for Busquets. Mascherano was signed for that but he got fit into the central defense.

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FC Barcelona starts 2012-13 Liga Campaign against Sociedad

• Tito Vilanova debuts as Barca Manager at Camp Nou.
• Messi, Xavi, Iniesta all are expected to start FC Barcelona's First Liga Match.

Lionel Messi against Real Sociedad

The time has arrived to start the pursuit for another La Liga title and also to kick start a new era, which hopefully will be called as the "Tito Era". Tito Vilanova has managed Barca in all the pre-season friendlies with distinction, but this is the real deal. Usually a season starts with the two Super Copa match, but this time around the League start before the Copa matches. I would say it's a good omen. Even Guardiola also kick started his campaign in Spain with the League. Guardiola, who was the most successful manager in our club's history didn't have a great start to the season, even though it wasn't that bad. But Tito Vilanova does not have that luxury to afford a average start to the season. Going by last season's record, we can ill afford to lose any points as our great rivals Madrid won't be dropping much. For all the noise the Madrid based fans and media (also the English media) makes, we went down to them only once last season. What made it a killer blow was our lacklustre performance away from home in the first half of the season. We can't afford to do the same this season. We needs to be on the game from the word "Go". In that sense we will not get a better game to start the league than against Real Sociedad. Their last visit to Cam Nou gave us a narrow 2-1 victory, but the away draw against them hurt us in La Liga last season. Watch the highlights from FC Barcelona - 2 : 1 - Real Sociedad to re-live the match.

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PSG vs FC Barcelona Friendly Highlights

All the highlights from the friendly match between FC Barcelona and PSG in Paris. Barca won the match in Penalties where Pinto proved to be more than handy.

Barca vs PSG Highlights

Brilliant Barca Training Routine

Very Unique and Strange Routine in Pre-Season Training of FC Barcelona Players.

FC Barcelona Strange Training Routine

Mascherano Extends Barca stay to 2016

Mascherano Extends Barca Stay

Javier Mascherano signed a new deal today which will keep him at Barcelona till the end of June, 2016. The club has raised his buyout clause to 100 million Euros, which may be an indication of how important he has become in the scheme of things at Barca. Mascherano, who was incidently signed as a cover for the defensive midfielder role has established himself as the most important element in Barca's central defense. He has been a regular in all of the most important fixtures and the fact that he started ahead of Puyol in the final at Wembley a season ago is a testimony of that. The signing of the deal took place at the Club office in the presence of Sandro Rosell, Josep Bartomeu and Andoni Zubizarreta.

Brilliant FC Barcelona destroys Raja Club Athletic in Pre-Season Friendly

All the Goals from FC Barcelona vs Raja Club Athletic.

FC Barcelona - 8 : Raja Club Athletic - 0

A Not-So Friendly Affair

• Absence of Major Stars annoys Hamburg Fans.
• Messi was ruled out following a last minute injury.

FC Barcelona vs Hamburg Controversy

Barcelona management wouldn't have anticipated how quickly a normal pre-season friendly turned out to be everything other than that. The club and fans were worried after the 2-1 victory at Hamburg and that was due to the injury to Muniesa. He was supposed to start featuring in first team plans this season, so that was the main worry for the club. But there was a PR disaster happening somewhere else. Hamburg fans, and rightly so was really upset to see Barca play a second string side and to make it worse the tickets were priced higher than usual. No one will want to pay more than usual to watch a Barca B+ match. And to make matters worse it wasn't some ordinary match - it was a match to celebrate the 125 years of the Club. Hamburg management did kind of anticipate the chance of something like this happening and actually had a close for penalty if Messi didn't play. Because of that Barca will get only 800,000 Euros instead of the agreed upon 1.2 Million. The entire mess was created by short sightedness of both club management and some seriously unanticipated circumstances. The latest news we have heard is that the Hamburg club is issuing refunds to fans.

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Barca - 2, Hamburg - 1 | Barca Starts Pre-Season with Win

Dani Alves and Adriano Celebrating

FC Barcelona started their 2012-13 pre-season tonight with a victory against German side Hamburg. It was the first match after Tito Vilanova has taken over as the coach and he should be delighted with victory. Lionel Messi who was expected to feature in the match had to pull out due to a calf strain. The club doctors are monitoring the situation and making sure that the World's Best Player will be available for the start of the season in top condition. Coming into the match, the jersey looked horrible on the pitch and I cannot wait to watch that horrible away jersey. The squad consisted of available first team players and a host of B team players. Vilanova has left out players who were coming out of injury and also the Spanish players who featured in Euro cup. Tito started with Pinto, Alves, Mascherano, Batra, Adriano, Espinosa, Dos Santos, Sergi Roberto, Afellay, Alexis and Deulofeu. The second half saw a different line-up with Pinto, Balliu, Sergi Gomez, Muniesa, Planas, Patric, Llie, Sergi Roberto, Joan Roman, Rafinha and Lobato.

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Star Sports to Telecast La Liga in India

La Liga Right goes to Star Sports

ESPN-Start Sports announced that have secured live and exclusive broadcast rights of Spanish football championship La Liga for three years in markets across Asia, for an undisclosed amount. The statement further mentioned about the deal that "This acquisition underlines our commitment to football fans in the region as we continue providing the most compelling content to our viewers, and an excellent promotional platform for our business partners." Business definitely, that's in their mind. Some of you would be very happy not to listen to some crappy pre-match commentary in Ten Sports. But I still cannot forget the fact that it was Ten Sports who came to our rescue after ESPN-STAR decided not to telecast La Liga anymore after the 2009-2010 season. Most probably La Liga matches will be shown in STAR Sports channel. Get ready to miss a lot of matches or get ready to watch deferred lives regularly as STAR will always give priority to EPL ahead of La Liga. Don't get surprised when you see Stoke vs Aston Villa match shown when Valencia is playing FC Barcelona or Real Madrid. With Ten Sports at least there was a guarantee that we would not miss any of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona matches. There is no such Guarantee with Star Sports, the only Guarantee is that you won't miss a single EPL match. The big question here is that the leagues have the right to sell the TV rights to anyone, but don't they have a duty to ensure that those are telecast live.

Joseph Pep Guardiola - The Miracle Manager

Joseph Pep Guardiola

What Josep Pep Guardiola achieved with Barca in four years cannot be termed anything less than a miracle. May be it cannot be termed as a miracle in the literary sense, simply because this was nothing unexpected and also was carefully planned. But still fourteen titles in four years does tell the story. Titles and individual honours actually does not tell the story of the miracle manager, it's more than that. Guardiola redined football as we know or atleast as we we were all following. In an era when football is becoming more static with unchanged tactics and predictable styles, Guardiola brought the fun back to the game. Watching Guardiola's term at Barca is the only lesson a keen football fan need to understand the nuances associated with the game. He was also able to squash the stereo type associated with the today's game(especially the English game), that "Beautiful football does not win Titles". Guardiola's Barca did play beautifully and they definitely won titles, lots of them. In an age when football is becoming more and more negative, Guardiola can hold his head high as he not only bucked the trend but also managed to instill some belief in them among others.

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Congrats Iniesta - Andres Iniesta gets Married

Andres Iniesta and Anna Ortiz

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Keita to Leave FC Barcelona

Seydou Keita Celebrating

The club has announced yesterday that Seydou Keita will leave the club on free transfer. He still had two seasons left in his contract but the club decided to waive it off. To an extend the club is forced to see him leave for free as there is a clause in his contract which allows him to leave if he plays less than 50% of the match in a season. Keita has been one of the most important player under Guardiola, even though he featured not regularly in starting eleven. Keita was the first choice substitute for Guardiola, but everyone agreed that it never did justify his talent. It was difficult for him to cut into the starting eleven and now with Fabregas and Thiago in squad, it made little sense effort him to stay at the club. He will be joining Chinese club Dalian Aerbin on a 10 million dollar per year deal. Wishing him all the best and thanking him for all the wonderful memories.

Iniesta Wins EURO 2012 Golden Ball

Iniesta Against Italy

FC Barcelona's midfield maestro Andres Iniesta has been adjudged the Best Player of the Tournament. Going into the final he and Pirlo were the major contender, but his brilliant display took Pirlo out of the equation. He was also adjudged the Man of the Match in the final. Five Barca players managed to find place in EURO 2012 official 23 Man Squad of the tournament. If we add the impending signing of Alba, then it's six.

Spain Crowned European Champion, Yet Again

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