Barcelona head into the New Year aiming to add more silverware to their trophy cabinet, but 2017 was ultimately a slightly disappointing 12 months for the La Liga giants in terms of silverware.
Barca marked the end of Luis Enrique's time as manager by becoming the first side since the 1950s to win the Copa del Rey three years in a row with a 3-1 victory over Alaves. However, success in the Champions League and La Liga eluded them and fans will certainly expect a better return in 2018.
At the Winter Break, FC Barcelona remains the only undefeated team left in Europe; firmly in control of the league.
At the winter break, FC Barcelona is in the most envious situation that no one imagined when everything started this season. The start to the season was dreadful; fear, confusion, doubts, sense of inferiority all prevailed. Neymar transfer saga, that too that sudden and that late into the season was not the ideal way to prepare for the season. The team looked lost; emphasized in mega scale by the abject performance the team put up against their arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Super Cup. For the first time, a two legged tie against Real Madrid felt like torture; it was too much to take for the fans; may be even for the players. Pique put it ever so correctly by saying "may be for the first time in many years, Barca felt inferior to Real Madrid". It wasn't that feeling of inferiority which actually hurt; but a feeling of "No Hope"; that really hurt the fans more. It looked like we were starting to go down the hill.
Luis Saurez, Lionel Messi and Aleix Vidal scored for Barca against Real Madrid to take Barca fourteen points clear of their arch-rival.
Barca kept on their emphatic success streak in La Liga with a 3-0 thumping of their arch-rivals and defending Champions Real Madrid at their own home ground. This was never supposed to be the script which Real Madrid fans and most of the pundits wrote. This was supposed to be a "White Christmas"! The stadium was ready for it; they were presented the World Club Title and this was supposed to be a grand celebration party. But Barcelona boys just gate crashed it - not only destroying the party atmosphere but definitely the team spirits and along with it mostly the title hopes. This is the third consecutive victorious visit of Barca at the Santiago Bernebeu, a rare feat by all measures! With this victory Barca have moved fourteen points clear of defending Champions, Real Madrid and nine points clear of second placed Atletico Madrid. That's a huge lead especially when we are not even at half-way of the league. Barca now go to the winter break with serious momentum behind them.
FC Barcelona produced a brilliant display especially in the second half to move fourteen points clear of their greatest rivals Real Madrid. Goals from Luis Saurez, Lionel Messi and Aleix Vidal capped an emphatic night of Barca.
FC Barcelona visits Santiago Bernabeu for La Liga 2017-18's First 'El Clasico'
All is set for the first 'El Clasico' of the La Liga season. FC Barcelona goes to this match with a six point lead over second placed Atletico Madid and a big eleven point lead over fourth placed Real Madrid, even though Real Madrid have one game in their hand. A victory tomorrow will increase that lead to fourteen points and that would be an enormous task for Real Madrid to surpass even if they have a game in hand (remember that game will be played mostly at the very end of the season). The first two Clasicos of the season, the Super Cup encounters was more or less a forgettable event for Barca; but a lot have changed from the end of those two games. Barca remains unbeaten in all competition since that game where as Real Madrid has went downhill since then.
Source : Barca4Life - FC Barcalona Match Pictures
FC Barcelona made the perfect preparation for the first Clasico of the season with a brilliant 4-0 victory over Deportivo at the Camp Nou. Luis Saurez and Paulinho both struck twice to give Barca a comfortable victory over the visitors; even though had Messi was wearing his scoring boot, the Barca's goal tally would have moved close to double digits. I cannot remember a game where we hit the wood work this often and in this season we have been denied by the woodwork a whooping 27 times in all competition; most of them from Messi. Barca lost Paco Alcacer early on the match but would be happy to have all of the other players more or less available for next Saturday's encounter.
Enjoy the Full Barca vs Deportivo Match highlights of the match below:
Barcelona Futbol Club will be facing English side Chelsea in this season's Round of 16 Knockout round. The first leg will he held at Stamford Bridge on the 21st of February 2018 and the return leg will be on March 3rd 2018 at the Camp Nou. For some reason Barca keep on getting tough opponents in this stage - last year it was PSG, before that Arsenal, before that twice Manchester City, before that AC Milan and so on. One have to seriously ponder whether it's just Bad Luck or whether it's something UEFA do! Especially considering that some big teams keep on getrting smaller oppositions till they reach at least semi-finals. Regardless of all that we need to get ready for two nights of very challenging football. Funny enough in my preview to UEFA Champions League Draw, I mentioned two teams in the best to avoid category; we got one from that only.
Barcelona visit Villarreal on Sunday hoping to maintain their five point lead at the top of the La Liga table. After picking up 34 points from their opening 12 games of the season, Barca have been held in their last two league matches against Valencia and Celta Vigo. Samuel Umtiti and Ousmane Dembele are both major doubts for the game, while a return for Rafinha also looks unlikely as he battles back fitness after a long spell on the sidelines.
Bookmakers don't believe those absences will affect Barca, with the table-toppers priced at 8/15 to win the game. Villarreal are available at 9/2, with the draw on offer at 13/4.
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.Walt Disney
With last night's round of matches, this season's Champions League Group stage has come to a conclusion and we now clearly knows who all moves from Group Stage to Knockout Stage. The teams apart from FC Barcelona which have qualified for the knock out stages are Manchester United, FC Basel, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Roma, Chelsea, Juventus, Liverpool, Sevilla, Manchester City, Shaktar Donetsk, Besiktas, FC Porto, Totenham and Real Madrid. Since we cannot play teams from the league we will be avoiding Real Madrid and Sevilla both who finished second in their groups. Which leaves five opponents we could face - FC Basel, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Shaktar and Porto.
FC Barcelona secured a 2-0 victory over Sporting Lisbon in the last match of the league and consolidating their top place in the group. Enjoy the highlights, before it is taken down!!
Luck is not chance, it's toil; fortune's expensive smile is earned.Emily Dickinson
Strange is football at times and that was reminded again this weekend when a set of Crazy results ended up Barca increasing their lead on top. It was quite funny to an extent, when Barca dropped two more points suddenly Barca's unassailable position in League was under threat. Suddenly Valencia could cut the lead by two, Real Madrid could get back to league race by cutting lead by two points and so on. But in the end Barcelona increases their lead on top at the league by one more point, leading Valencia by five points. The lead on Real Madrid remains at eight point even though the other major side from Madrid, Atletico Madrid have moved two points ahead of city rivals and sit six point adrift of Barcelona. Quite a turn around in 36 hours!
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.Albert Einstein
Sometimes, or may be many a times, football results are evoke the emotion expressed by the above mentioned quote. Many a result is all about the things which actually can't be measured easily rather than the ones measured. Barca's draw against Valencia was one such episode. Depending on from where you look what actually matters differ. For the Madrid fans and media, it was the result which counted. Suddenly they proclaimed that the "League is Back in Play" after Barca dropped two points. For Valencia fans and media, there was a pride in their performance; may be a bit of disappointment as they could have won it in the end. But the pride was evident from the headlines that rolled out like "Not even the Best Barca of the League could beat Valencia" and "Only Messi could stop Valencia" etc. For Barca fans there were a lot of disappointment following the unfairly ruled out goal from Messi. That would have changed the complexion of the game in itself.
Highlights of Barca's 5-0 demolition of Real Murcia in the second leg of their Copa del Rey clash. With this victory Barca moves to the next round with a 8-0 aggregate scoreline. Once again it was the fringe players who got the chance to showcase their talents.
FC Barcelona secured the passage to next round of 2017-17 La Liga with a goalless draw away against Juventus. With the draw, Barca maintains the three point lead at the top of group table. With a positive 6 goal difference compared to Juventus, we should be comfortably holding on to the top spot unless something disastrous happens when Sporting visits Camp Nou in the next match. Meanwhile the coach needs to get a bit concerned about the missing spark in Barca's last few performances.
Barcelona may have lost Neymar in the summer transfer window, but the Blaugrana are showing no signs of missing the Brazil international forward at the moment. Barca are four points clear at the top of La Liga after 11 rounds of matches and eight ahead of bitter rivals Real Madrid. Ernesto Valverde’s side are at the top of Champions League Group D and are playing pretty decent football. Neymar who?
Every artist was first an amateurRalph Waldo Emerson
Ter Stegen was signed by FC Barcelona in 2014 for a sum of 12 Million Euros. That amount is so low by today's standard that a 12 Million sum would be consider as an investment. But I am not talking about the financial investment but the emotional investment Barca put in. He was scooped in because he was the perfect Barca style keeper available and we didn't want another competitor take a look at him. And we have been proven right. Thanks to him currently we lie on top of the League and as per a summary of the latest betting odds we are the favourite to win the league. And if we did that at the end of the season, Ter Stegan would have played a huge role in that.
Difficult Roads often lead to Beautiful Destinations -
Barcelona football club is getting ready for a tough round of fixtures; may be better to say we already are in. The visit to San Mames was the start of the same and it will continue at least till the end of the first Clasico at the Bernebeu. If we comes out of this challenge unhurt we may have already have one hand on at least the La Liga title. But everyone knows this is not going to be easy! One of the major reason looks like we may be stuttering a bit after the initial high flying start in the last couple of matches. There is nothing to panic yet for Valverde but it's better he keeps the focus on the group so that things don't drift too far.
FC Barcelona more or less secured the passage to next round in 2017-18 UEFA Champions League with a victory over Olympiakos at the Camp Nou last night. Lionel Messi scored his 100th Goal in Europe in the victory.
Barcelona return to Champions League action on Wednesday night, with Greek outfit Olympiakos the visitors to Camp Nou.
The Catalan giants have been handed a tricky draw but Ernesto Valverde’s men have taken control of Group D with consecutive wins over Juventus and Sporting Lisbon. Olympiakos have lost both of their first two games in the competition this year and as such Barcelona are overwhelming favourites to record victory on Wednesday - punters using their Sportingbet Promotional Code 2018 can get odds of 1/11.
Cometh the Hour; Cometh the Man.
How things change in a week's time? Last week there was despair and fear of Lionel Messi not being in 2018 next Summer. It was too much for me to even imagine! But on Tuesday night all balance was restored and by the Messiah itself. Such was the brilliance in the performance that everyone have started the "Greatest of All Time (GOAT)" debate once again for the umpteenth time. Everything was stacked against him and Argentina - the altitude, the improbable point situation, surrounded by a bunch of player who has been massively under-performing, a Nation doubting him and the team, the haters waiting to jump on him; in the end nothing of these mattered as Messi decided to end all those doubt by himself.
His arrival at Barcelona may have raised a few eyebrows amongst Nou Camp supporters, but Samuel Umtiti has certainly made his mark. Since arriving from Lyon last year, the €25 million price could even be considered a bargain, given the consistently high form and performance of the Frenchman.
Umtiti expertly navigated his first season at the club, showing absolutely no fear of the responsibility that comes with the Barca shirt, whilst adapting swiftly to the style of play demanded as if he were born for it. His appearances were considered talismanic for a large part of the season, with the team seemingly unbeatable whenever he featured.
Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. Henry Ford
Barcelona Football Club fans could not have ever dreamed of such a perfect start. When this season started no one would ever have thought of such a start. The Club was in total disarray with Neymar's transfer and the extremely poor performance against Real Madrid in the Super Cup. From there onward things have turned around a lot, currently we lead the betting charts to regain the La Liga title with a 8/13 Odd in favour (Courtesy of the seven point lead against defending Champions Real Madrid).
If you find those odds compelling at the current point of time, as odds change from week to week, be sure to place your bet on Barcelona with a free bet from Freebets.co.uk on them winning La Liga and Champions League this season. We all believe this is going to happen anyway, might as well cash in on it.
It might seem like a distant light on the horizon right now, but in reality, the Russia 2018 World Cup is just around the corner. With national team places up for grabs ahead of the illustrious tournament, more than a few players will inevitably be thinking ahead and aiming throughout the 2017/18 domestic campaign to prove they’re worthy of selection with their best displays.
Of course, there’s no shortage of international stars amongst the ranks of Barcelona, some of whom already know the joy of hoisting aloft the most coveted trophy in world football. Impressively, amongst the 24 players in the current Camp Nou first team squad list, only one represents a country outside the top 15 favourite countries. Indeed, such is the current strength and depth at the Catalan club, it’s entirely possible that every current Barca squad member could feature at Russia 2018. Few clubs can boast that strength of quality in their roster, that’s for certain!
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the five favourite countries, along with the Barcelona players who will be hoping to book their passage to Russia next summer.
- "Messi" (CC BY 2.0) by jeroen_bennink -
When the final whistle blew at Montilivi it was after another Barca master class as they ran out 0-3 winners against Girona. Two own goals and a Luis Suarez strike was enough to keep Barcelona top and stretch their unbeaten run to 6 games this season.
It is 6 wins from 6 and all the early signs are ominous for the chasing pack including bitter rivals Real Madrid. Barca look as fluid as ever and are a real threat going forward. Teams will be scratching their heads and wondering how to stop Barca picking them apart and running riot. It often turns into a rout once they get to 5th gear.
The glimmer of hope for the rest of La Liga will be the fact that Messi was contained last night after being man marked for the entire game. His threat was snuffed out by defender Pablo Maffeo as the youngster didn't give Messi a moment’s rest. The on loan defender from Manchester City stuck to his task and was able to negotiate the mastery of Messi.
FC Barcelona continued their winning ways in the League with a 6-1 thrashing of Eibar at home. Once again it was Lionel Messi who was the chief architect of the victory scoring four meanwhile the heroes from weekend - Paulinho and Dennis Saurez repeated their feats scoring one each.
Before he moved to one of the world's largest football clubs, French prodigy Ousmane Dembélé was already being hailed as a future Ballon d'Or winner by pundits. Commenting on the young star's early career at Borussia Dortmund, Bleacher Report's Dean Jones not only suggested he'd win the coveted trophy but that he's better than Cristiano Ronaldo was when he was 20. Pointing to his decision making abilities and, importantly, consistency, Jones rated Dembélé as one of the top young prospects in the world and certainly one to watch.
When you make the right decision, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks. Caroline Kennedy
Barca completed the biggest sale in footballing universe when PSG decided to spend 220 million of their Oil money to purchase Neymar's release clause. I still can't get over that amount! 220 Million! Can you believe that? Three seasons back we were rigorously arguing why 100 Million for a footballer in pure nonsense. If that was nonsense, then what is this! God Knows! Only thing I know is we live in a completely screwed up World. Funny part is, now I wonder how much will be Messi be worth if we put him in the market. We better not give any ideas. The management urgently needs to re-look at Messi's release clause of 300 Million. Some idiot may come up with a bid! Now looking at the middle east rivalry between UAE and Qatar, will Manchester City take a shot at 300 Million? Who knows!
Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. Dennis P. Kimbro
Barca fans haven't got over the Neymar transfer thing yet! It came as a shock for all. The buy-out clause was kept at 220 Million to make sure that no one even in their craziest dreams never dreamed of making a bid. This was one guy who was supposed to become the future of Football Club Barcelona; someone who is untouchable; someone who will take the mantle from Lionel Messi and defines the club's footballing destiny for the future. But then it wasn't supposed to be. We do hear some calls of traitor aimed at Neymar; but let's all grow up; Neymar decided to take his chances to be one of the greatest. With Messi around he may not get that shot at greatness at Barca, so he decided to move and we are 220 Million to the good.
It's yet another transition time at FC Barcelona. With Ernesto Valverde replacing Luis Enrique, or better put Valverde following Luis Enrique, FC Barcelona is entering a new era. Entering into the new Era there is a lot of fear in every Barca fans mind. With the Anti-Barca media promoting the idea of Golden Barca period ending soon or have already ended; Ernesto Valverde have a huge task of proving them wrong. His first task would be to regain the La Liga title, which we are behind Real Madrid as per the odds from sport.netbet.co.uk. And then exist the bigger business of Champions League; we were the most powerful team in Europe in recent times only to be dislodged by Real Madrid who became the first team in modern Champions League history to win back to back titles.
FC Barcelona secured a 4-1 victory against Villareal at the Camp Nou in their continuing pursuit of La Liga title. With only two matches left, Barcelona is slowly running out of time to retain the title. Let's see how it all pans out with Madrid having three tougher matches against Sevilla, Malaga and Celta.
FC Barcelona destroyed Osasuna by a 7-1 scoreline at the Camp Nou last night to consolidate on the gains they made in the El Clasico. Messi, Gomes, Alcacer all scored twice and Mascherano socred his first goal for Barca from the spot to complete the 7-1 scoreline. Find the videoas below:
Lionel Messi was instrumental in securing a 3-2 victory against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernebeu on Sunday. Here are the GIF animations of Messi's glorious nights.
Lionel Messi produced a sensation display of football to secure Barca a last-gasp 3-2 victory over Real Madrid. Watch all the highlights below.
- Lionel Messi Celebrating Scoring the Winner against Real Madrid -
I think the great thing about Leo is that he continues to surprise. After so many years he is still decisive. Andres Iniesta
Lionel Messi once again proved why he is still considered the Best in the World. This was a must win game for Barca, lose this the title officially goes to Real Madrid. With this last minute victory FC Barcelona stays alive in the title race. This edition of the El Clasico was expected to a fiery encounter. It lived up to it's billing; with the pendulum swing in opposite direction every 15 minutes. When James Rodriguez equaliser came in the 86th minute, all hopes for staying alive in La Liga ended for each one of us; but there was time for a last twist; that too with the very last kick of the match. In essence this match was a battle between Lionel Messi and Real Madrid and it ended with him leaving a definitive mark with his 500th Goal for the Club. What a time to bring up your 500th!
Highlights from Barca's 2-0 loss away from home. Barca missed a great chance to go back to top of league. How many more chances will they get? Find the video below. Check out Pictures from Malaga vs Barca Match.
- Luis Saurez and Kameni in Malaga vs Barca Clash -
Defeat against Malaga? I don’t know if it is a step back but it is a missed opportunity. Andres Iniesta
There is no way I can describe the feeling that is running through my mind properly. I waited for a whole dayto cool down but still am fuming. How many times, how many bloody times? This has been the script of the whole season; Real Madrid is still on top of the league just because we don't take our chances when they slip up. Instead we go and slip further! Two weeks back when I was looking at the fixture list; for me this was one of the biggest week. This was the perfect chance for us to take the destiny of the league back in our hands. This was the week of the Madrid derby. Madrid has not been playing spectacularly but they were always finding heroes to bail them out. But I did expect that luck to run out against their City rivals. And run out it did. Their draw against Atletico was sheer misfortune; nevertheless it was a great chance for us to move to top of league and cut the deficit out. Instead we ended up like this!
- Lionel Saurez Scoring Spectacular Goal against Sevilla -
FC Barcelona continued their pursuit of the League title with a 3-0 destruction of Sevilla at the Camp Nou. Lionel Messi who was returning from a one-match suspension scored twice along with Luis Saurez who scored the spectacular opener destroyed Sevilla in a span of 9 minutes. Barca's intensity in pressing was evident from the word go, but when Sevilla thought they have seen the worst part over - the Messi, Iniesta, Neymar, and Saurez combined well to put all hopes out of the Sevilla side. The first goal came in the 25th minute and the third came in the 33rd minute. Enjoy the video below.
- FC Barcelona Players Celebrating Scoring against Granada -
FC Barcelona continued their pursuit of League Leaders Real Madrid with a 4-1 victory against Granada away from home in the 29th Round of La Liga 2016-17. Saurez, Alcacer, Rakitic and Neymar all scored for FC Barcelona in a night which may not have been comfortable but in the end was turned out to be comfortable. The positive from last night's performance was Alcacer's perfromance - he started lacking confidence but as time went, he started getting into teh game and ended with a goal and an assist.
LIonel Messi scored the decisive penalty in Argentina's home World cup qualifier against Chile. This was a crucial tie and victory in this see Argentina in third place in qualifier. The performance of Argentinian National team was less than impressive especially in second half but what matters is the result which went Messi's way.
FC Barcelona's recent European domination started on that wonderful day in Paris when Barca emerged victorious against Arsenal to secure their second Champions League title. Most of us remember the spectacular Eto'o equalizer and the even more memorable Belletti winner. But Victor Valdes kept Barca in the game with a series of saves. The three best saves was against Thierry Henry who was in sensational form and wasn't meant to miss any of those. Here are the GIF images of those spectacular saves. Enjoy!!!
- Lionel Messi in action against Valencia -
Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi was instrumental in securing a 4-2 victory over Valencia at Camp Nou. The come back from behind victory helped Barca to remain in pursuit of the La Liga title. Below is the GIF image of Messi's amazing run in the match; unfortunately this one didn't end in goal.
- FC Barcelona Players Celebrating against Valencia -
FC Barcelona continued their pursuit of League leaders Real Madrid with a 4-2 victory over Valencia at the Camp Nou. Lionel Messi scored twice and Luis Saurez and Andre Gomes both score one each. Enjoy the video.
Spanish Champions will face Italian Champions Juventus in the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League 2016-17 Season. It's a repeat of the 2015 Champions League final, which Barca won 3-1 with Iniesta being the man of the match. The two legged tie will see Dani Alves, the ex-Barca right back will face his old club after moving for free last summer. After paired in the toughest duel in Pre-Quarters against PSG, Barca was hoping for a bit of relief. But Champions League draw hasn't given us any relief in last few seasons, and we got the high flying Italian Champions. For Barca one relief is that we will be playing the second leg at home.
- Iniesta and Messi in action for Barca -
There is no shortage for dribbling talent at Barca. Most of them are pretty good in that part as well as other skills in football. Iniesta and Messi has been considered Barca's very best in recent times for dribbling skills. Neymar is threatening lately to break the duopoly. Find below two amazing GIS video of these two maestros talent. Which one is the best as per you?
FC Barcelona have been blessed with two of the best free kick takers in Lionel Messi and Neymar. Here are two GIF videos of them going for the left corner from free kicks. Which one is your favourite?
- Andres Iniesta surrounded by Deportivo Players -
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. -
It didn't last too long! the Euphoria related to the amazing come back against PSG. There is something with visit to Galacian Club this season with Barca. The last time we lost in La Liga was against another Galacian Club, Celta Vigo back in October. But this lose against Deportivo could have a huge impact on the La Liga race. In recent weeks with Real Madrid stumbling we have made spectacular come back in to the title race and now we have once again taken it out of our hands. Real Madrid who defeated Real Betis after our loss, had regained the top spot and have a two point lead at top with one game in hand. Which means they could be five points ahead once the extra-match has been played and that means even if we win all our remaining matches we may still fall short.
- Man of the Match Neymar Celebrating with Fans -
If they can score four goals against us, we can score six. We have nothing to lose and a lot to win. Luis Enrique
As Luis Enrique and Luis Saurez said, we will score six if we need to; that came true at the end of a magical night at the Camp Nou. It was an impossible task, from every definition. The UEFA statistician who gives the probability of each team to progress pinned Barca's hope for a turn around at 0%. No one can blame him; it's never done; it's never imagined either! But in the end he will be sitting in front of his laptop with egg on his face for making the most astonishing prediction ever. The team to which he gave 100% chance is booted out by the team who had 0% chance. It was that kind of a night, one where "The Impossible becomes the Possible". Two days have passed since the memorable night; still everyone I spoke with is struggling to find words to describe it. It was a night when the Grit, the Determination, the Desire and the Will of the Barca players propelled the club to greater heights. In a strange sense many pundits were ready to declare the end of this Barca era which already have spanned 12 years on Wednesday; but instead are left to wonder at the magic produced consistently by the Golden Era Barca Club.
- Sergi Roberto scoring the winner against PSG -
The entire footballing world is excited following Barca's amazing come back from the brink last night. Here is a collection of some reactions.
- FC Barcelona Players Celebrating Winner against PSG -
FC Barcelona produced the greatest comeback in European history to secure progress to the next round. Enjoy the highlight video below.
