Will Xavi Lead Barcelona to a Title This Season?

How successful will be Xavi's side this Season? Will they be able to remain at the top of La Liga when the Season draws to an end?

FC Barcelona had a rather confusing season so far this season. They strangely find themselves at the top of the La Liga summit during the winter break. It's been some time since they have become the winter Champions. But at the same time, they find themselves out of Europe's Most Prestigious Competition - UEFA Champions League; and that too in a rather disastrous fashion. And they also lost the First Clasico in a similar way against the Current Champions.

Despite all these most of the bookies have Barcelona as their top target to win La Liga this season. But in reality how good is Barcelona's odds of gaining silverware, that too the most prestigious one in Spain this season?

Continue Reading...

Barcelona Drawn in Group Death in UEFA Champions League

Barcelona joins Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in Group C, which is the Group to watch out for in this season's Champions League.

If Xavi was hoping to catch a break in his second year, all hopes were dashed with last night's Champions League draw. Barcelona has been drawn in Group C, which is considered the group of death in this season. Barcelona is joined by Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Viktoria Plzeň in the Group.

Barcelona is on the path of revival and this pairing ideally should not scare us. But in all honesty, we all were wishing for a lesser tough group. That would have eased the season, but now we have to be on our toes every moment. There is no room for complacency and mistakes in this Group for any side. Even the simplest of mistakes could cost dear.

Continue Reading...

Lewandowski Signs for Barcelona for 45 Million Euros

Barcelona have confirmed the signing of the current FIFA Player of the Year, Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich for 45 Million.

Robert Lewandowski has finally become a Barcelona player, or at least once he completes the medical which is just a formality. This has to be the most high-profile signing Barcelona did in a couple of seasons.

This seriously improves Xavi's attacking arsenal. The Polich maestro guarantees tons of goals even if he may be on his way down. This also improves Barcelona's marketing image, which was lacking a star to pin their campaign on.

Continue Reading...

SGOnlineCasino - Is De Jong to Manchester United a Done Deal?

The Dutch Midfielder could be joining his former Manager at Manchester United soon.

With the arrival of Erik ten Hag in Manchester United, the future of Frankie De Jong at Barcelona was numbered. His potential transfer tothe Manchester side was a blessing in disuise for both the club, both struggling in the mess of their own making

As I explained in the last article, the exit of Frankie De Jong could be the most important task to be achieved at Barcelona in this transfer season. The financial situation of Barcelona is in such a mess that the only option of raising some money is to sell the beloved Dutchman. As per Online Sports Betting SG, the odds of Dutch man joining Man U is very high.

Continue Reading...

96ACE - Odds of Xavi's and Barcelona's Success this Season? Uncertainty is the Only Answer!

Xavi would have hoped for some reinforcement and a proper settling of his team. But the reality is quite different. Chaos could be the only constant at Barcelona!

What Xavi has done with this Barcelona side last season or half a season has been quite remarkable. Many pundits considered his appointment a foolish one. Others considered it a very risky move, especially from Xavi's point of view. He was given nothing new and inherited a very dysfunctional set of players and a team which was playing without any passion.

Xavi but did wonder with that kind of a team. The very fact that this team became a passionate one was a testimonial of what Xavi brought to the club - Identity and Passion. The results were secondary, and to some extent, everyone was surprised with Barcelona finishing second. Remember, we were thinking about not qualifying for Europe at all when he arrived!

Continue Reading...

Why Barcelona should Sell Frankie De Jong?

Frankie De Jong looks like the only option Barcelona have got to raise money this summer. Even though it will complicate their plans, keeping him at the club this season may not be an option at all.

If necessity is the mother of invention, urgency is the uncle of change.Nell Scovell

Urgency, that's the catchword at Barcelona at the moment. Everything we do is driven not only by necessity but also by the "urgency of that necessity". It may sound confusing, but then confusion has been the state of Affairs in Barcelona for more than a year.

No Club has been hit hard by the Pandemic like Barcelona. From being one of the biggest powerhouses in World Football, Barcelona has been reduced to an average player on the global stage. Many of the fans and Club's supporters will blame the Pandemic, but in their inner self, they also agree that it was just a trigger. Everything that happened before it was the real cause of the rot.

Continue Reading...

Who are FC Barcelona looking to add to their roster during the January transfer window?

With the January transfer window fast approaching, many club chairmen and head of recruitment will be looking at their squads, to see which positions need adding to. It can be a difficult time to find players at a reasonable price, but those who are desperate to improve their form will happily pay whatever is necessary, to make sure they get the players they require.

Just as each match has its own set of odds, once a transfer rumour is announced, many soccer fans will look for the betting odds to see how likely it is that a player's transfer will actually happen.

Continue Reading...

Barca hopeful for Europa League cheer

source: @FCBarcelona | Twitter

FC Barcelona will be competing in Europe’s second club competition for the first time in 17 years in February, following the humiliating exit from the Champions League group stage earlier this season.

The Blaugrana needed a miracle in their final group game to progress to the knockout stages of the continent’s premier club competition, but barely fired a shot in anger against Bayern Munich and were dumped out by a second 3-0 loss to the German champions.

Continue Reading...

Latest news from FC Barcelona

For many years, soccer fans have enjoyed the thrills and excitements that La Liga has to offer. In the last few seasons alone, we have seen Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona win the league, each with very strong sides who looked like they would go on to dominate for some time. Thankfully, soccer isn’t that predictable, with all of these sides having experienced dips in form.

Barcelona are in one right now, having started the season very poorly. They are now on their winter break, and soccer bettors will be taking time to evaluate the Catalan’s sides odds in their coming fixtures in January.

Continue Reading...

Barça before the second half of the season: Cautious optimism at the Camp Nou

Just one win in December! And with 3: 2 against Kellerkind Elche, they were actually quite happy. Hardly any club in the Primera División in Spain longed for the winter break as much as FC Barcelona. The "returnees" and a few new signings are now hoping for a good start into the new year.

It was already clear to everyone in the summer that after the fundamental upheaval at FC Barcelona (including Messi's departure!) this season, it was hardly a question of playing for the championship.

Continue Reading...

Xavi's Struggling to Kick Old Habits Out of Barcelona. Barcelona Still Have Hopes Left!

With Xavi at helm, we have seen enough reason for hopes. But the fear still lingers around the background with the team collapsing towards the end of every match. This won't be an easy task for Xavi, and the good news is that Xavi acknowledges the same.

Barcelona moved to the 7th spot in the La Liga ranking with a 3-1 victory over Villareal. Many could be fooled thinking that the match was one-sided or at least an easy affair looking at the scoreline. Nothing could be far from the truth! Barcelona was pretty lucky to escape with three points at the end of the match.

Xavi: "It's an amazing victory in an extremely difficult stadium. We got lucky. That's football. Sometimes luck helps you and sometimes it doesn't." pic.twitter.com/5luNULzED8

— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) November 27, 2021

Barcelona's new coach, Xavi Hernandez didn't hide the fact that the team got lucky last match. He also acknowledged that times will be tough and these tough times will decide Barcelona's season this season. He was happy seeing the results of the hard work that they put in the training. Even though the results were not fully satisfactory.

Continue Reading...

Barcelona's Champions League Hopes Hangs by a Thin Invisible Thread

With the failure to win against Benfica, Barcelona now needs a positive result in Allianz Arena, and that may be not enough!

In the end, Barcelona has to be considered extremely lucky to be still alive in the competition, even though that hope is more or less extinguished the moment you look into the next match. Benfica, who were the second-best team for the majority of the match had a great chance to secure their passage at the end. One has to wonder whether they have to pay a huge price for that miss.

Barcelona's hopes very much lies in the hope that Dinamo Kiev will be able to win against Benfica away from home. Barcelona's last match of the group is against Bayern Munich away from home. Getting a point from that itself is going to be very tough, but Barcelona will be hoping to prevent a massacre in the first place.

Continue Reading...

Barcelona FC: There is Light at the End of the Tunnel

It is safe to say that Barcelona FC are having a bad time as of late, but all is not lost for them just yet. Find out more here.

Heading into the November international break, Barcelona sit in ninth spot in the table, 11 points behind Real Sociedad, who are surprisingly sitting at the top of the table, having just lost the one game all season.

They are also 11 points behind Real Madrid and Sevilla, and six points behind Atletico Madrid in 4th spot.

Continue Reading...

Barcelona's next Four Games & Predictions

While they still fall under the ‘must-watch’ teams when it comes to watching football on tv, Barcelona have had a poor start to their season will be desperate to establish some consistency over the next four games. Ronald Koeman's men avoided defeat to Granada at Camp Nou at the buzzer last time out as Ronald Araujo's 90th-minute equaliser cancelled out Domingos Duarte's second-minute deadlock-breaker.

While the Catalans remain unbeaten in La Liga after four matches, they have cast doubt on their ability to compete for Champions League glory with a dismal showing against Bayern Munich in their Group E opener. The next few games could prove decisive for Koeman's future in Cataluyna as we take a look at Barcelona's four upcoming fixtures.

Continue Reading...

Barcelona's Title Chances this Season

After a torrid summer, highlighted by Lionel Messi's heartbreaking farewell, Barcelona have a point to prove this season and convince the public that they can win titles without their long-serving stalwart.

Messi played a prominent role in helping the Catalans establish a long-term dominance of Spanish football and grow into one of Europe's fiercest sides. However, as Sports Today covered in extensive detail over the summer, the legend is no longer with Barca.

Continue Reading...

The Last thing FC Barcelona Fans should Worry about in Granada Match is the Result

The one thing Barcelona fans should take comfort with the performance against Granada is the scoreline. The rest of all was atrocious, especially what Koeman is doing to this side.

What did we witness last night at the revered Camp Nou! The Cathedral of 'Tiki-Taka' witnessed an atrocious performance on its pitch, which would have left the earlier generations shell shocked. The fact that Barcelona ended the match with Pique and Luke De Jong as the centre forward paints the reality at Barcelona.

Barcelona should consider themselves lucky to have garnered a point out of this match. We may have created more chances, but none of them was clear cut by the usual Barcelona standard. Ironically, Ronald Araujo scored the equaliser, he was the only player who looked like scoring a goal in the whole match.

Continue Reading...

Barcelona Surrender without a Fight to Bayern Munich | FC Barcelona - 0: Bayern Munich - 3

Bayern bossed Barcelona on the Camp Nou pitch like they were taking an evening stroll. Barcelona came well short of putting up a fight. Whether they were interested?

The final whistle came with a huge sigh of relief for many fans including myself. There was a sense of relief that this result was somewhat justifiable to ourselves. This wasn't a humiliation, and Bayern didn't have that many chances also.

In all this, we also validate an unpleasant truth which we all knew beforehand but was not willing to accept. This match showcased the gap between FC Barcelona and other superpower clubs in Europe. We are technically a mid-table team in Europe. Bayern played in second gear for most of the game, shifted momentarily to third gear to score the goals and went back. It was a stroll in the park.

Continue Reading...

Real Season Starts for FC Barcelona with Scary Bayern Encounter

Barcelona meets the German Champions for the first time after that horrible 8-2 losses.This time Lionel Messi won't be there, last time even that wasn't much of a help!

Let's be honest, if there has been a time not to face the German Champions, that could be this. Some would say, playing them early is a good option. However, I have a completely different opinion about it. Playing Bayern Munich when we are not sure about our best eleven is quite scary. And to make matters worse, many are out of this encounter and many may have fitness issues.

If the odds we see the in the Official OlyBet website paints a realistic picture, we should be pretty happy with anything other than an absolute mauling. Maybe it may turn out to be to our advantage. After all, when the expectations are less, Barcelona is not expected to put up a show. Instead, they could try to grind out the match and at least score an upset!

Continue Reading...

How impactful is the loss of Messi for FC Barcelona?

The speculation of Lione Messi leaving Barcelona in search of a new challenge became a reality during this transfer window. The talismanic Argentinian eventually departed the Nou Camp for Paris St Germain.

The move signaled the end of a glittering career for Messi at Barcelona. He left the Catalan club with 10 La Liga winners medals, seven Copa Del Rey titles and four Champions Leagues spanning nearly 800 appearances.

Continue Reading...

FC Barcelona Sells Antoinne Griezmann to Atletico Madrid in a Deferred Deal

The French striker joins his former club in a deal which is currently marked as a loan, but in effect is a transfer as there is an obligatory buy clause in the next summer. Does it indicate Atletci will be letting go of Saurex next summer?

There was a bit of bewilderment when I heard first of the deal involving the loaning out of Griezmann to Atletico Madrid by FC Barcelona. With the mandatory buy clause inserted, this was in effect a transfer camouflaged as a loan deal. But once you take to digest the news, slowly things will start to fall in place.

The biggest concern for me was why Atletic was agreeing to this deal? The fact that we will be strengthening Atletico ( who for the first time in history have become the favourite to retain their La Liga title ) never bothered me. Such is the mess we are in financially. Atletico will be paying his full salary, that's the only thing that mattered.

Continue Reading...