FC Barcelona to Face PSG in UCL Quarter Finals

It had to happen, you cannot keep Barca and Ibrahimovic away from each other. We had to meet each other. He may have tamed down a bit on criticism about our boys after going to Paris Saint-Germain, but there is no lack of passion when he face us. Unfortunately for PSG he is suspended for the first leg and will only play at the Camp Nou, our backyard. The first leg against Paris Saint-Germain would be held on the 2nd of April and the return leg will be on 10th of April. We hold a slight advantage of playing the second leg at home, but that does not mean we have to do a San Siro performance again. The key will be to do well at Paris. The other Quarter-Finals are Bayern Munich vs Juventus, which is the toughest match in the Quarter Final, the second toughest have to be ours. Real Madrid has been paired to face Galatasaray with the second leg being played at Turkey. The Malaga, the third Spanish side to Qualify Malaga has been handed out a very tough tie facing Borussia Dortmund.

Re-Live The Moments - Barca vs Milan Goals

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A Magisterial Performance and the Way Ahead

Last night was "The Night" - One to remember for time to come, One we will be proud to have watched happening, One which gave a real answer to nay-sayers and the haters who said that "The Era was Over". But for all those who love to watch football at it beautiful best, last night was all about joy and pleasure. They say the "Barcelona of the Old was back" and they were right. We were playing like we did during the prime time under Guardiola. Actually we were playing better than that when you consider the tactical innovation that happened in the match and also the pressure we were under going into this match. Surely we had the luck going our way, had that Niang scored before our second goal, thing could have been tensed. But to argue that this side wouldn't have reacted to that was ridiculous. Our boys and management would have taken that into account and looked absolutely ready to score four goals in the night, if necessary. And to the nay-sayers , who conveniently forget the fact that we should had a clear cut penalty and the sending off Abate way before that event, I have only one things to say - time to get out of your fantasy world. The enormity of task was overwhelming. Let's see how hard it was - first we had to score at least three goals and that too without conceding, that has to be done by a team which struggled to score recently and conceded goals just for fun in every match, also this has to be done against a team which is going to sit back and counter(Barca's problem all the time). That was huge task and we did that with beauty and grace. From one step out of the Champions league we are back as firm favorites.

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Mother of All Come Back - FC Barcelona - 4, AC Milan - 0

• FC Barcelona secures Spot in UEFA Champions League Quarter Final with an emphatic 4-0 victory against Milan.
• Barca created history by Completely overturning the first leg deficit.

It has never been done before - never in the history of UEFA Champions League a team has overturn a two goal advantage from first leg without in which they haven't scored. Not anymore. Our boys needed to turn around a 2-0 defeat from the first leg and boy, they did it in style. They thumped this AC Milan side 4-0 to book their place in the Quarter Finals. This should hurt Milan like teh way teh 94 final result hurt us, they had one foot in the Quarters. So that's a sweet revenge. Two first half goals from Messi, both of them were sensational made us equal on aggregate. Another goal from David Villa gave us the lead and the late goal from Jordi Alba completed the rout. People used to say that this Great Team has a Great Comeback missing from their portfolio. Not anymore, this would be as good as it gets. The starting line-up selected by Tito was Valdes, Alves, Mascherano, Pique, Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi and Villa. The line-up looked like a 4-3-3 with false 9 but in reality was a much more adventurous one. We played with a three man defense and also Villa was playing ahead of Messi, who was having a free role. It was similar to the line-up I suggested in my match preview. Milan started with their strongest line-up with Abbiati, Abate, Mexes, Zapata, Constant, Montolivo, Ambrosini, Flamini, Boateng, Niang and ElShaarawy.

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FC Barcelona vs AC Milan Preview, "Hell of a ComeBack" is the Need of the Hour

“Som un Equip” (“We are a team”) will be the slogan featuring on the huge Camp Nou mosaic ahead of the Milan clash. And it's quite apt. We need the players to fire as a team and which was very evident from the first leg at San Siro. The 2-0 scoreline shocked the entire team and fan base. What really humiliated us was the fact that Milan never had to work hard to neutralize us. That sense of humiliation became much harder with the double loss to big rival's Real Madrid. There were signs of a recovery at the weekend against Deportivo. One may argue that a game against Deportivo is no match to judge against Milan. But with Barca everything depend on the way we play. So there were enough positives with our first half display, also there were some worrying negatives also(I will get back to that later). So with a deficit of 2-0, the equation is pretty clear - we may need an offensive and defensive display of the likes we haven't seen in the recent weeks to turn this around. The situation is pretty difficult - a goal from AC Milan - then we have to score four goals to go through. In these circumstances it is usual to write off the chances of our team, especially when we have never in recent memory staged a come back like this against a team which will defend deep. But as Xavi very well said after the Milan defeat - the only thing lacking in this team's portfolio is a "Tremendous Comeback in Europe". The signs were there against Deportivo, so what the team needs now is our full and earnest support.

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FC Barcelona - 2, Deportivo - 0

FC Barcelona extended their lead at the top of La Liga to fourteen points with a fighting 2-0 victory against Deportivo at the Camp Nou. A first half goal from Alexis and another one from Messi late in second half secured us the all three points. Messi has now scored 40 times in the league this season.The match may have been a usual La Liga encounter, but there was no denial of the fact that everyone's thoughts were on the Milan clash on Tuesday. Considering the importance of the task ahead on Tuesday against Milan it wasn't much of a surprise to see a lot of important players being rested. So the first eleven which was picked to face Deportivo were Pinto, (who replaced Valdes who is suspended for four matches), Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Adriano, Cesc, Song, Thiago, Alexis, Villa and Tello. The bench had Masip, Pique, Alba, Busquets, Iniesta, Pedro and Messi. The fact that both Villa and Puyol started was a source of encouragement, but I had my doubts whether this is an indication whether they will not start against Milan?

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Taking Stock of a Disastrous Fortnight

• With consecutive defeats to Milan, Real Madrid and again Real Madrid, Barca has endured the most difficult week in recent times.
• With innovation coming from strategy or tactics, the team appeared completely lost on the field.

When Adriano was brought down by Ramos in the penalty box in the dying moments of the La Liga encounter at Santiago Bernebeu, every Barca fan shouted Penalty. But that wasn't the case to be. The referee Miguel Perez waved off the penalty claims. That was a penalty, a stone cold penalty. But every Barca fan should stop shouting and thank Miguel Perez for denying that. One could measure a bit of injustice in the decision(hence the Valdes reaction), but how our season will shape this season and may be coming season depended on that decision. Thank God for not giving that penalty. Had it been given, Cules would have gone back justifying the 2-2 draw as a just result. The bottom line was that not even in a single one of the recent defeats - 2-0 against Milan, 3-1 against Real in Copa and 2-1 against Real in League, we looked like a team which can claim as the "Best in the World". We looked static, tired, devoid of ideas and passion and more dangerously looked seriously disinterested. A 2-2 result would have masked all these problems once again. Many were dismissive of the Copa defeat, saying that Copa was a not so important cup. The danger signs were already there but we failed to see it, or simply put Messi was masking the entire fault by his own virtuoso Performance.

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FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid Cops Del Rey SF 2nd Leg Preview

• FC Barcelona Goes into the 2nd Leg as slight favorite courtesy of the away goal and home advantage.
• The formation to be used has been the biggest talking point coming into this match

FC Barcelona will be hosting the second leg of Copa Del Rey 2012-13 semi-final against arch-rivals Real Madrid on Tuesday night at the Camp Nou. As you all already knew, the first leg ended in another Real Madrid - Barca stalemate with each sides scoring one each.Now in any normal season, coming from your fierce opponent's den with an away goal and a draw will be considered as a very good result. But then this ain't a normal season. This season we could not help ourselves from conceding at least one goal in every match. There is a total sense of helplessness when we concede every match. So suddenly a 1-1 result which was very much in our favor, looks like a 2-1 in their favor. So suddenly this has become a must win match. But on a positive note, Real Madrid's away form has not been any great this season. Hence we may come back to the old 1-1 situation. Regardless of our defensive fragility, the fact that the first leg ended on 1-1, Real Madrid may be forced to come out and chase the game. If that happens it should be a very open game.

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Barca Facing Champions League Exit after going down at San Siro; Barca - 0, AC Milan - 2

FC Barcelona are facing a rather surprising Champions League exit after going down 2-0 down at the San Siro against AC Milan. On the paper this was a complete mismatch with us flying and Milan struggling to find their foot. But on the field the roles were reversed. We were absolutely clueless and created nothing for all the possession we had. It was inevitable considering our defensive record that we will conceded at least one goal, but the second goal and lack of away goal effectively has sealed the tie. We now face a daunting task of reversing the scoreline, but going by our recent performances against defensively minded team it's going to be a really uphill task. We were unlucky to concede the first goal as their was a clear handball which directed the ball to eventual scorer Boetang's path. But before and after the goal we had done nothing to take anything away from the game. Roura went with a very much expected line-up - Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Pique, Alba, Xavi. Busquets, Cesc, Pedro, Messi and Iniesta. The Milan line-up was Abbiati, Abate, Mexes, Zapata, Constant, Montolivo, Ambrosini, Muntari, Boaetang, Pazzini and El Shaaraway.

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Barca vs AC Milan Champions League Preview

FC Barcelona will be travelling to Milan to face AC Milan in the first leg of Champions League pre-quarter of this season. The match will be held on Wednesday and the squad which will travel to Milan has already been announced. The notable absentees are Adriano and Villa, both recovering from their recent injuries and illness. The full squad list is Valdés, Pinto, Oier, Alves, Piqué, Fàbregas, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Alexis, Messi, Thiago, Mascherano, Bartra, Sergio, Pedro, Jordi Alba, Montoya, Song and Tello. The good news is that Xavi has been given the all clear from the medical staff and may even start the match at San Siro stadium. Barca faced AC Milan four times last season, winning two and drawing the other two. Compared to last season, this Milan side is a well depleted force - with Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and Nesta being notable absentees. The widely held consensus among football pundits is that we may find it much easier this time with our visit to Milan.

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Barca - 2 : 1 - Granada , All Goals

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Lionel Messi(Barca) - 2, Granada - 1; Lionel Messi inspires Barca to yet another Victory

• Barca secures three points in a come back from behind victory against Granada
• Lionel Messi scored twice, the second from an excellent free kick worth a watch.

Ok, this is the story of this match. In the absence of Xavi and Iniesta, Messi decided to play the play-maker role in the first half. He was doing brilliantly in that, but Alexis & co. were finding innovative ways to waste simple chances. So come the break, he decided to take the scoring task also on him - scored the equaliser in a tru centre forward fashion and scored the winner with a exquisite free kick, which left teh Granada keeper tranquilized. End of the story. In winning us the match Messi achieved yet another milestone(something he is doing so regularly, that people don't care for much) - he has scored 301 goal for Barca with this twin strike. Looking forward to the visit to Milan a number of players started from bench. The defense had Alves, Pique, Mascherano and Adriano. The midfield as expected was made of Thiago, Fabregas and Busquets. Pedro, Messi and Sanchez made the front line.

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Barca vs Granada Preview

FC Barcelona will be entering a hectic tight packed schedule with the scheduled visit to Granada in the league this Saturday. First it will be a visit to Granada followed by a visit to Milan, then hosting Sevilla at home and after that the much anticipated double header with fierce rival - Real Madrid(first in the Copa and then in the league). Considering the tough matches coming ahead, everyone could expect the likes of Messi, Iniesta etc being rested for the visit to Andalusia. But I doubt so, at least in the case of Liuonel Messi. Messi has been scoring goals for fun this season, and an absence from one match is not going to hurt him. But this one he is not going to be rested, or atleast he will not allow the Manager to do that. Lionel Messi has scored against all La Liga opponents other than Granada, Sevilla and Celta this season. So that's a heck of a motivation for him to play. Consider to the other opponents whom we have to face very soon, Granada appears to be a much easier task. But the Real Madrid also thought the same two weeks back, Granada - 1, Madrid - 0 and paid the price.

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Barca -1 , Real Madrid - 1

The first Clasico of 2013 ended in a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernebeu in the first leg of Cop Del rey. Early in the first half Cesc put us ahead at the start of second half but Varane equalised for Madrid with ten minutes left on the clock. We do go into the second leg at home with an advantage of an away goal. But we would have loved to take the win. We did really have some serious chances but failed to take any. In the end a 1-1 is a fair result as both teams fluffed a host of chances to score in a fast paced encounter.Jordi Roura went with a very much expected line-up with Pinto, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Cesc, Pedro, Messi and Iniesta. Valdes, Mascherano, Adriano, Soong, Thiago, Alexis and Villa started in the bench. Real Madrid had Diego LLopez, Essien, Varane, Carvalho, Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso, Ozil, Khedira, Callejon, Benzema and Ronaldo. in the starting eleven.

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Gearing Up for the First Clasico of 2013, Copa Del Rey 2013 SF 1st Leg Preview

• The first Clasico of 2013 takes place tomorrow night at Santiago Bernebeu
• Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are in hot goal scoring streak coming to this match.

The stage is all set for the resumption of the battle in the year of 2013. Tomorrow night FC Barcelona and Real Madrid will play their first clasico of 2013 at the Santiago Bernebeu in the first leg of Copa Del Rey semi-Final. The date of the second leg stands as the testimony towards the brilliant organisational capability of the Spanish League organizers. The first leg will be held tomorrow i.e the 30th of January, meanwhile the second leg has to wait till the 27th of February. Don't ask me why the second leg is not played next week as the usual practice. Only God could give you an answer. Anyways for the record, there is no action taking place next week. With their performance in the weekend, Ronaldo and Messi has upped the ante and expectation into this match. To make it simple, for many this is just another battle between the Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

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FC Barcelona - 5, Osasuna - 1

FC Barcelona bounced back from their last week surprise defeat against Real Sociedad with an emphatic 5-1 victory over a ten men Osasuna. Lionel Messi scored four goals and Pedro scored once for Barca. Lionel Messi has now scored 33 League Goals this season. He also has wrote a new record of scoring in 11 consecutive La Liga matches. David Villa whose future at the club is very much the talking point of the season got a rare start. He partnered Messi and Pedro in attack. The midfield had Xavi, Busquets and Thiago. Alves, Puyol, Mascherano and Adriano formed the defense. Valdes was on the goal. Iniesta, Cesc, Alexis, Alba, Song and Pinto started from the bench.

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Barca - 4, Malaga - 2

• FC Barcelona win the Copa Delr Rey QF with Malaga with an aggregate scoreline of 6-4.
• Barca will be facing Real Madrid in the semi-fianl of the competition.

FC Barcelona booked their place in this season's Copa Del Rey semi-final with a hard fought 4-2 victory against Malaga away from home. Courtesy of the 2-2 draw in the home leg, we had to win and we surely did that with a aggregate score of 6-4. We now face Real Madrid in the semi-final, the first leg of the final will be held next week at the Santiago Bernebeu. That match could be one to savor as it's been sometime we had a Clasico and we do play the second leg at home, which gives us a huge advantage. In a tricky match we went ahead early with Pedro scoring from a header. But Malaga equalised immediately. Pique put us ahead once again in the start of second half, but we still managed to lose that lead also. But goals from iniesta and Messi made sure that there were no more hiccups and we will not remain without a win for three match in a row. In a match we had to win Jordi Roura went with a starting line-up of Pinto, Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Cesc, Iniesta, Pedro and Messi. Villa, Aexis, Thiago, Song, Puyol, Adrianoand Valdes made the bench.

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Victor Valdes is a Barca Legend in his own Right

"Football is strange; Football fans are stranger,but strangest are the Journalist who writes abut football". The fore-mentioned statement could act as a bible when dealing with Catalan media especially the likes of Mundo Deportivo and Sport. Otherwise how can you explain this. A few months back when Jonathan Dos Santos decided to stay in the club and fight for his chances, they went after him. Now it's the turn of Victor Valdes, who has made it clear that he will not be extending his contract beyond 2014. They call him disloyal, ungrateful, foolish, stubborn etc for giving the management enough time to prepare to find a replacement. What did these two players did to deserve this? Valdes didn't speak behind our back nor did he tried the blackmailing tactics widely used to get a better deal. He may not get a better deal than what he had at Barca anywhere else. But he still wanted to move away from the club, the reasons all personal to him and he don't owe anyone any explanation.

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Barca - 3, Malaga - 1

• Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Barca
• cesc fabregas and Thiago scored in the Second Half

Barca continued with their excellent start of the season with a well fought 3-1 victory against Malaga away from home. At the half stage of the season, we now have a huge 55 points out of 57 points. We have won all our away games this season in La Liga. Lionel Messi opened the scoring in the first half, Cesc Fabregas and Thiago completed teh scoreline for Barca. With Villa ruled out due to injury, Tito went with a front three of Messi, Pedro and Iniesta. Xavi, Cesc Fabregas and Busquets made the midfield. Alba, Pique, Mascherano and Alves made up the defense. Pinto, Puyol, Adriano, Song, Thiago, Sanchez and Tello made up the bench.

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FC Barcelona - 5 , Cordoba - 0 Goals and Highlights

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Lionel Messi wins the Balon d'OR for record Fourth time

In the end it was the worst kept secret of the Year in the World of Football. Everyone knew who will win this one. There wasn't much surprise this time around. Earlier at the start of the season, when the UEFA European Best Player of the Year award was announced there were genuine nerves. But with Messi continuing his spectacular season, there was only one winner - He Himself. Even his fiercest rivals knew it. Ronaldo kind of conceded the award - he said life goes on even if he didn't win the award in the press conference held earlier in the day. That was a huge change from his on-stage pitch for himself during the UEFA Best Player of the Year award ceremony. Technically heddin't win teh Balon d'Or for the fourth time. The Balon d'Or has been combined to a FIFA Balon d'Or from last year. He won it last time and there is no way anyone is going to win this with him around in coming years.

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Wishing You All A Prosperous and Happy 2013

Wishing all the Readers of All About FC Barcelona a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. Let the magic of the New Year usher upon everyone and our beloved Club.