FC Barcelona 2 - 2 Internacional, Barca Proceeds to Audi Cup final via Shoot-Out

FC Barcelona won their second pre-season game of the season in penalty shoot-out after it ended 2-2 in full time. There were plenty of changes in both half and that saw us playing in different rhythm in different half. Starting Eleven for the first half had Valdes, Busquets, Maxwell, Fontas, Riverola, thiago, keita, Iniesta, cuenca, Soriano and Afellay. With a team filled with B team players we surprisingly were dominating the South American side. In the 14th minute we went ahead with a heck of a move which was finished by Thiago. Iniesta took free kick short to Busquets who played it to Thiago in the box, who finsihed really well. That free kick was similar to the one we tried against Manchester United in Wembley, but this time we finished off the move. By the half hour mark our boys have already won the hearts of thousands in Allianz Arena, majority of them have to be Bayern fans. There were cheers for every completed pass and our boys definitely did well in that part.

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FC Barcelona Opens Pre-Season with Golaless Draw against Hajduk Split

FC Barcelona opened their 2011 pre-season with a rather entertaining goalless draw against Croatian side Hajduk Split. As expected Guardiola started with two different side in each half. The first half saw majority of Barca B players start along with the likes of Keita, Afellay and Villa. The full line-up for the first half is Valdes, Dalmau, Fontas, Lobato, Camona, Thiago, Jonathan Dos Santos, Afellay and Villa. The first half had Barca controlling the majority of possession but the better chances came from the Croatian side. it wasn't like we were not creating anything - there was a stupendous strike from Villa which hit the crossbar, another wonderful shot from Thiago after some dashing run through midfield, but all these was far in between. The second half saw a completely different side - Pinto, Balliu, Abidal, Rosell, Maxwell, Iniesta, Busquets, Riverola, Cuenca, Jonathan Soriano, and Jeffren. Definitely we started taking full control in the second half with Iniesta, featuring a new hair cut running riot. The finishing at times have been poor but still there were enough positives from some of Barca B players performances. The likes of Soriano, Thiago, Jonathan dos Santos all impressed. They all should see more playing time with majority of starting eleven players from now on.

Alexis Sanchez In, Bojan Krkic Out

FC Barcelona has made an official announcement regarding the signing of the Chilean striker on the official website. The agreement reached with Udinese will se Barca paying 26 Million Euro upfront and another 11 million later as variables. My assumption is the variables will be linked to not only his performance also to the playing minutes. The Chilean striker has been linked to Barca since the end of last season. Udinese played their part in hiking the value of a player who scored 12 goals last season, four in one match. The amount of 26 Million says how highly Rosell and Guardiola rate the player and he is expected to give cover to Barca's front line and also a bit of competition to likes of Villa and Pedro. Meanwhile as expected Barca has announced the departure of Bojan Krkic to Roma after four less than successful seasons. Barca will get 12 Million Euros for the player and also have a buy-back clause of 13 Million if they decide to bring back the striker in the end of 2012-13 season.