FC Barcelona - 4, Real Betis - 2

FC Barcelona continued with their winning streak at home in La Liga with a very hard fought 4-2 victory against an inspired Real betis side. The match started very brightly for us going 2-0 up within 12 minute, then turned into a nightmare when Real Betis equalised early into second half. But the players showed enough character to come back from that set back and finish off the game. Lionel Messi who had a rather poor night by his standard scored twice, Xavi and Sanchez completed the goal tally for Barca. For Real Betis it was Castro and Santacruz who scored. FC Barcelona started the match with a eight point gap between league leaders Real Madrid, who managed to organise a spectacular 2-1 coming from behind victory(thanks to the linesman who ruled a perfectly legitimate goal from Mallorca as offside when the score was 1-0 to the host favour) against Real Mallorca. Guardiola once again decided to employ the 3-4-3 formation. We had Puyol, Abidal and Mascherano in defense. The midfield had Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas. Messi, Cuenca and Sanchez formed the attacking trio.

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Messi wins yet another FIFA Balon d'Or

Lionel Messi won the FIFA Balon d'OR for the second consecutive time after the inception of the award last year. With this victory he has won the FIFA World Player of Year and Balon d'Or for the third consecutive time. It was a no btainer from the time the three man shortlist was announced. There was no way Messi couldn't have won it. So it was no big surprise for Barca fans, but just a confirmation of their wishes. Messi won 47.88% of the votes, whereas Ronaldo who came second won 21.6% and Xavi won 9.23%. Japan's Homare Sawa was adjudged as the winner of FIFA Balon d'Or Women Player of the Year. Pep Guardiola who missed on the awards last year was judged the Coach of the Year. Once again there was no way he could have missed that award. Santos forward Neymar won the FIFA Puskas award for the best goal scored in last year. Five Barcelona players made it into the FifPro World XI - Iker Casillas, Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Nemanja Vidic, Andres Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Lionel Messi, Ronald, and Rooney.

Espanyol hold Barca to a Draw; Espanyol-1, Barca - 1

FC Barcelona dropped two precious points in their pursuit of league leaders Real Madrid with a disappointing 1-1 draw against Espanyol. In teh 200-07 season, it was against Espanyol we lost the league title. There is still 21 games to be played yet, but maybe at the ned of the season we would be considering this match as a turning point. Barca players may think theye were hard done by the referee as he didn't award a definite penalty in the dying moments of the match. But their overall performance didn't deserve anything other than a draw.Real Madrid opened up a six point lead at the top with their victory yesternight. So it was upto us to cut the lead back by three points. Guardiola went with the best eleven available - Valdes, Abidal, Puyol, Pique, Alves, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Messi and Sanchez. That resembled a 3-4-3 line-up. Espanyol lined up as Alvarez, Amat, Rodriguez, Moreno, Didac, Forlin, Romaric, Bifouma, Verdu, Weiss and Sergio Garcia with a 4-5-1 formation.

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