Xavi, Puyol and Messi Contracts Renewed

FC Barcelona gave all it's fans a beautiful Christmas present with the announcement of the renewal of Messi, Puyol and Xavi's contracts. There was never a doubt of their renewal. All the players have categorically asserted their wish to stay with the club, and the club also wanted them to stay. So the fact that they renewed was not a surprise, but the stealth which the club did it caught everyone by surprise. It was just brilliant. Something which should have been just a normal news ended up being "The Breaking News". In coming days the players will sign and complete the formalities in the presence of the President and others. As we understand Xavi and Puyol's contracts will be extended to 2016. Messi's contract will be extended to 2018.

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From Scared to Over Joyed in 45 Minutes

If there is an apt title to describe last night's clash against Atletico Madrid, then it has to be this headline. Thirty minutes into the first half most of the Barca fans were a bit scared. Falcao has already scored once, he had hit the post once and almost came close to scoring another. This all happened even with Puyol doing his very best marking the most sought out center forward in the World. Atletico Madrid came out with a plan and was executing the plans with near perfection. They stayed compact in the midfield, closed down our midfield and double marked Messi out of the game. Forget shot on goal, we didn't even have a shot at goal for so long last night. Watching the proceedings it was clear that we may require a bit of individual magic to see us through this match. But from where will it come? Messi was made completely ineffective by the brilliant marking of Atletico midfield. The next option had to be Iniesta who also was struggling to run at the back four. To make matters worse we had Pedro and Sanchez competeing with each other to find out who had the worst game of the night. So the only hope was to somehow reach the half-time with no more new damages done.

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FC Barcelona - 4, Atletico Madrid - 1

• FC Barcelona emeregs 4-1 winners agaisnt second placed Atletico Madrid.
• Adriano, Busquets and Messi scored for Barca

FC Barcelona emerged 4-1 victors against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou in the top of the table clash. We went into the match with six points lead over Atletico and eleven point lead over real madrid. We increased the lead to 9 and 13 respectively after tonight's result. Falcao shocked Nou Camp with a brilliantly taken goal, Adriano responded with what could be described as the Goal of the Season. Then onwards we bossed the game with Busquets scoring once and Messi scoring twice. In the match between the top two teams in the Points Table, Vilanova went with a more or less expected line-up. Valdes was tha goal keeper of choice. The defense had Adriano, Puyol, Pique and Alba. The midfield had Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets. Messi, Pedro and Alexis made the front three. Both the teams received the good news of Real Madrid dropping points again, this time held to draw at home by surprisingly Espanyol.

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