Pictures from Barcelona vs Hibernian FC Match

Barcelona Pre Season Match; Hibernian FC - 0, Barcelona - 6

Barcelona started of their pre season campaign well by scoring half a dozen goal against the Hibernian FC. Hibernian FC was never considered to pose any challenge, but the way the side eased past the Scottish side would have given enough encouragement to Guardiola. More over this was Guardiola's first match as incharge of the team and he could not have wished for a better result. Barcelona started the first half with Valdes on the Goal. Infront of him was Alves, Marquez, Pique and Corcoles. The midfield consist of Vazquez, Busquets, Gudjohnsen and upfront Pedrito joined Henry and Messi to form the attacking trio. In the second half the side was substituted almost completely. Pinto took over the Goal Keeper gloves, Caceres made his debut in place of Marquez, Toure was brought in midfield and Jeffren replaced Messi. Surprisingly Eto was absent from both the starting eleven and was brought in only at the 66th minute.

The first goal came in the fourth minute when a curling cross from Alves into the box was poorly cleared by the defense, the defender cleared it on to the legs of Gudjonsen and Eidur send the ball past the Goal keeper to the left of the goal with a tremendous kick. The second goal came in the 14th minute again from a defensive mistake, the Hibernian defense gave away the ball in their half and Busquets played the ball to Messi on the right; Messi cut inside the defender and send the ball past the Goal keeper to the extreme left of the post. The third came in the 16th minute when a beautiful link up between Alves and Messi which cut apart the defense, Henry couldn't control the final ball from Messi but fortunately it reached Gudjonsens and his shot was deflected ion to the goal. Next it was Pedrito's time to get onto the score sheetin the 27th minute. Messi passed the ball to pedrito on wide left, he cut inside and send a scorching shot past the goal keeper. For me that was the best goal of the lot. Goal Keeper and defense had no chance against it. Shortly after the half time Bojan grabbed the fifth goal, after a wonderful run by Jeffren in to the box. Again the defense was the culprit in that goal. Then in the 68th minute Barca rounded up a wonderful performance by Toure's Goal. That was a typical Samuel Eto goal.

Arshavin Desperate to be at Barcelona

I have earlier reported the resurgence of Arshavin rumours after the Ronaldinho transfer; the news was based on sport.es. Now it looks like Sport is adamant in bringing Arshavin to Camp Nou. They have done an interview with Arshavin; they even got him photographed holding a Barcelona shirt. I don't know how this will go with his possible suitors Chelsea and Arsenal from London. Whatever he looks good holding that shirt and there should not be any reason not to believe that he will look even better in that uniform. Find the interview here. Throughout the short interview Arshavin never showed any sign to hide his great passion for Barcelona. He actually pronounced that has his biggest dream. Reading the interview one could sense that the player is desperate to move to Nou Camp. He has categorically stated that his decision to move out of Russia is not based on any economic consideration. He stated that no other club may not pay as much as Zenit offered him. He himself suggested that Zenit asking price of 30 million may be a bit high for Barcelona. One thing he confirmed was that he may not play for Barcelona rival Real Madrid, now that's a true fan.

Goal has reported a story of Barcelona moving away from Adebayor to Berbatov. I have said this earlier, I consider Berbatov a more suitable player than Adebayor. More over the sale of Giovani could help to get Berbatov cheap and easily as it's clear that he will move away from Totenham this season. But the surprise rumour is not this, MundoDeportivo report of a possible Barcelona bid for Robinho. This is billed as a trump card which Laporta will play to get the confidence of fans back. Remember the Beckham saga, during all this nonsense they might sign some one really interesting.

Pictures from First Training session

Alexander Hleb Presentation Gallery

Good-Bye Ronaldinho

It's official now, Barcelona has agreed terms with A C Milan for the transfer of their biggest star Ronaldo de Assis Moreira. According to the official site, the deal is worth 21 million euros, plus a 4 million for performance related objective. Ronaldinho would be in Milan today for a medical test to p[rove his fitness. Technical director Txiki Begiristain explained that the deal was made possible by ronaldinho who readily renounced his right to 15% of transfer fee. He also added that the club was trying to find the best possible solution for Ronnie, where he could be happy. Whatever Txiki claim, it's crystal clear this hasty transfer conclusion was made possible by Ronaldinho's open defying of Barcelona management by staying back in Brazil for preparation of Olympics. It was clear from the time Guardiola took charge, that Ronaldinho was not in the scheme of things. The club was trying to make the most of the player and stalled his transfer by asking insane amounts. But with Ronaldinho openly revolting, they knew that they have to settle the issue as soon as possible; otherwise that could lead to unrest in the dressing room. Whatever Pep may claim, this guy still will comment immense respect among his club mates. The likes of Messi and Iniesta grown up in his shadows.

This brings to end one of most loved partnership between a club and a player. When Barcelona brought him in 2003 and to the time he is leaving, he has simply taken the fans by storm. The first three season was like a dream come true. First from the middle of the table he took Barcelona back to the top. Then two spanish league title and a great Champions League triump; all courtesy of Ronaldinho. But the last two season he has been in sharp decline. His fitness dropped; even then he was occasionally producing the magic. Hope he will recreate his magic in Milan. He should be m,otivated there as he get a chance to play with Kak and Ronaldo. Moreover he will not be the biggest star in Milan - it will be Kaka. So he has to first de-throne Kaka.

With Barcelona confirming Ronnie transfer, the rumours regarding Arshavin has suddenly sprung to life. Barcelona might again go in for a bid which could topple the 18 million offered by Chelsea and Arsenal. Nothing can be said as if now, let's see how thing unveil.

Football's Olympic Dilemma

My friend Nic, from Fcbnews.com has written a post about Ronaldinho's decision to skip the first team training and instead join the Olympic preparatory camp with a very controversial title More Indiscipline from Ronaldinho. Barcelona has stated from the start that they will not let their star players leave for low-key affairs like Olympics. Many Barcelona fans at FCBNews also hold on to the same argument of Olympics being a low key affair. They point out that why you should represent your team when football is not going to take the centre stage. This is pretty odd, what are they calling a low key affair; Olympics - It is the biggest sporting spectacle in the world. If football takes a backstage in Olympics then that is precisely because of the enormous scale of the event. With the same argument why should a player like Hleb participate in World cup or Euro qualifiers, when he precisely knows that his team is the weakest in the line? Do these stop them from fighting for their country?

Let me conclude about the situation in Barcelona before getting into the bigger picture. Who is responsible for this Olympic mess? I have only one answer - Pep Guardiola. He was the one who insisted that he will not let Messi join the Olympics. He made it so tough for the kid, that he could only conjure the courage to state his decision when he was in Argentina. Pep's statement of not including Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto in the scheme of things did add fuel to fire. Till that statement was made, Ronaldinho never stated any intention of going to Beijing. Pep is giving a great impression of being an absolute disaster in man managing. If his idea is to bulldoze through his troubles, I have to warn him now that he could be in for some troubled ride. He needs to be decisive but in matters he can control. His insistence for not letting Messi go to Beijing was stupid, as the club was bound to let him go. The club's and coach’s insistence should have made life somewhat miserable for Messi. But Ronaldinho's case is somewhat tricky. It cannot be judged or analyzed in the same way as Messi's case. Barcelona as a club does not have to release Ronaldinho to national duties. But does Barcelona have the moral authority to ask him to stay? Absolutely no; especially when it is been publicly stated that he is not in the future plans of Barcelona. The club has been insisting insane amounts for his departure. Ronaldinho might have been two time world champion but his present form is a shadow of the past. He is over weight and not fit. Instead of trying to off load him to the best place which can afford him, Barcelona still insist on high price. They conveniently for got that this is the same player who in just three years turned back the club once again in winning ways. A player of Ronaldinho's capabilities should not be insisted to play reserve games and it looks like that could be in Pep's scheme of things. Ronnie has been indulged in excessive partying last season and precisely that was because of Barcelona's inability to discipline the player. But now its clear that he could only renovate himself at some other place. Ronaldinho by making the decision to stay in Brazil could be sending a signal to Barcelona to lower their asking price with Milan. He will be fined for sure, but if they can't off load him that is going to split the dressing room. Now is Barcelona justified for asking that high price? Again the answer is no. Why? Because he is a shadow of the WPOY. So Milan obviously will have doubts about going for him; if he was that good now, will Barcelona ever think of selling him? Barcelona fans have been asking Ronnie to show loyalty and report back to club. Yes, I do agree that he is bound to do that by contract. But this cry of loyalty is same as the one we heard when Santos signed for Totenham. You have to show loyalty at places where you are respected. In both these players case Pep and company never showed any kind of respect. If Barcelona is paying insane amount to Ronaldinho, that is because they wanted to keep him here a year ago. Don't portray a scene of Barcelona doing some kind of charities to these players. In this backdrop I completely disagree with the post titled More Indiscipline from Ronaldinho by Nic. We all are fans of this wonderful club, but that should not make us shut our ears on the other side of the story.

Now to the bigger picture, if you look the whole scene there are a number of players who are insisting that they wanted to represent their countries in Olympics. In Europe and South America it's the U-21 and U-20 championship which serves as the qualifier for Olympics. In rest of the world they have Pre-Olympic tournament which serves as qualifiers. Brazil and Argentina qualified from CONMEBOL. From Europe it was Serbia, Italy, Netherlands and Belgium who qualified. The tournament it its form is an U-23 event and allows a maximum of three players who are over the age of 23 to be included in the squad. Surprisingly In South America, there is a rush of seniors trying to get into the side, whereas their European counterparts are least interested. This makes the entire event a low key affair as far as Soccer is concerned. The usual reasons given by the senior players in Europe are of course the stress it is going to cause them. But surprisingly more and more players from South America see it as a pride to represent their country at the Olympics. There is no sporting spectacle as big as the Olympics. If there is a concept of a sporting event being "More than just some sport or games" it is this. The likes of Federer and Nadal are jumping into the Olympics squad. Federer sees it as a moment of immense pride to carry the National flag at the Olympics. Most of the stars of other team events would die to represent their countries at the Olympics; but not the footballers - especially the Europeans. They all are interested in playing for their clubs and making sure that they have an injury free season ahead. Europeans club are fighting among themselves to see how many players they can stop from going to Olympics. On this backdrop the International Olympics Committee should take steps to counter these greedy clubs. They should make it mandatory for FIFA to get the three over-aged players listed in the squad released from club duties. Actually try to raise the number of over-aged players; then we will know the real spirit of European footballers. These over-paid players will never like to share and stay with other mates in an Olympic Village.