Sanchez double cuts Real lead to three [Capital Sports]

Posted on November 30th, 2011 by admin

Alexis Sanchez scored his first goals since the summer to help Barça to a 4-0 win against Rayo Vallecano, a much needed morale boost after their forst defeat of the season against Getafe last Saturday. Capital Sports says:

Barca were given a quick chance to respond to their 1-0 away defeat to Getafe at the weekend as this fixture was brought forward due to the Catalan side’s involvement in the Club World Cup next month in Japan, and they ran out resounding victors.

In addition to the two goals by Alexis, David Villa and Lionel Messi scored one each, the Argentinian player now matching Cristiano Ronaldo’s for goals this season.

Gerard Pique received his fifth yellow card for delaying the restart of play, which if it is judged to have been deliberate may have misfired; instead of serving a one match ban and missing the match against Levante, he may intstead be punished with a two match ban that would see him excluded from the clasico on December 10th.

Read “Sanchez double cuts Real lead to three” at Capital Sports

Tags: Alexis, Messi, Pique, Rayo Vallecano, Villa

Barça slump as Real march on [The Independent]

Posted on November 28th, 2011 by admin

Real Madrid surged six points ahead of Barça on Saturday night when the Catalans lost their first match of the season. According to The Independent:

Barça dominated the match at the Coliseum but could not beat goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya before defender Juan Valera stunned the visitors with the winner in the 67th minute.

The first clasico takes place on December 10th at the Bernabeu and Barcelona will be looking to make sure theu do everything they can to close the gap again. However, Madrid are looking strong and it remains to be seen whether Barça can catch up.

Read “Barça slump as Real march on” at The Independent

Tags: Getafe, La Liga

Lionel Messi from sublime to ridiculous with surgical pass to Xavi and penalty fiasco as Barca edge past Milan [Telegraph]

Posted on November 24th, 2011 by admin

Despite both clubs having secured a place in the next round of Champions League, both FC Barcelona and AC Milan were in it to win it last night in an exciting match that ended with a 3-2 win for Barça. According to the Telegraph:

Xavi produced a goal of surgical precision following a pass of exquisite quality from Lionel Messi to give Barcelona a 3-2 win over AC Milan on Wednesday in an enthralling Champions League match which also featured Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring against his former club.

After opening the scoring in the 13th minute former Barça man Ibrahimovic equalized for the Italians after an own goal from Van Bommel, himself a former Barça man. Lionel Messi then scored from the penalty spot and Boateng equalized. The winning goal was a Barça special from Xavi, which you can watch below:

Read “Lionel Messi from sublime to ridiculous with surgical pass to Xavi and penalty fiasco as Barca edge past Milan” at the Telegraph

Tags: AC Milan, Champions League, Telegraph

Barcelona beats Zaragoza 4-0 in Spain [SI.com]

Posted on November 21st, 2011 by admin

Barcelona had an easy win on Saturdau night when Zaragoza visited the Nou Camp. While Zaragoza failed to test keeper Victor Valdes even once, the Catalans put the ball into the back of the opposition net four times. According to SI.com:

Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi scored before halftime, with Carles Puyol forcing Zaragoza defender Maurizio Lanzaro into adding an own goal before David Villa capped the win late.

Read “Barcelona beats Zaragoza 4-0 in Spain” at SI.com

Tags: La Liga, Messi, Pique, Puyol, Villa, Zaragoza

Sole Iniesta strike gives Barcelona Cup edge [Capital Sports]

Posted on November 10th, 2011 by admin

Barcelona beat Hospitalet by a single goal when they travelled the short distance into Catalonia’s second largest town, in fact a suberb of Barcelona. With several regulars called up for national duties, Guardiola fielded some B-team players in front of a surprisingly small crowd. Capital Sports says:

The reigning European champions had to do without several first-team regulars due to international call-ups, but coach Pep Guardiola still sent out a strong starting line-up containing the likes of Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Cesc Fabregas, David Villa and Iniesta for the short trip to L’Hospitalet, from the Barcelona suburbs.

Read “Sole Iniesta strike gives Barcelona Cup edge” at Capital Sports

Tags: Copa del Rey, Hospitalet, Iniesta

Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas: We showed great character against Athletic Bilbao [Goal.com]

Posted on November 7th, 2011 by admin

Barcelona struggled to hold on to one point last night as they played Athletic Bilbao in a rain soaked match that saw Messi equalise at the last minute. The match was a good one and Athletic always a worthy opponent. According to Goal.com,Cesc Fabregas spoke to AS, saying;

“It was a typical San Mames match. Bilbao are a team that possess fantastic grit and effort,” said Fabregas according to AS. “We have managed to remain undefeated. The last two goals were the result of defensive errors from both teams.

Read “Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas: We showed great character against Athletic Bilbao” at Goal.com

Tags: Athletic Bilbao, Cesc, Fabregas, Messi

Eight FCB players on list for Balon d’Or [FCBarcelona.cat]

Posted on November 2nd, 2011 by admin

FIFA announced the candidates for the Balon d’Or yesterday with eight players from Barça nominated. Naturally Messi is on the list, but an article on FCBarcelona.cat lists the other Barça players:

A year after FC Barcelona had all three players on the Balon d’Or podium, the club has once
again dominated the shortlist for the 2011 edition issued by FIFA and the magazine France Football.
Leo Messi (winner of the last two editions) is joined by Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Éric
Abidal, Dani Alves, Cesc Fàbregas, Gerard Piqué and David Villa.

Read “Eight FCB players on list for Balon d’Or” at FCBarcelona.cat

Tags: Abidal, Alves, Balon d'Or, Cesc, Iniesta, Messi, Pique, Villa, Xavi

Viktoria Plzen 0-4 Barcelona [guardian.co.uk]

Posted on November 2nd, 2011 by admin

FC Barcelona secured their place in the next Champions League round when they beat Viktoria Plzen 4-0. While Barça started off slowly, perhaps feeling the cold, it was Messi who opened the scoresheet from the penalty spot. The Guardian writes:

Lionel Messi scored his 200th goal for Barcelona when he netted a penalty in the 24th minute at Viktoria Plzen before completing a second consecutive hat-trick.

In addion to Messi’s hat trick, Cesc also added a goal. And Victor Valdes created a record of his own when he became the Barça keeper with the longest period of time without conceeding a goal, which had stood sice the 1970s, an unbelievable 824 minutes, or nine matches.

Read “Viktoria Plzen 0-4 Barcelona” at guardian.co.uk

Tags: Cesc, Cesc Fabregas, Lionel Messi, Messi, Victor Valdes, Viktoria Plzen