Barcelona thrash Hospitalet 9-0 in Copa del Rey [BBC Sport]

Posted on December 23rd, 2011 by admin

Fresh from their success in the Club World Cup, FC Barcelona came home to face Hospitalet in the Copa del Rey last night. After the away leg was won by Barça with a single goal, the return match was quite different, with no fewer than 9 goals, all scored by Barcelona. According to the BBC:

Aside from Messi, only Victor Valdes, Eric Abidal and Dani Alves from the regular starting line-up were rested.

The nine-goal rout at the Nou Camp did not come without cost, however, as Iniesta injured his right thigh and will be sidelined for two weeks, while Fabregas also appeared to be hurt in the second half.

Read “Barcelona thrash Hospitalet 9-0 in Copa del Rey” at BBC Sport

Tags: Copa del Rey, Hospitalet

Club World Cup – Lionel Messi beats Neymar to award as FC Barcelona thrash Santos 4-0 [Crunch Sports]

Posted on December 19th, 2011 by admin

FC Barcelona added more silverware to their trophy cabinet yesterday after resoundingly beating Santos 4-0 in the Club World Cup in Japan. According to Crunch Sports:

Barcelona’s victory on Sunday gave them their fifth title of 2011 following their success in La Liga, the Champions League, the European Super Copa and the Supercopa.

Tags: Messi, Neymar, Santos

Barça faces Bayer Leverkusen in last 16 of Champions League

Posted on December 16th, 2011 by admin

The next round of the Champions League was drawn eralier today, with FC barcelona due to face Bayer Leverkusen.

The first round will take place in germany on February 14th 2012, with the return match at the Nou Camp on March 6th.

Tags: Bayer Leverkusen, Champions League

CWC: Barcelona Cruises to the Final [Examiner.com]

Posted on December 15th, 2011 by admin

FC Barcelona walked through to the final of the Club World Cup against Santos FC of Sao Paulo on Sunday after a 4-0 win against Al Sadd. The Qatari team never had any hope of scoring and were unable to make a shot at the Barça goal even once. According to Examiner.com:

Barcelona proved to be too much for a Qatari team that opted to defend in order to prevent a thrashing at the feet of the Catalans.  However, Barcelona, with Messi creating several opportunities slowly overcame Al Sadd’s defense.  What Al Sadd coach Jorge Fossati intended to prevent is exactly what happened.  With methodical playing, Barcelona was able to pick apart Al Sadd and take the game 4-0.

The first two goals were scored by Adriano in the first half, with Keita and Maxwell scoring one each. The bad news is that David Villa will be out of action after breaking his leg during the match. While that may not make that much difference to barcelona at the moment, it will impact the Spanish national selection.

Read “CWC: Barcelona Cruises to the Final” at Examiner.com

Tags: Adriano, Al Sadd, Club World Cup, David Villa, Keita, Maxwell

Barcelona rally to claim Clásico bragging rights [UEFA.com]

Posted on December 12th, 2011 by admin

Barcelona triumphed once again at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Saturday night as the biggest match on the football calendar took place in Madrid. According to the UEFA website:

Alexis Sánchez, Xavi Hernández and Cesc Fàbregas were on target as FC Barcelona recovered from an early setback to complete a 3-1 away victory against Real Madrid CF, whom they dislodged from the Liga summit.

Afterwards there was much talk from Madrid’s motormouth coach Jose Mourinho about Barça’s luck. However, surely even he can’t fail to see that Madrid’s only goal was down to pure bad luck for Barça when Victor Valdes made an uncharacteristic mistake in the first minute of play.

Read “Barcelona rally to claim Clásico bragging rights” at UEFA.com

Tags: Alexis, Benzema, Cesc, El clasico, La Liga, Real Madrid, Xavi

Coach Guardiola delighted with ‘Baby Barca’ [Reuters]

Posted on December 7th, 2011 by admin

Pep Guardiola was in a position to rest some of his players ahead of el clasico on Saturday as Barça faced Bate Borisov in Group H of the Champions League. Having already qualified for the next round Guardiola gave some youngsters a chance to show what they could do instead. Reuters says:

The Barcelona youngsters given a chance to shine in Tuesday’s 4-0 Champions League Group H win over BATE Borisov turned in an “impeccable” performance, according to delighted coach Pep Guardiola.

Holders Barca had already reached the last 16 as group winners and Guardiola blooded a raft of recent youth-academy graduates in a starting lineup in which the 10 outfield players had an average age of just over 21.

Read “Coach Guardiola delighted with ‘Baby Barca’” at Reuters

Tags: Bate Borisov, Champions League, Guardiola

Fabregas-inspired Barcelona thrash Levante 5-0 [A Different League]

Posted on December 5th, 2011 by admin

FC Barcelona upped the pace after seeing Real Madrid beat Sporting Gijon 3-1 earlier on Saturday for a 5-0 win against Levante, currently in fourth place in the league behind Valencia after an unbelieveable season. According to A Different League:

Cesc Fabregas was the star of the show as he took just four minutes to find the back of the net with a low shot from the edge of the box after being set up by Andrés Iniesta. The former Arsenal man was on the mark again just after the half-hour mark, rising unchallenged in the area to glance a Xavi Hernández free-kick past goalkeeper Gustavo Munua. Five minutes later youngster Isaac Cuenca made it 3-0 when he took advantage of link-up play between Lionel Messi and Iniesta to coolly slot home into the bottom corner.

On Tuesday night Barça faces Bate in the Champions League, but their big test happens on Saturday when they visit the Bernabeu for the first Clasico of the season. With Real Madrid three points ahead and with a game in hand it is essential that the Catalans take the advantage. However, Jose Mourinho’s team is playing exceptionally well at the moment and it remains to be seen whether they’ll become once again flustered by the mightly Barça.

Read “Fabregas-inspired Barcelona thrash Levante 5-0″ at A Different League

Tags: Alexis, Cesc, Isaac Cuenca, La Liga, Messi, Spanish League