FC Barcelona News

Despite higher possession of the ball during last night’s Champions League match against Stuttgart, FC Barcelona gave the impression of a team struggling to get things together. Apart from Messi testing the German defence a couple of times early on, Barcelona did very little of note during the first half; in fact both sides played uninspired football that was uninteresting to watch.

Despite Stuttgart’s lower possession it was the home team who did most with the ball, going at the Barcelona goal again and again. And of course the inevitable happened at 25 minutes with a header from Cacau.

Returning to the pitch after half time, Barcelona had used the break to pull themselves together, resulting in a much more interesting game. Their dominance was not unrewarded for long with a 52nd minute equaliser from Ibrahimovic. However, the rejuvenated visitors were unable to put away another goal to give them the away win they would have wanted.

Barcelona now have the advantage going into the home leg. With an away goal and one point from the match, let’s hope they show better form on 17th March at the Nou Camp.

Click here for tickets for FC Barcelona versus Stuttgart at the Nou Camp

1-0 Cacau (min 25)
1-1 Ibrahimovic (min 52)

Tickets for the Champions League match between FC Barcelona and Stuttgart are now available for the return leg at the Nou Camp on March 17th.

Please note that UEFA rules prevent us from selling the tickets to anyone of German nationality and FC Barcelona requires the name and passport number of every person attending the match to ensure control of the tickets. Any orders received from invoice addresses in Germany will not be processed; if you do place an order from an address outside of Germany but have German nationality we will be unable to supply the tickets and your payment will be forfeited.

Apologies for taking such a tough stance, but a small minority of trouble makers have ensure that life is difficult for the rest of us.

Barcelona beat Dynamo Kiev last night to go through to the next round of Champions League (which we said incorrectly after their last Champions League match – in the heat of the moment we completely lost the ability to add up accurately – sorry!).

Barça went done almost immediately in the cold of Kiev with a first minute goal from Milevskiy. However the team didn’t lose its head and by consistently working the pitch they took control when the opportunity came; Xavi scored in minute 33, which suddenly tipped the scales in Barcelona’s favour due to goal average.

Continuing to work to the end, Barcelona started to suffer from increasingly hard play, encouraged by the ref’s reluctance to show cards. Messi put the second goal just four minutes from the end from a free kick; but he suffered afterwards when he was brought down hard and clearly in a lot of pain.

1-0 Milevskiy (min 1)
1-1 Xavi (min 33)
1-2 Messi (min 86)

For pricing and availability of Barcelona tickets at the Nou Camp check out our website.

FC Barcelona secured their place in the next Champions League round after a convincing defeat of Inter Milan combined with a draw between the other two teams. Samuel Eto’o made his first return to the Nou Camp since departing Barcelona and made a point of greeting some of his old team mates.

Barça were clearly playing to win and the payoff came after ten minutes with Pique scored the first goal of the match. Five minutes later they came close to goal number two, but it went over the next insetad; and in the 26th minute Pedro scored the second and final goal of the match. The closest they got again was in the second half when ALves passed to Xavi who headed the ball towards the goal; but it wasn’t to be.

Inter got away with playing it rough, with Puyol receiving a bodycheck  that went unpunished, although it was after an admittedly rough tackle; and Iniesta was knocked down hard, again without punishment.

The next Champions League match is against Dynamo Kiev. See the homepage for prices and availability of Barcelona tickets for this and all other matches.

Barça are now in third place in Group F of the Champions League after a goalless draw against Rubin Kazan in freezing conditions, while elsewhere Inter Milan beat Dynamo Kiev 2-1.

1

Inter

4

1

3

0

5

4

6

2

Rubin Kazan

4

1

2

1

4

5

5

3

Barcelona

4

1

2

1

3

2

5

4

Dynamo Kiev

4

1

1

2

6

7

4

Once again Barcelona dominated the match, but once again they were unable to do little with that dominance. Ibrahimovic struck the post in the 3rd minute and there were plenty of attempts on the goal; but lady luck wasn’t with Barça.

The final two matches of the group stage will be played on 24th November and 9th December against Inter Milan and Dynamo Kiev respectively. Realistically Barcelona need to win both to go through – something that is well within their ability.

It all went very wrong for Barça last night in a shock 2-1 defeat by Rubin Kazan.

The Russian team put in the first goal of the night right at the start of the match, when Aleksandr Ryazantsev surprised Victor Valdes with a shot from 30 metres. However, Barça dominated possession and it looked like it was going their way when Ibrahimovic scored right after the break.

Despite nearly 80% possession in the second half the next goal wasn’t a breakthrough for Barcelona. Instead a Karadeniz counter-attack resulted in a second goal for the visitors and the first loss for Barça this season.

Elsewhere, Inter Milan were held to a 1-1 draw by Dynamo Kiev, leaving Barça, Dynamo and Rubin Kazan on 4 points each and Inter on 3.

0-1 Ryazantsev (min 1)
1-1 Ibrahimovic (min 46)
1-2 Karadeniz (min 73)

Barcelona took the top spot in Champions League Group F last night after a 2-0 win over Dynamo Kiev.

Despite the two goals from Barça, their killer edge seeming to be missing and much of the 90 minutes lacked excitement. With a strong defence from Dynamo and sluggish attack, it looked for a while like the match was going nowhere – and in minute 20 it looked like it might go the wrong way for Barça.

However, as frequently is the case, Leo Messi pulled something together and minute 25 saw the first goal of the match. With one goal behind them, the squad started to make some impact on the defence, only to be stopped by the keeper;  and then Dynamo got through, only to have it ruled offside .

In the second half Barça stepped up the pace slightly, although they failed to totally dominate as is their norm. Finally it was Pedro who scored the second goal of the match in minute 76, putting all the points beyond the reach of Dynamo and Barça on top of the Group.

1-0 Messi (min 25)
2-0 Pedro (min 75)

Barça go into the home leg against Inter Milan with the advantage after a goal-less draw last night.

The first few minutes of the game suggested that Barcelona was going to dominate, with attacks from Messi and Abrahimovic in the first few minutes. However, as the home team settled down it became clear that the two sides were evenly matches and it was going to be no walkover for either. Indeed, possession during the first half was almost 50-50, with neither team dominating play.

In the second half though things looked a little different, with much of the play in Inter’s half. For a while it looked as if the visitors would break through and get at least a single goal, but it simply was not to happen.

Barcelona’s next Champions League match is against Dynamo Kiev at the Camp Nou on September 29. Check the home page for details of this and other Barcelona tickets for La Liga and Champions League matches.

It took them a few minutes to get into the game against Manchester United, and those early minutes included some unnerving play by Cristiano Ronaldo, but once Barça stepped up the pace they controlled the game completely.

Once in control came the first goal from Samuel Eto’o who took the ball past the Man United defence and knocked in the ball so gently that many people didn’t believe it had gone in. However, when it was clear that the goal had been scored, Barcelona erupted.

From that point Barcelona lifted the game up a notch and Manchester never really looked like they were contenders. While a second Barça goal looked likely, it wasn’t until the 70th minute that Xavi crossed to Messi, who headed the ball into the net.

At the end of the match the Barcelona sky was lit with fireworks, while people all over the city celebrated the treble – Copa del Rey, La Liga and Champions League.

1-0 Eto’o (min 10)
2-0 Messi (min 70)

Barcelona took another step closer to the Champions League trophy last night after a 1-1 draw against Chelsea thanks to a last minute goal from Iniesta.

Following the match were ugly scenes from several Chelsea players, unhappy at some of the refereeing decisions, which admitadly had been variable in both legs.

The final will be played in Rome on 27th May against Manchester United – please note we are unlikely to have tickets for the final.