FC Barcelona News

Barcelona was full of blaugrana shirts and the sense of excitement ever present during the build up to the big match at the Nou Camp last night. In the stadium the atmosphere was electric, and despite each team’s strong sense of purpose Samuel Eto’o warmly greeted ex-team mates Xavi Hernández and Victor Valdes before going onto the pitch.

From the start it was clear how the two teams intended to play, with Barça purely on the attack while Inter playing to defend their 3-1 advantage from the first leg of the semi-final.

The Catalans had huge possession throughout the match, holding onto the ball for 75%. But try and try and try as they might, the Inter defense just wouldn;’t allow them through.

Early on, in the tenth minute, Ibrahimovic got a yellow card which looked like it should have been a penalty for Barça, his ripped shirt evidence of who the victim really was. And what could have been the pivotal point of the game came in the 27th minute when Thiago Motta received a straight red card – he’d already got a yellow – for a completely unnecessary foul of Sergei Busquets. After receiving his marching orders, Motta was clearly upset, and launched another attack on Busquets showing little respect for his former team or team mates.

Down to 10 men, Inter continued to defend well. Despite some changes – Maxwell for Milito and Bojan for Ibra – time and time again Barcelona was unable to find the space to work their magic; until finally in the 84th minute Pique put it into the back of the net, although replays show he was probably offside.

Barcelona seemed to gain energy with the goal and kept on at it. When Bojan put the goal in the net a few minutes later it looked like Barça had done it; however, the goal was disallowed for a handball from Touré Yaya.

All in all a great match, with Barcelona fighting until the end. It’s a shame they couldn’t do enough to get that second goal, but they needn’t hang their heads in shame at the result.

1-0, Piqué (min 84)

Barcelona suffered a disappointing defeat last night at the hands of Inter Milan in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.

Barça was looking a little ragged at the start and the hosts seemed to have far too much possession at the beginning of the game. However, things looked like they might go Barcelona’s way when Pedro scored a fantastic goal in the 19th minute after Maxwell shot the ball back inside the area; but 10 minutes later and Inter equalised with a goal from Sneijder.

And the second half got off to a bad start when Maicon reached the goal just three minutes in. While Barcelona had some opportunities they were unable to make it count and at 60 minutes Milito scored for Inter, although he was almost certainly offside.

With such a heavy defeat, Barça is going to have to pull out all the stops if they are to have any chance of reaching the final; they need to beat Inter 2-0 next week at the Nou Camp, but to be really certain of defending the Champions League title in Madrid they’ll need to be aiming for 4 goals.

0-1 Pedro (min 19)
1-1 Sneijder (min 29)
2-1 Maicon (min 48)
3-1 Milito (min 60)

After the 2-2 scoreline against Arsenal last week there was little room for complacency when The Gunners came to the Nou Camp last night. And with Puyol and Pique each serving a suspension, Barça was forced to field a severely depleted defence.

But after Arsenal’s first goal in the 18th minute it all went Barcelona’s way – or more correctly Lionel Messi’s – when the Argentinian scored a staggering four goals for a 4-1 victory taking Barça through to the Champions League semi-finals against Inter Milan later this month.

Click here for tickets for the Champions League semi-final between FC Barcelona and Inter Milan

In some ways the match was a complete reversal of the first leg, with most of the really decisive action happening in the first half. Although Barcelona started off with high possession as usual, Arsenal kept breaking the flow of the game, and the result was a rather scrappy match to watch.

And then disaster struck in the 18th minute with a goal from Bendtner after some poor defence from the Catalans. However, just 2 minutes later Leo Messi equalised with a shot from the edge of the box.

Barcelona’s second goal came in the 36th minute from an Abidal pass in the area, showing the visitors who was in the driving seat. And a few minutes later, in the 41st minute, Messi ran forward with the ball and chipped it over the keeper and into the goal for his hat-trick.

With the match all but decided in the first half, the pace of the second half was much slower. However, Arsenal showed they had not given up and came close to scoring on two occasions. The first was in minute 72, when a Bendtner header struck the post – although even if it had gone in he was ruled offside. And in the 82nd minute Arsenal again came close, with a shot the struck the corner of the post.

With the game looking like it was won, Messi put in a final effort in an amazing display of football. He dummied the ball around the Arsenal defence almost like he was two different players; shot the ball towards the goal, which was deflected by the Arsenal keeper; lined the ball up again and… GOAL!!! It was the goal keepers worst nightmare, straight between his legs.

0-1 Bendtner (min 18)
1-1 Messi (min 20)
2-1 Messi (min 36)
3-1 Messi (min 41)
4-1 Messi (min 86)

FC Barcelona are looking like they’re right at the top of their game, which is good news for the forthcoming El Classic against Real Madrid on Saturday at the Bernabeu. And if they carry on like this they’ll be returning to the Bernabeu at the end of May for the Champions League final.

Barcelona looked like they were going to be a hard act to beat last night at the Emirates stadium in the first leg of the Champions League quarter finals against Arsenal. Within the space of 2 minutes Barcelona had been relentless in their search of the goal and it is a miracle that they didn’t score. In fact Arsenal only seemed to get into the match towards the end of the first half.

The visitors completely dominated, with Arsenal seeming to struggle to know how to respond, but the first half ended goalless all the same.

When the teams came on after the break the match was far more balanced with Barça’s strategy of scoring early having failed. However, Barcelona’s first goal came within a few minutes of the restart, with a goal from Ibrahimovic. And in the 58th minute Ibra scored again, seemingly tying up the result for the Catalans.

However, football doesn’t always work that way and just three minutes later it was Arsenal’s turn to score. Still looking like Barcelona would take the victory back to the Nou Camp, the 83rd minute saw a red card to Puyol and a penalty awarded to Arsenal – a mistake on the ref’s behalf from what I’ve seen.

That gave Arsenal the chance they wanted and immediately equalised to 2-2. Barcelona’s job was now to make sure the held on to that draw for the advantage going into the home leg, but without Puyol and Pique – the latter received another yellow card and will be forced to sit the match out – Barça’s defense will be weak.

All in all a good match to watch, but based on the first few minutes, an unexpected result.

Pep Guardiola said that his team would be looking for goals, and last night he was as good as his word; FC Barcelona’s decisive 4-0 win over Stuttgart clearly sent out a message that the Catalans intend to be there at the Madrid final on Saturday 22nd May 2010 and Barça’s fans were chanting as much last night.

Barça’s dominated possession throughout in front of a packed Nou Camp and the first goal wasn’t long in coming – in the 12th minute Leo Messi ran forward into the Stuttgart area and shot the ball over the keeper, looking almost like it wouldn’t go in. Immediately Stuttgart staged a counter attack, but it fizzled out against Barcelona’s defence.

Barça kept up the attack, which paid off again in minute 22 when an extended attack on the Stuttgart goal went rewarded with a goal from Pedro.

Barcelona continued to control the game through the rest of the first half and while there were more opportunities, nothing went home. Back on after the break, Messi continued to threaten the Germans and in the 59th minute Alves passed the ball back to Messi on the edge of the box, who put the ball into the net to make it 3-0.

Not content with what was almost certainly going to be a clear victory, Barça kept up the pressure. And when Bojan came on in place of Iniesta he was able to put his talent to good use, scoring in the 89th minute.

1-0 Messi (min 12)
2-0 Pedro (min 22)
3-0 Messi (min 59)
4-0 Bojan (min 89)

The draw for the quater finals takes place on Friday. Apart from FC Barcelona, the following teams remain in the Champions League:

Bordeaux
Inter Milan
Bayern Munich
CSKA Moscow
Lyon
Arsenal
Manchester United

We will have tickets for the home leg of the quarter finals (30/31 March and 6/7 April) although supply will be subject to UEFA ticketing regulations. For current availability of Barcelona Tickets see the home page.

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.