FC Barcelona News

While it looked like Barcelona should have won easily against Almeria on Saturday night, a 2-2 draw meant that Real Madrid ended the weekend at the top of the Spanish League.

With 62 points apiece, it is Real Madrid that sits in the top position after keep their 100% home record in an exciting match against Sevilla – the final score was 3-2.

Things got off to a bad but not insurmountable start when Cisma scored for Almeria  in minute 11. With Barcelona dominating possession it came as little surprise when Leo Messi scored at the end of the first half off a free kick.

However, after the break came disaster; Puyol challenged an attack from Almeria and sent the ball into his own net, not something he’ll be happy with. And then a few minutes later Ibrahimovic received his marching orders from the ref after contact with Cisma.

With one man down, the odds were now against Barcelona. However, some luck was with them as Leo Messi scored his second equaliser of the night, although he was unable to make it a hat trick and keep Barcelona at the top of the table.

Next Saturday’s match will be important for Barça; third place Valencia visits the Nou Camp in a match that could easily see Barcelona drop more points.

1-0 Cisma (min 11)
1-1 Messi (min 42)
2-1 Puyol (min 56, own goal)
2-2 Messi (min 66)

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Barcelona retained their 2 point lead over real Madrid on Saturday night as both teams won their respective matches. Madrid paid a visit to Tenerife who they thrashed 5-1, while Barça played hosts to Malaga for an entertaining match which wasn’t won quite so convincingly.

It was good to see Dani Alves back in the starting lineup after being off thanks to injury but while Barcelona dominated possession of the ball they found it difficult to actually do anything with it and time and time again throughout the match the ball went wide.

Although the first half was goalless it was at least exciting, but the 0-0 result at the break was hardly deserved. After the break though, Barcelona’s fortunes changed, with a goal from Pedro in the 68th minute. Malaga still had fight in them and continued to cause problems for Barça; and so it was in the 80th minute that Valdo put the equaliser  into the net for the visitors.

Barça’s downturn in fortune didn’t last long though. Just three minutes later Messi scored for Barcelona, thereby sealing three important points for FC Barcelona. It appeared that Ibra scored afterwards to make it 3-1, but the goal was denied, although it is hard to see why.

1-0, Pedro (min 68)
1-1, Valdo (min 80)
2-1, Messi (min 83)

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Barcelona pushed five points clear of Madrid for the space of 24 hours, after which Real Madrid closed up the gap and showed they were serious contenders too.

After FC Barcelona’s 4-0 victory against Racing de Santander on Saturday they could be forgiven for giving themselves a pat on the back; that is, until Real Madrid’s 6-2 win against Villarreal the following day.

Barça face Stuttgart on Tuesday and so had no break from training yesterday. They’ll be hoping for a better result than than Madrid last week but this morale boosting win will give them some encouragement against the German side, which beat Cologne 5-1 at the weekend and so is no slouch.

1-0 Iniesta (min 6)
2-0 Henry (min 29)
3-0 Márquez (min 34)
4-0 Thiago (min 84)

It had to happen at some stage – and with a much weakened defence thanks to injury and suspension, Barcelona finally lost their first Spanish League match against Atletico Madrid. With Real Madrid beating Xerez 3-0 on Saturday, that leaves just a 2 point advantage over their arch rival.

The Barça line up looked very unfamiliar thanks to the number of absent players, but within the first few minutes the already long injury list was even longer when Seydou Keita limped off the pitch to be replaced by Pedro – he is expected to be out of action for four weeks.

And then, in the eighth minute, Forlán ran to pick up the ball behind the Barça defence and past Victor Valdes. Atletico’s second goal of the night came from a free kick in the 22nd minute, scored by Simao.

Barcelona picked themselves up with the result that Ibrahimovic scored from a corner in minute 26. However, they were looking a little ragged and not up to their usual standard.  In the second half the team looked rather tired and despite Xavi being replaced by Bojan Krkic, the visitors were unable to find the strength to equalise.

All in all a disappointing result, but at the end of the day, one that had to be expected at some stage – with several key players out this weekend, the chances of Barcelona’s record ending this weekend were always high.

1-0 Forlán (min 8 )
2-0 Simao (min 22)
2-1 Ibrahimovic (min 26)

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Barcelona retain their 5 point lead over Real Madrid this weekend after both teams won their respective matches. While Madrid soundly beat Barcelona’s second team, RCD Espanyol, Barça won against Getafe despite finishing the match with just 9 players.

Barça started strongly, resulting in a great goal from Messi in the sixth minute. However, when a harsh decision from the ref resulted in Pique’s expulsion for a foul on Rafa in minute 25 the game changed.

One man down meant Barça were unable to dominate the game in their normal style, but Victor Valdes held up well in goal. Meanwhile Barcelona were on the counter attack and in the 66th minute Xavi scored after being set up by Messi. And at the very last minute Marquez was quite unfairly sent off; Getafe score in minute 92 from the penalty spot to make it 2-1.

1-0, Messi (min 6)
2-0, Xavi (min 66)
2-1, Soldado (min 92)

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Barcelona narrowly held on to their five point advantage over Real Madrid on Saturday night with a 1-0 victory over Sporting de Gijon.

Despite numerous opportunities in the first half, Barcelona managed to score just once – a Messi free kick picked up by Iniesta, passed to Pedro, and into the back of the net.

The second half saw the home team strengthen their attack, but while it loosened Barça’s dominance of the game they failed to score and the final score remained 1-0 to the visitors.

0-1, Pedro (min 29)

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FC Barcelona’s 3-0 defeat of Valladolid on Saturday night means that for the first time in their history the Catalan club were unbeaten in the first half of the season.

The match started off with the home team pressing Barça and Victor Valdes called in to action with a great save against Diego Castro. But after Xavi scored in the 20th minute – followed by Alves a minute later – Valladolid essentially gave up the fight and Barcelona took over.

In the second half Henry came close to scoring in the 55th minute, a great shot but equally good save by Valladolid’s keeper. A minute later Messi put the goal home assisted by Ibrahimovic to give Barcelona another comfortable victory.

0-1 Xavi (min 20)
0-2 Alves (min 21)
0-3 Messi (min 56)

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Barcelona and Sevilla must be absolutely sick of the sight of each other after having played the third match this year. The first two occasions were in the Copa del Rey, which saw FC Barcelona eliminated from the competition thanks to Sevilla’s away goal tally.

But on Saturday night at the Nou Camp Barça convincingly saw off the visitors in the rain with a comfortable 4-0 win, although the first goal was a long time coming – the goal came after Escudé deflected the ball into his own goal 4 minutes into the second half.

After that things really picked up for Barcelona, with Pedro scoring Barcelona’s second in minute 70 from a Xavi pass. And nearly 15 minutes later Messi made his mark, with his 100th goal for Barça. And the crowd chanting his name seems to have spurred him on; at the very last minute he scored his 101st goal for FC Barcelona.

1-0 Escudé, own goal (min 49)
2-0 Pedro (min 70)
3-0 Messi (min 84)
4-0 Messi (min 90)

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Having escaped the cold back home, FC Barcelona remained at the top of the Spanish League after their 5-0 defeat of Tenerife.

Although it took half an hour for the visiters to warm up and really take control of the match, when the goals started is was like they couldn’t be stopped. Messi scored in the 36th minute from a Bojan pass; a few minutes later Puyol headed the ball in from a Messi free kick; and Iniesta and Bojan provided Messi  with the opportunity for his second goal just before the break.

Although Tenerife looked already beaten, Barça’s second half attacks failed to get home until the last 15 minutes, when Bojan set up Leo Messi’s third goal of the match. And Pedro, who is originally from Tenerife,  came close to claiming one for himself just three minutes from the end; the ball was pushed into the net by Luna.

The result leaves Barcelona on top, still two points ahead of Real Madrid.

0-1, Messi (36)
0-2, Puyol (44)
0-3, Messi (45)
0-4, Messi (75)
0-5, Luna (own goal 87)

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Barcelona remain at the top of the Spanish league despite drawing at home to Villarreal on Saturday night thanks to Real Madrid’s Sunday night draw.

Despite Pedro’s early goal for Barça they were unable to dominate the visitors as is their usual style, and Villarreal kept up their own pressure. Barcelona came close to scoring again through the efforts of Henry, but in the end it was Villarreal who put the goal in the net at the beginning of the second half.

And with the visitors keeping on the pressure, it was all Barça could do not to concede a second goal.

1-0 Pedro (min 7)
1-1 Fuster (min 50)

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