FC Barcelona News

FC Barcelona took the Spanish league title last night in a 4-0 win against Valladolid, while Real Madrid’s hopes evaporated in a 1-1 draw against Malaga. Both Valladolid and Malaga were fighting relegation and had as much to play for as the arch-rivals at the top of the league, but in the event it was Malaga who saved their own skin.

The game started with Barça playing rather nervously and it wasn’t until the 26th minute that the first game came when Prieto put the ball in his own net after deflecting a shot from Pedro; two more minutes and Pedro put the ball in the net for Barcelona’s second goal.

Messi also played a starring role, with his first goal in the 62nd minute off Touré Yaya; he also set up Messi’s second goal in the 76th minute.

With the final whistle blown the crowd and team celebrated in style, while elsewhere across the city fireworks and horns celebrated the success of FC Barcelona; the city; and Catalonia.

1-0 Luis Prieto (min 26)
2-0 Pedro (min 28)
3-0 Messi (min 62)
4-0 Messi (min 76)

The title will be Joan Laporta’s last as president of Barça; the next few months will see club elections and a new era will thus begin; who knows if it will be anywhere near as successful as the Laporta era, which has seen a real renaissance in the fortunes of the club.

Saturday night’s match was the penultimate of the season, and with a single point between Barcelona and Real Madrid and could have been decisive.

To ensure no team had any kind of advantage from knowing the result of another match, the Spanish league therefore decided all matches should be played at the same time; therefore at 21:00 across Spain on Saturday, Spanish fans were glued to their own game as well as their rivals. That meant that across Catalonia fans of FC Barcelona were keeping up to date with the Real Madrid match. And while it looked for a while like they were struggling, in the end they scored a decisive 5-1 win against Athletic Bilbao.

Meanwhile Barça were in Sevilla; and while much of the match looked like it was all going their way with goals from Messi, Bojan and Pedro, the last 20 minutes gave them a scare; two goals in the 69th and 71st minute from Sevilla meant that three points started to look far from certain.

The end result was a win from both Barça and Madrid, which means the final match of the league decide the league.

0-1, Messi (min 5)
0-2, Bojan (min 28)
0-3, Pedro (min 61)
1-3, Kanouté (min 69)
2-3, Luis Fabiano (min 71)

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Barcelona extended their lead over Real Madrid last night with a rain soaked 4-1 win against Tenerife last night. Again Messi scored two goals, and while the visitors kept in the game during the first half, Barça was able to outlast them in the second, when three of the goals came in.

While Barça are now 4 points clear of Real Madrid, the galacticos play Mallorca tonight and so may well close up the gap.

1-0, Messi (min 16)
1-1, Román (min 38)
2-1, Bojan (min 63)
3-1, Pedro (min 77)
4-1, Messi (min 93)

Barcelona collected three points against Villarreal on Saturday night in a 4-1 win, with goals from Messi, Xavi and Bojan. Meanwhile Real Madrid’s match against Osasuna looked like it would end in a 2-2 draw; however, a last minute goal from Cristiano Ronaldo ensured that Madrid kept hold of the points and are still snapping at Barça’s tail, just one point behind in the league.

0-1 Messi (min 18)
0-2 Xavi (min 33)
0-3 Bojan (min 42)
1-3 Llorente (min 67)
1-4 Messi (min 87)

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)

FC Barcelona held on to all the points on Saturday evening, in an early kick off against Xerez, but with with Real Madrid also winning their match, Barcelona is still clinging onto the league table by a single point.

Although Jeffren and Henry put Barça ahead early on, the visitors continued to make life hard for them until well into the second half – they scored a goal in the 24th minute to narrow the gap to 2-1 and missed two opportunities. However, Ibrahimovic sealed the victory five minutes into the second half.

This was a welcome victory ahead of the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday, when they will really need to pull out all the stops. After their 3-1 defeat by Inter last Tuesday a 2-0 victory is the minimum they need to go through; however, the Italians are unlikely to make it that simple.

1-0 Jeffren (min 13)
2-0 Henry (min 23)
2-1 Bermejo (min 24)
3-1 Ibrahimovic (min 55)

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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)

FC Barcelona’s lead over Real Madrid dropped to a single point after drawing in the Barcelona derby, while Real Madrid beat Valencia at the Bernabeu.

Barça took the short trip to Espanyol’s new stadium at Cornellá on Saturday, where the first half saw them kept under pressure and unable to find their usual style. There was plenty of rough play too, with two yellow cards handed out to Espanyol before Alves picked one up in minute 24.

Barcelona looked better in the second half, and play started to flow. Even after Alves received his second yellow in the 61st minute Barça dominated, but despite some attempts on the goal they were unable to score for those additional two points.

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Barcelona extended its lead at the top of the Spanish league last night after a 3-0 win over Deportivo. Although the Catalans went one goal up thanks to Bojan in the 15th minute, the players looked tired after their matches against Arsenal and Real Madrid and it was far from clear that they would keep the three points available.

However, in the 68th minute things changed, with a long shot from Pedro that soared through the air and over the defence and keeper and straight into the net. Just four minutes later it was the turn of Touré Yaya to score and Barça’s victory was in the bag.

With a much more comfortable margin both the players and crowd started to enjoy the match more; while neither team stopped trying, a Mexican wave went round the stadium, only petering out as Barça attack came close to another goal.

1-0 Bojan (min 15)
2-0 Pedro (min 68)
3-0 Touré Yaya(min 72)

Real Madrid plays against Almeria tonight, which should be an easy three points, with Barça crossing town to play Espanyol on Saturday night and then heading to Italy for Tuesday’s match against Inter Milan. Espanyol’s keeper, Idriss Carlos Kameni, was sent off last night and won’t be playing in the match against Barça.

Barcelona is back at the top of the league table after a classic 2-0 defeat of Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Saturday night!

Although there are still seven matches remaining of the season, it is a huge moral boost for the Catalans and has really dented Real Madrid’s self-belief. It is always difficult to put “El Clasico” in any real perspective as it is hyped so much throughout Spain, which it so often fails to live up to (although last season’s 6-2 defeat of Real Madrid at the Bernabeu certainly DID). However, Saturday’s match was the forth El Clasico won by Pep Guardiola and Real Madrid’s first home loss this season.

The match started with both teams looking a little desperate and a long way from playing their best. Barça’s first goal came in the 32nd minute from a clearly annoyed Messi, sick and tired of the constant fouling from Madrid.

To me – and I’m hardly unbiased -  it looked like Madrid were going in hard throughout the match, but players from both teams received yellow cards; Messi, Xavi, Alves and Maxwell were all cautioned, but although Ramos picked up one yellow for Madrid, there were two other occasions which looked like they were clear yellow cards and he should have received his marching orders.

After the break one of the heroes of the night was Victor Valdes, who faced dangerous moments in the 51st and 55th minute when Van der Vaart and Ronaldo managed to break through, and then in the 69th minute – it constantly amazes me both when people call for him to be replaced AND that he has never been called up for the Spanish selection. The other hero was Pedro, who scored the second goal for Barça in the 56th minute; Messi came close again in the 77th minute, but his shot was saved by Casillas.

A great night for Barcelona, but not the dismal result Real Madrid seem to think it is. While the teams are arch-rivals, coming second in the league – and it isn’t over yet – hardly counts as the total failure painted by some of their supporters.

After the match there were plenty of fireworks in Barcelona and the party atmosphere spilled over in to the centre of Barcelona where another spectacular victory was celebrated. My own post match party didn’t finish until the very early hours of Sunday morning.

0-1, Messi (min 32)
0-2, Pedro (min 56)

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