FC Barcelona News

Barcelona’s first real test of the league came on Saturday night when Sevilla made it’s annual visit to the Nou Camp. The stadium today celebrates its 50th anniversary of inauguration, which were celebrated on Saturday night by the presentation by Norman Foster of his plans for the remodelling of the stadium.

While both expansion and shelter from the elements is definitely required, Foster’s plans to change the outward appearance of one of Barcelona’s iconic landmarks is not necessary and akin to remodelling the Sagrada Familia to straighten up all of those curves, something which we do not support at all.

The man of the match, as usual, was Lionel Messi who scored Barcelona’s 2 goals and it was late in the match when Sevilla scored. Ronaldinho was not played on Saturday due to a slight injury and the team didn’t quite click, so although this was an important victory it is important to remember that the team has a lot of work to get back to top form.

Although FC Barcelona’s performance was a long way from the dazzling performance of the team when they’re playing at their best, last night at least saw a clear win in Barcelona’s 3-0 defeat against Olympique Lyonnais.

The first goal was deflected of Lyon’s François Clerc off a shot from Messi, but Barcelona failed to ignite and Ronaldinho was jeered as he was substituted by Iniesta during the second half. After the substitution the pace picked up a bit, but it wasn’t until 9 minutes before full time that Messi scored for himself and the icing on the cake was a goal from Henry off a rebound from Vercoutre.

More uninspired play by FC Barcelona last night saw them draw against Pamplona’s Osasuna. The slow start to the season sees them in 5th place in the league, with Real Madrid at the top. This week sees Barcelona play Olympique Lyonnais in Champions League followed by Sevilla next weekend and Zaragoza midweek next week and so it seems the right moment for them step up a gear and provide exciting football and some goals.

Sunday night saw Barcelona’s first league match of the season the the Nou Camp with Athletic Club de Bilbao visiting. As predicted Barcelona won decisively (3-1), although the match was not without controversy; the penalty awarded to Barcelona that allowed Ronaldinho to score was a bad refereeing decision and Barcelona’s final goal didn’t look to cross the line, rebounding off the crossbar and bouncing right on the goal line and out.

An embarressed Inter Milan were thrashed by Barcelona last night in front of a capacity crowd at the Nou Camp.

The team hosting the annual Gamper Trophy took no prisoners in the 5-0 defeat, with goals from Ronaldinho, Dos Santos, Yaya, Iniesta and Motta.

Barcelona played an uninspired game against Racing Club de Santander on Sunday night, resulting in a nil-nil draw.

With Messi inexplicably substituted for Henry during the second half and Racing going one man down it is clear that Barcelona is not yet up to speed. Although he almost scored, Henry demonstrated that he is still unfamiliar with Ronaldinho’s style of play but it is early days and in recent years it has taken Barcelona a few matches to find their stride.

Messi scored the only goal of the match in yesterday’s friendly in Germany. In his first pre-season match since returning from his vacation, Leo Messi’s fantastic goal in the second half marked the farewell for Bayern’s Mehmet Scholl.

In a match delayed from yesterday due to a typhoon in Hong Kong, FC Barcelona scored 4 times while the host team failed to score.

That concludes the Asian Tour -next match Bayern Munich-FCB.

Barcelona gained their second victory in Asia in yesterday’s eagerly awaited match against Japan’s Yokohama Marinos.

The uninspired match again showed off FCB’s strike force of Ronahdinho, Eto’o and Henry, but it was Dos Santos who saved the day for Barcelona

Final score Yokohama Marinos 0, FC Barcelona 1.

FC Barcelona beat China’s Beijing Guoan yesterday 3 goals to 0 in the first match of their current Asia tour. The goals were scored by Dos Santos, Iniesta and Ronaldinho.

The next match is against Tokyo’s Yokohama Marinos in Japan.