However, after Barcelona’s goal heavy friendlies played recently, the match against Boca must have been a disappointment. The visitors out on a strong display and eventually went ahead 1 goal.

It looked as though it was going to stay that way too. At the end of the second half the teams were given a very generous 5 minutes injury time. Puyol made the most of it and scored. And with a few seconds to go Eto’o scored too.

Sometimes it’s hard to fully understand the thought processes that go on in the heads of Barcelona’s management team, and the attempts to block Lionel Messi from playing for Argentina in the Beijing Olympics is one.

Messi announced earlier this year that he wanted to play in the Olympics, because it could be his only chance. However, Barcelona seem intent to alienate their star player by preventing him from doing exactly that. They did requrest for FIFA to make a decision, although FIFA had already done so in stating their policy that tems have to let anyone under the age of 23 play in the Olympics.

Today FIFA has announced at a hearing that FC Barcelona must let Messi play, but of course Barcelona are now going to appeal this decision.

While there is some risk of injury to the young Argentinian, surely Barcelona wants to keep his moral up at the same level it has been during this last tricky year. If they think it is all about forcing their players to do what they want they really have no idea about the dynamics of a team and deserve to fall flat on their faces.

We have availability for ALL home matches including Real Madrid in December - for this match in particular make sure you book soon because ickets sell like hotcakes and availability is limited.

The new manager in the shape of Pep Guardiola, who played in Cruyff’s dream team” in the golden years of Barça, is something of an unknown uantity, having no experience of managing a club at the level of Barcelona  he was the coach of the B team before Frank Rijkaard was sacked and very much the popular choice among Barcelona fans, although there is a
significant minority who don’t like him.

And it’ll be interesting to see how Lionel Messi does in a fundamentally altered squad - will he continue to play a leading role as he did in the last season, when it often seemed like he was the only player on the pitch?

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Although his last season with Barça was bitterly disappointing, he was well loved by fans and brought some real magic to the Nou Camp. Let´s hope that he can regain even a little of his form in Italy and continues to dazzle for years to come.

While Man City have more money on the table, the former club wonder boy favours a move to Italy, no doubt for the better climate as well as to join fellow Brazilian players. Laporta believes that negociations should be completed this week.

What am I talking about?

Last Sunday there was a vote of no confidence that required a 66 percent vote AGAINST the club president to kick him out. With only 60 percent of the members who voted going against him, Joan Laporta won the vote…

…for the moment. And then yesterday the board of FC Barcelona convened to discus their way forward and 8 members out of 17 resigned after Laporta refused to step down.

It’s quite a turnaround for the golden boy of Barça. Until this season it seamed he could do no wrong in the eyes of fans, having turned the club’s fortunes around. But with no trophies for the second year and lacklustre performances from players like Ronaldinho, his support dwindled.

Having ditched Frank Rijkaard unceremoniously in May he must have hoped he could put his troubles behind him. Instead the pressure seems to be intensifying, at a time that all eyes should be on the new squad.

The trophy is in memory of club founder Hans Gamper and played each August against a specially invited top-tier team. Come and check out the all new Barça lineup before the new season starts and get a feel for the new players.

Buy Tickets for FC Barcelona v Boca Juniors in the Gamper Trophy

After going 2-0 up following goals from Henry and Eto’o , Mallorca fought back and equalised. However, they  made good use of injury tim, scoring a third goal in the 93rd minute, securing a victory against Barcelona. The small number of supporters who attended the match showed their clear displeasure at Deco, Henry and Eto’o, who were continuously booed throughout the match.

However, appreciation was shown towards Frank Rijkaard and despite him leaving with Barça in a seemingly poor condition, his time with the club is sure to be remembered fondly once Barcelona has moved on.