FC Barcelona News
Messi wins Player of the Year for third year in succession
January 10th, 2012Here at Simply Barcelona Tickets we’d like to extend our congratulations to Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola for being recognised by FIFA as the best player and best coach in the world right now.
Last night at an award ceremony is Zurich Leo Messi was awarded the FIFA Ballon d’Or, in its second year of existence after the FIFA Player of the Year and France Football Magazine’s Ballon d’Or were merged. In its previous incarnation only Michel Platini had been awarded the Ballon d’Or three years straight, and he is joining Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo who were both three time winners of the old FIFA award.
Messi received 48% of votes, with Cristiano Ronaldo on 22% and teammate Xavi on 9%. Upon receiving the award the Argentine player thanked “my teammates, trainers, physios, the coach and everyone at Barcelona” before adding “I want to share this honour with my teammate, Xavi… He deserves it, too. I want to share it with you, because you deserve it as much as me. It’s a pleasure to be here alongside him and to play with him.”
In addition to Messi, Barça coach Pep Guardiola won the Coach of the Year award ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson and Madrid’s motormouth Jose Mourinho. Ferguson, who received FIFA’s Presidential Award for his success over three decades as manager said “Messi could play in any generation… The Barcelona team right now, with Lionel in their side, are an extraordinary side.”
Mix-and-Match Team Draws in Split
July 25th, 2011FC Barcelona kicked-off preseason with a goalless draw against Croatian team Hadjuk Split on Saturday night. Guardiola called on a number of B stars, who performed ably alongside established first-teamers such as Andrés Iniesta, David Villa and Sergio Busquets. The game represented a useful workout for the players, as they take their first steps towards regaining peak-fitness.
Barcelona assumed control early on, retaining possession with relative ease against a Hajduk side that was happy to withdraw to the edge of its area. Split’s game-plan was to try to catch Barcelona on the break down the wings, but they had little joy early on against a young, energetic side that was quick to close down space to win back the ball. It was a pattern that would characterise the match.
David Villa went closest in the opening stages, lashing a swirling shot from outside the area, which beat Hajduk’s keeper but slammed against the post. This chance prompted the home team to embark on a couple of offensive forays; winger Marin Tomasov cut in from the right flank on the counter and found himself one-on-one with Valdés, but Barça’s keeper dealt easily with a tame near-post shot.
A few minutes later David Villa could only turn a near-post Dos Santos corner into the side-netting, before Afellay ducked inside from the left, beating a number of defenders but shooting straight at the keeper. Young midfielder Thiago was looking increasingly lively – his most remarkable contribution was to jink past two Split defenders before driving a shot straight at the ‘keeper
The second half saw a changed Barça XI, with Busquets, Iniesta and Abidal joined by Barcelona B players such as Jonathan Soriano and Isaac Cuenca.
Jeffrén spurned a couple of openings, while Iniesta and Soriano linked up for the best move of the match, but once again the Split keeper was equal to the task. Isaac Cuenca also went close late on, but the match finished 0-0.
As a fitness exercise it was a successful encounter for Guardiola, who was able to field 22 players and avoid any injuries. The coming weeks should see the return of more established stars, while new signings will also be added to the fold.
Among the new faces is Chilean forward Alexis Sánchez. The 22-year-old joined from Udinese for an initial €26m and will bolster Guardiola’s options both on the wings and through the middle. Alexis found his best form last season playing as a shadow striker, in a role not too far removed from Messi’s at Barcelona.
There have been departures in recent days as well. Bojan Krkic has joined Serie A side Roma for €12m, although Barcelona will have an option to buy back the player for a similar fee in two years time. Another deal with a buyback clause should see the promising central midfielder, Oriol Romeu join Chelsea in the coming days.
Ibrahimovic arrives at the Nou Camp
July 28th, 2009Barça’s big signing of the season arrived in the Nou Camp yesterday to be greeted by more than 60,000 people, more than those who had turned out for Ronaldinho and Henry’s presentations combined. Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived at the club yesterday morning, where he underwent medical examinations before signing his contract.
Some fans have been waiting outside the stadium all day and in the end the gates were opened early to avoid anyone being injured in the crush outside.
Ibrahimovic wore the number 9 shirt, where to the Barça anthem blaring over the tannoy he showed off his ball skills to the crowd, eventually taking the mike and finishing in Catalan, always guaranteed to set off a great response – “Gràcies a tots. Visca el Barça!” – Thanks to all. Long live Barça.
Afterwards he compared the experience with the birth of his children.
If you want to see Ibrahimovic playing for Barça at the Nou Camp, keep an eye on our homepage for availability of FC Barcelona tickets.
Goodbye Eto’o
July 27th, 2009FC Barcelona has just said goodbye to its third highest goal scorer ever, with the departure of Samuel Eto’o for Inter Milan.
The player moved to Barcelona in 2004 and made an immediate impact by scoring 25 goals in his first season. Every time he sets foot on a pitch he is a potential goal-scoring machine and well respected for his commitment to the team as a whole – but for some reason, not by Pep Guardiola, who didn’t seem to be able to handle the player.
His remarkable career with Barcelona saw him score 108 goals in 145 league matches; and in Champions League he played 40 matches and scored 18 time.
While many supporters will miss him play, it was made abundantly clear to him that he was not welcome in the squad; one of Guardiola’s first announcements when taking over as Barça coach was that he would sell Eto’o; and this year he has been clear that he wants him out.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic arriving in Barcelona for a medical this week, let’s hope he can reproduce even a fraction of the goalscoring capability Barça has decided it just doesn’t need.
Samuel Eto’o headed for Inter
July 23rd, 2009According to Italian news reports today quoting his agent, Samuel Eto’o has today reached a deal with Inter Milan.
While no official announcement has been made, Josep Maria Mesalles went on to say that Eto’o's exit agreement with Barcelona was still not finalised, but he would arrive in Milan early next week. With him goes Alexander Hleb, on loan for a year, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic will join Barça from the Italian club.
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Decision time for Eto’o – Cameroon star furious that deal has been done behind his back
July 19th, 2009Samuel Eto’o is reportedly furious at talks between Barcelona and Inter Milan, without him being consulted about any move to the Italian club.
The Cameroon striker will return to Barcelona next week after his holidays, with a deal agreed between Barça and Inter to sell Eto’o for €40 million plus the loan of Aleksandr Hleb in exchange for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Eto’o is reported to announce his decision later in the week once he has considered the deal fully and as the deal cannot go ahead without Eto’o's say so, Barça are keeping their options open and are still talking about the possibility of signing David Villa from Valencia.
So far this season Barcelona have been slow to finalise any deals – their only signing to date is Brazilian left back Maxwell Scherer, also from Inter Milan.
We now have tickets for all Spanish League fixtures. You can find availability of Barcelona tickets at the Nou Camp on our homepage.
Victor Valdes’s contract extended to 2014
July 9th, 2009One piece of good news from the recent wrangling between players and management is that Victor Valdes contract has been renewed for another 5 years, potentially allowing the Barça goalkeeper to retire at the club.
Negotiations with the 27 year old player’s manager broke down recently, with Joan Laporta insisting that they deal direct with Valdes instead, with the aim of resolving the standoff. It is difficult to imagine Barça without the opinionated Valdes, who is also third Captain behind Carles Puyol and Xavi Hernadez, and despite coming in from some criticism he does a solid job when the Barcelona defense fails.
And as a product of the Barça youth system, born in nearby Hospitalet de LLobregat, it is almost impossible to imagine him playing for another club, especially in Spain. However, the deadlock was broken on Tuesday, when the player and Barcelona management agreed terms.
Leo Messi playing at the Olympics – or not
July 30th, 2008“Barcelona continues with its stance of not wanting to let me go and I understand it,” Messi said. “But I also think they have to understand that my dream is to take part in the Olympic Games with the national team.”
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.
Ronaldinho heading for AC Milan
July 16th, 2008It’s now been confirmed that Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho will be leaving Barcelona for AC Milan after coming to an agreement on Tuesday night.
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.
Ronaldinho bids from AC Milan and Man City confirmed
July 14th, 2008Troubled FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has today confirmed that AC Milan and Manchester City have tabled bids for Ronaldinho.
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.
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