Sandro’s Late Goal Thrusts Barcelona past Villarreal at El Madrigal

Barcelona vs. Villarreal

August 31, 2014

Estadio El Madrigal

Villarreal, Castellon, Spain

La Liga Match Day 2

Villarreal’s iconic stadium, El Madrigal, in the heart of Spain’s province of Castellon.

It took 81 minutes, but Barcelona finally managed to break down a stubborn Villarreal side at El Madrigal last night. On the one hand, it was a familiar sight: the home team defending deep and compact, launching counterattacks into open space behind Barça’s high line. But the Barcelona side that met Villarreal on the pitch today was distinctly unlike anything seen in the last two seasons. They created numerous chances against an excellent defensive side, looking relatively composed and solid at the back, before a youth player and out-and-out striker managed to net the game-winner. All new, all exciting.

A New Season at Camp Nou: Triumph over Elche

 

Barcelona vs. Elche
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Camp Nou, Barcelona
La Liga Match Day 1

First Starting XI of the 2014-15 Campaign

The time had finally come for the new season to kick off for Barcelona. With new faces galore, familiar faces gone, and a former Barcelona player taking over the reigns as manager, the season was ready to set of with a bang. Barcelona set out in a 4-3-3 formation with a lineup of Bravo; Alves, Mascherano, Mathieu, Alba; Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic; Rafinha, Munir, Messi. Elche’s Starting XI consisted of Tyton; Damian, Lomban, J.Angel, Pelegrin, Albacar; Mosquera, Pasalic, Rodrigues; Jonathas, and Coro in a 5-4-1 formation. Everything looked set for La Liga to kick off for the two sides… But just as the season started, it was postponed… Momentarily. And by the unlikeliest of things.

New Faces of Barcelona 2014: Luis Suárez

#9 Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz, Forward (Uruguay)

On July 11, 2014, Barcelona completed a deal with Premier side club, Liverpool, for the rights to Uruguay striker Luis Suarez. With the deal being around 80 million euros, Barcelona hope to provide Lionel Messi and Neymar with another threat in a side that found it difficult to put goals in the net during the crucial parts of last season. The Barcelona board decided to overlook the recent events at the World Cup, involving the “Biting Incident”, and sign the recently four-month-banned striker anyway. Suarez signing with Barcelona marks the second year in a row where the Premier League’s top scorer transferred to a Spanish side, whereas last year it was Gareth Bale moving from Tottenham to Real Madrid.

New Faces of Barcelona 2014: Ivan Rakitić

Ivan Rakitic and Leo Messi squaring off last season at the Camp Nou.

The biggest name for Barcelona to snag (so far) in 2014 is Croatian midfielder, Ivan Rakitic. He is a familiar face to Barcelona, as he played at Sevilla from 2011 till this previous club season. He was a club captain in 2013/14 and led Sevilla to a UEFA Europa League triumph. Prior to coming to La Liga, he played four seasons with Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga in Germany from 2007 until 2011. His professsional career started with FC Basel of the Swiss Super League in 2005, where he played through 2007 with the 17-time Swiss champions.

Éric Abidal: “Barcelona Thought I was Too Risky”

 

Frenchman defender Éric Abidal played his final game for Barcelona just over a week ago.

Éric Abidal has revealed he was not offered a new contract by Barcelona because the club considered it to be too risky.

The 33-year-old Frenchman was released by the Catalan club at the end of the season just weeks after he made his comeback from a liver transplant.

Abidal spent a year on the sidelines as he recovered from the transplant last April, having previously had surgery to remove a tumour in March 2011.

South America World Cup Qualifying: Argentina draws, remains atop CONMEBOL table; Chile moves up to fourth

Argentina vs. Colombia
CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Matchday 13 went by in the South American qualifier and with it the Argentina vs. Colombia match in Buenos Aires, which had been circled in red by all fans in the region since the draw for the qualifier took place.

Even with all the hype created around this match in Monumental Stadium, the final output of both teams was far from what could be expected of the two top teams in the region.

Argentina vs. Colombia: Messi on the bench the first hour

Messi was on the bench during the first hour of play, as Sabella had mentioned was the most likely case, and while many expected the Barcelona starlet to become the deciding factor in the last stretch of the match, having been inactive for the better part of the last two months proved to be too much for the Argentine to overcome in such an important match.

Argentina forward Sergio Agüero (16), currently signed with Manchester City, tries to control the ball against two Colombia defenders in the 0-0 draw in Buenos Aires.

 The game, however, was not void of controversy as Marlon Escalante, the referee assigned by CONMEBOL for the match, made a deciding call early on the that ended up hurting both teams from then on. Higuain hunting for a ball upfront, confronted Zapata and Ospina, and after losing possession, kept the pressure on and ultimately kicked the AC Milan defender. Zapata retaliated and the Venezuelan referee sent both players off.

Aftermath: Barça’s 2013 – The Future

Dazzling finishes, mesmerizing tiki-taka, marvelous saves. These are the sort of things you talk about at the end of the season in Barcelona. This season was no different, with ups and downs, triumphs and failures, greetings and farewells. Another fantastic season of football came to a close not long ago, with memories and accolades to go with it.

Finishing the season with 100 points, Barcelona matched a Real Madrid record for most points in La Liga. Outpacing their arch-nemesis from the start, the Catalans pressed forward in the Spanish league like few have done in recent years. Falling so far off the pace, Real Madrid found it impossible to gain much ground on the blaugrana. Jose Mourinho and crew, at times, lacked the chemistry that was needed to hold to a constant string of solid play which leads to hoisting up the League Cup like they did last season. This 2012-13 league season belonged to the boys in navy blue and deep red, and no one in Spain could stop it.

“Guardiola Era” ends with a Bang; Catalans trounce Basques in King’s Cup Final

Some of the most loyal and fanatical fans in Spain crammed into the Vicente Calderon tonight to witness a repeat of the 2009 Copa del Rey final, a game which started Guardiola’s epic, historic and unrivaled trophy haul. The Basques and Catalans weren’t overly keen on hearing the Spanish national anthem and made their feelings felt.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi (L) embraces head coach Josep Guardiola during the King’s Cup Final in Madrid. (AP PHOTO)

Bilbao had spent the last two weeks being trained and drilled within an inch of their lives by Bielsa to avoid another loss in an important final following humiliation at the hands of Atletico Madrid in the UEFA cup final a few weeks ago. Pep was eager for his own charges to receive rest and recuperation after a long, arduous, and ultimately disappointing season.

Barcelona vs. Mallorca Match Day LiveBlog

Follow Barcelona vs. Mallorca live from Estadi Iberostar via CoverItLive

 Live Blog–> Click Here <– Live Blog

Barcelona travels to the the Isle of Mallorca to face a familiar La Liga foe, Mallorca, in a league match. Barcelona looks to close the 6-point gap on Real Madrid at the top of the table, while Mallorca seeks to keep floating above the relegation zone and stay in the first division for next season. Kickoff starts at 6 PM local time in Mallorca.

Kickoff times:
9 AM Alaska
1 PM East Coast USA
6 PM Barcelona

Messi’s Day: Argentine shatters records as Barça upends Granada, 5-3, at Camp Nou

Barcelona vs. Granada

March 19, 2012

Camp Nou

Barcelona, Spain

The moment everyone had been waiting for ever since the kid from Argentina stepped on the Camp Nou pitch in a blaugrana kit finally arrived today. Lionel Messi, at just 24-years-old, surpassed César as FC Barcelona’s all-time top scorer with 234 goals. His first goal of the night equalized – the other two just cemented his name in history. The win against Granada CF may soon be forgotten, but the day La Pulga broke the scoring record will not be. It is a record he will continue to best for many years to come.

Lionel Messi's record was finally set against Granada, amidst a hailstorm of goals. (Courtesy UEFA.com)

Head coach Pep Guardiola took some liberties with his starting lineup as the midweek La Liga clash could have proved exhausting for some players. Thus, Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Adriano, Keita, Thiago, Xavi, Cuenca, Alexis and, of course, Messi started the match.