Group A: Chelsea, Roma, Bordeaux, CFR Cluj
I lol at everybody writing off Bordeaux. Fear Laurent Blanc, people. Fear him. This isn't as straight-forward as it looks.
Group B: Inter, Werder, Panathinaikos, Anorthosis
This I think is as straight-forward as it looks. Click to continue reading...

Negotiations with Manchester United over (Barca youth academy grad) Gerard Pique are said to be almost complete. The player has passed a medical in Barcelona and if all goes well the signing should be announced soon. [I am very pleased by this signing. Decent price, good player coming home, everybody's happy. Click to continue reading...

Frank Rijkaard was the perfect manager for FC Barcelona. Joan Laporta said so. Johan Cruyff said so. His players thought so, all the way to the bitter end.

"Frank speaks so quietly you have to strain to hear him," says Ronaldinho, "and when you do, you realise he's always right.

Click to continue reading...

All signs point to major changes in the Barcelona squad next season. My (massively long, as it turns out) two cents on who should be staying and who needs to be ushered out the door below.
Keep in mind, though, that I haven't taken any economic considerations (e.g. selling X will get us some cash to spend on Y) into account. Click to continue reading...

As things have gone from bad to worse recently, Barcelona fans have increasingly focused our hopes on young players coming out of the club's much praised youth system. In fact, most of the best and most consistent performers in the past two seasons have been new cantera graduates - Messi, Iniesta and Bojan in addition to those who have been stalwarts for a while like Xavi and Puyol. Click to continue reading...

I was going to write a long post about recent events at Barca, but then I read Phil Ball's latest column and agreed with pretty much everything he said, so I'm just going to link to it. I will be writing a tribute to 'Frankie' later - how could I not? - but for now, here's a collection of some of the interesting fall-out and commentary surrounding the change of staff. Click to continue reading...

For all the hype about Super Sundays in the Premiership, and with apologies to the Milan derby which is happening on the same day, in my humble opinion there's nothing that quite matches up to El Clasico, the game of the century, Barca v Real, whatever you want to call it.
Remember what happened at the Camp Nou last season? Click to continue reading...

Against Lyon, a great European side, Barca's 3-man forward line had an average age of 20. Eto'o wasn't quite fit enough yet, Henry's body had finally given out after playing continuously while not 100% fit, and Ronaldinho was on the bench. Andres Iniesta, 23; Lionel Messi, 20; and Bojan Krkic, 17, a forward line crafted in the Barca youth academies, led the line in their stead. Click to continue reading...

(graphic swiped from Sport)
Any other team might be pleased to win 3-0 (especially with most players coming off two international appearances) and gain some distance on our rivals at the top of the table, but as always, Barca are our own greatest enemy. It feels like forever since I've done one of my rambling, player-by-player match reports, so here goes. Click to continue reading...

Exams are over (hooray!) and I'm back, although currently preoccupied with...well, life in general. To be honest, I've just been thinking a lot, and there's a couple of posts I want to make about coaching styles, quotas in European leagues, and all that. But it's Barca that's really been frustrating me. Click to continue reading...

• Dare I say it - this was our best away performance so far this season. I was happy with what I saw, bar the last few minutes.
• That handball was a penalty. Not complaining, but in some ways this game reminded me of Arsenal's games against CSKA Moscow last season: one side dominated completely, had a lot of shots and yet were unable to score (although Arsenal were even more unlucky).

Click to continue reading...

Club football is back with a bang with some interesting games in Spain this weekend and the return of the Champions League midweek, amidst the sound of club coaches grumbling about their charges returning injured (poor Arjen Robben) or tired.
Internationals

Gabi Milito and Leo Messi scored the goals for Argentina as they beat Venezuela away to top the qualifying table with 6 points. Click to continue reading...

I've got exams coming up yet again, so expect less posting for the next 3 weeks or so. Pity, it's such an exciting time.Internationals round-upAtt Luis Aragones: if you're going to fly Puyol out to Denmark and then say he's not fit when he patently is, then just leave him in Spain next time and save him the travelling. No need to take him along if he's not fit as you claim, after all. Click to continue reading...

(I've recently taken over the Argentina World Cup Blog, so that's where all Argentina-related posts will go in the future.)
Atletico were the last team to beat Barca at Camp Nou in the league back in February of 2006. Since then, Barca have gone 30 games undefeated at home, of which 22 were victories. So you could say that this was a bit of a test. Click to continue reading...

My take on Barca's win over Atletico will come later. For now, an update on how the Spanish teams are doing in European competition.Champions LeagueThe official UEFA website has the group standings after two games.Sevilla 4-2 Slavia (Sevilla goals by Kanoute, Fabiano, Escude, and Kone)I'm sure this victory came as a great relief to Juande Ramos, as it arrested a 4-game losing streak and gave them something to build on in the group. Click to continue reading...