FC Barcelona will be playing their first competitive match of the 2011-12 season at Santiago Bernebeu stadium tomorrow night. The Spanish Super cup in contrast to their Premier League rivals is a two legged affair and we do have the advantage of playing teh second leg at home. Real Madrid and Barcelona had kind of a contrasting pre-season tour.

27.04.2011 - A los duelos catalán - madridista, Messi - Cristiano, Barcelona - Real Madrid, se suman en primera plana Guardiola - Mourinho.
Pep Guardiola se refirió a los arbitrajes (vídeo), Mourinho salió a la yugular (vídeo) y Pep volvió a contestarle (vídeo).

After a very hard and prolonged courting FC barcelona looks to have finally managed to land themselves their most priced catch for some season - Cesc fabregas. Nothing has been official as I write this post, but the rumours are emerging pretty fats and strong. Both Puyol and Pique has expressed their delight over the conclusion of their deal in their respective twitter accounts, Valdes almost gave away the news in the press conference, yes definitely there is a change in the mood at everyone associated with Barca.

Malaga vs Barcelona 2011 21/5/2011- La Liga Final score:- Malaga vs Barcelona 1-3 ( Sebastian Fernandez/ Bojan, Afellay, Bartra) Barcelona score thrice to beat Malaga in La Liga after trailing 1-0 at one point of the fixture. Malaga vs Barcelona 1-0 ( Sebastian Fernandez goal vs Barcelona) Malaga vs Barcelona 1-1 ( Bojan goal vs [.

MVP(Messi, Villa Pedro) Goals secure Barca the Title

FC Barcelona won their 4th Champions League Title of their history with a classy 3-1 victory over English Champions, Manchester United. With this victory we have won three Champions League title in last six years. In a picture perfect night goals from Pedro, Messi and Villa all scored to give Barca the victory and continue their love affair with the Wembley stadium.

Meet Doris - our Barcelona Futbolita from Poland! The 24-year-old has been a Cule for over six years and is also a contributor at Totalbarca.com. On the day of her club's Champions League finale showdown against Man United, Doris answers our traditional "Tres Cosas" (Three Things) game. (See this post for our Tres Cosas game with the Man United futbolita!

Today the Daily Star are running a story detailing a bit of a bust-up between new captain Robin van Persie and Arsene Wenger regarding the current standard of the squad and the lack of purchases this summer.

Robin, who recently took on the agent of Clichy, Nasri and Cesc in Darren Dein, is no stranger to getting under the nose of the boss.

The 5-0 victory in the first leg has made tomorrow's second leg of academic interest. But it could be pretty important for the fringe players in the side. Guardiola is expected to rest majority of his stars in the match in Sevilla. Messi who was down with flu has recovered and has made into the squad.

Real Betis gave Barca their first defeat in long time

FC Barcelona lost their undefeated streak against the most unlikely of all opponents - Real Betis. We went in to this match on the back of our 28 consecutive undefeated match and was expecting to add one more to the list. But Real Betis had some other plans.

Arsene's on the TV, moanin' in the microphone,

I'm on the cell phone, talkin' like a megaphone.
The man in the black shirt, flag out, played off-
side; I got a red top, I wanna knock his fade off.

Look out, Joe,
it's somethin' you know.
God knows what, but you feel it in your gut,
you better duck through the changin' room,
lookin' for a shortcut,
the man in the sharkskin suit with his back up
wants a shiny silver spoon, and you only got cups.

Tras la confirmación del fichaje de Luís Suárez por el Liverpool o de Afellay por el Barcelona hemos visto como probablemente las dos mayores promesas de la Eredivisie dejan una liga siempre caracterizada por ser un campeonato de oportunidades para los más jóvenes. Será difícil encontrar "reemplazantes" a éstos dos cracks, ¿quién va a ser ahora la estrella de la Eredivisie?

FC Barcelona's consecutive winning runcame to an end at the most unlikeliest place, Estadio El Molinon. Sporting Gijon made life hell for our boys in the first half and we had to rely on a brilliant finish by Villa to grab the solitary point from the match. With this draw we have now moved eight points clear of Real Madrid.

Ibi Afellay was back in Endhoven for the friendly against Austria and he was there as a starter ( he got Van Marwijk's confidence when Robben got injured) and became a Barcelona player as well.

Bert van Marwijk compared Afellay with Zidane, a bit, when he said: "Every creative player wants [read more]

Liverpool are reportedly preparing a summer swoop for Barcelona winger Ibrahim Afellay.
The Dutch wing wizard is out-of-favour at the Nou Camp after joining the La Liga outfit in the summer, and Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is reportedly keen on bringing the player to Anfield.
Afellay was linked with a Liverpool switch in the summer as his PSV Eindhoven contract ran down, but the player moved to Spain instead in a bid to further his career.

Lineups are in:

Barcelona: Starters: Valdes, Alves, Busquets, Abidal, Maxwell, Xavi, Mascherano, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Villa Bench: Pinto, Krkic, Keita, Milito, Maxwell, Afellay, Thiago

Arsenal: Starters: Szczesny, Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Diaby, Wilshere, Nasri, Fabregas, Rosicky, Van Persie Bench: Almunia, Squillaci, Eboue, Denilson, Arshavin, Chamakh, Bendtner

I just hope we don't get slaughtered.

17.03.2011 - Estaban entrenando de rutina cuando dos emisarios de la UEFA aparecieron en la Ciudad Deportiva: usted, usted, usted, Messi, Afellay, Xavi, Villa, Jeffren, Piqué, Pinto, Iniesta, Víctor Valdés y Mascherano.
Nada extraordinario. El Barça ya había vivido una situación semejante el pasado 23 de febrero en el marco antidopaje anunciado por la UEFA.

When Hungary scored the 3-3 in Amsterdam, Bert van Marwijk could be seen kicking and screaming at the sideline in total anger with this team's shabby performance.

Two late Dirk Kuyt goals ( one after a brilliant Afellay move and the second maybe a lucky?) made sure the 3 points stayed [read more]

Messi scores in first half to seal victory over Shakhtar Donetsk AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

Pep Guardiola's side with tonights victory on the road against Shakhtar Donetsk marks the fourth year in a row that the club makes it into the semi-finals of Champions League play. They will most likely play Real Madrid who hold a commanding 4-0 lead over Tottenham.

FC Barcelona won their 21st League title with a 1-1 draw at Levante with a bit of tricky performance. This was not one of the usual flowing performance by the Barca side, but it was good enough to complete a rare hat-trick of League title. The last team which did that was the dream team of Barcelona back in the 90s.

What a difference ten days make? When this El Clasico series began we were firmly the hot favourite and buzzing with confidence. But two matches into the series we suddenly are the slight underdog and not only some serious doubts have started to creep in. Guardiola could be seriously thinking about what he has done to irk the footballing Gods.

FC Barcelona secured three precious point tonight at the Camp Nou with a not so inspiring performance against Osasuna. Goals from David Villa and Lionel Messi maintained Barca's eight point lead on top ahead of the big away leg of Champions League this Wednesday. Real Madrid who played earlier at Valencia, has cut the lead back to five points with a spectacular 6-3 thrashing.

Clinical Barca seal Semi-Final spot

FC Barcelona finished off the good work they did in the first leg with a 1-0 victory against Shaktar at the Donbass Arena. In an arena, where many of the Europe's finest struggled, Barca produced a very efficient display to book their place in yet another Champions League semi-final and an aggregate score of 6-1.

Carrying a 5-1 lead from the first leg, the biggest worry for Guardiola could be complecency creeping among his wards. He will be without the service of Iniesta, who is suspended for this leg but otherwise have taken almost all available players to Ukraine. Iniesta could definitely do well with some deserving rest and most probably we can expect Guardiola to rest more players.

FC Barcelona thrashes Shaktar Donetsk to take a firm step to Semi-Final

FC Barcelona has taken a firm step to set up an El Clasico clash in this season's Champions League semi-final with the demolition of Shaktar Donetsk at Camp Nou. Iniesta, Alves, Keita, Pique and Xavi scored for Barca in a very thrilling 5-1 victory against the Ukranian Champions.

Dimitar Berbatov, Manchester United's record signing and Premier League top scorer, isn't even on the bench in the Champions League final. Otherwise it's an adventurous Man Utd team, with the same steady lineup Sir Alex Ferguson has preferred for the recent string of big matches, with Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs in central midfield.

FC Barcelona won their second pre-season game of the season in penalty shoot-out after it ended 2-2 in full time. There were plenty of changes in both half and that saw us playing in different rhythm in different half. Starting Eleven for the first half had Valdes, Busquets, Maxwell, Fontas, Riverola, thiago, keita, Iniesta, cuenca, Soriano and Afellay.

FC Barcelona opened their 2011 pre-season with a rather entertaining goalless draw against Croatian side Hajduk Split. As expected Guardiola started with two different side in each half. The first half saw majority of Barca B players start along with the likes of Keita, Afellay and Villa.

It is a very hot and humid night here in Washington D.C. as Man United and Barcelona meet in a rematch of their Champions League Final encounter of two months ago.

Different stakes tonight as both teams are concentrating on getting fit for the upcoming season. United are a week or so ahead of Barca in their preparation and that should help them tonight.

Every time Thiago scores, Barca fans start to crow "Cesc who, Cesc who!" I don't quite see the relevance, because it's news to me that we're interested in Cesc as a goal scorer.

Thiago is a phenomenal player and he's been having an incredible preseason, relentlessly netting goal after breathtaking goal, and to have a midfielder dominating the team's scoring is something relatively new to Barca.

It is a very hot and humid night here in Washington D.C. as Man United and Barcelona meet in a rematch of their Champions League Final encounter of two months ago.

Different stakes tonight as both teams are concentrating on getting fit for the upcoming season. United are a week or so ahead of Barca in their preparation and that should help them tonight.

Liverpool to Make Late Move for Afellay

Liverpool are considering a bid for Barcelona's Ibrahim Afellay, according to several sources such as the Metro and CaughtOffside.com . The Dutch international only moved to Camp Nou in January for a small fee as his contract at PSV was due to expire in June,but unfortunately for him he has failed to make the impact that he and Barcelona had hoped.

Carles Puyol returns from injury (Photo: Getty Images)

Great news came today from all places, Twitter!

Captain Carles Puyol announced via his personal Twitter page that he is finally returning to action following a three month hiatus due to a knee injury.

Puyol has been sidelined since May, missing out on the clubs entire summer tour and the first La Liga match of the season.

Pep Guardiola looks to overcome recent frustration as FC Barcelona host Osasuna (Photo: Reuters Pictures)

It has been a tough week for FC Barcelona. A 2-2 draw against Real Sociedad last Saturday and a 2-2 draw against AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday. Both matches they dominated the first half but took their foot of the throttle in the second allowing both sides to get back into the match and pull out a draw in the closing minutes.

L'Hospitalet vs FC Barcelona in Copa del Rey

Wenesday's Copa del Rey match away at L'Hospitalet, Victor Valdes' hometown, could be an game for youngsters Rafinha, Deofoleu and Sergi Roberto to shine. With the absences of Alexis, Messi, Alves, Mascherano, Cuenca and Thiago due to international duty, Guardiola will be looking to give minutes to La Masia's newest jewels.

Last news... Sneijder took a knock during training. Bloody Van der Wiel!

Sneijder left practice and Van Marwijk mumbled: "We have lost a number of key players in Robben, Afellay, Van Persie, Van der Vaart and Pieters so it would not be too good if we lose Sneijder too.... We need [read more]