Situated in the heart of every great team is always a truly special central midfielder who is capable of taking matches by the scruff of their neck and dominating them.

Some midfielders are specialists in the holding role, others have an uncanny knack of scoring goals but every so often a player comes along that can excel in all areas.

Andres Iniesta is off vacationing in where we're going to say is his hometown, Fuentebella, because again, that's where he always goes.
Anyway. Doesn't he look like he's having a lovely time with his girlfriend, Anna? They're too cute. And he's too pasty. Will nothing get this boy's skin to darken up just a little bit?

Ivory Coast International Yaya Toure may leave Barcelona but if he does, it will not be to join Arsenal. His agent, Dmitri Seluk, said:

There are many teams interested in Toure. He will not go to Arsenal because he has better offers and nor will he go to Germany, but his future could be in Italy or in England.

I'd say if we were to rank the occasions where it's perfectly acceptable to get belligerently drunk, the ceremony just after you've won the Champions League final is somewhere around the Top 5. (We must pray for the sake of the London police that this Tottenham squad never wins the continent's title.

CR9 fails with poor attempt at mind games.

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I Would Not Sign Any Barcelona Players For Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo
Barca may have several major stars, but none of them could play for Los Blancos, according to 'CR9′.

Tom Henning Ovrebo, in complete control, as usual
Chelsea lost to Barcelona via referee Tom Henning Ovrebo and Barcelona's Andres Iniesta today.
After the game, Didier Drogba labelled the official from Norway a "disgrace."
That's actually quite funny, considering Drogba was red carded last year in the Champions League final - probably costing Chelsea the title.

And guess who was delighted to be watching from the touchlines? Following Andres Iniesta's last-gasp winning goal against Chelsea on Wednesday night, the Spanish press have raked up this spooky video from a decade earlier. The footage comes from a Nike Cup match between the youth teams of Chelsea and Barcelona.

SFS could´nt believe what it witnessed, terrible Real Madriddefending, mistakes & a total demolition job by FC BARCELONAas they won away to REAL MADRID 2-6 to open up a 7º point gap& virtually seal this seasons Spanish League Championship. It wasthe Xavi Hernandez, Thierry Henry & Messi "Show", that cancelledReal Madrid early good play.

I'm no expert on Spanish football, but the ubiquitous praise for Barcelona and the fact that I've got GolTV this season has led me to watch a substantial amount of that team. And that's why I'm not surprised Andres Iniesta was the one who won it at the death. If you asked me to pick one player – just one – to improve Liverpool, it'd be him.

Barca had one hand on the trophy, whereas Ji-Sung Park... Presumably tired of following Andres Iniesta's shadow and chasing after his passes, Ji-Sung Park tries a different method of curbing the pasty midfielder's influence on the game!

Let's give the brief on two news pieces doing the rounds in the local Sports daily's in reference to FC BARCELONA. The first is the interest that BAYERN MUNICH player FRANCK RIBERY has in leaving his...
Read all the news, results, details & comments in English on Spanish Football & Sports.

One of the most talked about incidents towards the end of the controversial Chelsea-Barcelona semifinal in the midweek was the reaction of Chelsea's German midfielder Michael Ballack as he protested against one of the many refereeing blunders made that night. Ballack raced towards the official and came within inches of getting physical with the infamous Norwegian.

REUTERS/Albert Gea

According to Sport.es both Andres Iniesta and Thierry Henry will be in Rome on May 27 and will be in the starting lineup for FC Barcelona when they take on Manchester United. Both players suffered leg injuries with Andres Iniesta going down with a torn ligament back on May 10 and Henry with knee injury on May 2.

Barcelona

Victor Valdés: Although he spilled Ronaldo's free kick early on, but after that didn't have much to do for the rest of the game. 6

Carles Puyol: Age was not a factor in this game as Puyol had got the better of Wayne Rooney.

Titi is on vacation now in New York, and it seems he's sticking to a set dress code: Skater shorts, slogan tees and flashy high-tops. Don't forget the sunnies! We're liking the look on him, despite being a bit doubtful about the shoes - but they do seem to complete his look.
And since we're talking about Titi and his fashion choices, we might as well mention the completely unrelated and probably quite irrelevent fact that he is best buddies with B-ball star Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs and his wife, Eva Longoria.

Good morning all. What did you think of the Champions League Final? If I had to guess I'd say you probably all enjoyed it immensely, getting to watch the red cunts from the north crying and getting crushed by a team that resembles a better version of our team. We tried to play that exact same game that Barcelona played, but there are just a few differences.

Ok, for all the Barca fans who had their fingers crossed while Iniesta had further tests today can relax for the time being now. According to Sport.es there is a high possibility of the player being fit for the finals against Manchester United. The report suggests that the injury is not as serious as one thought.

AP Photo/Sang Tan

Both Andres Iniesta and Thierry Henry completed their first day of training today ahead of the team traveling to Rome for the Champions League Final against Manchester United. The completion of training for both marks the first time that the pair have done so since go down with injuries.

El fútbol es el arte del engaño, los "mentirosos" se destacan del resto y pueden lograr cosas maravillosas no importando el color de tu playera. Una vez logrado eso, adicionen aficionados creativos, una chispa de humor, y obtenemos lo siguiente:

Vía | Bar Deportes

Escucha
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Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Head coach Pep Guardiola completed the unthinkable in his first season in charge of FC Barcelona winning the treble. In the post match interview the ex-Barcelona player revealed the "secret" that was kept away from the media regarding one of his star players.

The players on Barca generally seem to have strange or out of the ordinary interests - Victor Valdes plays the piano; Bojan is a math genius as well as a movie lover (note: he lists Titanic as one of his favorites); Henry and Pique are both basketball fans, Dani Alves and Ibrahimovic are equally mad about the Formula 1 with Ibra also having a passion for martial arts.

Heartbreak for Chelsea last night as they went out on away goals thanks to Andres Iniesta's 93rd minute strike. It's difficult to feel sorry for them, though - Ballack's haranguing of the ref, Terry's aggressive bleating, and worst of all Drogba's disgusting behaviour make most Englishmen happy to seem them go.

The Euphoria surrounding the last gasp entry into Champions League has slowly settled down. It was indeed a strange night, throught the match you were dissappointed by Barca's performance, I even had a headline for my match report "Chelsea Humiliates Barca" but for one man - Andres Iniesta, everything changed.

Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi scored the goals as Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 in the Champions League final in Rome.

Cameroon international Eto'o struck after ten minutes and Messi added the second with a superb header 20 minutes from time. United can have no complaints as they failed to find their usual fluency and defended hesitantly with many of their key performers well below-par.

Sometimes, you have to wonder. Levels of fitness and skill have no doubt improved in football over the last couple of decades, but perhaps today was the day during which we started to lose grip with reality. Every British newspaper had a pull-out section, many choosing to lavish extravagant praise on a match that hadn't even been played yet.

Report by Gareth Freeman

Champions League Final: Barcelona 2-0 Manchester United

Barcelona were supposed to be in the midst of a defensive crisis, their players hadn't all played together since they sealed the Spanish title, there were question marks over the fitness of Thierry Henry and Andres Iniesta and it was supposed to be United's night.

Barcelona 2-0 Manchester United

When Thierry Henry was at Arsenal, for two or three seasons he was their best player, and by a clear margin. he won games virtually on his own, and was adored by Arsenal's fans. Now, at Barcelona, with his career entering its final phase, the Frenchman accepts that he is no longer the star, but part of the supporting cast to the three best players in the world: Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.

Andres Iniesta delivered a world-class performance in the Champions League final against Manchester United, his pace, trickery, agility and passing ability against Man Utd was at times - stunning, but how did he come to this? The video below shows Iniesta, at 16 years old, with potential sky-high, scoring a late-winner against Chelsea.

Andres Iniesta scored one of the most dramatic goals in UEFA Champions League history to sink Chelsea and send 10-man Barcelona into a final showdown with Manchester United.

Three minutes into injury time in a second leg that Chelsea had dominated, the Spain midfielder latched on to a pass from Lionel Messi and lashed an unstoppable shot spinning into the top corner of the net.

Didier goes nuts! Chelsea striker Didier Drogba labelled referee Tom Henning Ovrebo a "disgrace" after his side's Champions League exit at the hands of Barcelona. The Blues felt they had four strong shouts for penalties before Barcelona won the semi-final on away goals with a 93rd-minute Andres Iniesta strike.

Yaya Toure, Kolo's younger brother shows why Arsenal should get this man. Brilliant footwork, great balance, and a killer finish. It all began at the half line. Yaya was shifted to the center back position because of Abidal's suspension and Rafa Marque's injury.

His goal scored the equalizer for Barca who went on to demolish Bilbao through goals by Messi, Krkic, and Xavi.

Barcelona recently lost Dani Alves for the season.
Turns out Andres Iniesta and Thierry Henry are also injury doubts. I've seen reports that they will play and some that say they won't.
Certainly something to keep an eye on as gameday approaches. Injury news over five days can change about 5,239 times.

Interviewer: Let's look at your season as a whole. You've scored 15 goals in all competitions, and you are the top scorer aged 21 or under in the Premier League. Pretty encouraging . . .

Bendtner: I didn't know that, but its quite a good stat! Did you know that i'm also our top scorer in this calendar year?

Guten Abend to one and to all.As most of you will already have noticed, lately we have been running a poll asking for you to cast your vote on FC Barcelona's best player during the Champions League...

It's hump day, and the transfer rumors are only getting started. Here are the murmurs floating around the world of football.

Manchester United closing in on Benzema

Karim Benzema and his agent may be distancing France's most sought after striker, but reports all point towards an imminent move.

Barca's Andres Iniesta has a new home! His father Jose Anotonio, who is a bricklayer, has been overseeing the construction for the last year and a half, and now it's finally complete!
It's located in his homwtown of Fuentealbilla, on the street bearing name of Iniesta in the heart of the city, about one hundred kilometers from the club.

10 Premier League players have been named in the 30 strong list for the European Player Of The Year Awards- three of which are Man United players.
Here is the list-
Arsenal- Andrey Arshavin and Cesc Fabregas
Atletico Madrid- Diego Forlan
Barcelona- Thierry Henry, Xavi, Yaya Toure, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi
Bayern Munich- Franck Ribery
Bordeaux- Yoann Gourcuff
Chelsea- John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba
Inter Milan- Samuel Eto'o, Julio Cesar and Maicon
Juventus- Diego
Liverpool- Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres
Man United- Nemanja Vidic, Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney
Real Madrid- Karim Benzema, Iker Casillas, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo
Sevilla- Luis Fabiano
Valencia- David Silva
Wolfsburg- Edin Dzeko
Barcelona dominates the list with six players and in all honesty.

The African nations have been steadily improving over the last decade or so and the World Cup in 2010 represents a good chance for one of the stronger sides to emerge victorious. The Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria are the ‘heavyweights' of African football but Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal also possess some talent and should not be dismissed.

The FIFA World Player of the Year is the greatest individual honor a footballer can win in the sport. As it is well known, the '08 award was won by Manchester United's Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo. After the award presentation, attention shifted to who could win the 2009 FIFA POY Award.

Football FanCast columnist ‘The New Voice of Football' fully expects Cesc Fabregas returns to his beloved Barca, but doesn't feel that now is the right time.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas will not leave the Emirates Stadium for the Nou Camp this summer.