Bojan's lady-pulling measures have become increasingly desperate since Barca's financial woes began to bite. Oh, fine. Perhaps we 'may' have doctored this image. We couldn't resist. We love baby B. Original image: Getty Images Europe via Zimbio

Barcelona's clever use of short, tricky forwards have made them an unpredictable force against defensive-minded teams and particularly have allowed Lionel Messi to revel.
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At Camp Nou, Barcelona fielded a forward line of Messi, Bojan and Pedro to battle it out against the determined defense of Arsenal.

We're a couple days late with this one, but on Wednesday July 14th Leo Messi took his talents and some friends to Panama and staged a Leo Messi and Friends vs Rest of the World game, to raise money for impoverished Panamanians. Messi was obviously the headliner, but this game was packed with big names.

We're a couple days late with this one, but on Wednesday July 14th Leo Messi took his talents and some friends to Panama and staged a Leo Messi and Friends vs Rest of the World game, to raise money for impoverished Panamanians. Messi was obviously the headliner, but this game was packed with big names.

Chivas USA waived veteran defender Jim Curtin and midfielder Bojan Stepanovic and you can read more about it by clicking here. Curtin is a veteran player, having played many years for the Chicago Fire.

While La Liga, The Premiership, and Serie A remain similar in their table standings, the season end is nigh. Twente mathematically win the Dutch Eredivisie (Viva McLaren!) and Bayern Munich also practically claim the German title (unless Schalke 04 magically equal the massive goal difference after getting equal on points with Bayern), while Marseille is very close to winning the French title.

How quick things change in the world of football? Last December every Barca fan were complaining about how disappointed were they with the performance of the little Bojan Krkic; now they can't stop praising him. Indeed Bojan Krkic has been in a tremendous goal scoring streak and have impressed everyone including his manager.

FC Barcelona is not only famous for being a huge World Football Club, but also for its youth programme ("La Masia") & the string of young talented Football players that the Club turns out yearly. The examples are many like Puyol, Valdes, Pique, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro, Bojan, Jeffran, Thiago, Cesc Fabregas etc.

By Chris Wright

Allow Pies to sum up Barcelona's 5-0 tanking of Real Sociedad at the weekend in concise, 'video essay' format.

A goal apiece from David Villa, Andres Iniesta and Bojan Krkic coupled with a pair of intricate pearlers from Leo Messi ensured that Barca's day contained several elements of 'the sublime' .

Fabregas (bottom left) and Pique (beside the keeper) were developed at Barca.

After a year when Barcelona won everything there was for a club team to win people have started wondering where the Blaugrana will go from here. This thinking has been compounded with Barca's premature exit in the Spanish Copa del Rey earlier this week.

So Brazil's U-17 coach, Lucho Nizzo paid a visit to the Arsenal's Brasileiros yesterday (including Eduardo da Silva, who is now effectively a Croat....but they still love him the same!). He was apparently invited to England by his former U-15 prodigy, Denilson.

Goals by Bojan, Pedro and Toure give FC Barcelona an easy win at home and a 6 point lead in La Liga with Real Madrid yet to play. read more...
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FC Barcelona took a firm step towards retaining their La Liga crown with a comfortable 3-0 victory over visiting Deportivo La Coruna side. First half goal from Bojan and two second half strikes from Pedro and Toure helped Barca increase their lead on top to six points. Real Madrid who play tonight could cut that lead back to three.

There are still a few crazy Arsenal transfer rumours about, and some of them even quote Arsene Wenger as saying he is definitely going to be spending this summer, although that looks like it was a Norwgian translation of a Dutch magazine's interview with Wenger! But here is the craziest one of the day.

Yes, Thierry Henry might be finishing his playing days off in England. The former Arsenal striker is now reduced to cameos in Barca, as his playing time has been cut further by Ibrahimovic, Pedro, and Bojan.

Barca's president Joan Laporta:

"In Barcelona we respect contracts, but he probably has not done as well as he wanted.

Slovenia Preliminary Squad

Coach: Matjaž Kek

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club GK Samir Handanovič 14 July 1984 (aged 25) 38 Udinese GK Jasmin Handanovič 28 January 1978 (aged 32) 3 Mantova GK Aleksander eliga 1 February 1980 (aged 30) 1 Sparta GK Jan Koprivec 15 July 1988 (aged 21) 0 Udinese DF Boštjan Cesar 9 July 1982 (aged 27) 41 Grenoble DF Branko Ilič 6 February 1983 (aged 27) 36 Lokomotiv Moscow DF Bojan Jokić 17 May 1986 (aged 24) 33 Chievo DF Matej Mavrič 29 January 1979 (aged 31) 32 TuS Koblenz DF Mišo Brečko 1 May 1984 (aged 26) 30 Köln DF Marko uler 9 March 1983 (aged 27) 16 Gent DF Suad Filekovič 16 September 1978 (aged 31) 14 Maribor DF Dejan Kelhar 5 April 1984 (aged 26) 1 Cercle Brugge DF Elvedin Džinič 25 August 1985 (aged 24) 1 Maribor DF Aleksander Rajčević 17 November 1986 (aged 23) 0 Koper MF Robert Koren (c) 20 September 1980 (aged 29) 45 West Bromwich Albion MF Andrej Komac 4 December 1979 (aged 30) 40 Maccabi Tel Aviv MF Andraž Kirm 6 September 1984 (aged 25) 25 Wisła Kraków MF Dalibor Stevanovič 27 September 1984 (aged 25) 15 Vitesse MF Aleksander Radosavljevič 25 April 1979 (aged 31) 14 Larissa MF Mirnes išić 8 August 1981 (aged 28) 12 PAS Giannina MF Darijan Matič 28 May 1983 (aged 27) 7 Rapid Bucharest MF Dare Vršič 26 September 1984 (aged 25) 5 Timisoara MF Rene Krhin 21 May 1990 (aged 20) 3 Internazionale FW Milivoje Novakovič 18 May 1979 (aged 31) 37 Köln FW Valter Birsa 7 August 1986 (aged 23) 33 Auxerre FW Zlatko Dedič 10 May 1984 (aged 26) 23 Bochum FW Zlatan Ljubijankič 15 December 1983 (aged 26) 16 Gent FW Nejc Pečnik 3 January 1986 (aged 24) 7 Nacional FW Miran Burgič 25 September 1984 (aged 25) 5 AIK FW Tim Matavž 13 January 1989 (aged 21) 0 Groningen

Most Capped Player: Zlatko Zahovic 80 caps
Top GoalscorerZlatko Zahovic - 35 goals

Back to 2010 World Cup Squads.

It's official. For the next four seasons at least, David Villa will be a Barcelona player after signing from Valencia for €40million. Pep Guardiola and Joan Laporta have moved swiftly to ensure that Barca will have the most feared frontline in football once the 2010/2011 season kicks off.

So Cesc made his statement yesterday and committed himself to Arsenal for the season ahead. It has, naturally enough, sparked all manner of analysis both positive and negative.

For me the most important thing about it was that it was honest. There was no denial of the lure of Barcelona, no verbose badge kissing, no trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes.

Almeria 0 - 8 BarcelonaAs preparations for a Clasico go, it doesn't get much better than this. Almeria were ripped to shreds by a rampant Barcelona who showed signs that they are hitting top form at just the right moment. From the moment the first ball was kicked it was a barrage of attacks from Barca as Lionel Messi, Pedro and David Villa picked off the Almeria defence at will.

Nombre Lugar de nacimiento Edad
Club Pos Valor mínimo Número máximo de valor 1 Alexandre Pato Brasil 21 Ac Milan La € 25,000,000 € 40,000,000 2 Mario Balotelli Italia 20 Manchester City La € 22,000,000 € 33,000,000 3 Tomás Müller Alemania 21 Bayern Múnich La € 18,500,000 € 28,500,000 4 Stevan Jovetic Montenegro 20 Fiorentina La € 14,000,000 € 21,000,000 5 Eden Hazard Bélgica 19 Lille M € 13,000,000 € 19,000,000 6 Bojan Krkic España 20 Barcelona La € 12,000,000 € 18,000,000 7 Marko Marin Alemania 21 Werder Bremen M € 11,000,000 € 17,000,000 8 Neymar Brasil 18 Santos La € 11,000,000 € 17,000,000 9 Gareth Bale País de Gales 21 Tottenham D € 10,500,000 € 16,500,000 10 Javier Pastore Argentina 21 Palermo M € 10,000,000 € 15,000,000 11 Miralem Pjanic Bosnia 20 Lyon M € 10,000,000 € 15,000,000 12 Moussa Sissoko Francia 21 Toulouse M € 10,000,000 € 15,000,000 13 Toni Kroos Alemania 20 Bayern Múnich M € 9,500,000 € 14,500,000 14 Simon Kjaer Dinamarca 21 Wolfsburgo D € 9,500,000 € 14,500,000 15 Theo Walcott Inglaterra 21 Arsenal La € 9,500,000 € 14,500,000 16 Jack Rodwell Inglaterra 19 Everton M € 9,500,000 € 14,500,000 17 David De Gea España 19 At.

Liverpool are being linked with a shock swoop for Barcelona wonderkid Bojan Krkic.
The 20-year-old striker, who can also play in the wing positions, has failed to earn a regular starting spot at the Nou Camp, leading to speculation that he could leave the club in the summer.
His agent, Zoran Vekic, revealed that the player will not be making a Catalan exit in January, but admitted Bojan would consider his options at the end of the season.

FC Barcelona surpirisingly lost the first leg of Copa Del Rey quarterfinals at home to an under strength Sevilla side. FC Barcelona now face a near impossible task of winning the second leg away from home with atleast two goals clear to proceed to the next game. Two matches into the new year, Barca is still looking for their first win of the year.

[101gg] Most superstars have a "breakout game" or a "breakout moment". The one which says without a shadow of a doubt, "this special boy has arrived". Sergio Canales, La Liga's favorite confusing contract, had that game against Sevilla on Saturday, scoring both goals splendidly in Racing's win. But it wasn't the goals themselves which slack the [.

Recreativo de Huelva and Sevilla provided the cupsets of the round so far as they both finished the first leg ahead of their supposed superior rivals. In yesterdays tie at the Camp Nou, Barcelona and Sevilla both had grounds for complaint regarding the performance of referee Alfonso Burrull as Bojan and Diego Capel had goals incorrectly chalked off, whereas the penalty awarded to Sevilla appeared to occur outside of the box.

FC Barcelona will be looking to extend thei lead on top to eight points tonight and put immense pressure on Real Madrid who will be playing Malaga tomorrow. Seydou Keita has returned to the 19 men squad announced by Guardiola - Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Cygrynskiy, Milito, Márquez, Puyol, Piqué, Abidal, Maxwell, Jonathan, Xavi, Iniesta, Keita, Henry, Bojan, Pedro, Messi and Ibrahimovic.

Chivas USA announced today its season opener against the Colorado Rapids has been switched from Sunday, March 28 to Friday, March 26 at Home Depot Center.

The date was changed because Telefutura would not have televised Sunday's game anyway, due to changes in its schedule and Chivas USA officials believe the game would be a bigger draw on a Friday evening.

FC Barcelona will be back tonigh at the place where their dream run started. After begining the last season in the worst possible way in ages, Barca got back to winning ways with a 6-1 thrashing of Gijon at El Molinón. The senario for Barca in the League is different from their last visit.

German papers are speculating that Bayern Munich are interested in Bojan and could be the deciding factor in Ribery's transfer. read more...
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The final third of the season is among us and week 26 is going to be mighty interesting after what happened midweek.
If there was a team fitting of helping a morally battered teams regroup, Valladolid is just right. Real Madrid should have not problems as they travel to face relegation-compromised Valladolid.

A quick spot check around the European leagues revealed that things are pretty tight in the EPL, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 and the German Bundesliga. If you thought that the title race was neck to neck in Italy then you ain't seen nothing yet. In France, the top six clubs are all in a position to win the championship with only 4 points separating Olympique Lyon the top club from the 6th placed club Olympique de Marseille.

We just wanted to bring your attention to Bobojan, whom we failed to highlight in yesterday's weekend Señor wrap. Granted, tipo's looking a little too delirious here but he wants all you Gooners to know that Barca will NOT be playing chess against Arsenal tonight.

One injury too many for Arsenal?

As a frequent visitor to the website physioroom you'll see that Arsenal are consistently top of the table with an injury list the size of Arsene Wengers transfer kitty.

Not only are The Gunners missing their complete spine, including captain Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas & Robin Van Persie, but Alex Song has now joined the list, which also includes Andrey Arshavin, Johan Djourou, Kieran Gibbs & Arron Ramsey.

If this game is half of the game the first leg was it will be a treat! The two teams will likely put on another attacking show but they will have to do so without many of their top stars.

Barcelona are missing their two goal hero from London, Ibrahimovich. Their two central defenders, Pique and Puyol, are out due to suspensions.

Barcelona 4 Arsenal 1
It was, in one sense, horribly reminiscent of how Arsenal were knocked out of the Champions League two years previously.
At Anfield, Theo made a lung-busting run, cut it across to a big centre forward and we scored. As things stood, Arsenal would go through to the Champions League semi-final.

Four is the magic number as magical Messi destroys Arsenal.

There was a glorious three minute spell in which Arsenal were ahead of Barcelona in their Champions League tie last night. In the end that spell served as a tantalising reminder as to what Arsenal could have done if they had had their full squad fit at the Camp Nou.

Well, well, well...

At the Emirates we were made to look like a lower league team in the first twenty minutes or so. Big Al made saves that no one expected he could. Our defense was made to defend for their lives at one point even Tony Adams would have been proud of some interceptions and blocks made.

Barcelona 4 - 1 Athletic Bilbao
(1-0) 26' Jeffren, (2-0) 41' Bojan, (3-0) 58' Bojan, (4-0) 66' Messi, (4-1) 76' Susaeta
I read recently that many 'people' thought Barcelona didn't have a strong squad. Made me chuckle. Those who doubted before, can surely doubt no more.

Barca vs Arsenal clash promises to be a Footballing Carnival

FC Barcelona will travel to London tonight to face Arsenal in the first leg of this season's Champions league Quarter Final. This clash of the titans has been billed as "Beautiful Football at its best". We have seen many times in the past, that the so called Big clashes failing to match the hype but this one will surely do.

Usually a visit to Mallorca should not give us much trouble, but not this season. Real Mallorca is having one of the most stunning seasons and currently lies at the fourth position. Their home record has been impeccable this season with losing only one of their home games. But Real Madrid, Valencia and Barca has not visited Mallorca.

A win against Osausna at home will see FC Barcelona going back to the top of league, at least for 24 hours. After the recent exploits of Lionel Messi on the pitch, there has been calls to give the little maestro some deserving rest, especially ahead of the Champions League clash on next Wednesday.