Sin duda una de las peores humillaciones que se tenga memoria para el Real Madrid y para cualquier equipo en cualquier parte del mundo, de hecho 400 millones de personas vieron uno de los mejores partidos de la historia del F.C. Barcelona ante un sobrevalorado Real Madrid.

This is the private (& "stolen") photo that is on fire on the Web & in Sports media. FC Barcelona players Ibrahimovic & Gerard Pique caught on camara outside Camp Nou. I would ask that NO ONE jump to conclusions, it can be taken easily out of context, although "bad tongues" are hot at the moment. Lets wait before jumping to any conclusions.

The rumors, for once, came to fruition, as FC Barcelona will pay a transfer fee of €40 million to Valencia for Spanish international striker David Villa. This tango (or the sardana for a more local, Catalunyan flair) danced by the two clubs since the previous offseason will finally end as outgoing Barça president Joan Laporta landed the player he coveted for two years.

Fittingly considering the last article was about lazy journalism this is the first thing I've written in a week. And even more aptly, it's not even mine, but lifted from the Guardian. But it's a fantastic piece by Dr Sid Lowe, who you will be familiar with from the site and from Football Weekly, the excellent Guardian Football Podcast.

The Thierry-Henry-to-MLS rumors continue to percolate. Last week, a report in England's Telegraph added fuel to the already white-hot fire by claiming that the Barcelona star flew to New York in January to discuss a potential transfer to the Red Bulls following this summer's World Cup. Now, Tony Parker – San Antonio Spurs point guard and one of Henry's best friends - has confirmed that the French striker has his mind set on playing in the United States.

There are lots of interesting bits of Arsenal transfer news around today, but the most unlikely just has to be the report from Marca that Barcelona want either Mascherano or Denilson to replace Yaya Toure at the Camp Nou. Mascherano I can understand, but Denilson is nowhere near the finished product yet and would certainly [.

BARCELONA won the Gamper Trophy on penalties against Milan, after David Villa had scored his first goal for his new club, but many people will remember the occasion for this spine-tingling, pre-game tribute to Ronaldinho, who was returning to the Camp Nou with the Serie A club:

A brilliant reminder of Ron's ability, but you can't help but have mixed feelings when you watch it; the Brazilian had the world at his feet, with the opportunity to be remembered as one of the legends of the game (ranked up there with truly great players like Pele, Maradona and Zidane), but he scuffed his shot and in the process turned his career into a sad circus act.

Even though I just went to a match at the Camp Nou, this European Football Stadium review isn't about that stadium. That should come in the next few weeks. This one is about Bozsik Stadion in Budapest, Hungary.

At the time I arrived in Budapest, I wasn't even thinking about going to a football match.

Xavi's pure brilliance in the midfield has been rewarded as the Spanish playmaker has been honored with the World Soccer Player of the Year for 2010. Xavi received 25.8% of the votes and edged out Lionel Messi for the award. Messi wasn't far behind however as he received 24.1% percent.

As for Barcelona, they were rated the third best team in the world.

Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué (Wikimedia)

Even though he will not be present on the pitch at the Camp Nou on Tuesday against Arsenal, Gerard Piqué made headlines on Monday as he presented his new autobiography "El Viaje de Ida Y Vuelta" (The Roundtrip).
In this book Piqué talks about his experience from his beginnings at Barcelona's youth academy and his move to Manchester United then his eventual return to Catalunya with a pit stop in Zaragoza.

For Arsenal, the name of Lionel Messi will go down as the reason why they were eliminated from the Champions League. With four goals at the Camp Nou, the Argentinean made sure the Gunners' progress in ...

As just about the whole Barcelona team has said at least once (if not three times!) that the Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas should be at the Camp Nou next season, it has come as a shock to me that ONE of them has admitted that Cesc plays for Arsenal, and there is "nothing to be [...]

By Ollie Irish

After Copenhagen's creditable 1-1 draw against Barcelona last night, the two coaches went toe to toe. The root of the dispute between Guardiola and Stale Solbakken would seem to be Jose Pinto's very sly whistle when Barcelona played Copenhagen in the Camp Nou.

Having worshipped at many altars in my time, I took the chance to visit one of the greatest churches of all two weeks ago; the Camp Nou.

There, I saw Barcelona play Villarreal in one of the most entertaining encounters I have ever witnessed, and it left me begging the question: Are Barcelona even playing the same sport as other teams?

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has revealed that the most memorable match which he has ever watched as a football fan was Liverpool's epic Champions League final victory against AC Milan in 2005.
The 22-year-old Gunner recalled how Rafael Benitez's side battled back from a 3-0 deficit at half-time to take the match to extra time before eventually sealing the game in a dramatic penalty shootout.

The first leg of the Quarterfinal round is will begin this week. Bayern will host Man United, Lyon hosts Bordeaux, Arsenal hosts Barcelona, and Inter Milan hosts CSKA Moscow. So, who will happen in each first leg? Well, it's never easy to make predictions but let's take a look at each match.

(Note: No picture this week because I'm pissed. I have some great pictures of the Bernabéu and iPhoto won't work on my Mac. I'm about the chuck the damned thing through a window. So, no picture.)

Here we go with the final WCR Top 25 rankings before the UEFA Champions League semifinals.

Diego Milito, Ivan Cordoba, and Wesley Sneijder celebrate their passage to the Champions League final.

The sprinklers rose up from the pitch and sprayed the Inter Milan players and staff. The Barcelona anthem, "Cant del Barça," blared through the loudspeakers as the Culés did not know whether to clap off their Blaugrana heroes or vehemently whistle at the unwanted visitors from northern Italy.

Victor Valdes - 8.5 - Victor Valdes won his third Zamora Trophy by a whooping 10 goal margin. A closer look and you will say that this won was the most deserving of all his trophies. Even in last season, he was his usual self, producing some telling saves, but at the same time producing some disastrous mistakes.

Hace 40 años salía publicado este aviso en la revista 'Así es Boca'.
En 1965, Alberto Jacinto Armando, el mejor presidente de la historia de Boca Juniors, inició un ambicioso proyecto: rellenando aguas del Río de la Plata, en la costanera sur, el club levantaba su "Ciudad Deportiva". Hasta donde se pudo avanzar, se construyeron 30 hectáreas sobre un total de 6 islas comunicadas por puentes, en la que se llegó a inaugurar un anfiteatro para 1.

Squad Profiles are available for each of the twenty clubs currently playing football in the Spanish top flight. They are an overview of each club and specifically denote players to highly consider selecting for your side. Others have been ear-marked to watch out for as they may be new to La Liga or returning from injury.

José Mourinho has carried on his tradition of getting under people's skin wherever he goes, but this week he came under fire from two sides as he was labelled "ill-mannered" and a "rogue."

First up was boss of Mediapro, Jaume Roures, whose company has the rights to televise El Clásico on Monday, 29 November.

Well, we have only ourselves to blame. We made a proper mess of the easiest group and somehow contrived to finish second, and will get a purple-and-blue gift wrapped Jack-in-the-box on Valentine's Day as a result. Arsenal have had more than decent luck in Champions League draws over the past few years, but good luck today would have meant getting Schalke, who topped their group and have Raul and Huntelaar playing up front.

Lionel Messi being chased by Gael Clichy and Denilson (Reuters)

This team never ceases to amaze me. When they are doubted the most, they come up the greatest.
It seems like a lesson I never learn. Despite all the odds not being in favor of the Blaugrana, they still stepped on to the pitch and defeated Arsenal 4-1 at the Camp Nou on Tuesday night.

Bacary Sagna touched upon a topic that could be described as Wenger's Achilles' Heel. Here is what the French full back said,

Sometimes I think we play too much, We just want to do that and do not think about what is good for us sometimes we just need to cut out the football, stop playing for a bit and just consider what will help us achieve what we want.

Advantage Inter

What a compelling game just finished in the San Siro. Inter were worthy 3-1 winners on the night and once again not only did Jose Mourinho get his tactics spot on, but his players gave their all in the pursuit of victory. The tie is a long way from being over, it's not hard to envisage Barca scoring twice in El Camp Nou after all, but tonight's win for the Nerazurri will leave their outstanding captain Javier Zanetti and his team mates dreaming of a date with destiny in Madrid on May 22nd.

Well "Mega Martians" Inter come through in front of their adoring Interista winning 3-1. Now the return leg to Camp Nou is looming with Italian press hailed Inter Milan as Martians. Gazzetta dello...
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FC Barcelona needs to Produce a Magical Night against Inter Milan

So, the stage is set of this all conquering FC Barcelona side to overcome one of the biggest challenges in last two years. After losing the first leg away 3-1 at San Siro, FC Barcelona have to do it all at Nou Camp now. A failure to do that will see the dream of retaining the Champions league crown at our rivals home ending.

From a footballing point of view there isn't much left to look forward to as far as Arsenal fans are concerned . The couple of games left are mostly academic in nature. The season-end autopsy and transfer madness will get into top gear only after these games and that puts us in a state of limbo.

At such a time this Champions League semi-final clash comes as a respite.

By Ollie Irish

Photo: Aubrey Washington/EMPICS Sport

Jose Mourinho sits on the Barcelona bench with manager Bobby Robson, during a Spanish league match against Hercules CF in January 1997. Mourinho was Robson's assistant and interpreter.

When Louis van Gaal replaced Robson at Camp Nou, Mourinho was marginalised and forced out of the club.

Nicklas Bendtner handed out praise to the little Argentine last month, after he made one of the all time great performances of the Uefa Championa League by hitting 4 goals in one match.

Lionel Messi Has this week recognised the talents of Nicklas Bendtner, after he gave Arsenal the lead infront of a stunned Camp Nou.

First off, welcome to this space, hopefully to become your one-stop-shop for USMNT analysis along with the rest of the world of U.S. soccer. I'm extremely passionate about the beautiful game as it continues to develop in the U.S., and hopefully we'll have some interplay on the topic in the coming weeks and months.

Just as one began to sense a feeling that the frenetic activity in the transfer rumors season had started to ease off, more stories began popping up linking Manchester United to more players. The...
Continue to the full story

Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique has insisted that Cesc Fabregas is fully focused on Spain 's World Cup campaign and is not allowing the ongoing saga surrounding his possible move from Arsenal to Camp Nou to distract him. The future of the 23-year ...

As Spain celebrated their historic World Cup victory back home in Madrid, a few members of the squad had the perfect prank planned. While over 200,000 fans looked on in the Spanish capital, defenders Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique snuck up behind Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas and forced a Barcelona jersey on him.

Shortly before midnight last Sunday, the man they called El Illusionista (The Dreamer), El Anti-Galactico (The Anti-Galactico) and Cerebro (The Brain) was the greatest man on Earth, deciding the greatest show on Earth. The unassuming superstar reached the pinnacle of his career that night and for several years now, he has been reaching constantly to do so.

Catalan C*nts

"..I do however have some interesting facts for you, which for some reason oblivious to me; have been hidden from the public domain. These facts include the following.."

Over the past month or so, we Gooners, have been at utter loss of words given the very nature of scathing verbose showered at Cesc, courtesy the courtesy-less Catalans (read: C*nts).

So it seems that the feud of the Swedish striker possibly signing with Serie A club AC Milan isn't between Pep Guardiola and AC Milan but it's between Guardiola and Ibra's agent, Mino Raiola.

With Ibrahimovic rumored to be prepared to sign with Milan, Guardiola has went on to make it clear that he is he is very upset with the way the negations went about.

Barcelona 5 - 1 Panathinaikos
(0-1) 20' Govou, (1-1) 21' Messi, (2-1) 33' Villa, (3-1) 45' Messi, (4-1) 77' Pedro, (5-1) 92' Alves
For 60 seconds the Camp Nou was getting worried there. They needn't have, not when Leo Messi is in this mood.

Cristiano Ronaldo was dazzling against Racing Santander on Saturday. He led Real Madrid to a 6-1 victory with a remarkable four goal performance. The Portuguese forward was the subject of a lot of criticism in his first four games of the season where he was branded as "selfish" by the media.