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.

spotted at FIRST TEAM FOOTBALL

Yesterday it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic speaking out against his former club Barcelona after his move to AC Milan. Today it's Javier Mascherano clearing the air about his move to Barcelona and why he did it.

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina has spoken out about Javier Mascherano's impact on the club. The Argentine left the club in controversial fashion at the end of the transfer window, and while Barcelona fans are looking forward to seeing him at the Camp Nou, Liverpool are left figuring out how to regroup.

Hercules club's victory over FC Barcelona has to be the biggest upset of recent times in European football. The surprise factor became bigger considering the fact that it did took place at the fort of Camp Nou, on one of the most important day in Catalunyan calendar. Most of us have still not come to to terms with the defeat.

"These figures are stupid," Fabio Capello once said after being asked what formation England were playing after a qualifying game. "In the modern game, the only formation is 9-1." Of course, that is all nonsense. Nonsense, unless you're Rangers however. At times, they reverted to the old 'park the bus' system where they constantly put blue shirts into their own box.

Jose Mourinho, ready to win moreThe Champions League has begun, and while we are only at the group stages, I still find it very interesting to see how teams are finding European competition. There were plenty of interesting results in this group of matches, and as you'd expect, some ridiculous thrashings.

With just over two months to go before Real Madrid face their arch-enemies Barcelona in La Primera, Jose Mourinho has decided it is already time to try and start the mind games with Pep Guardiola.

The Portuguese coach is rarely one to keep his feelings to himself and in a press conference this morning he had a sly dig at the defending Primera champions by declaring that teams are 'gifting' games to them.

UEFA Champions League

Real Madrid's offensive woes will not be aided when they travel to the Stade de l'Abbé Deschamps on Tuesday and face an Auxerre squad who gave up the fewest goals in Ligue 1 last season with a meager 29. While Auxerre's form has not carried over to this current season, where they have not won in Ligue 1 while conceding ten in seven matches, expect the Burgundy outfit to pack it in the midfield and play with ten behind the ball throughout the vast majority of the match.

Some upsetting news at Camp Nou have arrived as their star defender Carlos Puyol well be missing the next 3 weeks after sustaining a muscle injury during warm-up's in Barcelona's clash with Racing Santander. Although the club did still go on to win the match 3-0 against Racing, it still has to suck to see the bench for 3 weeks when the season just got under-way.

When does Barcelona NOT strike fear into clubs worldwide? They do it so well on the pitch and this summer, they did it through their use of the transfer market. The signing of David Villa to spearhead such an already petrifying forward line is something that has to have La Liga teams and Champions League rivals quaking in their boots!

There are a myriad of ways you could describe AC Milan's much-travelled show-pony Zlatan Ibrahimovic (lolloping gobshite, work-shy flake, disruptive semi-megalomaniac, self-important tossweed) but 'likeable' or even 'affable' probably wouldn't be the kind of characteristics that would be on the tip of your tongue if you were asked to outwardly assess his personality.

Group D consists of champions from four leagues, though only FC Barcelona has the name recognition outside of hardcore soccer fans. Joining Barça are: F.C Copenhagen, Panathinaikos and Rubin Kazan.
FC Barcelona - Barça, three-time Champions League winners and two-time defending La Liga champions, are one of the most well-known teams in the world.

There has been much speculation going around about whether or not Dani Alves will be offered a new contract extension at Camp Nou but Alves is confident that he will be with the Spanish giants for years to come. With just 2 years remaining on Alves's contract, Barcelona have yet not to offer the Brazilian defender a extension on his contract.

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas has hinted that if it was down to him, he would have secured a switch to Barcelona this summer. No surprise here don't you agree?

The midfielder was strongly linked with a return to his Catalan roots throughout the transfer window, with both parties making it clear that they wished to reach an agreement.

I'm not sure how many Barcelona fans have witnessed Yaya Toure with his new club Manchester City, but he seems to be doing great with the club. Being used more as a central midfielder that attacks more (rather then the defensive midfield position that he played at Barcelona) Yaya has been very effective for the Billionaire club and Kompany is confused as to why Barca would let him go.

The Castle of Santa Bárbara, standing sentry on top of a mountain peak in the center of Alicante, finds it origins in the 9th century during Arab rule.

La Liga clubs spent a week on vacation after the opening round of fixtures because of the international FIFA date, although for Real Madrid and Barcelona, many of their players were on international duty.

I went 7/10 in Gameweek 1's Quiniela and would have done better if Madrid hadn't fallen flat in Mallorca. This week has a few interesting matchups as the domestic season resumes.

It has been a slow start to the Spanish season with the Interlull taking place immediately after the first round of games.

According to a study done by study by Sport+Markt, FC Barcelona have the most supporters of any club in Europe. Their combination of stylish play and results have won the hearts of football supporters world wide. The Blaugrana can claim to have an incredible 57.8 million fans, almost double that of their nearest rival.

FC Barcelona suffered their first defeat of this years La Liag season at Camp Nou infront of an almost packed house. Let's just hope they don't do this often as we may not be able to afford the same. The team can be rated as a 5 out of a scale of 10. So let's get to the business straight away.

Newly promoted Valencia side Hércules CF shocked defending league champions FC Barcelona 2-0 at the Camp Nou on Saturday in Spanish La Liga action. New signing Paraguayan forward Nelson Haedo Valdez scored both of Hércules' goals when he found the back of the next after 26 and 58 minutes. The defeat is Barca's first home loss since [.

Barcelona 0 - 2 Hercules
(0-1) 26' Valdez, (0-2) 58' Valdez
No one can say they saw that coming. Unless your name is Esteban Vigo of course. When the Hercules manager stated midweek that his team would only be happy with a win in the Camp Nou, there was a deathly silence followed by howls of derision.

An absolute shocker in the Liga as Javier Mascherano's debut turns to dust.

Hercules, a club promoted after 13 years and composed of former rejects including Real Madrid's Royston Drenthe, Juve's David Trezeguet, Pompey's Noe Pamarot, and Borussia Dortmund's Nelson "Haecho" Valdez defeated the Liga title holders, 2-0 at home.

Barcelona – Hercules
It's the typical David versus Goliath matchup; Last year's champions against a newly promoted side. Hercules were one of the most active teams during the summer transfer window but they are up against a fresh side boosted by the presence of Mascherano.

Before this current season, Hércules CF had tasted top flight football only twice in the past twenty-five years: the 1985-86 season, when their neighbors to north, Valencia, also suffered relegation for the first time in its illustrious history; and the 1996-97 season, when the Alicante club spent one campaign in La Liga before subsequent relegation to the Segunda División.

FC Barcelona starts their Champiosn Leagu campaign at the Nou Camp against Greek Champions Panathinaikos tomorrow. After the 2-0 defeat against hercules, it could be thebest thing the players can ask for. A match this quickly means Barca has the perfect platform to bounce back and turn the topic away from that defeat.

Barcelona should come out on topin this Group but with Football you never know. Below is some important info on the Group D contenders.

Full Name: FC Barcelona

Nickname:L'equip Blaugrana (Team)

Founded: 1899

Ground: Camp Nou

Capacity: 98,772

Manager: Josep Guardiola

Nation: Spain

Home Colours: Blue and Red

Dangerman: Lionel Messi

Winners: 1991/92, 2005/06, 2008/09.

Hércules! Hércules! Hércules! La Liga Lowdown, Jornada 2 is a post from: Just Football

The unlikeliest of results kicked off a goal-filled La Liga this weekend with newly promoted Hércules overcoming FC Barcelona in their own back yard. A packed Camp Nou was stunned into silence midway through the first half when recent summer acquisition Nelson Valdez put the team from Alicante ahead after some questionable defending.

Normal service were restored at the Camp Nou with an emphatic 5-1 victory against the Greek Champions. The match's importance grew following the 2-0 dfeat at the hand of Hercules. This also had its fair share of twists with the Greek side taking the lead in the 20th minute to leave Camp Nou stunned.

All Barcelona needed was a little bit of Lionel Messi to get the club off on the right foot against Panathinaikos in Champions League play.

After a heavy opening Barca attack, Panathinaikos was the squad to strike first with an early 20th minute goal, Barca responded with one goal after another.

It was 16 months in the waiting but on Saturday night Pep Guardiola and Barcelona experienced their first home defeat in La Liga and it was to the most unlikely of opponents.

Newly promoted Hercules came to Camp Nou with more hope than expectation but left this great stadium with the 3 points after a stunning 2-0 victory over the reigning champions.

Well, that didn't take long. Barcelona were reeling a little after that shock 2-0 defeat to Hercules this past weekend. And things were looking a little worrisome when Sydney Govou put Panathinaikos up 1-0 at the Camp Nou after 20 minutes of Matchday 1 in Champions League Group D. But then the real Barcelona showed up.

David Villa couldn't be any happier at Barcelona as the Spanish striker went on to state that coach Guardiola meets his ever expectation. Although the Spanish champions were picked apart against newly promoted club Hercules last weekend, Barcelona went on to open a scoring clinic in their Champions League match against Panathinkaikos.

by Elizabeth Hanchett

After four years of failing to beat Atlético de Madrid at the Vicente Calderón, the last time being in 2006, Barcelona knew that this match would not be an easy one. Especially after last Saturday's defeat at Camp Nou against Hércules, hopes were not high.

In an era of football mega-stars and celebrity lifestyles Cesc Fabregas is showing himself to be a truly world class footballer.

The talent of a man born in Vilassar de Mar, Barcelona and raised through FC Barcelona's legendary football academy has been quite rightly lauded since Arsene Wenger handed him his first team debut in a League Cup game against Rotherham in 2003.

Going into the fourth, fifth, and sixth consecutive days of La Liga play, it's good to be a fan of the Spanish game. I'm happy to say I got back on track with last week's predictions with a 7/10 record giving me 18/30 so far this season. Team are starting to find their rhythm and I'm looking forward to a number of the games during this game week.

David Villa struck in the second half to help FC Barcelona defeat his former club at the Camp Nou. With Real Madrid winning yesterday this three points has to be considered more than valuable. After a goal-less first half, Villa struck ealry in second half to down a team with whom he tasted his first success.

Tough Job ahead at San Mames

FC Barcelona will be looking to continue with their winning streak continuiing when they visit San Mames on saturday. Our last visit to San Mames did end up in a 1-1 draw, but the fans will be hoping this time the score resembles something like Bilbao's visit to Camp Nou.

Yesterday there was the presentation of Time Force's new line of watches and jewelry (oic) that will be signed by Gerard Piqué. The barça player talked to the press and posed for pictures later. Time Force says Gerard is in the campaing because he's as famous as Cristiano Ronaldo or Elsa Pataky (lol stop.

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho is making claims that other Spanish clubs are making it easier for Barcelona by fielding under strength sides.

It now appears that Mourinho was specifically pointing at Sporting Gijon's manager Manuel Preciado, who chose to leave out a number of regulars for their match at Camp Nou.

Good news, Barcelona fans... Lionel Messi is back training following his ankle injury.

Messi sustained his injury following a strong tackle by Atletico Madrid's Tomas Ujfalusi during Barcelona's 2-1 win last Sunday at Camp Nou.

On Monday, Barca confirmed that Messi's injury was not as bad as first thought, and the 23 year-old Argentine international made his way back to a bit of light training on Friday.