Barcelona have confirmed that former Arsenal winger Alexander Hleb will spend yet another season away from the Catalan club as he is being loaned out to German outfit VfL Wolfsburg.

Belarus international Hleb rose to prominence during an impressive three-year spell during which he made 129 appearances and netted on 10 occasions in all competitions.

It's official two time FIFA World Player of the Year, seemingly consigned to football's has-been pile after five years at the Camp Nou theatre, announed his return to the big time in the rather less inspiring surroundings of Fulham's Craven Cottage. Granted, the opposition was Ghana, not one of football's big hitters, and granted they were down to ten men, but the touches and vision of the former master were there to see.

Firstly, humblest apologies on the scarcity. Exams have been ruining my life for the last two weeks and are set to ruin them for a week more, but then freedom beckons.

Which means of course, that this post is going to be shorter than aaron lennon because the books are calling.

As the title says, a win is a win.

With the UEFA Champions League group stages kicking off less than 48 hours, many of Europe's most distinguished clubs had one eye on the midweek and consequently, they were punished for not being fully focused on their league opponents.

It all started on Friday night with AC Milan dropping two points at home to Lazio in the Serie A's opening fixture of the season.

Está en el subterráneo del Camp Nou, no tiene ventanas y en él tan sólo hay un televisor, una pizarra y unos DVD's. Así es el refugio donde Pep Guardiola destripa cada semana a los rivales del Barcelona. Un lugar que el mismo entrenador descubrió al mundo en su discurso en el Parlament catalán.

Betis and Valencia joined Real Madrid with maximum points from their two games after 1-0 wins against Mallorca and Atletico Madrid, whilst Sporting's defeat in Pamplona means they are the only team still without a point.

There weren't too many goals this weekend in La Liga, with just 22 in the nine games played, Roberto Soldado got his fourth of the season and leads the league's goalscorers alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, whilst Betis are still concede this campaign.

It's time for some Champions League stats by the handy Milan training ground tree (seen above) amicis! The last time these two sides met was five years ago in 2006 when Barca advanced to the final thanks to Giuly's goal. Interestingly, Milan hold the better track record from their previous six UEFA meetings.

Two of European football's giants face off tonight at the Camp Nou as Milan battle Barcelona in Group H of the Champions League. The Spanish side will be hoping to put one of the competitions most successful sides to the sword as the Rossoneri are only second in European Cup wins with seven, only two behind Los Cules' rivals Real Madrid.

Two of European football's giants face off tonight at the Camp Nou as Milan battle Barcelona in Group H of the Champions League. The Spanish side will be hoping to put one of the competitions most successful sides to the sword as the Rossoneri are only second in European Cup wins with seven, only two behind Los Cules' rivals Real Madrid.

Chelsea followed up on Frank Lampard's urgency for Champions League glory by opening their campaign with an impressive 2-0 win at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

Second half goals from David Luiz and summer signing Juan Manuel Mata sealed all three points for Andre Villas-Boas' men at Stamford Bridge at the expense of their German visitors.

Defending champions and seven time winners AC Milan battled to a 2-2 draw in their UEFA Champions League Group H encounter at the Camp Nou on Tuesday. Pato gave Milan a 0-1 lead after just 25 seconds of play. However, Barcelona took a 2-1 lead with goals on either side of halftime from Pedro and [.

A cracking match at Barca's Camp Nou, featured a sensational start with Alex Pato 24 seconds in opening the scoring for visitors AC Milan. The 22-year-old Brazilian Pato raced clear of a static Barcelona back four, and slid the ball beyond keeper Víctor Valdés giving the Italian champions the earliest of leads.

Alessandro Nesta and The Classiest Moment at the Camp Nou last night

35 years old. 78 caps for Italy. 19 years of club football calcio in Italy. For Milan fans, for Italians across the world, Alessandro Nesta is a man that makes you proud to be associated with him in any way, shape, or form.

Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas has dismissed Arsenal's chances of bagging major silverware this season. Speaking to The Sun, the former Arsenal captain insisting that the gap between Arsenal and their title rivals Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea is too large. The Spaniard also reaffirmed his reasons for quitting North London for the Camp Nou [.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to the Happy Hour. It has been a week filled with soccer news. The Champions League kicked off with some interesting results. Both Manchester Clubs secured a point with draws, Barca was shocked to not come away with 3 at Camp Nou, and Inter was embarrassed at home by [.

The 2011-2012 Champions League Group Stage is underway, with Matchday 1 halfway done. Eight matches in the books yesterday, eight more matches coming up later today.

See below for yesterday's results the most surprising that Barcelona and Milan drew in the Camp Nou; below that are today's fixtures with our preview notes (including a preview of Benfica-ManU sent in Jon Novy):

Tues 13 September 2011 Results

Group E: Chelsea 2 0 Leverkusen; Genk 0 0 Valencia

Group F: Olympiacos 0 1 Marseille; Dortmund 1 1 Arsenal

Group G: Porto 2 1 Shakhtar Donetsk; APOEL 2 1 Zenit

Group H: Barcelona 2 2 Milan; Plzeň 1 1 BATE

Wed 14 September 2011 Fixtures & Notes

Group A: This is the proverbial Group of Death.

FC Barcelona shaken off their recent poor result with an absolute 8-0 mauling of Osasuna at Camp Nou. After the two rather unfortunate draws, somebody had to pay and unfortunately Osasuna was on the fire line. And they did pretty bad. Messi scored three goal, Villa two goal, Cesc and Xavi scored one each and also there was an unfortunate own goal from Roversio.

A hat-trick from Lionel Messi and two David Villa goals helped Barcelona to an 8-0 victory against Osasuna at the Camp Nou, while Valencia made it three Liga wins out of three this season.

Barcelona emphatically returned to winning ways with an 8-0 thrashing of CA Osasuna but remain two points behind early leaders Valencia, who maintained their perfect start to the Liga season.

SPANISH FOOTBALL action tonight with 5 games of Round 4 of the SPANISH LEAGUE - LIGA with plenty to write about with the usual exciting action & high level performances, not to mention a storm of goals at "Camp Nou" that will be discussed below. Here is a summary of the games, with results & the scorers.

17.09.2011 - Un triplete de Messi, un doblete de Villa, Fabregas y Xavi (+ Ruben e/c) convirtieron para la histórica goleada (8-0) del Barcelona sobre el Osasuna en el Camp Nou..caligula

By IAN HOLLIDAY

With the UEFA Champions League and Europa League group stages getting underway last week and most European leagues playing midweek games this week, managers across Europe saw their squads' depths tested this weekend, and some sides fared better than others.

This weekend should be a great one for football but in a less traditional way. There are no Manchester United/Chelsea or Barcelona/Real Madrid matches going on but there are some matches in other countries that might be considered the local equivalent at the moment. The three in particular that I will have my eye on are Porto/Benfica on Friday, Shakhtar Donetsk/Dynamo Kyiv on Saturday and Twente/Ajax, also on Saturday.

Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona take on Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou (Photo: Getty Images/David Ramos)

It's that time of year again. For the past 3 seasons, Atlético Madrid has left the Camp Nou with a sack of goals. Will Lionel Messi terrorize Los Colchoneros defense again this year?

El argentino Leo Messi se impuso claramente en el duelo de estrellas que le enfrentaba al colombiano Radamel Falcao, consiguiendo tres goles de bandera que ayudaron al Barcelona a golear al Atlético de Madrid en el Camp Nou.
El pulso entre ambos jugadores, publicitado en la previa del partido por aficionados y medios de comunicación, sólo tuvo un color, el azulgrana que viste Leo Messi y su triplete goleador.

Football Travel: Best European Cities To Watch Football In - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

You can travel to just about any different city throughout the European continent and your footballing experience will differ in one way or another.

Here at Soccerlens we have conjured up a list of some of the best cities in Europe to indulge in a mix of football, culture, sightseeing and maybe a drop of alcohol.

As I write this Messi has glided past three defenders to add his name to the score-sheet against Athletico Madrid. It's the 26th minute and Athletico are already 3-0 down at the Camp Nou.

It's a little embarrassing and not in the sense that Barcelona are romping home to another victory.

After seeing our wonderful run at the start of this season end in real disappointment against Sevilla, we meet the English giants who took a dear son from us just a few months ago. Lets hope for a repeat of the magnificent display that we offered when Barca visited the Mestalla a few weeks ago.

Which Valencia will show up?