FC Barcelona vs. Brazil in 1999 - The Full Match

The beginning of the week is never enjoyable, but let's lessen the dosage of suffering with a glorious find on Youtube. 1999 was FC Barcelona's centenary year and the whole season was quite the celebration of everything FC Barcelona.

Barcelona Lite vs. Barcelona Shite

Sadly, that's what it was. Yesterday's performance by the Arsenal was hardly Barcelona-esque. We were all over the place defensively. Szczesny had one of his poorer games in an Arsenal shirt (notwithstanding the aforementioned defensive hilarity).Honestly, had it been the doughnut stealer in goal, there'd have been a lot of Shabby Singh ‘punditry' about angles and positioning.

MOC MOC! It's Friday and that could only mean one thing our weekly Comedy Club on the famous Catalan football sketch show....Crackovia! This week, Zlatan Ibrahimovic excitedly discovers new information to add to his 'GuardioLeaks' directory [WATCH HERE] and Mourinho gets annoyed with his players for gaining weight during the Christmas holidays.

SPANISH & FC BARCELONA Coach JOSEP GUARDIOLA has been named by the FIFA backed "International Football Federation of History & Statistics" (IFFHS) as the "Best Coach in World Football". Its the second straight year that the Catalan gets this prestigious recognition & with a healthy margin over second placed José Mourinho of Real Madrid.

Catalunya's Annual Match. Professionals from six clubs playing for their heritage.

Victor Valdés: "You will be unstoppable"

Xavi: "You make the difference"

Gerard Piqué: "The superstars are you"

Carles Puyol: "We play for you"

Andreu Fontas: "We are your selection"

Joan Verdu: "We'll wait at the stadium"

Cesc: "For many years I have wanted to play in this game"

Álvaro Vázquez: "You have already won"

Johan Cruyff is the manager, striving for Total Football.

Santos are expecting a tough battle for their teen sensation Neymar when he prepare to leaves the club in 2014. The Campeonato Paulista player of the year 2011 has consistently been linked with a move to Spain with Barcelona now emerging as his most probable destination.

In fact, reports doing the rounds suggest that the Catalan giants had already struck a preliminary agreement worth 10 million Euros to sign the star earlier than 2014.

Believe it or not, it seems as though David Villa has been put up for sale by Barcelona after he has fallen out of favour at the Nou Camp and epecially falling out with Lionel Messi.
On this report here on ESPN, it seems that leading Spanish Paper "Marca" believe that Villa could be heading to England with Chelsea and Liverpool debating whether or not to make a move for the Spanish striker.

Just a few days ago, Brazilian club Santos FC revealed that they were keen on resigning their former player Robinho. It seems like the comment from their president has sparked rumours that the AC Milan star could move back to his native Brazil.

Robinho who scored a brilliant goal (which was voted goal of the week) against Catania has come out to say that he intends to finish his career with the Italian giants.

Reigning Spanish and European champions Barcelona have offered coach Pep Guardiola a new contract. Speaking to news agents, Barca president Sandro Rosell confirmed that the club had offered Guardiola a new contract which he could sign when he was ready.

However, a very interesting twist to this news is the fact that Guardiola still remains non committal on his long term affiliation with the club.

Behold this 'caganer' ceramic figurine of Madrid's Sergio Ramos, a traditional Catalan Christmas tradition which dates back to the 18th century symbolising "fertilisation, hope and prosperity" for the coming year! / via AFP Photos

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Since Arsene Wenger's team managed to reach the Champions League final in the 2005-2006 season and went head to head with Barcelona, the Catalan club seemed to have always been the Gunner's executioner. And while the Spaniards went on to win another two Champions League trophies after that final, Arsenal was always stopped in their [.

Less than a week after some pundits and other critics have questioned Lionel Messi's form, the little Argentinean responded in emphatic form. Messi had failed to score in the last three matches yet he registered a hat-trick as he guided Barca to an impressive 5-0 win.

The hat-trick not only silenced the critics but also propelled Messi to second place on the Catalan club's all-time scoring list behind Cesar Rodriguez.

Barcelona owes it success to Tyneside... When Pep Guardiola took over from Frank Rijkaard in 2008, few could have predicted how dramatically he would reinvigorate the seemingly complacent Barcelona side. As we now know, the wily Catalan had immediately spotted ... Continue reading →

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny admits that an opportunity to join reigning European champions FC Barcelona at a later stage of his career will be too tempting to turn down.

The 21-year old Szczesny rose to prominence for the Gunners when Polish compatriot Lukasz Fabianski was sidelined by a shoulder injury in the middle of last season.

Messi and Pique take on Sporting Gijon (Photo: Viktor Drachev/Getty Images)

This Sunday, the "Pep Team" returns to the stadium where they recorded their first La Liga victory in the 2008-2009 season. Some would say that " El Molinón" was where it all started for Guardiola and his players, having thrashed Sporting Gijon 6-1 after a festival of football.

Barcelona notched their second 5-0 win in the last five days with their UEFA Champions League trouncing of BATE Borisov in Belarus on Wednesday night. The Catalan giants went ahead via through Aleksandr Volodko's own goal in the 19th before Pedro headed in a second for the visitors in the 38th. Lionel Messi scored on [.

La Liga blog: Barca falter, Real win again and it all gets rather hot in Seville

MirrorFootball has teamed up with some of the blogosphere's best new writers to bring you even more great football reads every single day. Wednesday is La Liga day, and here's www.spanishfootball.

Pep Guardiola was all smiles yesterday as the Catalan Parliament awarded him the Gold Medal, Catalunya's highest accolade, for being an excellent representative of Catalan values in the sporting world. There were words of praise and admiration, which almost brought Pep to tears at one point.

Dear Arsene Wenger,

I write you on behalf of humanity. We all know why you signed Mikel Arteta not to compete for trophies, but rather to crush his boyhood dream of playing for Barcelona. In fact, Arteta played youth football for the club, but left for PSG because he couldn't break into the starting eleven.

By Rumour Monger

According to the Guardian, Arsenal have opened talks with Rennes over a move for their £12 million-rated holding midfielder Yann M'Vila a player who has been attracting a fair amount of interest after establishing himself in the France national side over the course of the past year or so.

It's over, it's finally over! Arsenal have accepted on offer from Barcelona for captain Cesc Fabregas, manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed. The 24-year-old midfielder will return to his boyhood club after the Gunners confirmed on its website that it had "reached an agreement in principle" with the Catalan giants.

With Cesc Fabregas edging closer to a move to Barcelona, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confessed he is yet to think about who would take over as captain if the Catalan leaves. Speaking in his pre-Newcastle press ...

Morning all, the new season is just a day away and this morning Arsene will meet the press in what is sure to be a fun-filled romp full of japery and good cheer.

Last night, we got a glimpse of the interview Arsene does with the official site before every game. He confirmed that it was true we had to sort out the Cesc issue and called the Nasri situation 'stable', before adding:

It is very difficult to speak about possible transfers but we are in a situation where we have to make decisions one way or the other.

Oh come on, don't tell us you want to be reading about all these dull and never-ending summer transfer sagas! Let's hop onto the Piqueira Lambo and find out what they've been up to in Miami. As you know, Barca are currently on their US tour and earlier this week, Puyol, Busquets and Pique all turned up to support Shakira's charity, the Pies Descalzos Foundation, in aid of underprivileged children with a focus on Latinos.

Manchester United v Barcelona by geuzehead Manchester United finally managed to halt the Barcelona carousel unfortunately it came 63 days too late for them to get a major trophy out of their accomplishment. Nani opened the scoring after being played in behind Barca's defence and slotting the ball through Victor Valdes' legs.

By Chris Wright

Just a few snaps of Barca's new £23-million No. 9, Alexis Sanchez, cutting a very lonely figure while apparently having to unveil himself (everyone else is on tour in Croatia) at the Catalan club's HQ yesterday...

Photos: PA

By Chris Wright

Just a few snaps of Barca's new £23-million No. 9, Alexis Sanchez, cutting a very lonely figure while apparently having to unveil himself (everyone else is on tour in Croatia) at the Catalan club's HQ yesterday...

Photos: PA

A musician by the name of The Wizard of Ox has paid tribute to Lionel Messi in the above music video which combines highlights of the Barcelona magician backed by a great dance track and the poetic commentary of GolTV's Ray Hudson and Catalan radio commentator (and journalist) Joaquim Maria Puyal.

Wenger has been The Angry One

The professor is adopting a less academic tone with his confrontational remarks while on the Asian tour. He railed against Xavi for being disrespectful, went after City for its controversial Etihad naming rights sponsorship, and now, turned his wrath on Roberto Mancini for being out of order for pursing Samir Nasri.

L'Equipe Petit - A great story about a little team in Catalunya with golden values

In Catalan, there's a saying "amb un Parell de pebrots" or "with a couple of peppers", which means to be brave and to face situations without fear. These little Catalan children play without any awareness of fear.

L'Equipe Petit - A great story about a little team in Catalunya with golden values

In Catalan, there's a saying "amb un Parell de pebrots" or "with a couple of peppers", which means to be brave and to face situations without fear. These little Catalan children play without any awareness of fear.

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has committed his future with the Catalan giants by insisting that he will never ever leave Barcelona for another European club.

The Argentine also suggested that he will also seek to end his playing days back in his homeland before he finally hangs up his football boots.

I just saw (via the ol' twitter) that Barca are upping their bid to £31m for Cesc. Regardless of whether this is true or not, it raises that annoyingly seasonal question:

How much is Cesc worth to the club?

I was considering writing a bigger background for this bit, including all the special goals he's scored, the leadership qualities, the world-class skill, etc, that he has brought to this club.

The future of Udinese's Chilean star, Alexis Sanchez still hangs in the balance as despite recent strong indication that the player will ends up in Barcelona, things seems a little bit confusing as the Bianconeri's president, Giampaolo Pozzo, still denies that a deal have been struck with the Catalan.

Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn believes the Gunners should let Cesc Fabregas leave during the summer transfer window if the Catalan wants to go back to Spain. Writing on his weekly Islington Gazette column, the 47-year explained ...

Liverpool's hopes of landing Barcelona ace Bojan Krkic seem to be all but over, after the player laughed off speculation linking him with a switch to Anfield reports skysports.com.
With Barca's star-studded line-up having completed a La Liga and Champions League double this season, Bojan's chances have often been limited.

"More Than a Club" is the slogan for Barcelona FC.

Since its founding, Barcelona has been on a road of self-discovery. Some time along the way, the people of Catalonia started to envisage Barcelona as a symbol of their country—more than a club.

To some, especially in times of oppression under Fransisco Franco's long dictatorship in Spain, Barcelona FC was envisaged as the club who expressed the rights and freedom of the Catalonian people.

European champions Barcelona celebrated their La Liga and Champions League success in front of thousands of adoring fans at the Camp Nou on Sunday evening.

The Catalan giants capped off a terrific season by steamrolling Manchester United 3-1 at Wembley on Saturday night courtesy of goals by Pedro, Lionel Messi and an exceptional curling effort by David Villa to seal a fourth European crown.

Eric Abidal has given a heartfelt thank you to his Barcelona team-mates and captain Carles Puyol for allowing him to be the first player to lift the famous jug-eared trophy after the match.

Goals by Pedro, Messi and David Villa sealed a superb 3-1 victory for the Catalan giants who bagged their fourth European Cup.

By Geoff Reid

The time has finally come for the biggest sporting event in 2011. We couldn't have asked for two better teams in this final with the best of Spain going up against the best of England. Both sides won their first European Cup at the old Wembley Stadium, Manchester United back in 1968 under the late Sir Matt Busby, and Barcelona back in 1992 under Dutch legend Johan Cruyff.