Kaka and Dani Alves welcome you to Day 4 of the Brazilian Bootcamp! And you really need to clap your hands at that photo. What on Earth were those two thinking?! They're putting all of us in the spirit of el clasico next week.

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What: England vs Brazil (or Brazil vs England), friendly game of football
When: Saturday November 14th, 2009. 5pm kickoff UK time. 12noon US eastern time.
Where: Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar
I Don't Live There!

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Nobody would have ever imagined that Barca's travel to Russia would turn out to be this significant in terms of Barca proceeding to the group stage. A lose against Rubin tomorrow night will reduce Barca's chances of proceeding to next stage very much. A draw might not be bad, but may result in Barca seeking help from others in the group for qualification. Click to continue reading...

Catalan paper Sport has recently featured secrets from inside Barca's dressing room, where Pep continually strives to instill team unity between the players and blend all their personalities and egos into harmony.
From the more withdrawn players like Abidal and Keita to pranksters Pique and Dani Alves, the players get along great and there's always a friendly atmosphere in the locker room. Click to continue reading...

Barca's defense of the Copa Del Rey title begins against third division club Cultural Leonesa. There's been talk that coach Pep Guardiola wouldn't be giving much importance to this competition in light of the tight match schedule, but Pep had something different to say at the pre-match press conference:
"We have the same motivation to win this competition as we had last year. Click to continue reading...

REUTERS/Albert Gea

Late in the second half of yesterdays Champions League defeat against Rubin Kazan Dani Alves came up limp following a routine play. No contact was made with Alves but following a pass he hobbled and then went down. Guardiola immediately substituted Busquets in for the injured Alves.

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• Are you ready for this? The folks at Marca amusingly invented an 'award' for Kaka so that he'd come to their editorial offices and give em a scoop! You know they'd been waiting AGES for this day to arrive. "I will try to score as many goals as I can against Milan.

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Robinho to join the Catalan giants?

Robinho has found himself in the middle of yet more speculation about his future this week. The latest rumours have him heading to Barcelona, which was previously talked about at the end of the summer.

The deal that is being discussed would be a £80 million swap which includes cash and players.

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It was like watching The Notebook all over again at the Bootcamp da Selecao yesterday... romântico, huh?

While doing their ball-control exercises, manos held one another's hands to prevent themselves from slipping on the wet grass. Check out the Dani Alves/Fabulouso love and Andre Santos' facial expression.

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Morning Insiders, really slow news week this week. We have picked a few bits out of todays papers.

The Sun - Barcelona eye move for Eboue BARCELONA are said to be weighing up a January move for Arsenal full-back Emmanuel Eboue.

The Daily Mirror - Arsene Wenger on collision course over Theo Walcott  Stuart Pearce is willing to risk the wrath of Arsene Wenger again by playing Theo Walcott in the England Under-21s tonight and then putting him on a plane to join the seniors in Ukraine.

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Morning Insiders, really slow news week this week. We have picked a few bits out of todays papers.

The Sun - Barcelona eye move for Eboue BARCELONA are said to be weighing up a January move for Arsenal full-back Emmanuel Eboue.

Reports in the Spanish press suggest Nou Camp boss Pep Guardiola has earmarked the right-back as cover for Brazilian star Dani Alves.

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This is another segment I will do every weekend after a Champions League round. I will name the best starting line-up from this week's games.

Goalkeeper: Oleksandr Shovkovskiy (Dynamo Kiev)

Dynamo Kiev's keeper didn't get much help from his teammates but he single-handedly stopped Barca from running rampant on the score sheet.

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Anyone watching Barcelona's midweek game in the Champions League against Inter, hoping to see the side that bought beautiful football all around Europe last season might have come away a little dissapointed. A 0-0 you say? That doesn't seem the Barca way. Of course it isn't, and they do seem to [...] Click to continue reading...

REUTERS/Paul Hanna

FC Barcelona arrived in Madrid just hours before their match on Saturday against Getafe. With Getafe coming off a strong performance in week one manager Pep Guardiola was aware that his team must not show up unprepared.

The first half started off slow for the blaugrana as the team struggled on offense with Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta and Dani Alves all starting on the bench.

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It's Labor Day here in the USA, a day to celebrate workers by giving them the day off. Because we love a timely themed post here on The Offside, it seems appropriate to ask: Who is hardest working player in football? Anyone who says Dimitar Berbatov gets a digital slap. The player that immediately comes to mind [. Click to continue reading...

Hola Geri, what's the joke? We don't know what it is that's making Gerard Pique laugh like that during training, but we'd be laughing too if we had just scored a goal like his last night. And he's not the only Barca boy who scored for his NT...
- With all four Barca players who were called up to Spain (Pique, Puyol, Xavi, Busquets) starting their country's match against Belgium, Gerard Pique scored the third goal as Spain went on to win 5-0. Click to continue reading...

Bom dia! Day Four of the Soldados Bootcamp and the Argentinean Spiderman welcomes you with open arms! Yes, the fans went out in full force to buy tickets yesterday. A few succeeded, the rest didn't but who cares when you have Spiderman in your queue?

Anyway, the Argentineans have been very calm about the prospect of facing their biggest football rivals so far.

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Ibrahimovic scores in his first La Liga game

Writer's Note: Unfortunately, WordPress does not recognize the "c" with an accent mark, so Bojan Krkic and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's names will not include an accent mark above the " c."

It is easy to overreact and overanalyze after one match and assume that whatever happens in that match will become a trend throughout the season; therefore, in evaluating Zlatan Ibrahimovic's performance in the Barcelona Sporting Gijón match on Monday night, hyperbole will not be the overall sentiment of this piece.

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(highlights di Barcellona-Sporting Gijon)
Parte la Liga e, all'esordio, vittorioso, per il Barcellona di Guardiola, contro lo Sporting Gijon (3 a0 i risultati di calcio finali al Nou Camp) fa festa grande anche il fuoriclasse svedese, ex Inter, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Il campione di Malmoe mette a segno, infatti, la prima rete con i catalani, andando a correggere in tuffo, di testa, un cross dalla destra di Dani Alves, deviato da un difensore dello Sporting. Click to continue reading...

• Bolt visited the Bernabeu and met all his amigos, including Benzema, Greaseano, Kaka and even Potter Perez. He got a super cool shirt with the number "958″ at the back. Check out his autograph style- "Fr : Kaka". Hmmm, we can't spot Ricky's signature on the shirt.

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Denis Doyle/Getty Images

With only three days rest following their win in the UEFA Supercup, FC Barcelona was back to work this time opening up their 2009/2010 La Liga season at home against Sporting Gijon.

Manager Pep Guardiola was without key players Lionel Messi, Rafael Marquez, Andres Iniesta and Thierry Henry, who started on the bench.

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Muchos saben que el mister, Pep Guardiola, es super fanatico y quizas un poco obsecionado con Coldplay y siempre antes de cada partido le gusta poner "Viva La Vida" para motivar a sus jugadores. Pero Dani Alves dice que no entiende ingles y no sabe que dicen en la cancion, por eso prefiere escuchar samba que a coldplay, sera por esto que se achico las orejas? Click to continue reading...

Oooh, what a way to start the season... by winning the Supercopa! Aplausos, por favor! Yet another brilliant show from Los Cules after they pulled off this convincing 3-0 win over Bilbao last night. The Messiah scored twice and your best friend Bobojan netted in the third!

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....it is rumored Arsenal sent Barcelona a CD last night, featuring tracks like T.I's 'You Can Have Whatever You Like', aimed at Pep Guardiola with his recent interests in Fabregas, Eboue and maybe even Alex Song if this site is to be believed.

The CD also has songs dedicated to recently departed Barca star Alex Hleb; ('Silly Boy' Rihanna), 'Slip n' Fall by Baba Khan', (aimed at the diving Dani Alves).

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The Torneig Joan Gamper or Joan Gamper Trophy final match took place on Wednesday August 19 with FC Barcelonahosting Manchester City at the Camp Nou. Barcelona is still a week and half from the start of the 2009-10 La Liga season while Manchester City won their first match in the 2009-10 English Premier League season.

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All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award winning Dirty Tackle...

Davey Becks is going mad. [Daily Mail]

A long distance goal that about eight people were there to see. [101gg]

Dani Alves had a little cosmetic surgery. [The Spoiler]

Jose Mourinho is pissed at Marcello Lippi.

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Gallery, images, photos and pictures of Athletic Club de Bilbao v FC Barcelona, Spanish Supercup, Round 1, the 16th of August.

Includes Fernando Llorente, Aitor Ocio, Xavi Hernandez, Pedro, Thierry Henry and Dani Alves.

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Geri and Cescy aren't wasting any time, now are they? Pique is back on the Spanish NT along with Puyol, Xavi and Busquets for their country's friendly against Macedonia; while several other Barca players have also left to join their national teams...
In other freindlies, Gudjohnsen and Iceland will face Slovakia; Messi and his country Argentina are up against Russia; Dani Alves joins Brazil for their meet with Estonia; Keita will participate in Mali's match with Burkina Faso; while Yaya Toure takes on Tunisia with his team, Ivory Coast. Click to continue reading...

Summer tales...... / Foto de R.Ribeiro

The Brazilian bombshells have arrived in Tallin for their friendly against Estonia tomorrow. OK, Gomes doesn't know anything about the Estonian national team but still, it's always nice to see the seleção.

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The team held their last training session in Seattle yesterday, with the focus mainly on recovery following the match. Marquez and Iniesta alone couldn't train, because of their injuries, while Puyol and Jeffren trained apart from the rest.
Ibrahimovic continues to train with the group despite his injury, but apparently he's exerting himself a bit too much - his decision to do a bicycle kick ended badly when he came down on his injured hand, causing Pep to grab his head in his hands and yell out, "No Ibra, don't do that! Click to continue reading...

Something to read while you consider attending this Miami FC game... Bruce Grobbelar has a good grasp of irony (Bet Offside) Assessing Altidore's work permit case (SBI) Xabi Alonso should avoid volcanoes for a while (Run of Play) Dani Alves: An unlikely fishmonger (Futbolita) Introducing MLS to Europeans (Sport is a TV Show) Wolverine supports The Bhoys? Click to continue reading...

Probably the most random thing we've seen all day... here's Barca's Dani Alves holding a salmon fish at the famous Pike Place Market in Seattle. Interestingly, the market is one of the state's most famous tourist destinations. They also have a tradition which involves "hurling a three-foot salmon over the counter top where another employee catches it and prepares it for the customer.

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via Gettyimages Sport

Look at the gap between Titipo and Bojan..... awkward! And you know Dani Alves is checking out Pinto's abs instead of paying attention to this hastily assembled team photo. ATENÇÃO, GENTE!

Anyway, Barca played a friendly against Seattle Sounders yesterday and unsurprisingly, the Messiah stole the show and netted in a double for himself.

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Ahead of tonight's match between FC Barcelona and another MLS team (the Seattle Sounders), here is a little post-game action from the FC Barcelona vs LA Galaxy match.
In English, we have Maxwell (talking about Real Madrid) and Stefani Miglioranzi (on Beckham being a great guy; on Beckham handling the incident well with the LA Riot Squad, LA Galaxy depth) in English y en Espanol. Click to continue reading...

LA Galaxy's Chris Birchall, David Beckham and Landon Donovan line up to defend a kick from Barcelona's Dani Alves at the Rose Bowl, Aug 1, 2009.

Chris Birchall: Looks like I'm taking one for the team. I hate being the new guy.

David Beckham: I should be above having to line up for these shots.

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