FIFA & FIFPro (the players Union) have combined to announce thisyear the "FIFA/FIFPro WORLD XI Team" which will be announced the21st of December in a Gala at Zurich (Switzerland).For the moment the organizations have handed in their 55 candidatesof which 11 are Spanish players:Casillas, Reina, Sergio Ramos, Piqué, Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi, Xabi Alonso,Cesc, Torres & Villa. Click to continue reading...

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Ahead of Barcelona's match against Athletic Club Bilbao the team was handed another blow going into a very important week for the team. Eric Abidal was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus also known as "swine flu" on top of already being sidelined for up to three weeks with a leg injury.

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After an extended vacation, I am back writing the blog. The coming week could turn out to be the most important week for FC Barcelona this season. After achieving a historic treble, no team would like to be thrown out of UEFA Champions League in the group stage, but the chances are pretty high for that to happen. Click to continue reading...

SPAIN ended its last International Football game for 2009 with aconvincing 1-5 victory over AUSTRIA in Vienna tonight. The Austriansstarted with aggression & surprised a "cold" Spain in the 6th min when JANTSCHER scored for the home team.This awoken the "red beast" as Spain turned on the machine with Xavi,Iniesta, Silva, Villa & CESC FABREGAS taking over the ball & equalizingvia the later in the Click to continue reading...

Ever since I started watching football many years ago now, when it came time for the World Cup, Spain were always considered a dangerous threat by many pundits that they would win the tournament, only to let everyone down time and time again. Spain are likely to have one of the best selling World Cup Jerseys in the tournament, but the best they have finished is 4th place in a World Cup and that was in 1950.

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Ever since I started watching football many years ago now, when it came time for the World Cup, Spain were always considered a dangerous threat by many pundits that they would win the tournament, only to let everyone down time and time again. Spain are likely to have one of the best selling World Cup Jerseys in the tournament, but the best they have finished is 4th place in a World Cup and that was in 1950.

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by JOSH My friend posed this question to me on Sunday morning after Cesc moved to the top of our goalscoring charts for this season. Was this just another knee jerk reaction after a sumptuous run of form, or is Fabregas turning the corner from potentially world class, to one of the best midfielders in the world?

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Last week, I asked you to vote for you favourite 20 players of the decade, here in this very post, are the Top 100 players of the last 10 years, voted for by you, the readers and bloggers of the offside. First thing I want to say is thank you, everyone for the absolutely amazing response [...] Click to continue reading...

After the team's run of poor results lately, we're really looking to this match for a boost. Barca leads the Liga with a single shaky point, and we can't afford anything less than a win if we are to keep our first place position.
But we have a feeling this match will be a turnaround point for the boys, and they'll go back to their winning ways. Click to continue reading...

The freezing cold is what worries us most about this match, as Barca face Rubin Kazan in the snowy, below-zero temeperatures that are the norm in Ruissia this time fo year. Rubin are used to it, but some of our boys have never played in such extreme cold. The oppositon themselvs are no piece of cake either, on top of that; they're the only team that has beaten us so far this season. Click to continue reading...

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...

One of the great disconnects in the Argentina World Cup qualifiers was the anemic performance of Leo Messi when compared to his stellar Barca exploits. It was as if there were two different performers inhabiting the same body.

Maradona might have come to the realization that Messi needs the sort of laissez faire environment that he enjoys at Barca where his creative genius alongside that of Iniesta and Xavi create parallel points of attack.

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FC Barcelona squandered two points with a last second own goal from Pique to help Real Madrid close the gap on top to one point. In a game where the defenses held their fort, Barca went ahead with a strike from Keita in the 72nd mnute but they had to pay dearly for wasting a host of chances after the goal. Click to continue reading...

Barca's next Liga match has them facing Osasuna, as they look for another win to maintain their lead at the top of the table. Previous matches between the two teams have been pretty tight, so let's hope Barca come off with a comfortable result tonight.
Theirry Hnery is cleared to play, and has been included in the squad: Valdés, Pinto, Puyol, Piqué, Chygrynskiy, Márquez, Abidal, Maxwell, Keita, Touré, Sergio, Iniesta, Jeffren, Xavi, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Pedro, Henry and Bojan. Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona would be looking to continue their two match winning streak at Osasuna tonight. After the set-backs suffered at Valencia and against Rubin Kazan at Camp Nou, Barca looked to have got their campaign back to the right track, but still this will be a huge test. The defeat against Rubin Kazan had made the return leg on wednesday a must win affair . 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...

Seydou Keita

Well when you're on the same team as Messi, Ibrahimovic, Henry, Iniesta, Xavi, among others it is easy to be overlooked if you're name is Seydou Keita. But last weekend the Barcelona midfielder continued to add on to his strong start for Barcelona by putting three goals into the back of the net against new boys Real Zaragoza.

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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...

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It is expected that Thierry Henry will receive medical clearance this week and will be activated for Sundays league match up against Osasuna.

Henry has been sidelined for just over a month due to a hamstring injury but has been training with the team and looks to be close to match fitness.

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What a shocking couple of weeks it had been for the Catalans.

They have torn through all and sundry in La Liga up until their hosting of Almeria at the Camp Nou on October 4th. They may have come away with the result but it's a sign of the times that ONLY a 1-0 win for Barcelona is considered a bad performance.

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FC Barcelona extended their lead at the top of the league to three points with a marvelous 6-1 thrashing of Zaragoza. It was quite a night with Keita scoring a hat-trick. Not many times you will see Keita outscoring the likes of Messi and Ibrahmovic. There were serious doubts about Barca's form, but the players put them into rest with a sensational display. Click to continue reading...

British football magazine FourFourTwo, just published (in the November issue) the list of the "100 Best Players in the World." The choices are based on the input of the magazine's journalists. Of course it will lead to all kinds of debate as "lists" are always subjective and don't mean anything beyond getting fans talking.

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After a painful loss at home to Rubin Kazan in the Champions League, Barca are looking to bounce back into form with tonight's Liga meet with Real Zaragoza. With four days separating last match day from this one, the team's had more time to prepare than usual in this World Cup- affected schedule. What with that, players reterning from injury, and Real Madrid dropping two points last night, tonight's game should be a great one for Barca. Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona would be looking to put behind them the recent set-backs suffered in their campaign tonight at Camp Nou. A failure to defeat Zaragoza at home will see alarm bells ringing around Barca faithfuls. With Gijon holding Real Madrid to a goal less draw last night, it is upto Barca to capitalise on Real's slip up. Click to continue reading...

Barca pick up where they left off in the Champions League, meeting Russian club Rubin Kazan at home in the final match of the group stages first leg. We'll be looking not just for a win that will keep Barca at the top of their CL group, but also for a clean sheet that will maintain the team's current form of not having conceded a single CL goal this season, something only three other teams have accomplished so far. Click to continue reading...

France Football ha publicado la lista de nominados al Balón de Oro 2009, donde destacan seis futbolistas del Barcelona (Henry, Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Touré e Ibrahimovic), actual campeón de la Champions. El histórico triplete conseguido hace unos meses ha pesado bastante en los periodistas de la prestigiosa revista francesa, pues los jugadores del Barça representan una quinta parte de la lista.

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FC Barcelona's winning streak came to a hold at the Mestella, when they were held to a goal less draw by Valencia. Actually Barca was lucky not to have lost the match, a combination of great goal keeping by Valdes and some poor finishing by Valencia players prevented a Valencia win. Valencia were the better team in both the halfs, especially in the first half. Click to continue reading...

We're finally back! And just in time for Barca's first match in two weeks, following the international break. The boys head out to a clash with Valencia that's got us pretty excited, particularly about facing David Villa, the Liga's current top-scorer, who has been confirmed to participate tonight after doubts had been circulating about wether he'd be able to make it because of injury. Click to continue reading...

El Sr. Montes nos ha dejado. Fue encontrado muerto en su domicilio de Chamberí a los 53 años. Aún se desconocen las causas de la muerte, pero lo que está claro que ha dejado un gran vacío en el mundo del periodismo y de las locuciones deportivas. De padre gallego y madre cubana, Andrés Montes ha marcado un antes y un después de las narraciones del baloncesto y del balompié. Click to continue reading...

Its a list, and a damned long one, but well worth taking a look at! We love Four Four Two, almost as much as we love Fennec Fox's.

Our friends over at Four Four Two have compiled their annual list of the top 100 players in the world today, take a look below and let us know what you think?

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So FourFourTwo have released their list for the top 100 players in the world today. We all know who the top two will be but in which order? And how many spanish players will make the top 20 following their Euro 2008 triumph and 100% World Cup qualification record?

I cant be bothered to put the full list on here because personally I couldn't give a toss if Darijno Srna is the 66th best player in the world.

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With Sevilla beating Real Madrid, FC Barcelona has moved to the top of La Liga with a three point lead. Real Madrid side, who were without Ronaldo went down at Sevilla 2-1. Now Barca is the opnly team which has a cent percent record in this season's League campaign. A three point lead at this early stage will be significant and will help us to put more pressure on the Madrid side in the coming weeks. Click to continue reading...

Después de la trabajada victoria que obtuvo el Barcelona ante el Almería de Hugo Sánchez, los blaugranas esperaban un tropiezo de su máximo rival en la lucha por el título, en su complicada visita a Nervión. El Sevilla derrotó a los blancos y de paso presentó sus credenciales para conquistar la Liga.

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You know Andres the footballer, but have you met Sir Iniesta - the pilot? / via Mundo Deportivo

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Please forgive Ibracadabra. It's way too early for training and Helena didn't make waffles. So he thinks he might have spotted a slice of toast from a distance but he'd best ignore it for it could be a trap by the same witch doctor hired to put a nasty spell on Greaseano.

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