Playing tiki-taka with the interwebs Lionel Messi talks about his defining moment: being given Barcelona's number 10 shirt [YouTube] Rio Ferdinand signs a new one-year deal at Manchester United [Man Utd] Titus Bramble set to leave Sunderland. Shocking that Paolo Di Canio doesn't want to keep him [BBC] Tony Pulis writes in the local newspaper [.
Guardiola v Mourinho on the horizon once more - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
The predicted lull to wash over the footballing world come the close season has altogether failed to materialise. Instead of drab, end of season reminiscing, the airwaves have been flooded with the current managerial runaround, one that threatens to trump the entire summer transfer market.
After years of promising that he wouldn't leave until after the 2014 World Cup on home soil, the Brazilian starlet is moving closer to a move to Barcelona this July, according to reports out of Brazil.
According to the reports, Neymar signed a deal with Barcelona last week, and could make his final appearance for Santos on Sunday in the side's first domestic match of the season against Flamengo.
Neymar set for Barcelona move after 2013 Confederations Cup - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Brazilian newspaper O Globo has reported that after much resistance, Neymar will indeed be moving to Barcelona after the 2013 Confederations Cup. The tournament is expected to be held from 15th to 30th June in Brazil which means Neymar will be heading to the Catalan club in July.
Barcelona were presented with the Primera Division title for the 22nd time in the club's history after their 2-1 win against Real Valladolid on Sunday. After the match, the players brought their families onto the pitch to join in the celebration, but one person who did not seem to enjoy it was Lionel Messi's infant son, Thiago.
It is easy to say now that Lionel Messi is one of the best players the world has ever seen. The Argentinean magician has waltzed through far too many defenses now for us mortals to even consider him to be anything less. His ability seems to only improve yearly, and for football fans everywhere, it is no wonder why he's now won four separate Balon D'Ors.
Two more top European league titles were secured over the weekend, with FC Barcelona and Paris St. Germain making additions to their trophy cases.
Barcelona battled back from an early deficit to beat Atletico Madrid on Sunday, though they had clinched their fourth La Liga title in five years the day before courtesy of an Espanyol draw vs.
Wayne Rooney's final destination: Manchester United, Barcelona, PSG or Bayern? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Manchester United are a club in transition after Sir Alex Ferguson's revelation that he will step down from his role as the club's manager after 26 years at the helm. With David Moyes seemingly the favourite to replace him, and Jose Mourinho in the running too, the new head coach's first job may well be to convince star striker Wayne Rooney that his future lies at Old Trafford.
Barcelona and Real Madrid both won and both scored four times, leaving the Catalans needing one more win to secure the Primera title. Barca's 4-2 win over Real Betis keeps them 11 points clear of second-placed Real Madrid with four games remaining, and means they will almost certainly clinch the championship at Atletico Madrid next Sunday.
The Cameroonian midfielder Alexander Song, has been the subject of many reports in Spain saying that he was unhappy with the amount of playing time he is getting at Barcelona, and would be keen to return to Arsenal to regain his regular place in the team.
But the player himself has now denied any such wish, and although he respectfully says that Arsenal are a very good team, they just don't quite measure up to Barcelona in the world rankings, and we can't really disagree with that right now can we?
This one's for the lovers of tactics. Pep held a lecture in Argentina in which he explained the role of Lionel Messi as the false nine in his Barcelona side. Shockingly, there's more to it than a simple "get the best player alive" and then fifteen minutes of kitty cat photos. The video is in Spanish so it's obviously better if one speaks the language, but there is a description at the YouTube site.
It has been a tumultuous few weeks for Barcelona, who took a 7-0 battering from Bayern Munich in the Champions League (hard to swallow, even for the sadists among us). In fact, they may be trying to ward off all the Debbie Downers at their training centre right now. But really, apart from the German champions who have proven that there is such a thing as BarKryptonite last night's La Liga match showed that opponents are still in fear of Leo Messi.
Talking Barcelona: Things do need to change, Vilanova is a post from: Just Football
'We don't need to change any players'. Tito Vilanova's words after Barcelona's humbling 0-7 aggregate defeat against Bayern Munich."What we do need is to get our injured players back because they are top performers," he added.
Aside from all of the obvious observations one could have made from Bayern Munich's 7-0 aggregate victory over Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals, there was one that seemed so blatant it is surprising journalists haven't made a bigger deal of it. It seems that once and for all Barca-brandtiki-taka is dead.
The rumours about a possible return to Arsenal for the former captain and star midfielder, Cesc Fabregas, have been rumbling for a while now, but they seem to be building up a head of steam ready to blow as soon as the season ends. The Spanish Primera Liga has it's final day on June 1st, so we are unlikely to know anything for sure until then, but there have been a few new stories in the Spanish media.
Champions League Recap: How Does Barca Explain This Messi-less Performance is a post from: Serie A Weekly Champions League Recap: How Does Barca Explain This Messi-less Performance is a post from: Serie A Weekly Going into the second leg of the Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich semifinal, I wanted to keep an eye on the player or players for Barcelona who would be difference makers.
Bayern Munich completed a stunning Champions League semi-final mauling of Barcelona, with a 3-0 win in the Camp Nou tonight to win the tie 7-0 on aggregate. Bayern will now meet Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund at Wembley later this month.
The victory sees Bayern through to their third final in four years and they will hope to improve on their runner-up finishes against Inter Milan in 2010 and Chelsea last year.
Bayern Munich sealed their place in the final of UEFA Champions League by beating FC Barcelona 3-0 at the Camp Nou. To be honest they had almost sealed their passage in the first half, only the confirmation was left. That was done tonight. The two legged tie ended with an aggregate score of 7-0 to Bayern Munich and that was a total humiliation.
Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona (Flickr Commons)
Despite the impressive performance by Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal, many Barcelona players remain confident in their ability to regroup and move forward together.
Bayern put on quite the display last week as they dismantled Barcelona 4-0.
Lionel Messi came off the bench to transform a sluggish Barcelona, but could only draw with Athletic Bilbao, whileReal Madrid came from behind to win the derby against Atletico.
Behind at half-time to Markel Susaeta's 20th-minute opener at San Mames, Barca introduced Messi just before the hour and the substitute equalised with fine solo effort, jinking past three Athletic players before stroking the ball into the bottom-left corner.
On Wednesday, Barcelona will host Bayern Munich in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinals. The Catalan giants were thoroughly outplayed by the German side in the first leg, losing 4-0 at the Allianz Arena.
Considering they are at such a disadvantage on aggregate, the Blaugrana will need to score early like they did against AC Milan in this season's quarterfinals in order to even make the tie interesting.
Real Madrid and Barcelona need miracles to make Champions League final - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Spanish football has been at the top of the world game for the last number of games, but La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona were well and truly put to the sword in their Champions League semi-final first legs by a new rising force in European football Germany and the Bundesliga.
On a depressing day for Newcastle United supporters worldwide, one Geordie was grinning from ear to ear today after commentating on a simply sensational goal by Lionel Messi for Barcelona against Athletic Bilbao.
beIN SPORT commentator, and Newcastle United fan and former United footballer, Ray Hudson was the co-commentator as Messi went on a dazzling run past four defenders to slot the ball into the back of the net.
Barcelona will have to wait a little longer to get their hands on La Liga's title after a last-minute strike from Ander Herrera saw them held to a 2-2 draw by Athletic Bilbao.
The visitors were out of sorts for an hour at San Mames and deservedly trailed to Markel Susaeta's first-half goal, but the introduction of substitute Lionel Messi swung the match as he scored one and teed up another for Alexis Sanchez.
Video- Lionel Messi goal vs Athletic Bilbao Barca April 2013 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter
Video- Lionel Messi goal vs Athletic Bilbao Barca April 2013 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter This stunning Lionel Messi goal vs Athletic Bilbao saw the Argentine again show signs of his best after a quiet outing in midweek against Bayern Munich.
Although he wasn't exactly pleased about Barcelona's humiliating 4-0 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League earlier this week, Leo Messi still stopped to pose for photographs with fans at the media zone of the Allianz Arena on Wednesday. It turned out that those fans happened to be personal friends of Bayern's Franck Ribery.
Spanish Football Bloodied Starting With Bayern Beating Barcelona is a post from: Serie A Weekly Spanish Football Bloodied Starting With Bayern Beating Barcelona is a post from: Serie A Weekly In a UEFA Champions League year defined by large scorelines, this blowout may be the most shocking. Barcelona came out looking flat and was blown out by an in-form Bayern Munich 4-0.
It may look as simple as players covering their equivalents while on defense, but to have Robben and Ribery effectively negate the impacts of Alves and Alba is a remarkable sacrifice for the 2 attacking players and accomplishment for Heynckes to successfully implement.
I knew Bayern Munich was the best side of the four remaining in the CL. And I thought that Barcelona was the weakest side without a working Lionel Messi. But I never thought the difference would have been so large. 4-0! Bayern Munich disproved the Barcelona mantra that you need to have the ball to be the better team; the Germans just let the Catalonians pass the ball around, but without fantasy
1. This wasn't a round of Premier League fixtures: it was the world's best attended leaving do. Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes, Paul Scholes, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen, Steve Harper, Rafa Benitez and Mark Halsey were all saying goodbye. 2. Fergie won't be forgetting his final game in management for a while.
1. This particular Champions League Houdini act looks like it will be beyond even the seasoned escapologists of Barcelona. 2. Dante's peak was considerably higher than that of anyone in the Barca defence. Bayern dominated in the air. 3. Lionel Messi can claim to be fully fit all he likes he clearly wasn't.
Rub your eyes, Arsenal fans, pinch yourself and splash your face with cold water, then read the headline again. Is it still the same? Yes, and it is not April 1st, so what on Earth is going on? Maybe whoever wrote this story originally had shaky hands from the night before, or his dog barked as he was typing and he hit an extra zero, because 100 million euros is silly money for anybody, never mind Remy Cabella.
To coincide with his retirement announcement, David Beckham conducted an interview with his former Manchester United teammate Gary Neville. In the interview, Beckham discussed everything from why he felt it was time to end his long and distinguished career at 38 years old to the hurt caused by his celebrity overshadowing his playing career.
FIFA held its annual Ballon d'Or ceremony recently to award the players and coaches who had performed the best in last year's season. For the 3rd year in a row, Argentinean Lionel Messi took first place and claimed the prestigious men's Ballon d'Or award, beating runners up Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta to the trophy.
07.05.2013 - La historia de Lio Messi tiene muchos condimentos del mítico sueño americano en lenguaje hispanoamericano. Privaciones, destierros, sacrificios, apuestas y sueños fueron el respaldo a un talento desigual. Messi nunca dejó de adaptar al entorno las desventajas de su mínimo físico.
Lots of top footballers don't make very good subs. That's true in Lionel Messi's case, but in his instance it's because he's usually captured by TV cameras in compromising positions. That was certainly true during last night's defeat to Bayern Munich, just as it was during Barca's match against PSG. Via 101GG
Tito says I don't feel okay so I have to sit on the bench, but I don't think I feel bad. ... Oh no...maybe I'm a ghost now and I don't even know it! ... That must be why I can't play. Because Luis Suarez bit me and now I'm a ghost and ghosts aren't allowed to play against humans. ... Do people still collect stamps?
Barça Football Club will not be having a title celebration tonight. When the match started there was as chance - if we win and Madrid dropped points late on. But it will never be happening as we were held on to a last minute equaliser against Bilbao. Once agains it was the lack of aerial defense at the center back position which put us in this mess.
