Bad news for Barcelona today as they revealed that striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss this weekend's game against Athletic Bilbao due to a hamstring injury.

Barcelona says the injury was discovered following medical tests Thursday after the Sweden striker felt discomfort on Wednesday.

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Angel Martinez/Getty Images

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was Barcelona's big money signing in the summer with Samuel Eto'o and a reported £40 million going in the opposite direction to Inter Milan. Few can doubt that Ibrahimovic has ability and on his day is one of the best forwards in the world, however many have criticized him for his work rate and not everyone was convinced he would cut it in Spain.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic was Barcelona's big money signing in the summer with Samuel Eto'o and a reported £40 million going in the opposite direction to Inter Milan. Few can doubt that Ibrahimovic has ability and on his day is one of the best forwards in the world, however many have criticised him for his work rate and not everyone was convinced he would cut it in Spain.

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Nonostante, in maniera decisamente seccata, Marcello Lippi ha provato a chiudere i vari tormentoni ("Amauri? Cassano? Basta cavolate, non me ne frega nulla", queste le parole del Ct in conferenza stampa) che circolano ormai da giorni all'interno e all'esterno del ritiro azzurro, Antonio Cassano continua ad essere l'oggetto principale delle discussioni. Click to continue reading...

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

'80s Totti needs to be real. [ONTD]

Florentino Perez is already making excuses for this season. [FourFourTwo]

Iker Casillas is a matchmaker. [Kickette]

Newcastle fans are trying to buy their club to avoid further embarrassment.

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I hope everyone has seen Zlatan Ibrahimovic's magical assist for Barcelona vs Mallorca this weekend. I saw it live on TV and instinctively applauded. Even though I was alone. Bit odd maybe, but a testament to Zlatan's talents. Chris spotted the above YouTube vid of the clip over at Unprofessional Foul and posted it on Water [. Click to continue reading...

Nice assist, Zlatan.
[Unprofessional Foul] Click to continue reading...

What language is this? The language of beautiful football
Despite his groin problem, Fernando Torres may feel a bit snubbed after Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti and midfielder Frank Lampard both claimed yesterday that Didier Drogba is the best striker in the world. Click to continue reading...

I don't know if anyone else reads World Soccer but I have a subscription to the magazine and in the most recent issue, they raised the point of the best striker in the world. I'll explain how they came to their conclusion in a moment but I was wondering what other people thought was required in a striker and who they feel is the best.

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Last Friday, the 21st Century Leaders Awards were held in Doha, Qatar. Among the honorees for humanitarian and environmental contributions were stars of the film industry like Sir Ben Kingsley, director Danny Boyle, and, uh, Josh Hartnett. Along with the back-patathon, the gala event also included an art auction, which brought in $1.

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FIFA has announced its 23-man shortlist for World Player of the Year. Lets discuss who we think should win and why.

Michael Ballack
Gianluigi Buffon
Iker Casillas
Diego
Didier Drogba
Michael Essien
Samuel Eto'o
Steven Gerrard
Thierry Henry
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Andres Iniesta
Kaka
Frank Lampard
Luis Fabiano
Lionel Messi
Carles Puyol
Franck Ribery
Cristiano Ronaldo
Wayne Rooney
John Terry
Fernando Torres
David Villa
Xavi

Club-wise distribution

Chelsea 5
Manchester United 1
Liverpool 2
Valencia 1
Barcelona 6
Real Madrid 3
Sevilla 1
Inter 1
Juventus 2
Bayern Munich 1
Arsenal 0

Oh wait !

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

Sick of those damn strikers getting all the glory? Make like Chacarita defender Mariano Echeverria and steal a pass, sprint up the pitch, pass to yourself, then go top corner on the keeper.

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REUTERS/Felix Ordonez

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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vs

This morning manager Pep Guardiola released the 16 man roster that will travel on Wednesday to take on third division side Cultural Leonesa.

The roster features mostly youth players with Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gerard Pique, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol all being rested for this weekends match up at Osasuna.

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Battle of the Brands In the world of soccer sponsorhip, there are two big boys. Adidas and Nike. Adidas sponsors footballers like Leo Messi and Ricky Kaká, Nike sponsors footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo and Ibrahimović. Neither are particularly shy when it comes to telling us about this. In fact, after spending millions on getting the players [. Click to continue reading...

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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Due to popular demand, SFS posts the ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC freekick goal from yesterdays FC Bareclona 6-1 win over Real Zaragoza.The Swede has already 7 goals in the Spanish Liga. Enjoy this"cracker": Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona thumped Zaragoza 6-1 to retain their spot at the top of the Spanish La Liga on Sunday. They are now three points clear of arch-rivals Real Madrid after eight games played. Barca's big win came via an unexpected Seydou Keita hat trick and two goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. FC Barcelona now has� 22 points. Click to continue reading...

Call we crazy, but I think this Barcelona team isn't that bad.� I mean they did lose to a team earlier in the week that� I had honestly� never watched� play a match in my entire life.� But hey everyone has an off-week.� Or in this case an off-weekday.� Nobody wants to lose a Champions League game period.

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Russian star highlights a potentially big problem.

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Arsenal midfielder Andriy Arshavin says he expects a large number of Premier League stars to abandon England in the near future, as the tax band is almost twice as big as in Spain.

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Pep Guardiola cannot believe it either.

After a workmanlike 1-0 victory against Almería and a mediocre showing in their 0-0 draw at the Mestalla against Valencia CF on Saturday, FC Barcelona looked to reverse their form in the Champions League against a supposed weaker team in FK Rubin Kazan.

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AP Photo/David Ramos

Well the concern over Barcelona under estimating Rubin Kazan were warranted as the Russian side came into the Camp Nou and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Champions League history. Kazan on paper definetely were over powered but after a surprise performance against Inter Milan in the Champions League people were beginning to take notice.

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Supongo que quizá si� habláramos� de una derrota del Barcelona� ante� el Real Madrid, el Sevilla o algún otro equipo, digamos, grande, no nos sorprenderíamos pese a lo bien que vienen jugando los blaugranas. Pero no; esta vez no fue así. El equipo de Catalunya perdió este martes en partido correspondiente a la Champions League con el Rubin Kazan de la Liga Rusa, y con esto perdió su chance de clasificarse esta fecha a octavos.

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I am going through the Champions League games this week and I am amazed at the stars who will be missing because of injury. The Champions League is billed as the best club tournament in the world, but this years event so far has failed to live up to the hype. Whether it is familiarity because the same sides play each other every year, or a full schedule that leaves players vulnerable to injury, the Champions League group stages this year have been a major disappointment.

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With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in terms of debating the winner, right?

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This picture of Lionel Messi was taken last month when he attended some women's wear fashion week thing in Uzbekistan. Don't ask us what he was doing there, but hello beard! Isn't he looking fine?
We're saddened though that Leo's let his hair grow out even more since then, and now he's sporting that long-stringy-hair-parted-over-a-headband look again. Click to continue reading...

10 Premier League players have been named in the 30 strong list for the European Player Of The Year Awards- three of which are Man United players.
Here is the list-
Arsenal- Andrey Arshavin and Cesc Fabregas
Atletico Madrid- Diego Forlan
Barcelona- Thierry Henry, Xavi, Yaya Toure, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi
Bayern Munich- Franck Ribery
Bordeaux- Yoann Gourcuff
Chelsea- John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba
Inter Milan- Samuel Eto'o, Julio Cesar and Maicon
Juventus- Diego
Liverpool- Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres
Man United- Nemanja Vidic, Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney
Real Madrid- Karim Benzema, Iker Casillas, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo
Sevilla- Luis Fabiano
Valencia- David Silva
Wolfsburg- Edin Dzeko
Barcelona dominates the list with six players and in all honesty. Click to continue reading...

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his Sweden national teammates narrowly failed to qualify for a UEFA World Cup qualifying playoff spot on Wednesday night. The Swedes did what they could by beating Albania 4-1 in Solna. However, their progress in the qualification process was made impossible by Portugal's 4-0 trouncing of minnows Malta. Click to continue reading...

...Henrik Larsson or Gabriel Batitstuta. This is the view of former Scotland manager Craig Brown, who believes that Torres still has some way to go before matching those two players. What do you think?
In a recent interview with The Independent, Brown was asked whether Torres was the best striker in the world right now. Click to continue reading...

FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images

Panic rushed over FC Barcelona yesterday as two star players suffered injuries during international duty. Both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thierry Henry went down in their international matches ahead of a very important league match up on Saturday against Valencia.

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After beating Albania 4-1 in match that even the local press called "meaningless" since they had already been doomed to miss out on qualification for South Africa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his Swedish teammates hit the clubs of Stockholm following a farewell dinner for departing national team manager Lars Lagerback.

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Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has become the latest Barcelona star to egotistically pronounce the treble winning club's's dominance over their global rivals. Following Sweden's bitter loss to Denmark this weekend, where the spotlight was stolen away from him thanks to Nicklas Bendtner's scintillating performance for the Danes, Ibrahimovic has taken his frustrations out on former club Inter Milan.

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Beyond the nation's borders, Italian football has certainly faded into the background in recent years. A devastating match-fixing scandal in 2006 bitterly overshadowed the country's World Cup triumph that year while the domestic league has clearly become a one-horse race ever since. Reigning champions Inter Milan have shown no signs of a slip up in the Serie A for the last three seasons and that trend continued with their strong start to the current season as well.

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La baja es sensible, un buen jugador siempre será extrañado por la plantilla, y más por el entrenador y los aficionados. Sin embargo, creo que le va a doler más a Portugal que al Madrid la ausencia por lesión del jugador lusitano.

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Borussia Moenchengladbach are lining up a cheeky bid to take Liverpool defender Daniel Agger on loan.
The Bundesliga side's sporting director Max Eberl confirmed he had sent scouts to watch Denmark beat Sweden 1-0 on Saturday, but refused to confirm they were looking at the centre half. Click to continue reading...