FC BARCA NEWS

Survival of euro more important than clasico, says Guardiola

2011-12-08T02:47:00.001-08:00

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has played down this weekend's 'clasico' match at Real Madrid by saying a European Union summit meeting on Friday and moves to save the Euro were much more significant.

The Champions League holders host Belarusian minnows BATE Borisov in their final Group H match on Tuesday with first place and qualification to the last 16 already assured.

On the horizon is Saturday's top-of-the-table La Liga clash at the Bernabeu.

Barca will be under pressure to ensure Real do not increase their three-point lead with a game in hand, but Guardiola was coy when asked about the 'clasico's' significance in the title race.

"What's more important is that on the ninth of December(Germany chancellor Angela) Merkel and (France president Nicolas) Sarkozy save the Euro," Guardiola told reporters with a smile on Monday.

"That's what is important this week, not the derby.

"More important than the tactics will be our mentality going into the match. Against a rival as strong as Madrid a win strengthens you, but there is still a long way to go in the league.

"If it was a knockout situation it would be more important, but there is still a long way to go."

Barcelona also have an eye on next week's Club World Cup in Japan, and Guardiola will look to squad players and his youth ranks to play against BATE, who need a surprise win to have a chance of qualifying for the Europa League.

"I want them to be bold, not to play under pressure, to show off all their talent and not be afraid of anything," he added. "They just have to play and enjoy it."

European leaders are under pressure to come up with a credible plan to lead the region out of its debt crisis at the European Union summit meeting on Friday.

Xavi: "Winning at the Bernabéu would be a turning point"

2011-12-08T02:45:00.001-08:00

The Barça midfielder believes that "it's always nice to win at the Bernabéu and even more so looking at how the league is going"

Xavi, who’ll be playing in his 13th “El Clásico” in the League, away to Madrid, thinks that Madrid are "better" than in recent years.

If one Barça player knows what it's like to play in a clásico it's Xavi Hernandez. On Saturday Xavi could play his 13th league match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, and he would like the game to be "open, with both teams going for it, where one can see the potential of both teams". Although they're going to Madrid three points behind Mourinho's team, and with a game more than them, Xavi said that "means nothing as far as this game is concerned......the clásicos have nothing to do with the table, nor how either team are doing. Anything can happen".
Winning at Madrid is "a pleasure"

Xavi is aware that whatever happens on Saturday at the Bernabeu, the League title will not be decided. However, he knows that a win in Madrid would be important. "It's always nice to win at the Bernabeu and even more so looking at the table. It would be a turning point for us". He stressed that "to go and win at the Bernabeu is a footballing pleasure".
Lets just talk about football
One of the things that Xavi wants, once the clásico is over, is that only the football is talked about, and not any controversial incidents like in recent games against Madrid. Xavi, who thinks that of the last three or four years "this is the clásico that we're coming to in our best form", he thinks the game will be "very physical" but if "we impose our philosophy on the pitch we have much to gain".
On whether Barça will play with a three or four man defence, Xavi said "we played with three defenders in Milan and it went very well. It's a system that when you have the ball you have more players forward, but when you don't, you leave spaces at the back. Everything depends on having the ball". So, the midfielder doesn't discount this option at the Bernabeu. "It's possible, with the players that we currently have".
The squad, guarantee for the future
Xavi was able to enjoy the great team display on Tuesday against BATE, with a Barça team full of young reserve team players. The midfielder said: "They enjoyed themselves, and so did we. It's great that we have such a squad and that the manager is not afraid to play them". This means, according to Xavi, that "it's a guarantee of the good health that Barça is in today". He added that "Barça has a great future and there are lots of youngsters ready to compete for places in the first team".
Happy to be a finalist for the Golden Ball
For the third consecutive year Xavi Hernandez is one of the three finalists to win the FIFA Golden Ball. Xavi is "very pleased and happy to be nominated. It gives me great pride". He's not losing any sleep that he'll end his career without ever having won this award, despite being nominated in more than one occasion. "I'm just proud to be there. It will always stay with me, and is something I'd never dreamed of as a child. Then, my goal was to make my way in football, play for Barça, and play international football, "he concluded.

Real and Barca warm up in style for Clasico

2011-12-08T02:43:00.001-08:00

Real Madrid's Argentinian striker Angel di Maria Angel Di Maria inspired Real Madrid to a 3-0 win at Sporting Gijon and Cesc Fabregas scored twice in Barcelona's 5-0 drubbing of Levante on Saturday as the two rivals warmed up in style for next weekend's 'Clasico'.

Real eased to a 10th consecutive league victory, and their 14th in a row in all competitions, to cement their three-point lead over second-placed Barca who have played one game more than Jose Mourinho's side.

Champions Barca have stuttered on their travels but they maintained their superb home form against this season's surprise packages Levante, taking their record at the Nou Camp to eight wins and one draw with 39 goals scored and none conceded.

Real have 37 points from 14 matches. Valencia are third, four points behind Barca with a game in hand after captain Roberto Soldado came off the bench to score the winner in a 2-1 victory at home to Espanyol.

Levante are four points further back in fourth.

Mourinho praised his players for their solidity in defence and efficiency in attack but was reluctant to discuss the crunch game against Barca before Real's Champions League match at Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday.

"The team is winning and we are playing well," said the Portuguese who is bidding to end his former club Barca's three-year grip on the Spanish title.

"We are winning because of our quality, the spirit of the players and our ability on the counter attack," Mourinho told reporters.

SPECTACULAR MATCH

Argentina winger Di Maria opened the scoring in the 35th minute at the Molinon when he robbed a defender, surged into the penalty area and surprised goalkeeper Juan Pablo at his near post with a swerving low shot from an acute angle.

Joint La Liga top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo added the second in the 65th, the Portuguese forward's 17th league goal of the season, before Brazil fullback Marcelo made it 3-0 in added time after exchanging passes with France striker Karim Benzema.

Gijon, who finished with 10 men after Sebastian Eguren was shown a second yellow card in the 80th minute, are 19th with 12 points and will go bottom if Real Zaragoza win at Granada on Sunday.

Barca's 4-0 win over Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday was a game brought forward because of their participation in the Club World Cup in Japan later this month and Pep Guardiola's side produced another dominant display against Levante whose annual budget is less than 1/20th of the top two Spanish teams.

Former Arsenal captain Fabregas put the home side 2-0 ahead with a low shot and a header before promising B-team player Isaac Cuenca made it 3-0 after 37 minutes.

World Player of the Year Lionel Messi struck a fourth in the 55th minute, putting the Argentina forward level with Ronaldo on 17 league goals, and Chile forward Alexis Sanchez added the fifth just after the hour.

"The feeling (about the 'Clasico') is very positive," said Barca defender Javier Mascherano. "It's going to be a spectacular match and the whole world is watching and waiting.

"We are playing a great rival who we have faced many times and we have our weapons."

The clásico could be Xavi's 600th game for Barça

2011-12-08T02:40:00.001-08:00

The midfielder made his debut for the first team and scored his first goal on August 18, 1998, during the the Spanish Super Cup in Mallorca.

Since then he’s played in 397 League matches, 121 Champions League matches, 13 UEFA Cup matches, 10 Spanish Super Cups matches, 3 European Super Cups matches, and 4 Club World Cup matches

Xavi holds the record for most games played for the Club and most titles won (18)

During the post-training press conference Xavi Hernández said that “going to Madrid and winning is a pleasure.” Beyond the “footballing pleasure” that is winning at the Bernabéu, Barça’s master midfielder is about to cross an important threshold in this career: if he plays in what would be his 13th clásico, he will reach 600 official games with FC Barcelona.

This is Xavi’s 14th season with Barça. He made his debut in the Spanish Super Cup in 1998 thanks to Louis van Gaal, since then he’s been a permanent fixture in Barça’s midfield with Serra Ferrer, Antic, Rexach, Rijkaard and Guardiola. Barça’s vice-captain reached 300 official games as an Azulgrana player when he was 25 years old. Now, at 31, he’s about to reach 600.

63 scored goals

Barça's first team players support the Japanese people

2011-12-08T02:39:00.001-08:00

Barça will arrive in Japan next week to play for the FIFA Club World Cup. Even though the team will be vying for the title, Barça will also bring a message of support to the Japanese people. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc and Dani Alves recorded a video to support the people affected by the earthquake that devastated Japan in March. In the video, recorded in Japanese, the players show their solidarity with the Asian country and explain that Barça “supports all the Japanese people.”

FC Barcelona, with a FCB Escola in Fukuola and a total of 1,470 Japanese socios (Club members) - the second country with the most socios-, showed its sensitivity to the Japanese people when the country suffered the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that tragically left many wounded and dead in its wake.

Pep: “It is always hard to beat Sporting”

2011-10-01T11:11:00.001-07:00

Marc Guillén

Having analysed Sunday’s game in depth, Guardiola is aware that Sporting is one of the teams his Barça finds hardest to beat. He has a lot of respect for the team and the fans at El Molinón and is not overly concerned about injury issues.

“I am worried about particular things, but not the recent succession of muscle injuries. There are always injuries in football and there always will be”, said Guardiola, who does not feel Cesc’s hamstring injury has anything to do with the other injuries suffered by the team.

Strong Sporting defence
The first time Guardiola faced Sporting as a manger, his side won 6-1, but it has not always been so easy to break down Preciado’s teams. “It is one of the games we have found the hardest and the scores have always been close. We always find it hard to beat Sporting because they defend very well and have an intense ground where the fans help them a lot. But we even find it hard to beat them when we’re at home”.

This has not been a great season so far for the Asturians, but Guardiola doesn’t think his counterpart’s job is on the line. “They won’t sack him. If anybody has done things for that team, it’s him. He’s saved them every year and they’ve been in some very difficult situations. He always pulls it off and this year will be no exception.”

Cesc out
Guardiola admits that it’s always a setback to lose players to injury, but knows that is all part of football. Describing what happened to Cesc, he said “he was going in for a cross and overstretched himself, he scored the goal but got hurt. But luckily it’s not too serious and he’ll be back once the international break is over”.

He added that Cesc usually takes exceptionally good care of himself and works hard on injury prevention, but that all the same, these things can happen. He doesn’t think there are any more injury worries at the moment than there were this time last season.

Puyol and Alexis
Carles Puyol is back in the side after taking a nasty knock in Minsk, while he insisted that although Alexis has been given permission to return to Chile to recover from his injury, that does not imply that he can play for his country. “At first it was important for him to be here, but at the current stage of his recovery he can go to be with his family and one of the club’s physios is travelling with him. He has permission to go to Chile but not to play for the national team”.

Adriano warns of El Molinón danger

2011-09-30T15:22:00.001-07:00

Roger Bogunyà

The Brazilian has not forgotten FC Barcelona’s last two games in Gijón, which ended in a one-goal win for FCB and a draw. “We suffered there last year” he remembered.

Two years ago, only a Pedro goal split the sides in Gijón, and last season a late Villa snatched a draw when defeat was looming at El Molinón. These are two good warnings for Sunday’s return to Asturias. Adriano Correia remembered that “we suffered there last year and struggled to win two years ago. It is a key game, because it comes just before the international break”.

Comfortable in any position
Adriano is a versatile player and Josep Guardiola has used him in several different positions. This season, he started at left back to cover for several injuries in defence, and then played on the right of midfield at Mestalla. But “whether we play 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 it makes no difference to me, I can play further back or further forward. We saw that in Valencia”.

5-0 win a confidence boost
The win in Minsk was the first on the road this season, and Adriano feels “winning 5-0 gives us more confidence. We have had some tough away games and have only drawn until now. We created a lot of chances against Real Sociedad but didn’t get goals like we did on Wednesday.” He also added that the team cannot afford to let the intensity drop in any games no matter what the score.

Praise for Messi and Puyol
On his team mate Leo Messi, Adriano Correia agrees that he is the best player in the world. “It is a privilege to play alongside him. There is nobody quite like him today. He is above everyone else.” Adriano is convinced that he will beat Cesar’s record this season and become the highest goalscorer in FC Barcelona history, a feat he is now just 41 shy of achieving.

Adriano ended his press conference with some words for Carles Puyol: “He is a captain who has a lot of force in this team. He motivates us and is a great team mate. He gives us life”.

Barcelona call time on "La Masia" youth residence

2011-09-30T15:20:00.001-07:00

The quaint 18th-century Catalan stone farmhouse that became the symbol of Barcelona's famed soccer academy closed its doors to recruits on Thursday after more than three decades of nurturing talent.

"La Masia de Can Planes", built in 1702 and dwarfed since the 1950s by Barca's massive Nou Camp stadium next door, has been a home from home to players including current coach Pep Guardiola, midfielder Andres Iniesta, captain Carles Puyol and goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

The building, which is being replaced by a much bigger, purpose-built facility at the club's training ground outside, will begin a new lease of life as the club's institutional headquarters.

However, not all of the leading lights the school has produced, including World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, midfielder Xavi, defender Gerard Pique and Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas, lived there.

Players who pass through the youth school, known in Spanish as the "cantera" (quarry), are imbued with Barca's special brand of stylish, possession-based soccer, most recently on display in the Champions League final at Wembley where they crushed English champions Manchester United 3-1.

Recruits lucky enough to win a place at the "Masia" -- some 60 at a time from Spain and beyond -- also undergo an intense programme of education which officials say produces more rounded individuals who have a better chance in life if they fail to make it as a professional athlete.

GLOBAL EXAMPLE

Standing outside the farmhouse and flanked by the 16 trophies Barca's various professional sports teams won in a club-record haul last season, director Carles Folguera said he and his colleagues were excited about the "New Masia", which cost around 9 million euros ($12.7 million) and will house some 80 young hopefuls when it opens next month.

"We are switching to a residence that will be an example for the world due to the immense possibilities it will generate," Folguera told reporters.

"We will continue to work with the same ideas," he added. "We are happy when success is accompanied by educating excellent people."

Former Barca midfielder Guillermo Amor, one of the Masia's first residents, said he was more nervous on Thursday than when he moved in as a teenager in 1980.

"Today is not an easy day," he said. "For me, this place has not been just a residence for athletes but my home. We will have a marvellous new residence and we should make sure the family atmosphere is transfered there."

Record man Messi

2011-09-30T15:16:00.001-07:00

Anna Segura

Messi set another record in the game against BATE Borissov when he equalled Kubala’s record of 194 goals for the Club, to draw level with Barça’s second highest goal scorer of all time. That’s one more record for the Argentinean –who is still only 24

Few would have imagined in the 2003/04 season when Leo made his debut in a friendly against Porto, that he would go on to achieve so much over the next eight seasons. His two goals on Wednesday night, set the latest record putting him level with Barça’s great Hungarian star of the 1950s Ladislau Kubala, as the Club’s second highest scorer.

This record is just the latest in a long line for the Argentinean, some of which we detail below:

► Leading scorer in a single season: Last season, Messi chalked up 53 goals in official games- 31 in the league, 12 in the Champions League, 7 in the Spanish Cup and 3 in the Spanish Super Cup, making him, together with Cristiano Ronaldo, the player to have scored most goals in a single season.

► Club’s leading scorer in the league: The season before, Messi scored a massive 34 goals in 35 league games, equalling Ronaldo’s Club record from the 1996/97 season.

► Leading international goal scorer: With 42 goals in international competitions (39 in the Champions League, 1 in the European Super Cup and 2 in the World Club Cup), Messi has scored more than any other player in the Club’s history and is also the Club’s leading scorer in the Champions League.

► Leading Scorer in the Champions League: Messi has been the highest scorer in the last three editions of the Champions League – something which only Müller and Papin had achieved previously. His 12 goals in the last campaign matched Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record set in the 2002/03 season.

► Leading scorer in the Spanish Super Cup: At the very start of this season, Messi set a new record with his three goals in the Spanish Super Cup to become the competition’s leading scorer with a total of 8 goals.

► In the 2009/10 season he became the only player to have ever been won the Fifa World Player of the Year Award, the Spanish League’s leading scorer award, The Golden Boot and the European Footballer of the Year Award in the same season.

► Two European Player of the Year Awards: Messi became the youngest ever player to receive the Award in consecutive seasons, when he picked it up in 2010.

Abidal and Alves reach 100 mark in the league

2011-09-18T14:13:00.001-07:00

Jesús Carrillo

Both Éric Abidal and Dani Alves both made their 100th league appearance for the Club against Osasuna on Saturday night. The Frencman has taken four seasons to reach his century, whilst Alves has taken three.

The 100th performance of the two has come a little later than expected – both finished last season on 98 appearances, but Alves missed the Villarreal game and Abidal the match in Anoeta, so it was this Saturday at the Camp Nou that they both made it 100 games.

Different roles
The two have been given very different roles by Guardiola, with Alves the more attacking figure - he was actually used as an out and out winger against Osasuna and has so far scored ten league goals in his time at the Club, whilst Abidal is a defensive bulwark –switching between full back and central defender - and although he has scored in the Cup he’s yet to get off the mark in the league.

Piqué on 88 and Puyol nearing 350
Gerard Piqué will probably be the next Barça defender to reach a hundred league games –he’s currently on 88 – whilst his centre back partner Carles Puyol has played more than any other defender in the league – 348 times in all.

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Super 8 (8-0

2011-09-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

Jordi Clos

An exquisite performance saw Barça put eight past Osasuna-five in the first half- at the Camp Nou tonight, with strikes from Messi (3), Villa (2), Cesc, Xavi and an own goal from Roversio.

Following their last two drawn games against Real Sociedad and AC Milan, Barça were again back to their imperious selves against Osasuna at the Camp Nou tonight. A fantastic first half which saw them playing at great pace, holding onto the ball and seemingly creating chances at will as they scored five goals to set up the win. They didn’t let up after the break either, scoring three more and leaving the scoreline to say it all : 8-0.

Surprises in the line up
Guardiola surprised Osasuna with a 3-4-3 formation, using Mascherano, Puyol (making a welcome return to the starting 11) and Abidal at the back behind a midfield diamond of Busquets, Xavi, Thiago and Cesc, with Villa, Messi and Alves (playing as a right winger) as the front three and it couldn’t have started better, as after just 4 minutes, Busquets found Alves out on the right with an inch perfect pass and the Brazilian crossed for Messi at the far post to open the scoring.

Barça just looked unstoppable and within the first quarter of an hour Cesc had doubled their lead with a lovely left footed volley after being put in by Messi.

5-0 at half time
Seemingly having learnt the lesson from recent games, the Barça players were playing a fast paced possession football with their opponents’ goal always their target and they enjoyed an astonishing 80% of possession in the first half. Cesc nearly made it three on 25 minutes, only for the Basque team’s keeper Fernandez to this time get the better of him and soon after Messi headed against the woodwork. There was little the keeper could do as Villa rounded him just past the half hour to get his first of the night though and the team showed their hunger for goals was still there with two in two minutes, as Roversio put through his own net after Villa’s shot had been blocked and then Cesc brilliantly set up Messi for a relatively simple tap in.

And three more!
It was clear from the start of the second half that more was to come and Messi hit the bar with a lovely chip, something Xavi managed to better with a lob over the keeper soon after to make it six. Guardiola now brought of Xavi, Puyol and Abidal, which momentarily at least seemed to give Osasuna a glimpse of at least getting close to Valdes.

However, Barça were soon back to scoring, with Cesc setting up Villa for his second on 75 minutes and soon after Messi claiming his hat trick with a trade mark individual effort to round off a pitiless display of attacking prowess that was just unstoppable, as the champions, led by the world’s best player, made it 13 goals in the team’s two Camp Nou league games so far this campaign.

Next match

League

Valencia CF

FC Barcelona

21-09-11 22:00

Mestalla

Guardiola welcomes back his International players

2011-09-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

Edgar Fornós / Anna Segura

Barça have welcomed back the 12 players from International duty. With only the absence of Piqué on the pitch, Guardiola began to prepare for Saturday's league match, away at Real Sociedad.

Thursday at 10.00

The next first team training session will be on Thursday at 10.00 at the training ground. The session will be closed to the media. Later, Eric Abidal will appear at a press conference.

After a week without a large part of the squad, finally, on Wednesday afternoon, Pep Guardiola had them all back. After their commitments with their national teams, the 13 Barça Internationals returned to training: Messi, Mascherano, Alves, Alexis, Abidal, Thiago, Valdes, Iniesta, Xavi, Cesc, Pedro, Sergio Busquets and Villa.

Light session for the Internationals
Players who played for their national sides on Tuesday had a light session, focused on recovery work, while the rest, including the injured players Afellay, Adriano, Puyol, and Maxwell, all worked at one hundred percent to prepare for the game on Saturday against Real Sociedad.

The only player absent on pitch number 2 of the training ground was Gerard Pique, who did some work in the gym to help him recover from his injury.

Six reserve players
The six B Team players who trained with the first team on Tuesday, did the same again this afternoon. They were Oriol Rosell, Gustavo, Gerard Deulofeu, Cuenca, Lobato, and Carmona.

Best club in Europe in 2011, says ECA

2011-09-06T16:41:00.001-07:00

www.fcbarcelona.cat

The European Clubs Association has singled out Barça for its success both on and off the pitch in 2011.

Barça has been named European club of the year by the ECA at its meeting this week in Geneva, where it announces these awards in recognition of good results, the encouragement of healthy attitudes to sport, adequate business procedures and the strengthening of the ties between the members of the said association.

Three more awards
As well as announcing its club of the year, the ECA also named Sporting Braga (Portugal) as the club making the “best sporting progress in 2011” following its performance in the Europa League, FK Baku (Azerbaijan) as making the “greatest non sporting achievement of 2011” for setting up a school for its youth players and Glasgow Celtic as the club with the “best community and social responsibility programme of 2011” for an initiative aimed at integrating children with Down Syndrome in football.

Facebook FC Barcelona: 20 million fans

2011-09-06T16:39:00.001-07:00

www.fcbarcelona.cat

The Club has consolidated its world leadership by becoming the first sports club to hit this figure on the biggest social networking site in the world.

Barça’s worldwide support base is growing, and its fans are not just checking news and looking at photos and videos but also expressing their opinions on the official FC Barcelona page on Facebook . FC Barcelona is the first club to have 20 million followers on the biggest social networking site in the world.
Seeking excellence
Last February, FC Barcelona hit ten million fans following the ‘Busquem el 10’ programme led by first team striker Lionel Messi. This initiative involving the best player in the world stressed the club’s sporting excellence in its quest to promote the Barça brand both on the field and on social networks, where the club is not only the leader on Facebook, but also Twitter and Youtube. In seven months, the Club has doubled its following to 20 million, which is more than the population of such countries as Holland, Chile and Angola.
According to Dídac Lee, the director responsible for New Technologies, “this exponential growth is no coincidence, the Barça sentiment is spreading around the world thanks to a large extent to the enormous admiration it is attracting and the way it encompasses values that are so important in sport: teamwork, humility, effort … People should be proud to be Barça fans and social networks are a reflection of the current situation of the club”.
Leaders with three Twitter accounts
At present, there are 3,250,000 followers on the different Twitter channels; and there are 103,200 subscriptions to Youtube. On Twitter, FC Barcelona has benefited from the strategy of using three languages, Catalan, Spanish and English: @fcbarcelona_cat , @fcbarcelona_es and @fcbarcelona .
Not just football on Facebook
Apart from the 20 million Facebook fans of FC Barcelona, there are also 35,605 fans of Regal Barça on the same social network, and people are also signing up for the recently opened pages on the handball, futsal, roller hockey and FC Barcelona B pages.
In addition to these, there are also 152,142 Facebook fans of Barça TV , whose page offers ample coverage of all of the programmes shown on this TV channel.

2011-09-06T16:34:00.001-07:00

Jose Mourinho's finger-in-the-eye assault on Barcelona's assistant trainer was "an act of arrogance and impotence" and Real Madrid must rein in their controversial coach, Dutch great Johan Cruyff said.

Mourinho is being investigated by the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) after he jabbed a finger into Tito Vilanova's eye during a mass brawl that flared up during last month's Spanish Super Cup match.

Cruyff, who coached Barca to four straight La Liga titles in the early 1990s, told Monday's El Periodico daily Mourinho's behaviour was damaging Real Madrid's image and was born of an obsession with beating Barca at any cost.

"Mourinho might be a very good person in private and a very good coach but the side he shows the world is something else," Cruyff said.

"Many people say that he does it to deflect attention so that it will be talked about and not the football," he added.

"I don't believe it. It is an act of arrogance and impotence."

Mourinho, who served as an assistant Barca coach in the late 90s, could be handed a lengthy ban by the federation and Cruyff said Real shared a responsibility to rein in the former Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan manager.

"The current situation is extremely disagreeable," the Dutchman told El Periodico.

"Madrid's responsibility in the world is very great and there are certain things you should not allow to happen.

"There are millions of children in the world who have been showed a terrible example and Madrid is not looking out for them in any way. The club has the duty to change the situation.

"Madrid has always been great for many years due to the way it is, its style, its behaviour.

"Now, with every day that passes it's losing prestige. The problem now is that it is obsessed with Barca and it has gone beyond the limits."

Four sessions ahead of Real Sociedad visit

2011-09-04T14:39:00.001-07:00

www.fcbarcelona.cat

The squad will be back in training on Tuesday morning, although they will still be short of the players on international duty, who will not be at Guardiola’s disposal until Wednesday afternoon, in preparation for Saturday’s visit to Donosti.

Although the official season actually began nearly a month ago for the team – who have won two titles since then of course – Pep Guardiola believes the real start to the campaign is this weekend, something he acknowledged after the Villarreal game when he commented: “the season really starts when the international players come back from their national teams”.

Break till Tuesday
After their three-day break over the weekend, the squad will be back training on Tuesday at 9.30 to begin preparations for Saturday’s game at Anoeta against Real Sociedad. The session will be held without the French, Spanish and Argentinean internationals and the first 15 minutes of the session will be open to the media.

Wednesday evening training
Pep Guardiola should be able to count on a full squad on Wednesday afternoon, when the players are due at 19.00 and again for Thursday morning’s 10.00 session.

Flight to Basque Country on Friday
The final session of the week will be held on Friday morning behind closed doors at the Ciutat Esportiva, after which Pep Guardiola will hold a press conference. The squad will fly to Donosti on Friday for the game which kicks off at 18.00 on Saturday.

Milan game next
There’s no time for resting for the squad, who will train on Sunday at 10.30 at the Ciutat Esportiva, whilst Monday’s session will be held at the Nou Camp at 19.00 ahead of the Champions League game against AC Milan.

Pep Guardiola’s four early season untouchables

2011-09-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

Jesús Carrillo

Valdés, Messi, Mascherano and Abidal have all played every minute of every official game played to date by Barça this season.

Opportunity for newcomers

As for the new signings, Alexis Sánchez has played in three games and scored one goal, while the only game Cesc Fàbregas has missed was the first leg against Madrid, which was played before he signed for the club. He has scored twice, against Porto and Villarreal.

A total of 17 players have appeared in FC Barcelona’s two Spanish Supercup, one European Supercup and one Liga match played so far. Four players have played all 360 minutes of these games, goalkeeper Víctor Valdés, defenders Mascherano and Abidal, and striker Leo Messi.

Positive balance
V aldés has kept two clean sheets in the last two games against Porto and Villarreal, but let in a total of four in the two games against Real Madrid. Valdés has enjoyed the support of Mascherano in the centre of defence, where he has been covering for the injured Puyol and Piqué. To his side, the Argentinian has had the tireless Éric Abidal. In attack, Leo Messi has scored in every official game to date, a total of six, three in the Spanish Supercup, one in the European one and two in the league.

Iniesta, Keita and Alves also get time
Andrés Iniesta was also on the way to the same record, but was taken off by Guardiola after 10 minutes of the second half against Villarreal. Keita has also played a big role in the early outings, although he didn’t start against Madrid at the Camp Nou. But despite not playing every minute, there is perhaps no one player who has been singled for as much praise from Pep Guardiola as the Malian.

Dani Alves missed one whole game through suspension, the league outing versus Villarreal. Otherwise, he has played the entirety of every other official game.

Xavi, Pedro and Villa in every game
Finally, Xavi, Pedro and Villa have all appeared in every game to date. The former played the full second match against Madrid and also the one in Monaco, but only played part of the first clash with Madrid and the Liga opener.

Pedro and Villa have started three games each. The Canary Islander was in the first elevens at the Bernabeu, Camp Nou and Monaco, and the Asturian started in all of the three Supercup games but was on the bench for the first game of the Liga campaign.

Spanish media celebrate new unity at national team

2011-09-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

The Spanish media on Saturday expressed delight at the unity shown between the players of traditional diehard rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid shown in Friday's 3-2 friendly defeat of Chile.

Before the match, played in the small Swiss town of St Gallen, there had been serious concern that the harmony within the national team - shown to such good effect during the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2008 - had been shattered by the recent acrimony between Barca and Real.

In the space of three weeks in spring, the twin giants literally clashed four times - with red cards, punch-ups and mutual accusations flying angrily back and forth.

In August the Big Two of Spanish football clashed twice more, in the Super Cup. And - to the horror of national manager Vicente del Bosque - the boots, fists and red cards flew again.

The Barca players accused Real of being, on the instructions of coach Jose Mourinho, violent and bad losers, the Real players accused Barca of being provocative and theatrical.

The wounds between the two factions started to heal when Iker Casillas, captain of both Real and Spain, two weeks ago called Barca and Spain veterans Xavi and Carles Puyol to try to end the feud.

Del Bosque was delighted with Casillas' actions. Mourinho, in contrast, apparently was not, and - according to the media - left Casillas on the bench throughout the Trofeo Santiago Bernabeu match against Galatasaray as punishment.

Del Bosque wanted to use the Chile match to restore harmony between the two groups of players, and the papers pointed out on Saturday that "Operation Harmony" - as it was called by Valencia daily Super Deporte - was a complete success.

In the days leading up to the game, the papers carried photographs of the Barca and Real stars training and laughing together - and quotes from them claiming that the feud was over.

Xavi was quoted on Thursday as saying: "We have to move on now. There are no problems within the (Spain) squad, there is no problem between Iker (Casillas) and I."

Chile took a shock 2-0 lead in St Gallen but Spain came back to win 3-2, thanks to two late goals from supersub Cesc Fabregas, a man on fire since finally returning to Barca from Arsenal in August.

The Chileans lost their discipline, and had Pablo Contreras and Jorge Valdivia sent off in an ugly finale.

There was an unsightly free-for-all at the end but the Spanish media were delighted to see Barca players Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets standing up for Real defender Alvaro Arbeloa, whom the Chileans accused of diving to get the late penalty which led to Spain's winning goal.

Practically every Spanish newspaper on Saturday carried the photograph of Arbeloa being helped out in the scuffle by Iniesta and Busquets, and by Real right-back Sergio Ramos.

Iniesta was quoted as saying: "The melee showed that we are a team, with real unity."

The headline in sports daily Marca was "A Group!", whilst its website on Saturday carried the headline "Spain Come Together To Defend Themselves."

Rival daily AS, for its part, carried the headline "Arbeloa And Iniesta Fight Together." AS editor Alfredo Relano titled his daily column "A Family Which Fights Together Stays Together."

Madrid radio station Cadena COPE, meanwhile, claimed on Saturday that "unity has clearly been restored within the national squad and the old wounds are starting to heal...This unity will be needed in the future."

FC BARCELONA : PROGRAMS UEFA Champions League

2011-09-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

UEFA Champions League

Tuesday 13/9/2011