Barca Buzz: Vice Presidents Spied Upon?

The latest buzz circulating around our Blaugrana world is that four of Barcelona's vice-presidents were being spied upon by the club, or so they claim - they being Joan Boix, Joan Franquesa, Rafael Yuste and Jaume Ferrer.

The club's side of it - the club here being general director Joan Oliver - is that they were not spying on them, but providing them with protection. Protection that Franquesa had apparently requested, as Oliver explains:

"It comes from when Joan Franquesa went to the club and said that he had indications that he was being investigated in his capacity as vice-president. He asked us to verify what the situation was with regard to security in the club's history - threats, stolen computers and databases, etc. - and given that security is very important to the club, the request seemed reasonable to us and it made sense to extend it to the other vice-presidents."

We're with him on this one - we really don't see the club having the motive or the sneakiness to do something like spy on their vice-presidents. Oliver's concluding statement says it all:

"It was not an event with any big significance."

Random: News on Zlatan & Sergio Ramos Trying To Be Smart

- Zlatan Ibrahimovic has already made history in his little time wearing the Blaugrana shirt: He has become the first player ever in the history of the club to score in every single one of the first four Liga matches. How awesome is that?

But this achievement comes along with some sad news: Zlatan's out with an ankle injury after last night's match, ironically enough at the hands - or rather feet - of Barca loan-out Henrique.
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Why is it that when we face the boys we loaned out to other teams, they end up injuring one of our other players? First Alberto Botia harming Bojan in the Gijon match, with Baby Bo still out with injury to this day because of that; and now this.

Current reports are that Zlatan will miss out on this Saturday's Liga fixture against Malaga, but should be fit for the matches that will follow, most importantly, the Champions League meet with Dynamo Kyiv.

- Moving on: Thierry Henry got together over the weekend with NBA star Allen Iverson, and the meeting was quite something...

- More news on Zla: Inter's youth fans apparently don't much appreciate his departure from the Italian club - at least this youngster doesn't, and expressed his feelings right to Zlatan's face. And how insanely adorable is Maximilian? EDIT: here's the video link to the incident.

- Barca were through with Samuel Eto'o when we traded him off to Inter Milan. Right? Wrong. In yet another attempt to gather as much money as he possibly can in ways we didn't know existed, he's now taking legal action against the club. We never will hear the last of him, will we?

- Real Madrid rightback Sergio Ramos says that his club's new signings have made them as great as Barca. In other words, they (try to) buy greatness while ours is homegrown - and we're still going to come out on top this season.

Match Report: Barcelona 4-1 Racing Santander

This is a victory that marks history, as the current squad have thus become the first Barcelona side to win their first four Liga matches in over a decade. And it doesn’t look like the winning streak will be ending anytime soon, with the way the team was looking last night.

With possession of around seventy-three percent, Barca were totally dominating the match, especially for the first half. There were a few loose balls and a couple of off passes, but for the most part the attack was lively and chances were great.

It didn’t take long for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to find the net, by way of his head – how awesome is it to be having such a tall striker on the team? Zla really gives a new, unexpected flavor to Barca’s attack, and we’re loving it. Despite a rough preseason start, he’s managed to score in every single Liga match thus far, and we foresee many more goals to come from him, and not just in the Liga.

Directly after scoring, Zlatan had a hell of another chance but his ground ball rolled past the advanced keeper and bounced off the bottom the post, painful inches from going in. Missing that was unfortunate, but Barca’s next goal came in mere minutes after that, when Leo Messi matched Ibra’s goal-count with his own Liga fourth; from a crazy shot that we’re sure nobody, least of all the keeper, had been expecting. While other players will go about scoring off obvious chances, Messi will always surprise you and create a goal out of nowhere. And you’ve gotta love that about him.

The goals were coming in quick succession, as the second was almost immediately followed up with a third, this time courtesy of none other than Gerard Pique. It’s always ridiculously awesome when centerbacks grab the odd goal, and Geri seems to have something of a knack for it. Zlatan set it up for him with a frenzy of dribbling past the frantic opposition defenders in the confusion after a corner, before passing brilliantly to Pique who was off to the side just waiting for the ball – in the perfect position to score and he did so, with ease.

Three great goals in the space of seven minutes, things were looking great – but it was upsetting to see all our goal-scorers getting banged up. Towards the start of the match Pique took a boot to the head after a weird sliding tackle, getting him pretty bad as the blood began to stream down his hair and neck. Thankfully it wasn’t too serious, as he simply stepped off the pitch and got his head watered down and wrapped up, before returning to play and scoring his goal.

Messi, who was looking particularly pale last night, also got roughed up when he went down after a tackle and didn’t look like he’d be able to get up and resume; but after a little hassle with the medics he seemed okay after all, and continued until Pep decided to sub him off.

The biggest scare though was Zlatan, who took a blow to the ankle just after the half and looked to be worse off than Leo had been. The medics rushed to his aid ready to tow him off on a stretcher, while Pep gestured frantically from the sidelines to know if his star would have to be substituted; but eventually Zla got up and decided to continue. Pep wasn’t taking any chances though, and minutes later took him off for Pedro.

Pique also came off for Rafael Marquez later in the second half, and Pep was preparing a third substitution with Andres Iniesta all lined up to take to the field in place of Messi; but not before Leo found the net again. With the ball at his feet, he took off dribbling past a row of defenders then finally shot mid-run, hitting the top corner of the goal for his second that night and Barca’s fourth. He was unbelievably incredible last night, man of the match for sure, and now boasts a spectacular five goals in four Liga matches.

As a final note, we can’t help but feel that Iniesta hasn’t yet completely found his touch since returning from injury, but he’s undoubtedly getting there… and hopefully Rafael Marquez will too. He was slow on the defense last night, it seemed that when Pique came off spaces began to open up for Racing to attack, thus resulting in them grabbing a lonely goal and ruining our clean sheet; a goal Rafa really could have done something about. But he and Andres should both bounce back in time, after all they are fresh from injury and neither have had many minutes since returning, not yet having started a single match. In any case, we were left grinning at the final whistle when Rafa pulled off his shirt, even though he only played for like, thirty minutes – nothing like a shirtless footballer to put a smile on our face.

La Liga; FC Barcelona vs Racing Santander, El Sardinero, Tuesday, September 22 2009, 22:00 CET

Since when do we play Liga matches in the middle of the week? It's mad and the tight match schedule is killing us, but what can be done... we're gonna have close-packed matches all season to make room for the World Cup in the summer. All there is left is to hope that fatigue/traveling issues can be overcome and Pep can have the lads good and ready to play.

Pep goes to El Sardinero stadium with the same 19 players he selected against Athletico Madrid three days ago, with Gerard Pique is surprisingly included despite his injury. Should Barca win tonight, it will be the first time since the 97-98 season that the team starts the Liga with four straight wins. So we're hoping, now more than ever, that the boys will be victorious tonight and history will be made!

Post-Match Buzz: Pique Injured, Pep Far From Thrilled

First off, a happy Eid to all who celebrate it, and particularly to Barca's muslim players, Keita, Yaya and Abidal! Right now we're running late and you'll have to excuse us the match report for Barca-Atletico; but we've rounded up all the post-match tidbits:

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- This was the fiftieth Liga match for Gerard Pique (having played 27 with Barca, 23 with Zaragoza) and he played hella great... but starting against Atletico Madrid with discomfort in his ankle, it took a toll on him, and his condition got worse forcing his substitution for Marquez. He submitted to an x-ray that thankfully revealed no breakage or fracture, but as reported by Sport, he will most likely not be called up to play against Racing tomorrow, with Pep prefering to let him rest and recover completely.

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- We're thrilled that Dani netted a goal, a goal which might not have happened; as Dani reveals, Xavi was actually supposed to be the one to take the freekick: "For the free-kick, Xavi was going to cross it into the middle and I asked if I could have a go. He let me try and I have to thank him for that and dedicate the goal to him." We're loving Dani's Brazilian Arrocha celebration dance too, he's just the cutest thing ever.
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- Victor Valdes needed just to keep a clean sheet for the first 17 minutes of the match against Atletico in order to break his own record of minutes without conceding; but he ended up going almost all of the first half before Kun Aguero found his net. Vic now has a new personal best of 569 straight minutes without conceding, congratulations!

- While the entire Blaugrana world is thrilled by Barca's result, Pep figures the boys could have done better: "It was a strange game by both sides. As the coach, this game does not excite me.

"We did not control it. We needed to keep possession of the ball better than we did."

Well, all we can say is hopefully the King will be more pleased by his boys after tomorrow's meet with Racing!

- The starters Pep chose to rest against Atletico - Puyol, Yaya, Abidal - may have spent the match on the bench, but their coach didn't want them to go the day without doing anything. He had the three run some exercises in a makeshift midnight training session right there on the Camp Nou as the fans left the stadium; and it's not the first time Pep has done something like this, either, as the official site reports.

Gossip on the Guys: Pep Loves The Environment

Barca coach Pep Guardiola made quite a statement when he showed up to yesterday's press conference in a shirt with a message that underlines his concern for the environment. Not only that, but it's a bold choice of dress for a figure like him when going before all the media, but Pep never ceases to surprise... we think it's awesome of him.

Anyway, Pep talked about tonight's Liga meet between Barca and Atletico Madrid, exercising caution as always: "Atletico are among the big clubs. We didn't start well in the league last year either."

"I would have preferred it if they arrived in better spirits. If there is a dangerous team in these circumstances, it is Atletico Madrid."

When asked about Henry's frustration at being subbed off against Inter, the coach just shrugged it off: "I understand his reaction. He felt good. But I'm not giving it any more importance."

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Pep also expressed his desire for Puyol to stay with the club, after the Captain has been doubtful about signing a new contract: "My wish is for him to stay. He has all the virtues and provides solutions and alternatives, and he is honourable."

La Liga: FC Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid, Camp Nou, Saturday, September 19 2009, 22:00 CET

After a successful first two Liga matches, Barca goes on to be tested by Atletico Madrid. We met them four times last season and achieved some great results, the memorable 6-0 standing out as the team's first big win at home that season; but the painful 3-4 loss in Madrid doesn't fade away to quickly either.

Messi vs Kun, Ibra vs Forlan, call it what you will; we're just expecting a great match. Atletico haven't won a game on Camp Nou since 2006 however, and hopefully that date won't change after this; we've also got our fingers crossed for another clean sheet, at the very least for the first seventeen minutes, which would mark a new record of minutes without conceding for Victor Valdes.

Bojan is still out with his injury, while others such as Pique and Puyol are doubtful. Chygrynskiy, who is already picking up on Castillan and even Catalan, will confirmedly be making his Camp Nou debut and he's super excited, saying that he's looking forward to an unforgettable night.

Transfer Talk: Leo Till 2016

Is it just us, or does the club seem to offer Leo Messi a new and improved contract every year? His salary and buy-out clause continue to climb, keeping him satisfied and far from the groping fingers of other clubs (ahem, Man City); and now his extension is going up too.
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Leo just penned a new deal that keeps him on the club for a whole seven years more, until 2016 to be precise. Leo wants to stick with Barca for life, and we're as thrilled as ever. His words to Barca TV yesterday: "I would like to finish here in Barcelona, to play my whole career here, if it's possible."

Messi's new buy-out clause is set on par with Ibrahimovic's at 250 million euros, and while his new salary hasn't been confirmed by the club, the Spanish media whisper at 10.5 million euros per year.

Random: Pep Stars In A New Book, Recovery Training & A New Record For Vic?

- Barca coach Pep Guardiola stars in a new book entitled "Paraula Pep", or "The World of Pep". The book is the result of the success of a television program by TV3 under the same name, which was broadcasted in the week before Barca's CL victory in Roma. Editor Ernest Floch was quick to take the initiative to commision the book, which records the phrases that have been considered outstanding in the path of Guardiola on the bench of FC Barcelona, and that define his philosophy.

- Following Barcelona's goalless draw with Inter Milan, Samuel Eto'o admitted that he felt strange playing against his old team. After the game, Samu also paid a visit to the Barca dressing room to greet his old teammates, and ended up leaving there with a bagful of Barca shirts.

- Yesterday morning, hours after the draw on San Siro, Barca was back on the pitch for training, with just two days to prepare for the next match. Bojan and Milito didn't train at all due to their injuries; Valdes, Pique, Ibrahimovic and Yaya had to spend the session doing recovery work in the gym; while Xavi, Puyol, Alves, Keita, Henry, Messi and Abidal worked seperately with fitness coaches. The rest of the team trained normally, along with B-teamers Edu Oriol, Espasandin, Oier, Ilie and Rueda.

Pique's form for the game against Athletico Madrid is doubtful, and he and Puyol might be rested, with Chygrynskiy and Marquez taking to the pitch in their stead.

- Victor Valdes is seventeen minutes away from a new personal record for consecutive minutes without conceding a goal. He's kept a clean sheet for the past five matches, and now, during Barca's upcoming Liga clash with Athletico Madrid, he could break his past record of 542 minutes for a new personal best.

- Brazilian football legend Pele believes that Leo Messi should be named FIFA's world player of the year for 2009, saying: "After giving it to Ronaldinho, Kaka and Ronaldo, now it's the turn of Messi." What is that supposed to mean? That Messi should only have it now since those others have already won it? The FIFA award isn't a thing of turns, regardless who had it before him, Leo deserves that award for all his achievements during the past year.

Match Report: Barcelona 0-0 Inter Milan

We're sure that we are part of a vast majority that was expecting alot from this match - be it in the form of goals, thrills, or on and off pitch tussles. It was the opening match of our Champions League title-defending campaign; it was Barca and Inter coming head to head after switching their star strikers; it was Eto'o and Ibrahimovic put to the test with thier new teams against the old, after having replaced one another; it was the facing off of two mega-hot and super-awesome coaches who are continuously compared to one another... and it was a complete bore-fest.

We were disappointed by this match, and in particular with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It seems to us that facing his former team was a much bigger deal than Zla made it out to be, with all his talk about returning to the San Siro psyched for Barca to win.

He was completely unimpressive, unusually immobile and hardly seemed to budge from his spot all match long, just waiting around for someone to give him the ball; which always ended up with him losing possession or shooting wide of the goal, that is if he didn't miss the pass altogether.

It didn't help that the Inter players decided to go all Chelsea on us and camp out collectively in and around the penalty area, and our boys hardly had any space to breathe let alone go for the goal. When they got near the box they were always slowed by the defense of eight and nine; chance after chance gone with the wind.

It's annoying that the opposition chose to take that course rather than come out and attack like men, but there's nothing we can do other than cope with it. Which we didn't. Sure, we kept them away from the ball and our goal, but we should have made it to theirs.

We should have been able to get past their defense, regardless how thick. But we didn't. And that's because with Zlatan completely out of it and Henry looking quite lifeless, Messi was attacking more or less on his own and trying to dribble his way through Inter's nine-man-defense, which too often ended up with them taking the ball. Scrapped together, the three formed an attack that tried to go forward but always got pushed back.

Individually, several of our players stood out: Messi did everything he could and more; Xavi was incredible, with him and Dani trying their utmost to link things together; Pique was in full defensive control; Victor was fast and sharp.

But as a whole, the team was looking rather lost when it came to moving without the ball. The (exceptionally slow) passes that were made kept going astray or to the opposition rather than to our players, because their positioning was awful: they were moving slowly, into all the wrong spaces, or simply not at all.

It's not a prominent trait of Barca, nor do we want it to become one. The players need to get their act together, work together more and balance things out; hopefully they'll do things better next time.

Champions League: FC Barcelona vs Inter Milan, San Siro, Wednesday, September 16 2009, 20:45 CET

Perhaps one of the most exciting matches we will see all season, our first Champions League test has us facing Inter Milan, where players from both sides will be set against their old teams and Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola go head to head…

This match promises excitement and entertainment, we’re sure it’ll be a hell of a spectacle given the circumstances. The anticipation has got us counting minutes till it’s go time and the ball begins to roll, this is one game that no one can afford to miss.

Pep storms to the San Siro armed with a select squad that includes Rafael Marquez, as well as Iniesta who made his return to the pitches during the team’s last match. Only Bojan remains out with injury, while Chygrynskiy can't play any CL matches with Barca this season since he's already participated in a pair this with his former club. He’s along for the ride though, so keep an eye out for him in the stands!

Inury Report: Bojan To Miss Egypt

Baby Bo might be feeling sad, but we can't help but feel kind of relieved about this: he won't be joining up with the Spanish squad for the U-20 World Cup in Egypt, set to take place from September 24 until October 14.

It's because of the injury he picked up against Gijon, which at the time was set for one to two weeks, but now appears to be more serious. Further tests reveal that Bojan is suffering from the partial avulsion of the adductor muscle in his left thigh, and though nothing has been confirmed on how long he will be out, Barca medics have decided he must stay and recover, thus missing out on Egypt.

We are glad that Bojan will be able to recuperte in peace and rejoin the team - meaning Barca - right away, instead of being hindered by internationals. He was looking so great before that injury struck, we want nothing more than to see him back on the pitch - with Barca - as soon as possible!

Pre-Match Buzz: Back & Forth

Our collossal clash with Inter Milan is coming up, and y'all know what that means: everyone remotely involved is throwing words and left and right in the buildup to this match...

- First, we take a trip down to Inter headquarters where the man in charge, Jose Mourinho, claims he has no hard feelings towards Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Frankly, we would be surprised if he did have any - it's not like Zla forced his exit from the club or went against his coach's wishes; as far as we know, Jose was all for the move. Hell, now he's claiming that Eto'o is the best striker around:

"Eto'o is the best striker that I have worked with."

"He is the best striker in the world. My players are always the best."

Can you feel the modesty? Drogba must be crying somewhere right now. The Special One went one to welcome Zlatan's return with these warm words:

"I don't forget a player like him, I carry him in my heart. So, I will hug him before the game but during the entire 90 minutes I don't even want to know what his name is."

- How does Zlatan respond to that? After having raved last week about how much better Barca are than Inter, he returns now to claim he isn't afraid of returning to the San Siro.

“I’m not interested in how the crowd reacts, it is not important.”

“I have excellent memories of Milan, but I am happy to be back at San Siro wearing a different shirt."

“I had a good relationship with my teammates and I’ll greet them with pleasure. I have nothing against them."

- But do they have anything against him? Inter Milan's Sulley Muntari lashes back out at Zlatan:

"Zlatan said Barcelona are stronger because he plays there? I say Inter are the stronger squad because I am here."

"I was one of those players who used to run for him, yet he thinks he won here on his own."

- While we await Zla's smart-alec response to that, let's stop in a moment on ex-Barca boy, Samuel Eto'o. He is as eager to face his old team as Zlatan:

"The game against Barcelona motivates me, obviously."

"Up until now I had not thought about playing them, but now I am and that is what I am focussing on."

"I really want to play in the game, but I do not think it will be the most important game of the season because I want to play in many important games, not just this one."

- Meanwhile, Inter's Thiago Motta, also formerly of Barca (although he had better hair when he was here), has faith that his current team can beat his old one:

"We will take on the European champions, but we will keep great faith in our qualities."

"The fact that Barcelona will not come to Milan only to defend can be an advantage for us.”

- As for the players on Barca, Xavi has his own bizarre approach to the match as always:

"The difference between Inter and Barcelona is that we believe in the squad. Yes, we save money, and it means the players have more motivation."

"Eto'o made history with Barcelona, but you cannot really compare him to Ibrahimovic. The Sweden striker is still adapting."

- And Xavi is not the only one trying to avoid Eto'o-Ibra comparisons, as Yaya Toure says simply:

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"They are two very different players with great quality."

- Up until the last minute before the match, we can expect much more of this sort of thing ping-ponging from both sides... probably with Jose claiming full responsibility for Inter's Scudetto last year, insisting that Julio Cesar is far superior to Valdes, and assuring his players that he has Ibrahimovic all figured out; Pep possibly speaking up, only to say that Inter are a glorious team and Barca must be on their guard, while doing his utmost to avoid the subject of Eto'o; meanwhile Pique will announce that he turned down a secret offer from Mourinho to join Inter last winter, Puyol will swear on his Captain's badge to do his utmost to ensure victory for Barca, and Laporta will babble to the media that we're going to sign half the Inter squad, possibly Eto'o included.

Match Report: Barcelona 2-0 Getafe

We're sorry for the lack of updates lately, but things have been busy... please bear with us, and hopefully we'll be able to pick up normal posting soon!

But right now we have a match to discuss: Barca's win over Getafe last night. The result was better than we'd expected, kudos to the boys for breaking the international curse and achieving this...

Even if it did take some time. The first half was pretty mediocre - wasted chances, loose balls, general slowness - but then Pedro and Jeffren came off, Leo and Andresito came on, and you could feel the difference it made.

We love Pedro to bits, but he was a bit disappointing this match. Jeffren did much better. Niether of them are Leo though, and no one clicks with Zlatan like Leo does. They way they work together is beautiful, and with a bit of Iniesta thrown in, it doesn't get much better.

Though a bit shaky on his feet, Zla scored the first goal from a great pass from Abidal, after having lost a few chances himself before that. But as the match progressed his playing became more sure, and soon enough he set Leo up beautifuly for the second goal, with yet another display of unselfishness - had it been Eto'o in that position, we're sure he would have taken the shot (and missed) instead of passing.

Seeing Iniesta on the pitch again was magic - we have missed him too much! He's not back in full blast, but that's expected. We're just excited that he's returned... and hopefully Rafa will be back soon as well.

This match was also Chygrynskiy's debut - he did okay, didn't show anything special that he might have to offer the team, but it is still way too early to lay judgement on the guy. He still needs to adapt to the team, we're eager to see how he'll develop with time.