The Weekly Pick: Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Ever since he arrived at Barca, Ibrahimovic has been greatly celebrated by the club and fans. And although, as with any new signing, he must prove himself on the team, Ibra has already caught our interest because he is no ordinary player. We never took the time to really get to know him before he joined Barca, but now that he has, every day we learn something new and extraordinary about him...

- We are taken aback by the utter hugeness of this man. The hight, the huge physique, huge feet, huge nose - and you know what they say about guys with big noses. He's also flexible to extreme and shocking extents: we don't get how he does this without his legs and back snapping.

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- He's obsessed with tattoos. Ibra has got no less than eleven of them, strewn over his body, most of which are symbolic - we like the white ink one over his stomach, although according to Ibra himself, it was the most painful.

- The dude is a car fanatic. He collects them like you might collect football shirts - and he's got good taste too. What we would do for that Ferrari Spider...

- He's quite the family man. Married to model Helen Seger with whom he shares two adorable sons, Maximilian and Vincent, says Ibra: "I'm very much a family person and I like travelling with them to explore the world." We don't know just what it is about footballers this devoted to their families, but somehow we just love it.

- Ibra is probably on of the most interesting players out there. Apart from the aforementioned traveling, he's totally into Formula 1, martial arts and Tae Kwon Do in particular, video games, fishing... you name it.

- You have to admire his level of enthusiasm for Barca. Injury kept him from getting into action right away once he joined the club, but even with his hand in a cast Ibrahimovic was at every training, watching from the side and getting to know the players and staff. Once he was allowed to start training, he almost hurt his hand again in his eagerness - we're sure that once he starts playing actual matches, Ibra won't let us down.

The Weekly Pick: Rafael Marquez

Between training for preseason, attending events with the club, working on his recovery and everything else; Rafa Marquez is still finding the time during the team's stay in the States for his charity work. The Fundació de Rafa Márquez, in collaboration with the Fundació FC Barcelona and the International Community Foundation, will be working to provide child care centers in the United States, seeking to improve the educational and health status of children living in poverty.

The player's own foundation currently has 4 centers in Mexico providing nutritional, educational and sporting help to approximately 1,000 youngsters, and now he's expanding. Rafa explained the importance of such values to him and how he tries to pass them on to his children: "I try to make them see they should value the things they have and enjoy them. Whenever I visit one of my centres I try and take them with me so that they can see that reality. They need to see that things don’t come to you just because you ask for them, you have to earn them”.

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How amazing is he? We're so proud of Rafa for his level of devotion to these projects, setting a great example for so many others.

The Weekly Pick: Gerard Pique

Gerard Pique's baring of his sizzling abs is not why he is our weekly pick; although we can probably all agree that that would be reason enough. The picture is from last season anyway; no, he's done something else this week that's making us melt for him...

Geri was one of the few players given leave to stay away on vacation until the twenty-seventh; however he cut his holiday short and returned from the Maldives to Barcelona last Monday!

And even though the rest of the team are off in London, and Geri won't be able to join them there, he is training by himself in Barcelona, at the Ciudad Deportiva de Sant Joan Despí. That's commitment if we ever saw it! We're so proud and pleased with him.

He'll be taking his physical along with Dani, Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets when they return, after which they'll join up with the rest of the team.

In unrelated but relevant news: Leo Messi is super excited about Barca's preseason. Not only did he come back to join the team on their London tour a week early, but he was the first one to jump onto the field yesterday for training, so eager to get to work. These little gestures from the boys mean the world, we just love them for this kind of thing.

The Weekly Pick: Maxwell

Today has been a busy day for Barca's newest signing, Maxwell, taking all the steps to initiate his career at Barca, and he's been nothing but positive and cheerful all through it.

Maxwell arrived at the club at 13:00 CET from Los Angeles, and first thing he did was pose in front of the Barca crest (photos below), saying that he's "very happy and contented to be in Barcelona", also stating that he's very keen to start work right away with what he considers to be a "fantastic team" that plays "the best football in Europe".

He also got to give his first autograph as a Cule sooner than expected - a fan met him at the doors with a Messi away shirt from the 2005-2006 season, which he gladly signed.

After that, it was time to go in and take his physical, which went by without a glitch (photos here).

At the scheduled time of 5:30 CET, Maxwell's official presentaion to the press kicked off, where he lifted the Barca shirt with his name on it and claimed this to be on of the happiest days of his life.

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Last step was his presentaion to the fans wearing the complete Barca kit, which took place on the Mini Estadi due to the ongoing pitch renovations in Camp Nou.

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The Weekly Pick: Andres Iniesta

Andres Iniesta was contacted last week by the aunt of a young boy suffering from cerebral palsy, asking him to sign a shirt and poster to help raise money for treatments in the United States. And what does Andresito go and do, but send her the very boots he wore to Stamford Bridge, when he scored that decisive equiliser that took Barca to the Champions League final!

That's generosity if we ever saw it - Don Andres is just too amazing! When you think he couldn't be any more perfect, he goes and does something else to make you just fall in love with him. We were crushing on him after he scored that goal, and we fear that now, with this, he's taking over our hearts once again... Andres is just a hero.

We've also added the pictures of him celebrating when he scored that goal - he even took his shirt off. What did we tell you? Complete perfection.

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The Weekly Pick: Pep Guardiola

Pep's vacationing at the beach, at an undisclosed location which we're guessing is the Canary Islands. Because that's the only place he ever goes.

We never thought he'd be the type to go for waxing off his chest (and arm?) hair, but looks like we were wrong... because compared to the mat of hair on his chest pictured here (back when he was a player on Barca) which is, by the way, virtually the only other shirtless photo of him we have ever seen - he's looking quite hairless in the vacay pics.

And completely sizzling.

We can only conclude that he has truly reverted to waxing - unless he's also balding in those areas. Not that we much care by which way his hotness appeal comes, anyway. We're just going to sit here and drool over the pictures.

We love the jeans cut-offs, we love how low they slip down over his hips, and we love how in shape he is for a thirty-eight year old coach. We just love Pep, period.

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Btw: The baby on his arm is his girl Valentina. Cristina (his wife) and their other two kids, Maria and Marius, are mysteriously nowhere in sight.

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The Weekly Pick: Dani Alves

Who could we possibly choose for this week but Dani Alves? Despite only coming on the in the final ten minutes, he managed to turn Brazil's game around for them, scoring the winning goal and the only one of the match - and a spectacular one at that - and taking Brazil on to the Confederations Cup final. We take pride in the fact that the sole Barca player on the whole of Brazil was the one that made the match for the team - a team with so many stars, too - and in such little time! Not even Real Madrid's sixty-million man, Kaka, could surpass that. And Dani's a defender. Just goes to show, Barcamen are always the best.

And there's more - can we possibly overlook the fact that Dani pulled his shirt up over his head in celebration after scoring? This couldn't have been more perfect...

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Congrats Dani! You're the best babe, we're rooting for Brazil in the final.

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The Weekly Pick: Gerard Pique

Do we need a reason for this man to be our choice for the week? We might as well proclaim him as the hottest player on Barca at all, or even in the world.

We know you agree. If you don't, rush off immediately to the nearest hospital for a checkup, there's surely something wrong with you. This man is so incredibly sizzling, we just narrowly escape fainting most of the times we look at him. Throw in the fact he's a fantabulous player, he's hilarious and has got the most amazing personality a footballer ever had, and you've got absolute perfection.

Still not convinced? Okay, here's why we chose him for this week: because he's gone and done the. hottest. photo shoot. ever. for Esquire magazine! If you never hear from us again, know that we have died and that this was the cause of our death.

The Weekly Pick: Rafael Marquez

We find the offseason annoying because there's not nearly so much yummy news on our boys, nor any weekly matches from which we can single out one gent who was positiveley shining... nevertheless we can still manage to pick out a favorite even if they're not playing! And this week it's Rafael Marquez...

First off, we miss him. Like, really miss him. He missed out on too much of this past season because of injury, and he remains sidelned even now... but he's making such an effort to get well again, we can't help but fangirl over him these days.

He's so determined to recover in time for the preseason, he won’t even stop to take a few days holiday with his family... instead he's working as hard as he can to reach full recovery as soon as possible! He’s doing double sessions of recuperative work daily - we just hope that won't overburden him? - and he's just flown out to the sports rehabilitation center “Camp St. Raphael 8” in France.

Along with other players, including former Barcaman Ludovic Giuly, Rafa had invested in the construction of said sports center a while back. Now, he's there to continue his recovery. He should be returning to Barcelona next week to continue the next phase of the program set for him by the medical team at Barca - we hope it goes according to plan! We just adore his dedication and determination to regain fitness quick... and besides, doesn't he look just dieworthy on crutches?

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We've also included the pictures of him when he picked up this accursed injury - he's even mega hot when he's in pain. Aren't you just falling in love with those sizzling black locks? And those deliciously pouty lips? And doesn't the way he buries his face in between his thighs just tear your heart up - it's so sad and so cute at the same time! Who knew injury could ever be so hot...

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The Weekly Pick: Marc Muniesa

Despite being seventeen and having played less than two full matches for Barcelona’s first team, Barca B youngster Muniesa is already widely commended as a great youth talent. Alongside Bojan and Busquets, he’s one of the eleven players included in the Futbol draft 2009’s ideal team of Spanish youngsters. Of course, Barcelona has got the most exceptional youth, like, ever; no other team contributes more than a single player to the draft team, apart from Barcelona which contributes three. But it’s still an incredible achievement for Muniesa, we’re so happy for him!

He really is an extraordinary player—Pep has even announced that young Marc will be training regularly with the first team starting this preseason—and he’s just too cute as well! His baby curls are just meltworthy, and coupled with those adorable brown eyes, he’s the yummiest thing ever…

The Weekly Pick: Pep Guardiola

Barca have achieved this most incredible and historic treble, and the entire team is to thank for it, but we must stop to comemmorate Pep. He's really the one that has led the team to where they are now, he's been simply phenomenal and we just can't get over him. We adore every last thing about this man. He's absolutely brilliant as a manager. He's the hottest man ever to be called coach. He's considerate and humble and he's got the greatest personality, the most amazing attitude... he's just perfection... Pepfection.

The Weekly Pick: Xavi Torres

The 'other' Xavi on Barca is the Captain of Barca B, but was called up to take part in the team's match against Mallorca last weekend, and we've been crushing on him ever since. He played wonderfully well and looked exceptionally gorgeous, and we just can't get over those shoulders, the eyes, the facial hair... well, just him. There is just something about this guy that radiates absolute hot, and for that he's our pick for this week!

The Weekly Pick: Daniel Alves

Dani's been lovely this past week. He played incredibly well against Villareal, scored a beautiful goal and lifted his shirt up to our great delight. Then again he was spectacular against Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final, and again, removed his shirt; and we love the statement he made with the red top he had on underneath: on the front was printed "How much is this?" and on the back, the answer: "This is priceless!"

The Copa victory was pricless, as are you, Dani!

The Weekly Pick: Andres Iniesta

It can only be Andres Iniesta. He scored the most amazing and infinitley decisive of goals against Chelsea, turning the entire match around and taking us to the final. Plus, he took his shirt off afterwards and swung it round in a victory run, before being man-piled by the rest of the boys. Even though it got him a yellow card. Ah, the sacrifices this man makes for us!

Truth be told, he did have that yellow top on underneath, but perhaps it's better that way. Andresito is so pale, complete shirt removal might have blinded us. We can still see his abs through the yellow.

Confirmation: we are in Iniesta crush mode.

The Weekly Pick: Gerard Pique

Yes, our Weekly Pick category is back, and will (hopefully) be posted every Friday. This week's selection? Gerard Pique of course, for not being shy about flashing those thighs during training! Ah, how we love it when the weather starts to get warm... Samu darling, we know you're a fan of hiking your shirt up, so follow Geri's example and show us some skin, now...

The Weekly Pick: Gerard Pique

Because he had the most amazing match against Espanyol, scored an awesome header and was looking incredibly hot that night! We're being driven mad by how utterly perfect this man this. He's got it all: body, hight, eyes, hair, smile... the list goes on. Gerard is truly one of the most meltworthy players ever. And did we mention? Love-for-the-club gestures from the players are really starting to grow on us; and the way Gerard points to the Barca badge after scoring just adds to the beauty of it.