Match Report: Barcelona 3-2 Osasuna

After seeing last night's match, we can't get past Messi, Messi, Messi! He was Barca's hero yet again, scoring the winning goal in the final minutes of the match, also setting up Eto'o beautifully for the first one...

Samu's goal gave Barca the lead at the very end of the first half, but Osasuna soon caught up, and then, horrifyingly enough, they were in the lead with less than fifteen minutes to go. It was a very distressing score, but Dani soon set Xavi up for a rocket of a goal.

We were still basking in the loveliness of Xavi's having been able to score in his 300th as well as the relief at having snatched back a point, when Dani came back and expertly stole the ball and rolled it along to Messi, who literally tore through the defense before blasting the ball into the net, scoring an absolutely brilliant goal and securing victory for Barca yet again.

This is really turning out to be Messi's season. His game is incredible, his look is way hotter, and he's avoided injury so far; the time has come for the world to acknowledge him as the true King of Football.

Pre-Match Buzz: Abidal In, Hleb Out

Let's take a moment to admire this lovely picture of Alexander Hleb, because he won't be playing tonight. Alex had to be left out of the squad after experiencing some ankle problems during training, whereas Abidal recovered from his flu in time and will be included after all. Pep's complete list for the match: Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Cáceres, Abidal, Sylvinho, Xavi,Touré, Busquets, Keita, Gudjohsen, Messi, Eto'o, Bojan, Henry, Iniesta.

Injury Report: The List Grows

We're feeling rather pouty because darling Rafa still hasn't been cleared to play, and will miss the Osasuna game. Not that he would have been able to play anyway, considering his yellow against Mallorca, but still, the problems with his thigh are worrying.

Victor Sanchez has been having troubles in with one of his thighs as well, but the right one; he suffered a rupture in the muscle during Wednesday's training and will be out for seven to ten days—that's another hottie on the injured list.

Most likely Abidal will be absent from the match as well, as he's caught the flu. What's up with our players catching the flu all of a sudden? Pique, Puyol, and now Abi, consecutively. It's just wierd.

Here's hoping that flus and thighs will be feeling better soon. Get well quick, boys!

Random: Transfers, Tour Plans, Friendlies

New talks with Victor for his contract renewal are finally under way—that's a comfort.

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Yaya is demanding a pay raise, and Barcelona aren't willing. He's threatened to leave the club if he doesn't get what he wants, despite the fact that he's happy on the team. We can't believe how ridiculous he's being.
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Pep and Txiki will be meeting soon to discuss what transfers Barca needs. The most important things they'll be taking into account are trying to avoid signing players from outside Europe because of non-European limiations, avoiding signing African players who will be absent for over a month because of the African Cup next year, focusing on signing left-footed players to have more balance given Barca's strength on the right, and of course, keeping it all within a reasonable budget.
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Jorquera, Alves, Cáceres, Puyol, Sylvinho, Xavi, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Messi, Eto'o and Henry all participated in a friendly on Thursday against touring Uzbek side Bunyodkor, and drew 1-1. Our goal came from Puyol, theirs, from Soliev.

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It's been confirmed that Barcelona will be returning to the United States for their coming summer tour, and though the exact cities the team will be visiting have yet to be decided, Miami and the East Coast are big possibilities.

Gossip on the Guys: The Players' Fave Music

The gents on our team have owned to the music they like best, and the list is quite interesting. Who would have guessed Abidal was into 2Pac? The complete list:

- Abidal: 2Pac
- Alves: Zeca Pagodinho, Ana Carolina, Seu Jorge
- Bojan: David Bisbal
- Busquets: El Canto del Loco
- Eto'o: Koffi Olomide
- Gudjohnsen: Rolling Stones
- Henry: Kassav’
- Iniesta: Estopa
- Jorquera: Dire Straits
- Keita: Koffi Olomide
- Márquez: Maná
- Messi: Leo Mattioli
- Pedro: Maná
- Piqué: Sau Maná
- Puyol: Shuarma
- Touré: Boyz II Men
- Valdés: AC/DC, Coldplay, Guns N' Roses
- Víctor Sánchez: Antonio Orozco
- Xavi: Bruce Springsteen

As for Pep, he's into songs from the likes of Van Morrison, Sinead O'Conor, Elvis Costello and The Chieftains; while assistant coach Tito Vilanova loves Coldplay, which, apparently, Pep makes the players listen to in the bus on the way to the stadium before matches!

La Liga: Osasuna vs FC Barcelona, Reyno De Navarra, Sunday, January 11 2008, 21:00 CET

This weekend our gents are paired with bottom-of-the-league Osasuna. We're really looking forward to this match as being a highly entertaining one, especially given that our stars were rested against Athletico Madrid and will be in top playing form. Expect goals, Barcelistas. And dizzying goal celebrations.
Also we'd like to mention that should he be called, this match will mark Xavi's 300th match on FC Barcelona. Wait, what are we saying—of course he'll be called. Now that Iniesta's back from his injury they have to start together; the chemistry betwen the two is amazing.
Happy 300th to the Xavster in advance!

Transfer Talk: Barca to buy from Arsenal?

The latest rumours are that Barcelona plan to make a fifty million Euro offer for Arsenal stars Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie. The transfer is said to take place over the coming summer's transfer window, and frankly, we just don't know whether or not to believe this. The summer transfer window is a long way off, and a lot of things could change before then. We also don't think this is a deal Arsenal would readily accept—unless Yaya Toure was worked into it, as the English club have expressed a desire to sign the midfielder, and Yaya himself hasn't outruled this possibility, saying that he would enjoy playing alongside his brother, Arsenal's Kolo Toure someday.

We'd also like to add that the prospect of having the goregeous Cesc Fabregas return to Barcelona is an extremely exciting one. His leaving the team was a great blow, and his coming back home would be a dream come true.

The Weekly Pick: Andres Iniesta

For making a smashing comeback after being out injured so long; he played a match and a half and was simply spectacular, scoring the winning goal against Mallorca after being on for just ten minutes! Not to mention that we've missed this cutie alot when he was sidelined.

Random: A Visit to the Hospital

Yesterday our lads were all out and about in Barcelona, visiting the children in various hospitals around the city. They were split into seven groups, each group stopping by a seperate hospital:

1. Valdés, Alves, Cáceres, Bojan, assistant coach Vilanova, president Laporta, vice-president Franquesa

2. Messi, Piqué

3. Márquez, Henry, Abidal, Puyol, Hleb, manager Guardiola, vice-president Godall

4. Eto'o, Iniesta, Touré, Keita, goalkeeping coach Unzué

5. Sylvinho, Jorquera, Pedro

6. Gudjohnsen, Pinto

7. Xavi, Busquets, Víctor Sánchez
We're still trying to figure out how the groups were divided exactly, but no matter; the important thing is that the team did something great for these children and that the kiddies had a good time with our players. Reportedly, Messi, Bojan, Xavi, Puyol, and Eto'o were the biggest hits in the respective hospitals they each visited; seeing our gents with the little ones is so cute and and so heartwarming, and we're glad they're setting this example.

Match Report: Barcelona 3-1 Athletico Madrid

It's matches like these that prove just what an awesome team Barcelona truly is. Even with a squad composed mainly of substitue players and youngsters, our wonderful team was able to secure a spectacular 3-1 victory over Athletico. And the man of the match is most definitely Messi, as magical Leo scored all three goals himslef, one being a penalty, the other two being works of art of his creation.

We're a bit appalled by the push-and-shove strategy Athletico followed for this match, tripping our players over with every other step and drawing scores of cards along the way. But its not like that could have stopped us. Barca gave a wonderful performance and we're extremely proud of the youngsters especially; they all played well and Caceras was more impressive than he's ever been so far this season (not to mention he was looking incredibly hot), and goalkeeper Pinto was fantastic as well.

We're also very pleased with the faint mustache-and-stubble Messi was sporting; that style of facial hair suits him well and we hope he'll be keeping it.

Copa Del Rey: Athletico Madrid vs Barcelona, Vicente Calderón, Tuesday, January 6 2008, 20:00 CET

The match schedule is tight this week as Barca faces Athletico Madrid just three days after beating Mallorca, followed by the liga match against Osasuna on the weekend. That means we'll be seeing alot of rotation, and some of the usual substitutes will be possibly be starting—we're really hoping to see Bojan play. Also we're looking forward to the return of Messi, as well as Pique who's all better now after missing Mallorca because he was down with the flu. Pique will most probably be starting since Marquez won't make the match; poor Rafa suffered from contracting of the muscles in his left thigh after Saturday's match and will have to sit this one out. These recurring troubles with his thigh are starting to worry us; we really hope this doesn't develop into something more serious.
As for the game itself, Athletico haven't been so hot lately and Barca did give them a royal thrashing when they met in the league; facing them this time should be no trouble.

Match Report: Barcelona 3-1 RCD Mallorca

Well now, where to start... that was one remarkable match from our gents! There were goals... spectacular ones from each of Henry, Iniesta, and Yaya Toure... there was anger... Dani, Eto'o, Xavi and Rafa all got well worked up, to the extent that Rafa had to be taken off after it really looked like he was after a red... and there was any amount of hotness, in the form of Pep's adorable reactions to the goals, Messi's engaging scowl from the stands, hugs and manpiles galore, and just the particular gorgeousness of our lads last night.

Things were a bit slow at first but by the second half the pace really picked up. We are at loss for words for Yaya Toure; he was simply amazing. And then there's Andres Iniesta; this was his first match returning from injury, and his performance made us realize just how much we'd been missing him; his goal was lovely and we're so glad he's finally back.
We're still basking in visions of Pep striding up and down the sidelines gesturing and yelling his lungs out at the players all match long—hot tempers on hot men, oh!

[click the pictures to enlarge]

Pre-Match Buzz: Pique Not Called

Just hours till the match Barcelistas, and we can't wait! Its been two weeks since we last saw the lads play, and we're really looking forward to this. However, there's a slight downside: Though our beloved Gerard Pique was cleared of his unjustly given red card, he won't be able to make this match after all as he still hasn't recovered from the flu.

We're happy though that Messi was able to make it back to Barcelona and catch up with the team yesterday, after he was held at Madrid due to "technical problems" and "strike of air traffic controllers."

Coincidence? We think not. That's Madrid trying to mess with us, but no worries; we all know they're too incompetent to really accomplish anything serious.

Now we're headed off in Pique's direction, armed with hot water bottles and chicken soup. We'll be back when his fever turns and the world is set to rights again.

Barca Buzz: The Team is (almost) Complete

Well, its January second, one day before the match and the day for the late players to return in time for the training session at 18:30 CET. Dani Alves arrived earlier today, which leaves just Lionel Messi; Leo arrived in Madrid on time but his flight from there to Barcelona was then delayed (count on Madrid to screw things up) and so he's to arrive in Barcelona at 19:00 CET... half an hour after the start of the training session. We doubt wether he'll be able to make the training, however, the whole issue is out of his hands (punish Madrid!) so we also doubt Pep will be too hard on him.

Oh, and Caceras followed in suit of Eto'o and Keita and arrived yesterday; now we're just waiting on Messi and dear Pique, who had to go home from training after catching the flu, so that the team can be complete again.

The Weekly Pick: Lionel Messi

For looking so utterly adorable during training. The whole girly "like, omg!" expression combined with that delectable dimple is totally working for him and this is the cutest we've ever seen dear Leo. Add to that the hot new haircut he's sporting this season; the way his hair is almost falling into his eyes but not quite is so tantalizing here!!