Barcelona - NouCamp Faithful

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 0 - 0 Deportivo La Coruña : All square

A second-string Barcelona side were held to a goalless draw by relegation-threatened Deportivo La Coruna in the penultimate round of Primera Division matches at the Nou Camp.

The league title was wrapped up with a draw at Levante on Wednesday night and, with a Champions League final meeting with Manchester United to come at the end of the month, coach Pep Guardiola named an experimental side.



Barcelona players lifted the La Liga trophy in front of a packed Camp Nou.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Málaga 1 - 3 Barcelona : Barca wins with second team

Barcelona's second string warmed up for next weekend's Champions League final against Manchester United with a 3-1 win at Malaga this evening.

Sebas Fernandez gave Malaga the lead after 31 minutes, but a Bojan Krkic penalty levelled the scores just before the break.

The second half was an even affair but Barca had the edge late on and won all three points thanks to goals from Ibrahim Affelay and Marc Bartra in the last 15 minutes.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[newhunter]

will barca win man utd in UCL?

[waiwaiz]

Originally Posted by newhunter

will barca win man utd in UCL?

yesss...........2-0 again. hopefully messi can score...

Barca....Barca.......Barca

[newhunter]

barca !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[waiwaiz]

swee swee....

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 3 - 1 Manchester United : Barca master class

For the second time in three years, brilliant Barcelona denied Manchester United Champions League glory with a sensational performance at Wembley.

Although United could take some small consolation from the knowledge they were more effective than that 2009 letdown in Rome and even managed to level Pedro's first-half strike through Wayne Rooney, once again the better team won.

On the ground where the Catalans lifted their first European Cup, Lionel Messi also laid his personal ghost to rest, scoring his first goal for Barcelona on English soil, belting home what proved to be the winner nine minutes into the second half.

David Villa curled home an equally splendid third with just over 20 minutes to go to set the seal on Barcelona's fourth Champions League win and end all arguments about their right to be regarded among the truly great teams that have ever played the game.



(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Manchester Utd 2 - 1 Barcelona : United gain revenge

World Football Challenge

Nine weeks after being completely outplayed in the Champions League final, Manchester United finally experienced the winning feeling against Barcelona.

Michael Owen secured victory 14 minutes from time in front of a record 81,807 at Washington's FedEx Field, not long after Thiago had pulled Barca level with a magnificent curling strike.

Nani had put Sir Alex Ferguson's men into a first-half lead with a neat finish and Owen's clip over Victor Valdes after collecting Tom Cleverley's neat pass ensured United ended their five-match US tour with a 100% record.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[joew2005]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...ercopa?cc=4716

Thiago confident of Supercopa glory
August 12, 2011

Barca youngster Thiago Alcantara believes Barcelona r in "pole position" 2 win their 3rd trophy of 2011 by beating rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa.

Primera Division champions Barcelona take on Copa del Rey winners Real Madrid tis Sunday in the 1st leg of Spanish football's traditional curtain raiser.

The 1st clash betw the arch-rivals, who met 5 times last season, will be played @ the Bernabeu, with the 2nd leg @ Camp Nou 3 days later.

Real only beat the Catalans 1s in 2010-11 - a 1-0 victory in the Copa del Rey final - & Thiago, whose influential displays @ the European Under-21 Championship in June were rewarded with a senior debut 4 Spain earlier tis week, believes Barca r favourites 2 beat Los Blancos again.

"It's quite simple: I think tat Barcelona will win the trophy," Thiago told Sport. When you master all defensive & offensive aspects of the game & always enjoy the majority of possession, you're sitting in pole position 2 win.

"We realise tat our hard work & typical style of play hv led 2 alot of success & will continue 2 play like tis. Real Madrid r our biggest rivals & you never 1 2 lose against them. Tat's the case now, 2."

Jose Mourinho has brought several new faces 2 Real over the summer, with Fabio Coentrao, Raphael Varane, Nuri Sahin, Hamit Altintop & Jose Maria Callejon all arriving @ the Bernabeu as the club looks 2 topple Barca @ home & abroad.

The Catalans hv been quieter in the transfer market, with Alexis Sanchez their only signing so far, though Cesc Fabregas will likely be added b4 the season starts.

Barcelona beat Sevilla 5-3 on aggregate in last year's Spanish Supercopa & hv won the trophy a record 9 times.

[joew2005]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...regas-?cc=4716

Pep confirms Cesc deal is close
August 13, 2011

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has confirmed the prospects of Cesc Fabregas returning 2 the club r "good", revealing a single document is all tat is preventing the transfer fr being completed.

Aft a summer-long saga in which the Spanish champions hv played a waiting game with Arsenal over Fabregas' transfer fee, progress finally arrived on Friday, with an offer reportedly accepted by the Gunners. The Spain international was said 2 be flying out 2 Barcelona 2 complete the deal over the weekend.

However, an expected Saturday completion has been delayed by the smoothing out of the finer details, with Arsenal insistent upon the payment of future fees. The initial transfer fee is believed 2 be in the region of €34 million (£29.8 million), with Arsenal 2 receive an extra €6 million (£5.2million) dependent upon Barcelona's future success.

Guardiola remained calm over the unforeseen delay &, speaking ahead of Barca's Supercopa de Espana clash with Real Madrid, he stated his belief tat the Fabregas deal would eventually be completed. "According 2 the information we hv fr club bosses negotiations r very advanced but there is still a document missing 2 confirm," Guardiola told reporters. "The prospects r good, but he's still an Arsenal player. Otherwise I would confirm it."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has already answered questions abt the Gunners' future transfer targets, with the sales of Fabregas & Samir Nasri expected 2 raise in the region of £50 million. Wenger revealed Juan Mata is not a target 4 Arsenal, & he stated there are no talks with Shakhtar Donetsk for Brazilian schemer Jadson.

Guardiola, meanwhile, confirmed the arrival of Fabregas would conclude Barcelona's summer transfer activity aft the earlier capture of Alexis Sanchez. "We don't need another defender or player tis summer," stated the Barca boss.

[lacoruna69]

Real Madrid 2 - 2 Barcelona : All square

Spanish Supercopa 1st Leg

Real Madrid and Barcelona shared four goals in a thrilling first leg of the Spanish Supercopa.

Having hogged the headlines for a number of bad-tempered clashes last season, the two played out a game refreshingly void of late challenges and mass-brawls.

Another surprise saw Real adopt the role of the cultivated passing side out of the two, opening the scoring through Mesut Ozil and then levelling through Xavi Alonso.

In between times, Barcelona occupied the smash-and-grab style often used by Madrid last season, with David Villa and Lionel Messi netting.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 3 - 2 Real Madrid : Messi winner

Spanish Supercopa 2nd Leg (Barca wins 5-4 on agg)

Cesc Fabregas came off the bench to make his Barcelona debut, but it was a familiar figure who inspired Barcelona to a thrilling yet bad-tempered Spanish Supercopa victory over Real Madrid at the Nou Camp.

Lionel Messi made one and scored two, including the winner two minutes from time, as the Catalans claimed a 5-4 aggregate win.

With the scores level at 2-2 from the first leg last week, the Argentinian set up Andres Iniesta for the opener only for Cristiano Ronaldo to equalise five minutes later.

Messi himself restored Barca's lead, but Karim Benzema brought the visitors level eight minutes from time as Madrid made their pressure pay.

Fabregas came on moments later for his first appearance for the club he left as a 16-year-old following his return from Arsenal.

The match looked headed for extra-time until Messi volleyed a late winner before Marcelo's sending off for a reckless scissor tackle on Fabregas sparked an injury-time brawl in which Mesut Ozil and David Villa, both of whom had already been substituted, were shown red cards, and Madrid boss Jose Mourinho appeared to tweak the ear of one of the Barcelona staff.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[qw2op]

watch fighting @ supercopa 2nd leg ... watch mourinho poke ppl n went away smiling from ~2:47 ...

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 2 - 0 FC Porto : Cesc seals Super Cup win for Barca

Venue : Stade Louis II, Monaco

Cesc Fabregas scored a brilliant volley to keep Barcelona's non-stop victory parade going with a UEFA Super Cup triumph over Porto.

Fabregas, on the bench until the last 10 minutes, took Lionel Messi's pass on his chest before rifling home to spark scenes of wild celebration from his team-mates.

It means two trophies in 10 days for the former Arsenal man - who won just the FA Cup and a Charity Shield in all his years with the Gunners - with the European and Spanish champions already having the Spanish Super Cup in the bag this season and thanks to Fabregas and Messi's first-half goal, added the UEFA trophy to their cabinet.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 5 - 0 Villarreal : Barca begins with a bang

Barcelona began their bid for a fourth successive Primera Division title with a spellbinding 5-0 win against Villarreal at the Nou Camp.

Having been forced to wait to start their title defence, and after Real Madrid's 6-0 win at Real Zaragoza on Sunday, Pep Guardiola's side picked up where they left off last season to leave Juan Carlos Garrido's visitors dazed and confused.

Emerging midfielder Thiago started the scoring in the 25th minute before Cesc Fabregas, signed from Arsenal this summer, made it 2-0 on his league debut. Fellow newcomer Alexis Sanchez also marked his debut with a goal before Lionel Messi grabbed two for himself.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)