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outside 18

We’re playing because we haven’t qualified yet" Jordi Clos



Speaking at a Camp Nou press conference on Monday morning, Pep Guardiola warned about the dangers of underestimating Tuesday evening’s opponent and defended the team’s performance at the weekend.


Guardiola told reporters that his players could take nothing for granted against Cultural Leonesa in the return leg of their Spanish Cup match. “"We’ll try and do things well. We’re playing because we haven’t qualified yet and we’ll have to apply ourselves, with respect for the opponent. There area lot of nasty surprises in football. The first tie is always really dangerous. The fact that we won there doesn’t mean we’ve clinched the tie”.

Matches the best training

Guardiola is determined that his players should not become complacent: “I hope they take it seriously. I’ve learned as a manager that you don’t train much. Every three of four days there’s a match and the important thing is to keep the players motivated. A match is always the best training session”. He also congratulated Cultural Leonesa’s leading goal scorer Jito on his recent rich vein of form and described some poor results for the club as “transitory”.

Chances for all

With a number of first team regulars missing through injury or international duty, it seems likely that Guardiola will draw on the reserves to make up his squad list for the Cup match: “They always pass me a CD of Barça Atlètic and I try and watch them. I spoke to Luis Enrique (head coach of the reserve team) and watched a few players in the close season”. It could also be a chance for Bojan to show what he can do and Guardiola is well aware that the young Catalan striker has only played a peripheral role so far this season. “I understand that he may be unhappy and disappointed. The simple fact is, I see him more in the goal area and I wanted to give Ibra the chance to settle in. However, I want to play him because he deserves it for his attitude”. He also clarified the exclusion from the list of Rafa Márquez: “He knows why he’s off the list. It’s not a punishment”.

Confident of his methods

Finally, Pep Guardiola spoke about the weekend win against Mallorca and displayed some irritation at the criticism of the team’s performance and their ability to defend set pieces: “We can’t always play well. Remember, last year we played some much worse matches than on Saturday. It’s the first goal we’ve conceded from a dead ball situation. Obviously, you can always improve but I believe we are averaging out well”.

we must beat cultural 3-o
sure

An unusual week for Barça www.fcbarcelona.cat



It’s a rather unusual week coming up for Barça. There’s a break in the league programme due to international fixtures but on Tuesday evening Barça host Cultural Leonesa in the second leg of their Cup tie.


A number of players will be away this week with their national teams taking part in the World Cup qualifier playoffs or friendlies. A result, manager Josep Guardiola will find himself without some key elements in his preparations for Tuesday’s Cup match.

Two sessions before Cup match

The first training session of the week will be held at 11 on Monday morning.

Then, on Tuesday, the squad will assemble again for training at 12.30.

Wednesday break

The players will then have a day off on Wednesday and return to training on Thursday at 11 am. Friday’s session will be at the same time.

A weekend off

Finally, the players that have remained behind in Barcelona will be given the weekend off.

Six missing for Cup preparationswww.fcbarcelona.cat



Monday morning’s training session was marked by the absence of Chygrynskiy, Abidal, Henry and Touré (international duty) plus Ibrahimovic and Keita (injury).


It’s an unusual week for Barça. The league programme has been put on hold to accommodate a number of international matches but in the meantime the Spanish Cup continues and on Tuesday evening Barça face the second leg of their Cup tie against Cultural Leonesa.

International call-up

Chygrynskiy, Abidal, Henry and Touré are all unavailable for Tuesday’s match because of international commitments.

Touré joins the rest of his Ivory Coast team-mates for a World Cup qualifier against Guinea safe in the knowledge that his country has already booked its place in South Africa. Meanwhile, Chygrynskiy (Ukraine against Greece) and Abidal and Henry, (France against Ireland) are in involved in vital qualifying playoffs.

Keita knee injury

Also missing from training today was Mali international Seydou Keita. He struggled through the closing minutes of the victory over Mallorca with a knock to his left knee and further tests on Monday morning confirmed some damage to the ligaments.

Club doctors have recommended rest in Barcelona for the next ten days or so.

Finally, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who also picked up an injury against Mallorca, will be sidelined for about a week.

Reserves join session

In view of the number of senior players missing, Guardiola included three players from the reserves in today’s session: Jonathan dos Santos, Andreu Fontàs and Oriol Romeu.

A five–star start Jordi Clos



Ten games into the league programme Barça have recorded their best ever start, with eight victories and two draws and a goal difference of 21.


Difficult though it is to improve on last season’s treble-winning statistics, the fact is that Barça have now chalked up the Club’s best ever start to a league season. In the first ten matches they have won 8, drawn 2, scored 28 goals and conceded just 7, giving them a goal difference of 21.

Similar starts for Rijkaard and Robson

This superb start to the season is even better than in 2004-05 under Frank Rijkaard. Then, the team also accumulated 8 wins in the first 10 matches but with a goal difference of 15, 6 fewer than now. It was a similar story in 1996/97. Bobby Robson’s Barça enjoyed the same number of wins and draws (8 and 2, scored 33 but conceded 13, leaving the goal difference at 20.

Fortress Camp Nou

One of the keys to this early success has been Barça’s superb home form: Sporting Gijón (3-0), Atlético Madrid (5-2), Almería (1-0), Zaragoza (6-1) and Mallorca (4-2). Only Real Madrid and Mallorca have equalled Barça’s 100% home record though both of them have an inferior goal difference.

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yousouph:
Real M. where are your Naija fans

hahah
Real is not worth to be supporting.
shit club,
Barca 4 ever

hmmm i rest my case

game up,
we load our three point
good game boys

that penalty was excellent

this must be a pep
messi do vex

see combination of passing

good game guys

what is going on here

yaya is good

Bouqet out for Messi

nice game there messi

yaya won kill person oh, nice dribbling there

messi is superb

pedro out for messi

hahaha dat ibra freekick no be small one

second half to follow
let finish our job

we needs more goals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

honeric01:
They must be resting for God knows why

haha why must they be resting?

i disagree with pep on this oh

End of first half
abeg my guys where is Alves, Messi, Iniesta, Xave, hahaha pep is taking risk oh

Goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Igwe

hi my FCB Pals wats up, less than an hour we do our things as usually

December Kuwait friendly confirmedwww.fcbarcelona.cat



Barça will play a friendly in Kuwait on December 21, the club's corporate director general has announced, and the club will be given 2,000 tickets to the FIFA Club World Cup.


Joan Oliver revealed the details of the encounter after a meeting of the commission. On the sporting side it will see the team able to compete against a local side in the United Arab Emirates, while financial the club will receive €1.7 million.

Ticket sales

FIFA have confirmed that FC Barcelona will receive 2,000 tickets for the FIFA Club World Cup and details have been confirmed of where the seats will be, the flights available and the procedure for fans to book their place at the tournament. "There are three options with trips available from December 13 to 22, December 16 to 20 and from December 18 to 20," Oliver confirmed.

World Player of the Year

Between the FIFA Club World Cup and the friendly in Kuwait is the FIFA World Player of the Year Gala and Oliver indicated that Barça will allow all those invited to attend.

Catalunya are lining up a game on December 22 and Oliver thinks that any Barça players called up will be able to play. "We all know and want to collaborate with the management of the Catalan Football Federation," he explained. "We have allowed Camp Nou to be used and should the game be confirmed then the players will also be allowed to return so they can play."


New signingsJoan Oliver has stated that FC Barcelona can sign players in the winter transfer window if the coaching staff deems it necessary. "The club has the capacity to invest in the squad," he explained. "Any discussions about new signings will be done on sporting grounds and not on economic terms."

A Real “Group of Death”Jesús Carrillo / Jordi Clos



With two games left to play, Barca's Group F is proving to be one of the closest in Champions League history with all four teams still able to finish either top or bottom of the group.


Group F was clearly going to be this year's “Group of Death” and with the four teams all involved leading their respective leagues, it really has proved to be an evenly matched group. Inter lead lead the group on 6 points with Rubin on 5, ahead of Barca only on goal difference and Dynamo in fourth with 4 points and it looks like it'll go right to the wire with all four still in with a shout to progress to the next stage.

Four league leaders

Inter not only lead their Champions League group, they also head the Italian league, seven points ahead of second place Juventus. Rubin top the Russian championship, leading Spartak Moscow by a single point, with just three games to go and Dynamo Kiev lead Shaktar in Ukraine by four points. Barca, of course, top La Liga, leading Real Madrid by a point.

Precedents

There have been few closer groups in Champions League history, though in 2005/06 at the same stage in Group F, Villarreal had 6, Manchester United 5, Lille 5 and Benfica 4 points, whilst in 1999 Kiev were involved in an even tighter situation in Group E when Panathinaikos had 6 and Dynamo Arsenal and Lens all had 5.