We Love Barcelona

Lionel Messi was often spoken as the driving force behind Barcelona’s success in the last five years, but it is seems that the club are finally moving away from depending heavily on the Argentine.

When it was revealed that Messi would spend a couple of months on the sidelines, Barcelona feared for the worst. However, they have been able to tide over this period largely by the brilliance of Neymar and Luis Suarez. The two strikers combined to provide a three-point advantage for the Catalan club in the la Liga table. It is a massive advantage for the team ahead of the first El Clasico this weekend.

Neymar and Suarez have almost played every game in the last couple of months, but manager Enrique says that he will not rest either of them for the upcoming Champions League match against Bate Borisov. This game appears to be an easy victory for the home team. A victory would put them closer towards qualification for the last 16, while other results going their way could also be a major help. BATE are bottom of the group but Barcelona are not significantly far ahead. The team had a disastrous opening game against Roma following a 1-1 draw.

Enrique is keen to avoid a drop in form by resting key players. “The objective is to beat Bate Borisov and to win the group. Obviously the importance of finishing first depends on who is second in the other groups but we want to give a message that we are ready and prepared. Last year I was able to do what I wanted with the amount of minutes that players had, even though I was criticised at the time, and now I am restricted by the number of players available. We will have players back soon, along with others available in January,” said Enrique.

Barcelona’s election is scheduled to take place on July 16 and the former president of the Spanish club Joan Laporta announced his intention to make a return and take charge of Barcelona just how he used to starting from 2003 until 2010.
Joan Laporta says that he is now more experienced and prepared than ever before.

Former president, Laporta said: “I feel more prepared than ever to preside over the club. I have more experience. I have my faults, most of you already know about them, but I have kept the same principles and those principles are those same ones that belong to the idea of ‘Mesque un club.’ those of JohanCruyff, La Masia, Catalonia and of UNICEF.”

There are 6 candidates that desire to be selected as the new president of the Spanish club including: Toni Freixa, AgustiBenedito, JordiFarre, JordiMajo, JosepBartomeu and Joan Laporta.

MARCA.com is a Spanish website which shares news concerning numerous sports but it’s known for being one of the predominant locations for finding up to date news involving Real Madrid and Barcelona.

A few days ago there was a Barcelona poll which was made in MARCA.com where readers could vote as to which president they would like to see taking charge of the Spanish club and Joan Laporta emerged as the clear favorite as he received 54% of the votes and JosepBartomeu came in 2nd place as he received 23% of the votes.

Bartomeu wants to continue being the president of Barcelona and he has urged the public of voting for him as he still has a lot of more things planned for the club. Barcelona won the treble in this past season but Bartomeu is aiming to accomplish much more things if he remains in his current presidential role.

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique has managed to cement himself in his role after guiding the club to the quarter-finals of the Champions League by overcoming Manchester City.

Former boss Gerardo Martino failed at the quarter-final stage last season. After having recently retaken the lead in the la Liga, Barcelona will be facing Paris St Germain in the quarter-finals of the European competition. It will be one the toughest tests for the Catalan club, as PSG look very much improved compared to recent years. They have just knocked out Chelsea before reaching this stage.

Enrique says that this provides Barcelona with a huge warning that they cannot take PSG lightly despite the fact that they will be without their star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Swedish striker has been suspended for the next three matches after receiving a straight red card against Chelsea in the second leg. This would likely mean that Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani will be leading the line, but the former Napoli man has not been in the best of form. Barcelona may be playing great football at the moment, but Enrique wants that PSG have the capability to knock them out. Both clubs faced each other only a couple of years ago with Barcelona narrowly edging out in front.

“The absence of Ibrahimovic and Verratti is important but they have other players who are equally dangerous. Having the return leg at home is big. It’s important to get a good result in Paris and try to qualify for the semifinals in front of our fans. We have experience from the group stage, with a win and a defeat. After beating Chelsea they showed they’re a strong candidate to win the competition,” said Enrique. Barcelona, meanwhile, have to look forward to beating Real Madrid in the upcoming El Clasico.

The media always seem to exaggerate things concerning certain clubs and players in the world of football and this is especially true when it comes to C.Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

A few months ago C.Ronaldo stated that he misses Manchester United and the Premier League club still has an important place in his heart as it was the place where he managed to become a superstar before he went on to join Real Madrid.

When that interview was over, news and reports started spreading around saying that C.Ronaldo could be making his return to the English club which was completely false.

A similar thing is happening with Lionel Messi and Barcelona. The Spanish club was going through difficult problems in the past few weeks and months as they lost against Real Sociedad some time ago and important staff members of the club have been resigning or leaving. This sparked a series of rumors which suggested that Messi was going to leave as well due to him having a negative relationship with the manager which later was rejected by the President Bartomeu.

There was a short period when Lionel Messi was underperforming and did not seem to be performing at his best and this is another one of the reasons on why rumors kept on spreading around claiming that the Argentine was just not happy at Camp Nou.

These reports and rumors have managed to calm down in some way but still exist.

In Barcelona’s latest La Liga match, Messi netted a hat-trick as Barcelona defeated Deportivo La Coruna by a scoreboard of 4-0. Messi was unstoppable in the pitch and this just shows how determined he is on playing and forget about everything else that is going on.

As bad as a relationship as Messi might have with certain members of the club, it’s incredibly difficult to see him leaving the club where he has accomplished everything with. On different occasions Messi has said that he wants to finish his career in Barcelona and this is the most likely thing that is going to happen.

The Champions League draw was completed and Barcelona was pitted against the English team Manchester City in what is expected to be one of the most exciting and thrilling matches in these next stages of the European tournament.

Luis Enrique believes that Manchester City was one of the toughest opponents that they could have been drawn against and he is well aware of the threat that the Premier Leagueclub represents but Enrique thinks that Barcelona should be able to come out on top with a victory if they play well.

I am sure it’ll be a very hard match” he said. “The important thing in games like these is for us to be in good condition.

If we’re on form, we are good enough to cope with any competition … I always think positively, and I know we are quite capable of getting through the round against Manchester City.”

Manchester City was just barely able to make it into the last 16 remaining teams in the Champions League after surprising victories against Bayern Munich and As.Roma.

The team of Manuel Pellegrini continues being dependent on Sergio Aguero for most of their goals and this is something that Barcelona can capitalize on when they face each other in the Champions League on February.

Barcelona recently sustained a slip in the Spanish League after drawing against Getafe but by the time that the Champions League reignites in February it would be enough time for Luis Enrique and his time to recover from their recent mediocre performance and return to their natural winning ways but Manchester City has a tougher job to do as they have to start finding a way on not depending so much on a single player as this can seriously hamper their chances on winning major titles in this season.

Sergio Aguero is a fantastic player there is no doubt about that, but if he gets injured or has a bad day then Manchester City’s chances of scoring will be very limited. It’s similar to Barcelona with Lionel Messi but the English squad is starting to depend on Aguero just way too much and this is evidenced by the fact that Aguero scored all 3 goals in Manchester City’s victory over Bayern Munich as well as one of the top goal-scorers in the Premier League with many games where he is the only scorer for Manchester City.

Barcelona remains in tip top form as the club has managed to score 19 goals in the opening 7 Spanish League matches in this season and is located at the top of the standings. The attacking duo consisting of Lionel Messi and Neymar struggled to score goals in the previous season but things have turned around for the Brazilian and Argentinean players who are the main goal-scoring machines for the team of Luis Enrique and things will only get better when Luis Suarez makes his official debut within one week.

The manager of Barcelona, Luis Enrique said that the Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez is ready and eager to make his debut with the Barcelona jersey in a league match.

“He still needs to improve his condition physically as he has been out for a long time but he is a special player who can provide lots of different options. He has been training well and will be ready. I have a good feeling about him and he has improved a lot since he has returned to training and played for his national team. He looks very different now to when he came back. Training every day has made a big difference.” Enrique said as he responded to questions concerning the condition of Luis Suarez

After having bitted the Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in the 2014 World Cup, Suarez received a 4 month ban from doing anything related to football which is still affecting the player but the sanction will be reaching its end just in time for Suarez to be featured and play for Barcelona during their Clasico match against Real Madrid on October 25.

Expectations are high for the return of Luis Suarez as he arrived from Liverpool with a price tag of around €94 million and the Uruguayan attacker has to prove if that extremely high amount of money that was splashed was indeed worth it and what a better scenario then when playing against their rivals Real Madrid?

Barcelona start the new campaign hoping to reclaim the league title with a home match against Elche. However, new manager Luis Enrique will be without star summer signing Luis Suarez since the forward is suspended until the end of October. Enrique has previously been disappointing in his managerial jobs, but there is confidence within Barcelona that he will be a success at the Catalan outfit since he knows the club from the top to bottom. Enrique came through the ranks at Barcelona and went on to captain the club during an immensely successful period. In many ways, he is similar to the club’s former manager Pep Guardiola.

After having managed to work with a number of star names like Lionel Messi and Neymar in the last few weeks of training, Enrique says that he is confident ahead of the new season. The club has had an indifferent from in the pre-season friendly matches after starting with a 1-1 draw against French club Nice. However, they have since recovered to show good form towards the end of the pre-season preparations. The match against Elche will represent a soft introduction to life as a Barcelona manager for Enrique. Ahead of the season opener, the former Barcelona captain has spoken about a number of issues like Messi and Suarez.

“I’m delighted by the motivation and ambition shown by the players in training. That makes me very optimistic…These session have been more intense and tougher than I expected because of their capacity for sacrifice. I’m 100% optimistic the fans will enjoy what we do. Neither I nor the Club accept that the squad is complete. The Club should always be looking for reinforcements. He’s [Messi] such a good reader of the game so we mustn’t close off any opening that he sees on the pitch,” said Enrique.

Luis Suarez has always wanted to play for Barcelona, according to his former team mate Gabri Garcia who went on to add that he would jump at the chance if the club came calling.

Gabri, who himself played for the Catalan giants between 1999 and 2006 after coming through the youth ranks at the club is close friends with the Liverpool striker and his family after spending four years with him at Ajax Amsterdam after he was sold by his boyhood club.

The excellent form that the Uruguayan striker has shown in the Premier League over the last couple of seasons has made him one of the hottest properties in world football at the moment with both Real Madrid and Barcelona credited with an interest in the talismanic striker and according to Gabri, he would pick the Blaugrana over Los Merengues any day.

Gabri stated that while they were at Ajax, they enjoyed a close bond because of their common mother tongue and said that he always wanted to come to the Catalan giants, adding that it would make him immensely happy if he did that.

He went on to add that if the club does move for the player, they would be making a great signing considering the adaptability that the player has shown in every league he has played in and he would be a great fit for the club as well. The move would also suit his young family with his in-laws staying near the city as well.

Gabri mentioned that if Suarez joined Barcelona, the club would have one of the best attacking lineups in the world with Lionel Messi and Neymar already a part of the team and signing the Uruguayan would make them an almost unstoppable force and help them dominate for years to come.

Barcelona’s Gerardo Martino has not enjoyed the best of debut seasons after the Catalan crashed out of the Champions League and Copa del Rey. There already are rumors of him leaving Barcelona when the season finishes and Luis Enrique taking over the club during the summer.

Barcelona still has a chance of winning the Spanish league title but this will only happen if they are able of securing a victory against Athletic Madrid on the last match of the season.

Gerardo Martino is well aware that the club has already made contacts and held meetings with Luis Enrique but Martino remains proud of the work he has accomplished with Barcelona and everything else is secondary.

“The club has done nothing wrong. At least not in my eyes, I won’t necessarily be happy with my work even if we do win the league title. There’s no result that will change my future. I’m very proud to coach Barcelona. It’s a huge job.”
“It has been a difficult season, with many problems off the pitch. We have tried to get over them with football and we were alive in the title race. It was a poor season wasn’t what we expected. There was the chance of not reaching the goals, but not due to our own mistakes’’. Martino said.
If indeed Martino does get sacked at the end of the season, Malaga is a likely destination for the Argentine manager as Malaga is interested in turning him into their head coach and some time ago, Martino was on the verge of joining the club but ultimately he decided on settling with Barcelona.