We Love Barcelona

There have been rumours that skillful Brazil international Neymar might exit Barcelona soon.

Neymar has been playing second or even third fiddle at the Nou Camp as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez lead. The source claimed the Olympic Gold medalist has made up his mind to leave for several reasons. One is that he wants to put up a serious competition or even win the highly coveted Ballon d’Or award.

“He believes he can be the best player in the world at another big club,” the source explained.

French giant Paris St Germain are leading the race for the signature of the player. The Ligue 1 side are willing to meet the record release clause of the player. While Chelsea and Manchester United want the player, the over £190 million fee involved is one they are unwilling to meet. PSG are reportedly considering making the purchase, especially as they are keen to build a solid profile in Europe.More Link

Lucas Digne reckons that Barcelona was a superior outfit in comparison to their bitter enemies Real Madrid in the previous season in spite of them not being able to clinch either the domestic or the continental league title.

Throwing facts and figures to prove his point, Digne says that Barcelona not only found the net more number of times than Madrid, but, also conceded lesser number of times than them in the top flight and that shows that their attack was more penetrative and defence was more compact.More Link

Earlier on March, Luis Enrique confirmed that he will be stepping down as the head coach of Barcelona when the current season reaches it’s end and now a list of potential managers who could succeed and follow the legacy of Luis Enrique has emerged.

Out of all those managers mentioned, it’s Jorge Sampaoli the manager that appears and is rumored to be on the frontline as the favorite of becoming the next coach of Barcelona.

Sampaoli is a 57 year old manager who is currently in charge of Sevilla and has been doing a superb job as the club is currently located at the 3^rd spot of La Liga with 57 points collected from the initial 28 league matches played so far.

Taking into consideration that this is the last season of Luis Enrique as the head coach of Barcelona, he wants to end his stay at Camp Nou on a high note and win as many pieces of silverware as possible.More Link

Spanish champions Barcelona have sacked one of their officials Pere Gratacos after he said the Argentine star would not be as good without his teammates.

A statement credited to him reads: “Leo is one of the most important people in the team, but it’s not just about him. He would not be as good without [Andres] Iniesta, Neymar and company, but Messi is the best.”

Though many have said the statement was not that bad, the club decided to remove the official for the ill-timed comments particularly when the team has been under pressure of late.

Coach of the side Luis Enrique downplayed the comments when asked but he was sure to speak against such undue pressure from an insider to the management for them to have decided to sack Gratacos. Gratacos would remain with the Catalan outfit for the Masia 360 project but it would be in a reduced capacity as the club tries to manage lots of influences with the club at the moment.More Link

Gerardo Martino believes that being the coach of a player like Lionel Messi is quite tough.

According to Martino, each and every performance of Messi, be it at the club or at the international level, is analyzed to the core and the coach is always asked questions.

Martino has worked with Messi for a season at Camp Nou and even though, he is not associated with the Blaugrana any more, he will continue working with the star forward as he has taken charge of the Argentina national team now.
Martino has replaced Alejandro Sabella, who resigned after the World Cup in Brazil, as Albiceleste manager just a few weeks back.

In an interview with the William Hill (football betting site) recently, when Martino was asked how it’s like coaching Messi, he said, “It’s not easy at all. You are under the microscope all the time if you are coaching a guy of the calibre of Leo. People will always have something to say about his performance. If he finds the net thrice in a match, why he played so well? If he goes scoreless, why not even one goal? You always have questions to answer as his coach.”

“Last Season, there were remarks that Leo was playing within himself at Barca keeping the World Cup in mind, but, if you look at the numbers, he netted close to 30 times in the league.”

“People will always be saying things about him, either good or bad. He is that big a name.”

Messi was supposed to play for Argentina in the friendly fixture against Germany which is coming up, but, he withdrew himself from the squad yesterday due to some injury concerns.

The Argentina medical staff will probably be visiting him later tomorrow in Catalonia to see how bad his injury is.
The Argentina Versus Germany friendly match will be played at ESPRIT arena, Dusseldorf.

Gerardo Martino has dismissed speculation that he is set to leave Barcelona at the end of the season. The Argentine was appointed as a replacement for Tito Vilanova only in the summer.

It was heavily speculated that Lionel Messi played a major role in disappointment, but this has always been denied by the club. Either way, many feel that his presence in the dugout has made the club moved backward. The club has been trying to get a new philosophy of football that is vastly different from the days of Guardiola and Tito Vilanova.

The players have been struggling to adapt to this philosophy and this has translated to poor results on the pitch. The latest came in the form of a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final. Even though Barcelona put up a good fight in response to going down to a goal from Madrid in the first half, they were ultimately not deserving winners. There has been speculation that Martino has a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave the club at the end of the season if all parties are not happy with his work.

The Argentine has refused to entertain claims that he will step down from his post at the end of the season, in an exclusive interview with the brasil mexico odds site.

“Obviously this is not a good moment. It has been a hard week on all fronts. As I have said for one, two, three months now, I don’t feel that my future has changed because of all that we lost, and nor do I think it would be different if we had won,” said the Barcelona manager, who could still lead the club to league title success. However, they are three points behind leaders Atletico Madrid with only five matches left in the season.