We Love Barcelona

The new manager of Barcelona, Tito Vilanova, wants to sign the Manchester City defender Kolo Toure. According to some reports, Vilanova wants a defender who is versatile and can play in the midfield as well. Toure has been performing well for Manchester City since the last three seasons. He is an experienced player and can also guide the younger players. That’s why Vilanova wants to bring him into the squad.

On being asked about Kolo, Vilanova said that the club is looking to sign some experienced players and Kolo is one of the targets of the club. He is a very good defender and he has done quite well for Manchester City. However, Vilanova said that it is up to the authorities of Manchester City whether they want to release Kolo or not.

Meanwhile, the Spanish players of Barcelona i.e. Xavi, Cesc Fabregas, Pedro, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta have joined the club. The Spanish players were on Holiday after winning the Euro Cup 2012. Vilanova said that the Spanish players are vital parts of the team and it is good that they have joined the team.

Apart from the return of the Spanish players, there is another good news for Barcelona. The defender, Carlos Puyol, has been declared fit to play for Barcelona in the upcoming season. Carlos had discovered a serious knee injury in the later part of the 2011-12 season. He had to go through a surgery in May and he was not able to play in the Euro Cup. After being declared fit, Puyol said that he is delighted to have passed the medical test. It was not a good feeling to sit out of the team and watch the matches on television. As per Puyol, he had to work very hard on his fitness to get 100% fit.

Lionel Messi was not able to play for Barcelona in the exhibition match against Hamburg due to an injury. Due to the absence of Messi in that match, Barcelona has to suffer a great loss. The Barcelona authorities have said that Messi’s absence in that game has cost the club a total of 360,000 Euros. However, Barcelona was able to win the match 2-1. Dani Alves and Gerard Deulofeu scored the goals for Barcelona.

Barcelona was suffering with a calf injury and didn’t play the match. The Spanish Internationals of Barcelona were also not playing in the match. However, the young players of Barcelona performed pretty well. The new coach Tito Vilanova would be quite satisfied with his team’s performance. On being asked about how severe Messi’s injury is, the coach answered that it doesn’t seem to be that bad. But, you never know about the calf injuries. They might take some time. Hopefully, Messi would get rid of the injury pretty soon. The coach said that it is quite pleasant to see young players performing that well on the field. One of the younger players of Barcelona, Gerard Deulofeu scored a goal in the match.

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi has said that there is nothing to worry about his injury and he would be back on the field soon. Messi said that it’s a minor injury and nothing serious. Messi said that it is good to see the team not struggling without him. A team should never depend on a particular player. Messi also praised the young players for their impressive performance. It is important for the young players to grab their opportunities. Messi said that he is doing some light exercises and hopefully, he would be back to play in the second friendly game on Saturday.

Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas has said that manager Pep Guardiola, who will be stepping down from his post as the Barcelona manager following the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, is the greatest manager in the history of Barcelona. Guardiola has guided Barcelona to an unprecedented 13 trophies in four years, while he has the opportunity to claim his 14th title with the club he used to captain.

However, Guardiola has revealed that the pressure of managing Barcelona on a day-to-day basis has affected him and he will be taking a one-year sabbatical from the game. There has been glowing praise coming in for the Catalan, but none more so than the midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

It was Guardiola who decided to bring Fabregas back to the Camp Nou. The Spaniard left Barcelona for Arsenal when he was a teenager, but he has now signed for the club in a £ 35 million deal in the summer. Even though many argue that the presence of Fabregas picked the team has destroyed the stability that it had the previous seasons, Guardiola has always been supportive of Fabregas. Guardiola will be leaving the club in the same state he took over – without league title and Champions League title.

“If there is something extra about this final, it is the possibility of winning the title for our coach, the possibility of him winning yet another title and leaving with his head held high. He will do that anyway because he is the best coach this club have ever had, without a doubt. It is not something we have spoken about as a group but we all know we want to dedicate it to him,” Fabregas told reporters on Tuesday. Guardiola’s assistant manager Tito Villanova will be taking charge of the club from next season onwards.

Spanish club Barcelona have said that the claims that Lionel Messi racially abused Real Madrid player Royston Drenthe, while the Dutchman was at Hercules on a loan deal last season, is untrue.

The club have also praised Lionel Messi by saying that he is an extraordinary professional, who gives everything to the club and respects his fellow professionals.

The 24-year-old Lionel Messi has won three FIFA Player of the Year awards in the last three seasons, which has been matched only by the likes of Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane. He recently broke the record for the most number of goals in one single season by scoring 72 goals for Barcelona.

Even though he looks set to be without the Spanish la Liga and the Champions League trophies this season, many regard Lionel Messi to be the greatest player in the world. Royston Drenthe has played against Messi a number of times during his time at Real Madrid. His contract with the Spanish club will come to an end at the end of the season. He has been loaned to Premier league club Everton for the remainder of the season, but he has not been part of the club in the last few games due to disciplinary reasons. He claimed a few weeks back that Messi racially abused him while playing for Hercules.

“The player has always shown maximum respect and sportsmanship towards his rivals, something recognised by fellow professionals. We are sure that any accusations to the contrary are well wide of the mark,” said a spokesman from Barcelona regarding the claims made by Royston Drenthe. The Dutchman joined Real Madrid in 2007, but looks set to depart the club at the end of the season. Dutch club Feyenoord have been linked with the player in recent weeks.

Former Chelsea manager José Mourinho believes that it would be almost impossible for his former club to beat Barcelona in the semifinals of the Champions League.

Chelsea have been drawn against Barcelona after beating Benfica in the quarter finals of the European competition. However, not many are giving them an opportunity to win against the Spanish club, who are the favourites to win this year’s competition. José Mourinho is one among them, as the Portuguese manager made it into the semifinals of the competition with his club Real Madrid after beating Cyprus club APOEL in the quarter-finals.

Speaking after the match against APOEL, José Mourinho said that Chelsea have almost no chance of beating Barcelona, who have turned on the style in recent weeks. It is certainly a surprise to see Chelsea at this stage of the competition, especially considering their troubles earlier in the campaign.

They also were extremely close to being sent out of the Champions League in the first knockout stages itself after the 3-1 defeat at Napoli in the first leg. However, the appointment of manager Roberto di Matteo in place of Andre Villas-Boas has done wonders at Chelsea, but José Mourinho reckons that a place in the final will be a stretch too far for Chelsea.

“For me the big question is knowing who will play against Barca in the final because they are very good. It will be a great semi-final, Bayern against Real Madrid, and the best team will go on to play against Barca,” said Mourinho. “It will be exciting to play two games against probably one of the best teams in the world. We will find a strategy that will suit our players and our team to face Barcelona,” interim manager Di Matteo said after progressing into the semifinals.

Barcelona playmaker Xavi reportedly wants to spend the rest of his career with the Catalan club.

Only a few seasons ago, there were reports linking Xavi with a mega-move to English Premier league club Chelsea.

However, Xavi soon denied any speculation and committed his future to Barcelona by sending a long-term contract. He is one of the best players at the club and is vital to the plans by Guardiola to retain the ball as long as possible.

Barcelona have been transformed into one of the best clubs in the world in recent seasons after a prolonged period of domination both domestically and in the European front. Xavi has been one of the main reasons for it.

Xavi is coming to the end of his career, in which he has won every major trophy there is to lift in the world. This also includes the FIFA World Cup and the Champions League. Hence, there have been suggestions that Xavi could be looking for a new challenge in his career, as there is almost nothing left to achieve with Barcelona. It has been recently revealed that French club PSG are one of the clubs interested in signing him in the summer. PSG recently appointed former Chelsea and AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti, who is a big fan of Xavi.

“Xavi is under a contract with Barcelona until 2014 and he has no plans to leave the club,” Xavi’s agent Ivan Corretja said a recent interview. It would be extremely difficult for a club to agree fee with Barcelona given that Xavi has a release clause of £ 67 million. So far, the 32-year-old playmaker has made several hundred appearances for the Barcelona first-team, for whom he made his debut back in 1998. He has made 30 appearances for the club this season.

Spanish club Espanyol have condemned the racist chants by a section of the home crowd aimed at FC Barcelona right back Dani Alves during their 1-1 draw in the Spanish League on Sunday.

Speaking to the media, Espanyol coach Mauricio Pochettino has condemned the attacks by the home fans and said that there is no place for racism in football and that it should be completely eradicated in order to save the integrity of the game.

A large section of home fans jeered the Brazil international full back and made monkey noises whenever he touched the ball.

However, the Brazilian player declined to comment about the incident saying that he did not hear any racist remarks against him and he was fully concentrating on the action happening on the field and not off it. However, this is not the first time that Dani Alves has been subjected to racist chants during his time in Spain and even during his spell at Sevilla; he was the victim of racial abuse from the opposition fans.

The Spanish League has been plagued by racist chants from crowds at several stadiums for the last few years and the most high profile victim of it has been Samuel Eto’o during his time playing in the League when opposition fans showed bananas at him, leaving the Cameroon international player in tears. The country’s football federation has been trying to implement various measures to eradicate racism and racial abuse from the game but nothing seems to come of it and the incident involving Alves on Sunday prove that point.

However, with the Espanyol manager contemplating serious action against those found guilty in racially abusing Dani Alves in the Catalan derby and even banning them from home games, it might just happen that there is future for football without racism in Spain after all.