barça

A spectacular duel is awaiting at the Parc des Princes in Paris this Tuesday evening (8.45 PM CET). Paris Saint-Germain and FC Barcelona, two of the strongest teams in Europe, face each other in a rematch of the quarter final two years ago. Barça won through on that occasion by virtue of the away goals rule after the tie ended 3-3 on aggregate. And although this year’s encounter is not quite as do-or-die as the one in 2013, a win in Paris would leave the Catalans well poised in their quest to qualify from Group F. The Parisians go into the game without any of Thiago Silva, Lavezzi or Ibrahimovic. However it certainly won’t be easy for them to defend their incredible record of having gone seven games this season without conceding a single goal.

Barça finish tough seven-day stretch with a rout. Sixth consecutive shutout to start the season ties FC Barcelona record. Luis Enrique probably won’t mind being wrong this time. After all, FC Barcelona’s head coach spent the last two days repeatedly warning his players that Saturday’s opponent would be no cakewalk. He said Granada were tough defensively and dangerous on the counterattack. And while the opening minutes were slow to develop once again for Barça’s feared attack, the opposing defence slowly wilted and eventually collapsed.

Barça dominated Malaga at La Rosaleda on Wednesday evening, but the combination of a poor playing surface and an ultra-tight Andalusian defence meant that not only did they score no goals, but also failed to produce many real chances. Time and time again they pushed forward in search of a way to break the deadlock, but the best they could achieve was a series of half-chances and near misses. For the first time this season, Barça failed to find the net for themselves. The goalless draw brings an end to the Catalan side’s one hundred per cent record in La Liga. With Dani Alves being rested for this game, and Luis Enrique opting to hand Douglas his first start in a Barça shirt, the game got off to a slow start.

Barça put five past Levante in Valencia on Sunday evening, with Neymar, Rakitic, Sandro, Pedro and Messi all on target. FC Barcelona has obtained 12 points from 12, 11 goals scored and none conceded for Luis Enrique’s team, who’ve made an impressive start to their three game week, with Malaga and Granada next up. Barça beat Llevant to continue both their unbeaten record and keep yet another clean sheet, which Luis Enrique feels “goes to show even more our idea of playing as team … Rather than singling anyone out in particular, I’ll just say that I was happy with all of them.”

This is going to be a key week for FC Barcelona as they will have three Spanish League matches in seven days. From Sunday 21^st September through Saturday 27^th, Luis Enrique's squad will have nine points in play, the same number of points that were on the table through the entire first month of the season. Barça is set to visit Levante (Sunday 21), Malaga (Wednesday 24), and then host Granada (Saturday 27). FC Barcelona won't have to play three Liga matches in one week again until the month of April, when they will have to do it not once but twice. From now until then Barça's midweek schedule is loaded with other competitions, namely the group stage of the Champions League and the Spanish Cup.

Luis Enrique was able to celebrate his managerial debut in the Champions League with three points, but just as he had warned beforehand, the APOEL Nicosia presented a far tougher challenge than many had predicted. Despite dominating almost of the play, Barça only found the net once, a Gerard Piqué header after 27 minutes. Ter Stegen pulled on the goalkeeper’s jersey for the first time in an official match, and the night also meant the first starts of the season for Bartra, Adriano, Samper, Xavi and Sergi Roberto. The starting eleven featured no fewer than nine changes with respect to the one that beat Bilbao at the weekend.

Barça are about to get their 2014/15 Champions League bid under way against APOEL of Nicosia at the Camp Nou. Top of the Liga table with three wins out of three and no goals conceded, they’re in a buoyant mood at the moment, and now’s the time to carry that excellent form across into Europe against the Cypriot champions, the first game in a group that also includes Ajax and Paris Saint-Germain. Luis Enrique has called on the fans for their support and promised a "spectacular game". This will be the Asturian’s first game in charge of a team in Europe’s premier club competition, for which Dani Alves is included after being declared fully recovered from his knee injury, and fellow Brazilian Douglas has been named in the side for the first time since arriving at FC Barcelona.

Barça played with the Catalan flag shirt, as a way to commemorate Catalonia's National Day, which took place on Thursday.It was a special tribute, in the middle of the self-determination debate and in the 300th anniversary of the year Catalonia lost its sovereignty. Two goals in five minutes late on from Neymar gave Barça a deserved win in an exciting game against Bilbao at the Camp Nou on Saturday afternoon. The Brazilian came on for Munir, who again gave a solid performance, just after the hour mark and his skill, speed and understanding with Messi tipped the scales FC Barcelona’s way against the determined and lively Basques. So that’s three games and three wins for Luis Enrique’s Barça at the Spanish League, with six goals scored and none yet conceded. Next up is the opening game of the Champions League against Apoel on Wednesday night.

FC Barcelona's young player Munir El Haddadi made his full debut with the Spanish team in Spain's 5-1 win over Macedonia in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier in Valencia on Monday night. The 19-year-old player came on for Koke on 77 minutes of the game. Sergio Busquets scored his first goal for the international team, getting the third goal in first half injury time. Pedro also scored and Jordi Alba and Marc Bartra both played. Besides, Rafinha played the full 90 minutes in Brazil’s Under 21 team’s 2-2 draw against Lebanon in Doha.

A late goal from B team youngster Sandro gave Barça the three points at El Madrigal in a hard fought game that Luis Enrique’s side dominated, though they found it tough going at times against a determined Villarreal defence. Sandro ensured Barça go into the international break with two Spanish League wins out of two, leading the domestic championship.From the off, Leo Messi, wearing the captain’s armband in Iniesta’s absence, again looked sharp as he combined well down the right with Dani Alves and the Argentinean and Pedro had the best of the early chances, as Villarreal were forced into some desperate defending.

FC Barcelona learned on Thursday evening that their 2014/15 Champions League bid will commence in Group F, which they’ll share with Paris Saint Germain, Ajax Amsterdam and Apoel Nicosia, the respective league champions of France, Holland and Cyprus. The winners of the last two editions of French Ligue 1 last faced FC Barcelona in the Champions League quarter finals two years ago. Barça and Ajax had never met each other in a competitive match until they were paired together in the group stages of last season’s Champions League. Finally, this will be the first ever meeting between Barça and the most successful side in Cypriot football history, APOEL, who famously made it all the way to the Champions League quarter finals two years ago.

FC Barcelona and São Paulo FC have reached an initial agreement for the transfer of defender Douglas Pereira. The deal will cost Barça €4 million with performance variables of another €1.5 million based on number of games played. Douglas will sign a 5 year deal. The Brazilian player will travel to Barcelona for a medical at the end of this week, when he will also put pen to paper on the contract. He will be officially presented as the Catalan club’s latest summer signing. The 24-year-old Douglas is a pacey right wing back who after three seasons, 75 appearances and 5 goals for his home town club of Goiás signed for Sao Paolo in 2012. Over the last three seasons, Douglas has played 95 matches for Sao Paolo and scored 4 goals.

The Argentine international has committed himself for another four years with the Catalan club, which will take him through to 30 June 2018.There’s an option on a further year plus a buy-out clause of 100 million euros.  The deal was negotiated and agreed before the World Cup. Mascherano told reporters, "I’m committed to this Club until the final day of the contract.  I hope I can live up to expectations of the Club". "I’m really happy to be in this great club and be part of a squad with such great players.  Let’s hope things go really well for us this season.  We’re looking forward to this season after some difficult times last campaign", he added.

Following the resolution announced this Wednesday by the FIFA Appeals Committee on violations of regulations regarding the transfer and registration of children aged under 18 years, FC Barcelona announced that it will continue to defend its interests before the highest sporting authority, in this case the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). FIFA confirmed the sanction imposed on the Catalan club which bans them from signing new players during two transfer periods. Therefore, FC Barcelona will not be able to sign new players next winter and in the summer of 2015. The Catalan clubs considers that FIFA is questioning its youth academy model, known as La Masia, where stars such as Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández or Pep Guardiola grew up.

With less than a week to go till the start of the Spanish League season, Barça put on an encouraging show for the Camp Nou this Monday evening, putting six past Club Leon to take the 49th edition of the Joan Gamper Trophy.  Goals from Messi, Neymar (2), Munir (2) and Sandro gave the side their second 6-0 win of the pre-season and to add to the upbeat atmosphere, Luis Suárez  made his debut, coming on for the final quarter of an hour. With only Ter Stegen and Vermaelen unavailable, Luis Enrique sent out a strong starting XI, with Alves and Jordi Alba outside Mascherano and Mathieu at the heart of the defence and a front three of Messi, Rafinho and Neymar Jr,  ahead of Rakitic, Busquets and Iniesta.