Barça need to beat AC Milan at the Camp Nou in order to qualify for the semi finals of the Champions League for the fifth consecutive season. FC Barcelona will only make it into the semi finals if they beat AC Milan at the Camp Nou (20.45h CET). 88% of the home results this season would be enough to ensure Barça go into the last four.
Barça have beaten Athletic Bilbao in an intense, lively game in which both sides played some exquisite football. But the home side enjoyed most of the possession and also the chances, and eventually won through thanks to goals from Iniesta and Messi (penalty).
FC Barcelona Manager, Pep Guardiola, foresees an intense Spanish League match against Athletic Bilbao, a team that he qualified as the “Sensation of Europe”. Guardiola recognises that all teams need days of recovery between matches, but he believes that Bielsa’s squad will give their all on Saturday at the Camp Nou, despite having played on Thursday.
Barça took a 0-0 draw from Milan at the San Siro on Wednesday evening - leaving the return game at the Camp Nou to decide who gets through to the Champions League semi-final. AC Milan were hemmed into their own half, especially before the break and at the end of the game.
The Catalan Manager believes that the AC Milan vs FC Barcelona Champions League quarter-final match will test Barça’s resolve “to perform well in another tie”. He hopes to “have long spells of ball possession” to deactivate Ibrahimovic and the Italian’s offensive play, as they are “one of the best teams in the world”.
The Argentine international just keeps on breaking all the record. This time he has beaten FC Barcelona record of 34 Spanish League goals in a season held by Brazilian striker Ronaldo since the 1996/97 season. Messi’s current tally stands at 35. He also equaled Philip Cocu’s record of 205 league appearances for Barça.
Goals from Messi and Piqué either side of half time gave Barça a vital win against Mallorca, with Thiago’s sending off the only negative as Guardiola’s men continue to hunt down the Spanish League leaders, Real Madrid.
FC Barcelona Manager, Pep Guardiola, is still playing things cautiously despite the reduced distance between Barça and Real Madrid, the current Spanish League leaders. “I still think there are a lot of points to win back”, he said. He also highlighted how 15 of the 19 players picked to go to Mallorca are products of the club itself, coming from Barça’s La Masia football school.
Real Madrid dropped two more points with their second successive 1-1 draw against Villarreal in their last Spanish League game. After Barça’s win against Granada, the Catalans have reduce the gap from 10 to 6 points in only four days. The chase for the Spanish League’s leadership is livelier than ever.
With his three goals against Granada, Leo Messi surpasses César’s record and became the all-time top goalscorer in the history of FC Barcelona in official matches with 234 goals.
Leo Messi’s hat-trick against Granada has made him the highest goalscorer in FC Barcelona history, while goals from Xavi and Tello also helped to put Barça within five points of the Spanish League leader, Real Madrid.
Two superb first half goals from Xavi and Messi gave Barça the win in Seville, with an excellent performance – particularly in the first half-that’ll be a real morale boost for FC Barcelona.
The Barça manager reckons the real tests are only about to begin, in all of the Champions League, Spanish League and Cup. From now on, he warns, “there is no turning the page after any setbacks.” He also feels that it will be of benefit to everybody that the return leg of the Champions League quarter final against AC Milan will be at the Camp Nou. Besides, Guardiola said on Abidal that right now nothing is more important than “finding a solution to the illness he’s suffering so that he can carry on with his life”.
The FC Barcelona Captain, Carles Puyol, stated that Abidal is “in good spirits”. “He’s a strong person”, he added. “He showed strength last season and he’ll do it again now” insisted Puyol. Besides, the Barça captain doesn’t have a particular preference regarding the Champions League draw and playing against Real Madrid. Finally, he underlined that Guardiola’s decision on his contract renewal has to be respected.
FC Barcelona player will have a liver transplant in the next few weeks. Exactly a year ago, Abidal went through surgery to remove a tumour from his liver. The player recovered and was able to lift up the last Champions League title in Wembley.