champions

The Champions League is back with the blaugranes travelling to take on the French champions in the first leg of their last 16 tie in the Parc des Princes.  “We expect a tough tie against a daring PSG side who will put us under pressure in front of their own fans. “It will be an attractive game between two ambitious sides”, said Barça’s coach Luis Enrique, in his press conference ahead of Tuesday’s game. FC Barcelona have lost just once in their last 22 competitive fixtures, against Athletic Club in the Copa del Rey back at the beginning of January. Since then the blaugranes have won eight of 11 fixtures in all competitions, the most recent the 6-0 win in Mendizorroza against Alavés last weekend in the league.

Two goals from Leo Messi see off a brave challenge from the Scots and coupled with Man City’s draw in Germany the Catalans clinch a seeded berth in the round of sixteen FC Barcelona have won 2-0 at Celtic Park. And not only does that send them through to the knockout stages of the Champions league for the thirteenth  time in a row, but Manchester City’s 1-1 draw in Monchengladbach means that they’re already guaranteed one of the eight seeded berths. All that with one game to spare, so we won’t be finding out who Barça will be meeting next until the draw on December 12. Moreover, Messi reached yet another landmark, after scoring his 100^th goal in the international competition: 92 have come in 110 Champions league games, three in four European Super Cup matches and five in five in the Club World Cup.

The Catalans head north to chilly Glasgow for Wednesday night's Champions League Matchday 5 fixture and the chance to clinch the top spot in Group C (8.45pm CET). Although a bevy of scenarios abound, the Catalans are comfortably in the driver’s seat, and a triumph will usher them into the next round, regardless of what materializes in the group’s other fixture, which pits Borussia Mönchengladbach against visiting Manchester City. If City fall, however, a Barça win will bag them the top spot in Group C, thereby steering them clear of all other group winners in the round of 16, the first knockout stage of this tournament of tournaments. The Barça boss has taken his 19 available first team player plus Marlon from the B squad to Scotland.

Manchester City staged an exhilarating comeback and beat FC Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday at Etihad Stadium (3-1). Pep Guardiola’s team stole the game and the three points to Barça, who had the opportunity to sentence the first half, but started to feel the pressure six minutes before the interval, after an error by Sergi Roberto, leading to a goal and the resurrection of Manchester players. Ilkay Gundogan was undoubtley Manchester City star, scoring twice. The blaugrana, who were chasing a fourth consecutive win on English soil, did not achieve their objective. The home side desperation to get the three points beat Barça’s desire and marked a sense of urgency in their football.

A sweet victory for Luis Enrique on Wednesday night, soundly defeating his friend and former teammate, Pep Guardiola, 4–0, in the third Group C game for FC Barcelona and Manchester City. Lionel Messi, of course, was the star of the show, scoring thrice to leave not just his former manager on the losing end but his leaving his current manager almost lost for words. “He was decisive,” Luis Enrique said after the game. “He was involved in all the game’s key moments.” Guardiola was handily defeated at Camp Nou for the second time in two matches since leaving his lifelong club five seasons ago.  Besides Messi’s seventh career Champions League hat-trick, Neymar Jr added a late goal.

Camp Nou welcomes back Pep Guardiola on Matchday 3 of the Champions League for what promises to be an exhilarating game. “There are games against opponents in which possession is not that important. It will be against Manchester City, but that does not mean that who has more possession will win”, said Barça’s coach, Luís Enrique, on Tuesday. Most manager’s fear facing Leo Messi, but Guardiola spoke of his joy to see former star back: “It’s always a pleasure to see him play and I am happy he is fit again,” before adding that, in his opinion, Barça are “the best team in the world”. Barça are looking for their third straight win of the campaign to consolidate their place at the top of the group while Manchester City will be craving a good result after drawing away to bottom side Celtic last time out.

Barcelona battled back from a goal down and scored twice in the second half to beat hosts Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 in their Champions League Group C match on Wednesday. The victory is Barça’s second in as many games in the group stage. The Catalans continue to lead Group C, and have now scored nine goals and conceded just one in the two games combined. Despite the absence of the injured Lionel Messi, Arda Turan and Gerard Piqué gave the Catalans their second win in two group matches to top the standings, after their opening 7-0 demolition of Celtic. The late heroics snapped Borussia's 11-game home winning streak and gave goalkeeper Mark-André ter Stegen — who was facing the club where he spent his entire life, from age four until he joined Barça in the summer of 2014 — a homecoming to remember.

Messi, Neymar and Suárez trio shone in their first match side by side in 115 days, helping FC Barcelona to their biggest ever Champions League win, a 7-0 victory over Celtic at the Camp Nou. It took just three minutes for Messi to get things going after he was played through by Neymar. It was a sign of things to come as the Argentine would go on to score his first hat-trick of the campaign, his sixth ever in the Champions League, a feat which makes him the player with the most hat-tricks in the history of the competition. “We practically didn’t commit any mistakes,” Luis Enrique beamed from the podium in the Ricard Maxenchs press room at Camp Nou following Barça’s opening round knockout. “The players had fun, and that allowed the Barça supporters to have fun,” he said.

The green and white hoops of Celtic have been a familiar sight at the Camp Nou in recent years, and the 47-times Scottish champions are back for the opening game of the Champions League 2016/17. The Celts are here for the third time in just five years and they’re up against a Catalan side that will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing home defeat to Alavés at the weekend. In Europe, remember, Barça are chasing a twelfth consecutive win at the Camp Nou. Speaking on Monday, Barça manager Luis Enrique said that “it’s useful to have faced Celtic in the preseason. They can be difficult to play against and did well to get through their qualifying rounds.” Messi, Suárez and Neymar will be outfield, same as Ter Stegen who has been included in the squad.

Two goals from Antoine Griezmann send Atlético into the Champions League semi-finals and end Barça’s hopes of another treble. A first half header and a second half penalty from Antoine Griezmann cancelled out the Catalans’ 2-1 lead from the first leg, and it means that the dream of repeating the famous treble of 2014/15 is over. Messi ended a frustrating evening for Barça by sending the kick over the bar, and Atlético desperately clung on for the remaining minutes. Luis Enrique suffered his first knockout from a cup competition as Barça boss. Until then, the Asturian had a perfect record, taking Barça through to the next round of cup tournaments on 13 occasions. After suffering a disappointing exit from the Champions League just 12 hours earlier, the FC Barcelona players were back in training on Thursday morning focused on 'La Liga'

With a 2-1 advantage from the first leg, the Catalans are looking to seal qualification to their eighth Champions League semi-final in nine years. Barça go into the game on the back of a disappointing league defeat to Real Sociedad but last week’s win over Atlético gives them a boost going into tonight’s second leg. "We have a small advantage but the tie remains open and so we will try to win the match as always," said Luis Enrique speaking to the mediabin Madrid on Tuesday. Barca’s record against the side from the capital has been perfect since the appointment of Luis Enrique in the summer of 2014. Luis Suarez’s brace last week sealed a seventh straight win over Atlético under the Asturian.

FC Barcelona stayed true to their billing as a team endowed with a heaping dose of resilience, valiantly bouncing back from Saturday’s stinging home league defeat to emerge victorious on the very same pitch in a good old-fashioned Champions League thriller, with two goals from Luis Suárez. In the 25th minute, Fernando Torres fired from two paces right of the penalty spot through the legs of Ter Stegen for a 1–0 lead. It was Torres’s 11th goal in 15 career matches against FC Barcelona. It wasn’t until the 63rd minute when Luis Suárez redirected a deflected shot from the boot of Neymar Jr into the net to tie the match. The Camp Nou exploded, with an 88,534-strong chorus providing the soundtrack as the Catalans pushed even harder to take the lead. Luis Suárez's second half brace reversed early one-goal deficit in heart-stopping quarter-final opener and meant another victory for Barça.

FC Barcelona host Atlético Madrid for the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday, with the Catalans aiming to bounce back from Saturday’s Clásico defeat which ended a 39-match unbeaten streak. Luis Enrique will be without Aleix Vidal, who suffered an injury to his right abductor during Monday’s training session, as well as Jérémy Mathieu and Adriano. Diego Simeone's side always provide a tough test: Atlético came out victorious when the two teams met at the same stage of the competition two years ago but, since the appointment of Luis Enrique, Barça have enjoyed a run of six straight wins against Los Rojiblancos. The two sides met at the same stage of the competition in 2013/14 where they shared a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou before Atlético earned a 1-0 win in Madrid to go through to the semis.

Barça top Arsenal 3–1 (5–1 aggregate) to sew up a berth in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the ninth straight season. Goals from Neymar, Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi were more than enough to knock Arsenal out of the UEFA Champions League on a wet and chilly Wednesday night at Camp Nou. This is the third time FC Barcelona have bounced Arsenal from Europe’s top competition, after previously doing so in 2010 and 2011. The triumph qualifies Barça for the tournament’s quarter-final round for the ninth consecutive season. It is also their ninth straight victory across all competitions, and it brings their overall unbeaten streak to 38 games.

Leo Messi scores twice in a scintillating Champions League encounter, including the 10,000th goal in FC Barcelona history, setting things up perfectly for the return leg at the Camp Nou on March 16. The game was intense from the very first second, with football of the kind of quality that one would expect from two sides like this. In the last minute of the half, things finally started to click but it wasn’t until minute 71 that the game finally got the only thing it was lacking. A goal. Neymar charged through on the Arsenal area and laid the ball off to Messi, who scored his first goal against Cech. The goal inspired the trident to unleash its full potential, and all three were involved in a lightning move that ended with Suárez slamming the ball onto the post. But Barça were now firing on all cylinders, and in the 83rd minute the lead was extended.