FC Barcelona presented their manager, who on Wednesday celebrated his 41st birthday, with an epic comeback win at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Spanish Cup. Puyol and Abidal scored the goals.
For the fifth year on the run there will be a Barça player on the podium for the FIFA Ballon d’Or, as Messi and Xavi are again amongst the top three candidates. Cristiano Ronaldo, from the Real Madrid, is the third finalist.
The Argentinian, who topped the goalscoring charts in the last edition of the Champions League has beaten Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi to win the award. In the same event, FC Barcelona was paired with AC Milan, Bate Borisov and Viktoria Plzen in the group H of this season’s Champions League.
FC Barcelona were proclaimed Champion of the Spanish Super Cup after beating Real Madrid 3-2 at the Camp Nou, and 5-4 overall over the 2 legs. Iniesta and Messi (2), with a goal right at the death, were the home team scorers.
Barça have qualified for the Champions League final at the expense of Real Madrid following tonight’s draw at the Camp Nou. Pedro scored the winner for a side that dominated the possession and produced most of the chances.
FC Barcelona look to build on their 0-2 lead from last week when they take on Real Madrid this evening (20.45h CET) in the fourth and final ‘clásico’ between the two sides over the last few weeks. Guardiola welcomes back Iniesta and Abidal to the squad.
FC Barcelona gave a footballing lesson at the Real Madrid’ stadium Santiago Bernabeu, climaxing in two Leo Messi goals -one of which will surely go down as a classic- that put them in the driving seat for a place in the Wembley final ahead of next week’s second leg at the Nou Camp.
A Cristiano Ronaldo goal in the first half of extra time decided the Spanish Cup final. Barça had plenty of chances, but Real Madrid finished up 1-0 winners.
FC Barcelona put in a superb performance to play the previously unbeaten Real Madrid off the pitch and run out 5-0 winners at the Nou Camp tonight with goals from Xavi, Pedro, Villa (2) and Jeffren. This was an exemplary 90 minutes in all aspects from Guardiola’s men.