league

Messi (3), Alexis, Iniesta, Tello and Pedro on target for Martino's team. A week ahead of the trip to the Bernabeu, Barça put seven past Osasuna to build on the clear improvement they showed against Manchester City in midweek. With Leo Messi at his lethal best – the Argentinean scored another hat trick and became FC Barcelona’s all time leading scorer, passing Alcántara’s record – Martino’s side stormed to a seven goal thrashing and laid down a marker ahead of next week’s big game.

Goals from Messi and Alves see off City and book Barça's place on the quarter finals.FC Barcelona laid down a marker for the rest of Europe on Wednesday evening, cruising through to the last eight of the Champions League with a 2-1 win over Manchester City (4-1 on aggregate) with a performance that put to bed the doubts around the team after their weekend league defeat in Valladolid. Javier Mascherano insisted before the game that Barça weren’t down and out and tonight the team proved him right with an important win over one of the strongest teams left in the competition.

On Wednesday evening at the Camp Nou (20:45 CET), Barça will leave La Liga to one side and try to make good on the 0-2 from the first leg against Manchester City at the Champions League. City need two goals to force overtime and three to directly access the quarter-finals of the competition. One of challenges FC Barcelona face is to leave behind the negative results from Spanish League play. The 0-1 away to Valladolid, which left Barça four points adrift of the top spot in the league, should be left behind as the team come into the match at the Camp Nou. It’s time to change the chip, as they say in Catalonia and Spain. All available players, besides injured Isaac Cuenca and Jonathan Dos Santos made the team.

Saturday afternoon saw FC Barcelona lose their fourth league game of the season. Relegation-troubled Valladolid beat the defending champions 1-0 thanks to a solitary goal from Fausto Rossi in the 16^th minute, and it was an especially painful defeat because it denied Barça the chance to go provisionally back to the top of the table to add to the pressure on Real Madrid, who won against Levante on Sunday. Saturday’s substandard display also means that Barça’s destiny in the championship is no longer in their own hands. The defeat, their third in just six league games, has put a serious dent in Barça’s title bid. All in all, it was a disappointing day for the club and a disappointing performance from the team.

Barça got the better of a plucky Almeria side with goals from Alexis, Messi, Puyol and Xavi. It took until the 83rd minute for Barça to secure the three points against Almeria. The eventual 4-1 win could easily have been achieved in the first half, but some great football was only reflected by two goals, and Almeria managed to grab one of their own to add to the drama. The intensity dipped in the second half, and the win was not decided until Puyol bravely stuck home FCB’s third, with Xavi making it four in the final minutes. A win was more essential than ever after the setback at Anoeta, and the 2-2 draw in the Madrid derby – between Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid – was surely the best result Barça could have wished for, and they now find themselves just one point short of the Spanish League’s lead.

FC Barcelona are no longer the Spanish League leaders. Barça suffered their third league defeat of the season against Real Sociedad (3-1) on Saturday evening. It was a grim night for Barça, who were chasing the game for most of the 90 minutes and never looked comfortable against a Real Sociedad who were lethal on the break. The defeat leaves Barça three points behind Real Madrid, who top the table. Gerardo Martino made six changes to the team who won in Manchester on Tuesday, with Song playing as the holding midfielder and  Busquets in an inside right role, whilst Xavi and Cesc started on the bench and Montoya, Bartra, Adriano and Neymar were back in the starting line up .

Messi and Alves set up impressive Champions League first leg win on Wednesday evening against Manchester City. Barça took a massive step towards the competition’s quarter finals with a 0-2 win at the Etihad Stadium. A disputed penalty and red card for Demichelsis on 53 minutes put an end to what had up to then been a cagey affair, as City desperately pushed to get back into the game, only to fall two behind when Alves scored the second late on. Manchester City surprisingly came out rather timidly, ceding possession to Barça, who, playing with Iniesta wide left and Messi as a false number nine, flooded the midfield, whilst the hosts stuck men in a high defensive line. After 15 minutes though, City came out of their shell and began to threaten.

City and Barça kick off the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 at the Etihad this Tuesday evening (8:45 PM CET). Lots has been said about the tie against Manchester City since December, when the draw for the Champions League knock out round took place. It’s likely the most attractive match up of the round as the ambitious English project goes up against the consistency of the Catalans. The English side will feature in their first ever Champions League knock out round, while the Blaugrana have made it to the semi-finals for six consecutive years. The two teams share an enormous capacity for scoring goals and, with the arrival of Pellegrini to City’s bench, an inclination for attacking football.

Three days ahead of their trip to Manchester, Barça put on a sparkling performance to reaffirm their top spot in the Spanish League with a 6-0 win over Rayo on Saturday evening. Adriano, Messi (2), Alexis, Pedro and Neymar scored the goals in the win. Two first half goals opened the door and after the break the chances and goals just kept coming. Rayo refused to park the bus though and despite the obvious gap in class between them and their hosts, the Madrid team stuck firm to their own attacking style and the game opened up with both teams playing the ball out from the back and pressing high up the pitch. Martino gave the crowd something else to cheer, bringing on Neymar after his month long injury lay off on 61 minutes.

Barça overcome the elements to re-take the Spanish League’s top spot in Seville - a spot they’d held all season until last weekend. Although Martino’s side weren’t as dominant as normal this Sunday evening, they showed a lethal finishing touch up front to come back from the hosts’ early strike with Alexis, Messi –two lovely goals – and Cesc give Barça an important win in the rain. On the quarter hour Seville took the lead thanks to an unlucky rebound off Bartra as Alberto Moreno shot from the edge of the box.In the first half, Seville had four clear chances and only put one away, whilst Barça finished off the two opportunities they had to go in with a 1-2 lead.

Barça want to leave this weekend's 2-3 defeat to Valencia behind. The match presents a good “opportunity to vindicate the team” declared FC Barcelona’s Manager Tata Martino on Tuesday. Martino called up all available players, but he must cut four players from the squad before kick off, scheduled this Wednesday at 10 pm CET. Catalans and Basques will duke it out for a spot in the final of the Copa del Rey, a competition the Blaugrana recently won in 2012 and 2009. On paper the tie looks fairly levelled despite the 4-1 result from the Spanish League match between the two sides. Both Barça and Real Sociedad, since the new year, have practically identical records.

FC Barcelona have suffered painful defeat at home to Valencia, which brings an end to a wonderful run of 25 consecutive wins in league matches at the Camp Nou. The visitors, coached by former Barça man Pizzi, took a practical approach to the game and took their chances when they came. They go home with all three points from a match that looked to be safely under Barça’s control at half-time, but from that moment on, luck was simply not on Barça’s side. Not even Messi’s penalty to put Barcelona back in contention, or the immense pressure in the final minutes despite being a man down following Alba’s sending off, were enough to prevent Valencia from winning at the Camp Nou for the first time in a decade.

FC Barcelona offer a brilliant all round performance as team cruise past Malaga with goals from Piqué, Pedro and Alexis. The Catalans put the institutional turmoil of the last week behind them, as they treated the Barça fans to a great night of football and reaffirmed their top spot in the Spanish League. Fast, precise and full of attacking threat, Barça returned to the Camp Nou after 18 fays without a home game and from the off they had Malaga pinned back in their own half. After just 5 minutes, Alexis rounded off a great team move with an effort which rattled the woodwork. Malaga showed that they could pose a threat too though, when Duda brought a good stop from Valdes from a free kick. Ibrahim Afellay got a big round of applause when he came on for Alexis.

Three goals from the Catalan and an own goal from Juanfran give FC Barcelona a 1-4 victory at the Ciutat de Valencia. Leo Messi assisted Tello all three times. Three goals for the Catalan – his first hat trick in the FC Barcelona strip – finished the game and perhaps the quarter-final tie. FC Barcelona bounced back from this weekend’s draw in the Spanish League as they comfortably defeated Levante in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. They did it despite having to deal with a very similar match to the one played this Sunday. Now, Barça and Levante will close out the three-game series next week on Wednesday, January 29, at the Camp Nou (22:00 CET).

Martino’s take on Llevant (also called Levante) at the Ciutat de Valencia for the Spanish Cup match after drawing with the Valencia-based side three days ago in the League. The Blaugrana return to scene where they drew 1-1 with the Llevant side, but this Wednesday evening, Tata Martino’s men will try to get a good result ahead of the second leg of the Cup tie at the Camp Nou. The FC Barcelona manager named 18 players to the team for the match. Dani Alves, who missed this weekend’s game against Levante due to suspension, and Carles Puyol made the team. Piqué, Montoya, Cuenca (technical reasons), Iniesta, Neymar Jr, Afellay, Dos Santos and Oier (injured) did not make the team.