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FC Barcelona suffered their fifth defeat of the season away to Granada, losing by the only goal of the match. It was one of those games in which the ball just simply didn’t want to go in. The visitors shot no fewer than 29 times, but not one of those was enough to neutralise Brahimi’s opener. This was a very different game to the ones in San Sebastian and Valladolid. At the Nuevo Los Cármenes, Barça created threat after threat, but couldn’t secure the three points, or even just one, and now find that their destiny in La Liga is once again out of their hands.

An early Koke goal denied Barça the chance of a seventh successive semi final appearance. Barça’s dream of a Lisbon final came to an end at the Vicente Calderon tis Wednesday evening, when a combative Atletico Madrid beat them 1-0. The hosts’ early goal and their whirlwind start really set Barça back, but Martino’s side fought their way back into the game and had their chances to draw level. However, Simeone’s side stood firm and Barça bowed out of the Champions League.

FC Barcelona maintained their title challenge this Saturday in a rollercoaster win against a spirited Betis side fighting to avoid the drop.  The visitors provided plenty of nervous moments for the Camp Nou fans and were even on top times, but two goals from Leo Messi plus a Jordi Figueras own goal were enough to keep pace with  Atlético Madrid at the top of La Liga.  The players can now turn their attentions to the Champions League.

The FC Barcelona youth academy, called La Masia, is known and respected worldwide for its success with home-grown players such as Pep Guardiola, Leo Messi, Carles Puyol and Andrés Iniesta. The Technical Director of the youth system, former Barça midfielder Guillermo Amor, was also one of the young talents at the academy. A member of Johan Cruyff's Dream Team in the 1990s, Amor knows the place better than anyone. CNA offers an exclusive interview with the Barça legend who told us more about the day-to-day life of the Blaugrana stars of tomorrow…

FC Barcelona has issued an official response to the sanction imposed by the FIFA Disciplinary Commission on the Royal Federation of Spanish Football and the Catalan club for infractions related to the transfer and registration of players under the age of 18. Barça will be presenting an appeal to the FIFA and should it be necessary, it will take the resulting resolution to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The FIFA has banned the Catalan club from signing new players during an entire year. This unusual sanction would leave FC Barcelona without being able to hire a much needed new keeper and centre-back. The Catalan club defends his youth training system, which has given players such as Leo Messi, awarded on many occasions by the FIFA.

There were no surprises at the Camp Nou this Tuesday evening - no surprises in the line ups, in the tactics both teams chose, the way Barça had to work hard to breakdown the visitors’ rock solid and tough tackling defence and in the end, after three draws already this season, no surprise in the result. Diego conjured up a wonder strike from nowhere to give Atletico de Madrid the lead on 55 minutes, but Barça dug deep and Neymar’s equaliser leaves it all to play for at the Calderon next week.

Barça and Atlético Madrid, , the two teams on the summit of Spanish football, face off in an exciting Champions League quarter-final tie this Tuesday evening at the Camp Nou (8:45 pm CET) for a spot in the competition's semi-finals. If FC Barcelona wins the challenge, it will have participated in seven consecutive sem-finals. The teams come into the match on form and under the leadership of two key players: Leo Messi and Diego Costa. This season they’ve scored 36 and 33 goals, respectively. Valdés is Barça most important absence, while Raúl García, who is suspended, is Atlético's.

The Barça keeper has gone through surgery on Monday morning, carried out by doctors Ulrich Boenisch and Ricard Pruna in Augsburg (Germany) for the anterior cruciate ligament tear he suffered last week during the Celta de Vigo match. The knee’s internal cartilage has been sewn up and the operation was concluded successfully. However, Víctor Valdés will be out of action for approximately seven months.

Barça took three vital points from an intense Barcelona derby at the Cornellà- El Prat stadium against RCD Espanyol thanks to a second half penalty from Leo Messi. It was a typically tense and physical derby game  - made even more difficult by the strong wind at the ground throughout the game. Both Messi and Neymar blew chances to give Barça an early lead and after those early wobbles, Espanyol tightened up and it took a Messi penalty after Javi Lopez handled in the box to put the visitors ahead late on.

Barça see off Celta with 2 goals from Neymar and another from Messi, but Valdés' injury casts a pall over the win. Barça continue to pressure at the top of the Spanish League table after the weekend's win over Real Madrid. Luis Enrique made his return to the Camp Nou with a five-man defence that included Fontàs as a deep lying midfielder and with an untypical tactic of ceding possession, which allowed Barça to lay siege to the Celta area and reap the benefits within the first five minutes, as a clever move between Iniesta, Messi and Alexis ended with a simple tap in for Neymar. With Iniesta finding plenty of space through the middle to release Messi, Barça were playing elegant and incisive football which created chances for both Neymar and Messi.

Barça win a thrilling Clasico with a Messi hat trick to blow the Spanish League title race wide open. An action packed 90 minutes full of quality saw Barça come away with the three points, just as they did in 2009, 2010 and 2012.The intense start gave due notice that we were in for a special night, Madrid laid down their marker with some aggressive pressing, but it was Barça who got the opener. Madrid were working the left flank as they tried to get in behind the Barça defence and Di Maria linked up brilliantly with Benzema for two quick goals to turn the game around. a lovely piece of skill in the box gave Messi the equaliser after good work in the box from Neymar. Ronaldo won a dodgy looking penalty and Messi scored two other penalty kicks.

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.