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FC Barcelona’s defense of their league title began with a 6-2 win over Real Betis on Saturday evening with a goal from Arda Turan, two for Leo Messi and a Luis Suárez hat-trick. It may be a new season, but it was the same free-flowing attacking football on display at the Camp Nou that the home faithful have come to expect, as Barça cruised to a comfortable win to open the league campaign. If there were any nerves ahead of kick-off, they quickly subsided when Jordi Alba brought down Messi’s cross, before picking out Arda, who then prodded home to make it 1-0 after just six minutes.

FC Barcelona have won the 51st edition of its own Joan Gamper Trophy with a 3-2 win over Italian guests Sampdoria on the night that the Camp Nou made its first contact with the 2016/17 squad, and especially with the five new signings. All of them were given time on pitch in front of a carnival atmosphere that was led by a sparkling performance from MVP Leo Messi, who scored the second and third goals after setting up the first in extraordinary fashion. The Gamper Trophy stayed in Barcelona for the fourth time in a row, and also provided Luis Enrique with the chance to see all of his players in match action ahead of the first competitive fixture of 2016/16, the Spanish Super Cup first leg in Seville on Sunday.

FC Barcelona’s Player, Lionel Messi, and his father Jorge have been sentenced to 21 months in prison after Barcelona’s High Court found them guilty of three counts of tax evasion. The court also ordered the football star to pay a fine of more than 2 MEUR and his father to pay 1.5MEUR. However, as the sentence is under two years, it is unlikely that Messi and his father end up in prison, especially ifthere is no prior criminal report. Moreover, the Court’s decision is not definitive and can still be appealed before Spain's Supreme Court. Messi and his father are accused of having moved 4.1m EUR earned from the player’s image rights to tax havens between 2007 and 2009.  

Leo Messi and his father testified this Thursday before Barcelona’s High Court. They are accused of having moved 4.1m EUR earned from the player’s image rights to tax havens between 2007 and 2009. In his statement, the FC Barcelona player assured that his life is “limited to playing football” and that he had “full confidence” in his father and the lawyers who managed his publicity contracts. This is the same statement that Messi gave in 2013, when he had to testify before the Court for the same case. Spain’s Tax Agency has requested 22 months in prison for each of them for having moved 4.1m EUR earned from publicity contracts to tax havens between 2007 and 2009. On the other hand, the public prosecutor is only accusing Messi’s father.

Luis Enrique’s team made their intentions clear right from the kick-off. They wanted goals. And with four goals and three assists, Luis Suárez had a night that Barça fans will be remembering for years to come. the Urguayan now has 49 goals in 48 games this season for the blaugranes. After the win in Galicia, he was only happy to have helped the team: “The most important thing is that the goals have served to help achieve a vital win given that we were coming off the back of a bad run. We will keep trying to reach our objectives. I am sure that the work will pay off.” Rakitic, Barta, Messi and Neymar Jr did the rest. The 8-0 win over Deportivo sends out a warning message. They said there were five finals ahead, and the first has been won with flying colours. Barça are back with a vengeance.

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'

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.

Messi (2) and Suárez on target as Barça get all three points from their game in hand and go a mighty six clear at the top of the Liga table. The Argentinian put Barça ahead with a goal which wasn’t ordinary; It made him the first player to ever score 300 times in La Liga. With the goal, the game flashed into life. Just moments later, Carlos Castro got on the end of a nicely-worked move to get Gijón back level and a smoothly worked move between Suárez and Messi ended with the latter beating Cuéllar for the second time in six minutes. The Uruguayan skipped through the Sporting defence and lofted a fine left-footer into the net. Barça 3-1 up with 23 minutes left to play.

Valencia were supposed to be a tough test, but Luis Enrique’s squad passed with flying colours, squashin Valencia by a score of 7-0 and leaving FC Barcelona's coach a happy man. Luis Suárez's four goals outdid Messi's three and Barça will take towering lead to Mestalla for next week's second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals. The monumental win extends FC Barcelona’s unbeaten streak to a whopping 27 games across all competitions, just one shy of tying the Club’s all-time record. It is also their seventh straight victory at Camp Nou, during which they have scored 30 goals and given up only three. "After the number of games we’ve played recently, to see the team respond with fluidity and confidence is deserving of congratulations,” stated FC Barcelona’s coach, Luis Enrique Martínez. "We have a very important objective — to continue conquering titles and providing enjoyment to the fans," he said.

On Wednesday at 9.30pm CET at Camp Nou the final part of the Barça v Athletic trilogy will be played out, the saga coming to an end in the second leg of their last 16 Copa del Rey tie. The opening encounter a week and a half ago saw Luis Enrique’s team storm to a 6-0 win at home in the league. Messi and Mathieu did not feature in the first leg, but are included in the 18 this time, which reads as follows: Ter Stegen, Masip, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Dani Alves, Iniesta, Suárez, Messi, Neymar Jr, Mascherano, Bartra, Munir, Sergi Roberto, Adriano, Aleix Vidal, Vermaelen and Mathieu. “I'm expecting the same Athletic we saw in the first leg. Maybe even more dangerous.” Stated Barça’s coach, Luis Enrique.

In 2012 Messi became the first and only player to ever take home the Ballon d'Or four times. Now he has extended his unrivaled feat to five. Messi, Neymar, Alves and Iniesta were named to FIFA FIFPro World XI for 2015. All four made the prestigious team, which was voted on by nearly 25,000 professional footballers from 70 countries. Luis Enrique has won the Coach of the Year award at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala in the Kongresshaus, Zurich on Monday. It comes in recognition of an incredible 2015 in which he led FC Barcelona to five out of six titles. The Barça boss received 31.08% of the votes, ahead of Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola who received 22.97%.

Messi is going for his fifth Ballon d'Or, a jaw-dropping feat considering the fact that in the history of the award, he is the only person to have won it more than three times. Four other players have won it exactly three times, Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten and Cristiano Ronaldo, while just five other players have ever won it twice. Messi won his unprecedented fourth straight Ballon d'Or in 2013 and is now looking to distance himself from the pack. Messi and Ronaldo have scooped up every Ballon d'Or for the last seven years. That number is almost certain to rise to eight this Monday.

Barça have won the Club World Cup in Japan after beating River Plate 3-0.  After missing the semi-final through injury, Messi returned to action with a bang, scoring the first goal and playing a part in the other two. Luis Suárez scored the other two and added them to three that he notched in the semi-final. That made Suárez by far the top scorer in the competition, and also made him the natural choice to collect the MVP award. The victory over River Plate was the third Club World Cup title for FC Barcelona which makes Barça the only club to have won the FIFA Club World Cup three times. The win in Yokohama also represents the fifth trophy for the team this year, after also winning the Liga, Copa del Rey, Champions League and European Super Cup, matching the haul of 2011. 

With top spot in Group E already guaranteed, Barça were only playing for honour on Wednesday night. And they managed to achieve just that by holding on for a 1-1 draw against a Bayer side that threw everything they could at the visitors in search of a winner that would mean they would join the Catalans in the last sixteen. Luis Enrique opted to rest several of his heavyweights, but did field Messi in attack alongside Munir and Sandro, and Ivan Rakitic started in midfield in the company of Samper and Champions League debutant Kaptoum of Barça B. The Germans took the initiative in the early exchanges but the optimism in the BayArena was silenced after 20 minutes when Leo Messi read a run to perfection and scored Barça's first and only goal. Three minutes later, Chicharito slammed the ball with his left foot past a helpless Ter Stegen to score his fifth goal of the tournament and gets things back square again.