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Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr. will face off with Cristiano Ronaldo for the award for world's best player in 2015. The two Barça players both were the main drivers of FC Barcelona’s success, forming the so-called trident alongside Suárez, who was another semi-finalists, together with Barça players Andrés Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic and Javier Mascherano. Leo Messi’s four Ballons d’Or are the most in history and he has never been left off the podium since 2007, when he was third. The FC Barcelona coach, Luis Enrique Martínez is also in the mix after winning the treble and the European Super Cup in his first season is contender along with Pep Guardiola and Jorge Sampaoli. The winners will be announced on 11 January at a gala to be held in Monaco. 

The blaugranes are through to the last 16 of the Champions League as group winners thanks to another devastating performance with goals for Messi (2) Luis Suárez (2), Piqué and Adriano. Leo Messi returned to the side for his Champions League debut this season at Camp Nou and the Argentine's eagerness to make his mark was seen as early as the third minute. “I see the fans enjoying the team. I see the players really wanting to participate and I see the faces of those who can’t participate and they really want to.” stated Luis Enrique soon after the match. FC Barcelona are into the last 16 of this season's Champions League and they did so in style with another virtuoso performance to sweep aside AS Roma at Camp Nou and in doing so guarantee themselves top spot in Group E.

One point would be enough to send the Catalans into the last sixteen of the Champions League and would also guarantee that they finish top of Group E. With the joy of a 4-0 triumph at Real Madrid still fresh in the memory, FC Barcelona return to the Camp Nou for Champions League action on Tuesday night at 8.45pm CET. Barça are on form. Even without Leo Messi they have just won nine out of ten games and kept a fifth consecutive clean sheet. With ten points out of a possible twelve in Champions Group E, one more against Roma would be enough to ensure qualification in first place. FC Barcelona and the Catalan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, have established a set of extraordinary security measures to increase the safety of those in attendance, after the terrorist attacks in Paris; access to the stadium will open three hours before the game and backpacks, suitcases, fanny packs or large bags will not be allowed into Camp Nou,amongst other measures. 

From 6.15pm CET on Saturday, the Santiago Bernabéu will be the stage for the latest edition of the greatest football show in the world, 'El Clásico'. Real Madrid versus FC Barcelona is set to be played as scheduled although a set of extraordinary security measures have been established to increase the safety of those in attendance, after the terrorist attacks last Friday at Paris Saint-Denis stadium, amongst other locations. Luis Enrique confirmed that Leo Messi would be available for 'El Clásico' after the knee problem which has kept him out since the game against Las Palmas on 26 September. Ivan Rakitic, for his part, is also back after recovering from a calf strain picked up on 4 November against BATE Borisov in the Champions League. On the other hand, Rafinha and Douglas will be missing due to injury and Bartra and Masip are not travelling. 

The two halves of Sunday’s game were night and day for FC Barcelona. During the first half the action was set in midfield but after the break there was a much greater assertiveness on attack, especially for Barça. The Catalans scored on the stroke of one hour when Sergio Busquets came up with a loose ball following a Villarreal turnover in their own half and picked out Neymar on the left flank. Suárez made it 2–0 on a penalty kick in the 70th minute. But while FC Barcelona’s first two goals were the epitome of teamwork, the third and final goal of the day was a paragon of the Neymar–Suárez show and a quintessential exhibition of technical ingenuity by Barça’s number 11. By the end of 90 minutes of play, the Yellow Submarine, as Villarreal are known, was little more than a mangled wreck lying at the bottom of the sea floor, courtesy of two-third’s of Barça’s trident, who have performed brilliantly in the absence of Lionel Messi. With the win, the Catalans are now unbeaten in their last 15 games against Villarreal, including seven straight wins at Camp Nou across all competitions.

The Catalans are in Belarus for their third UEFA Champions League match in Group E, tonight against BATE Borisov. A total of 20 players have made the journey while the injured Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Rafinha stay at home, as do Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal due to the FIFA suspension. Speaking to the press shortly after arriving in Belarus, Barça boss Luis Enrique commented that the club is "in one of the toughest groups and we are not expecting it to be easy". On the absence of Leo Messi, he added that the team "works as unit" and "it's not a question of another player taking over his role." The Catalans currently top the table with four points from the first two fixtures. Barça's Champions League title defence began with a 1-1 draw at AS Roma. That was followed by a 2-1 defeat of Bayer Leverkusen at the Camp Nou.

The brand new movie about FC Barcelona is an emotional journey into the soul of the Club as explained through some of the most important figures in its 115 year history, from founder Joan Gamper through to Leo Messi, and including such legends as Kubala, Cruyff and Ronaldinho, all of whom are essential for understanding how the Club came to develop its own unique playing style, and one which has consistently been the focus of worldwide admiration. The movie was presented this week in the Antiga Fàbrica Damm in Barcelona. The launch was attended by its director Jordi Llompart, MotoGP rider and the film’s producer Jorge Lorenzo, and the president of the Barça Players Group, Ramon Alfonseda. The movie will be released this weekend.

FC Barcelona returned in the second half against Bayer Leverkusen to record their first win of this season's Champions League. The first game without Leo Messi following his knee injury against Las Palmas saw coach, Luis Enrique bring Sandro into the Catalan team’s starting line up for the first time ever in the Champions League. Although the Germans had taken the lead after 22 minutes through defender Papadopoulos and had proved a match for Luis Enrique's side in the opening half, two goals from Sergi Roberto and Luis Suárez in the last 10 minutes of the contest settled the final score.

Luis Enrique’s Barça side are looking for their first win in this season’s Champions League following their 1-1 draw against AS Roma in the opening fixture in Group E. Standing in their way are a Bayer 04 Leverkusen side who won their first game 4-1 at home to BATE Borisov. Tuesday’s game at Camp Nou will be their first without the services of Leo Messi following the knee ligament injury he suffered in the 2-1 win at home in the league against Las Palmas. Bayer 04 coach Roger Schmidt has injury worries of his own as his side will be without defenders Jedvaj and Ömer Toprak due to injury. The teams will be meeting for the ninth time in the European competition where up until know Barça has managed to keep the upper hand recording five wins against the German team.

Lionel Messi is expected to be out for the next seven to eight weeks after the this Saturday match at Camp Nou. The four-time Ballon d’Or winner tore a ligament in his left knee and abandoned the pitch after only ten minutes into the game which proved to be a costly victory for Barça. Luis Suárez scored once in each half to make a 2-1 victory with his second goal blasting out of the reach of Las Palmas goalkeeper Javi Varas and into the upper left corner of the net. Jonathon Viera did manage to get a goal back for Las Palmas in the 87th minute, depriving both Barça and goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen of a clean sheet.

Lionel Messi tallied his first two goals of the season as FC Barcelona ran away from Levante in the second half on Sunday night, winning 4–1 at Camp Nou. Defender Marc Bartra opened the scoring five minutes after the break and was quickly seconded by Neymar. After a Messi penalty kick that seemed to slam the door shut, Levante’s Víctor Casadesús provided his side a brief glimmer of hope before Messi threw away the key with a killer strike in the waning moments. The triumph makes Barça a perfect four-for-four on the season, keeping them at the top of the league table, as well as a perfect eleven-for-eleven all-time versus Levante at Camp Nou in La Liga. Levante remain winless on the season despite snapping a four-game league goalless drought at Camp Nou.

At 8.45pm (CET) tonight, FC Barcelona plays AS Roma at the Oympic Stadium in Rome to defend its Champions League crown. Three survivors of the 2009 side that lifted the trophy in the Olympic Stadium, Gerard Piqué, Leo Messi and Andrés Iniesta will play. A fourth, Dani Alves, is forced to miss out on the trip due to injury. Although AS Roma boss, Rudi Garcia, said that his team was ready for the task of facing the defending champions, and aimed to “assure a positive result”, Barça coach, Luis Enrique, described the goal of retaining the trophy as creating “quite the opposite” of pressure for the Catalan team. The game sees Barcelona back in the Champions League action only 102 days after their victory in the final against Juventus in Berlin.

Second-half goals from Neymar and Messi eclipse Torres icebreaker and keep Catalans perfect with three wins in three tries. Diego Simeone’s team went up 1–0 in the 52nd. Torres received an unexpected pass out of the midfield and slipped the ball past blaugrana goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen. But just three minutes later Neymar, after being taken down 25 metres from the Atlético goal, dusted himself off and converted a textbook free kick that curled up and over the four-man wall and broke back down into upper left corner, the only spot where the high-flying Oblak couldn’t get to it. Lionel Messi came off the bench in the second half and scored less than a quarter-hour from time to hand FC Barcelona a 2–1 comeback victory.

The blaugranes face their first league game of the season at Camp Nou against the Andalusians in a game which kicks off at 8.30pm CET. Luis Enrique's side got off to an excellent start to the league campaign last weekend with a 1-0 win against Athletic Club Bilbao, Luis Suárez's goal giving them all three points. Before the game against Málaga, which will be the first since the pitch was recently relaid, captain Andrés Iniesta will present the European Super Cup to the crowd following their victory in the competition earlier this month in Tbilisi. At the same time Leo Messi will also show off the UEFA Best Player in Europe accolade collected on Thursday at the gala for the draw for the Champions League group stage.

The Argentine received a total of 49 votes, beating Luis Suárez (3) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2) to the award. The recognition is deserved after an exceptional season for the Barça number 10 in which he scored 58 goals in 57 competitive matches in 2015/16. He scored in the Vicente Calderón against Atlético to hand the blaugranes the league title and he found the net twice in the Copa del Rey final win over Athletic Club. Messi was exceptional in the Champions League final against Juventus, although he was unable to score the goal his performance deserved. Previously, in the semi-finals against Bayern Munich, his two goals were decisive in deciding the tie, one of which has been voted as the best of the Champions League season.