Sports

A draw in FC Barcelona’s first ever official visit to the Amsterdam Arena (20.45 CET) would be enough to secure the first place in the Champions League Group H. With qualification already secured, the Catalans need at least a draw to guarantee being seeded and playing the second leg at home in the first round of the knockout stages. Barça are missing several players, even though Xavi returns, with youngsters Adama, Dongou, Sergi Gómez and Patric all travelling to Holland. Ajax faces an essential game, as it needs to win in order to keep its options for making it into the last sixteen open.

Nothing can stop Barça in the Spanish League. FC Barcelona overcome their injury woes to beat Granada with goals from Andrés Iniesta (pen), Cesc Fàbregas (pen), Alexis Sánchez and Pedro. In the 81^st minute, Adama Traoré came on to make his first team debut replacing Neymar.The return from the international break could not have been more perfect. Four different players scored, Pinto kept a clean sheet,and none of Valdés, Alves, Xavi or Messi were particularly missed, with the latter showing off his Golden Boot before the match.

“The absence of players is always unfortunate, and now we’re missing the best goalkeeper in the world” said Martino referring to Leo Messi, but also to Víctor Valdés, Dani Alves, Xavi, Jordi Alba, Tello, Dos Santos and Afellay. Cesc Fàbregas and Piqué have been declared fit this Friday. Alves is the most recent injured player and will be out for some 10 days. Martino has called up Dongou Tsafack and Adama Traoré due to the long list of absentees. “Neymar’s response has been superb right from the start. He’s also shown that he has the capacity to withstand the pressure” Martino said in a press conference held on Friday before Saturday’s game against Granada. “We shouldn’t be thinking about the missing players, but in those who are taking their places”, he concluded.

"My goal is to return and return fit", emphasised FC Barcelona super star at the Golden Boot ceremony held in the Catalan capital, referring to his injury period. The Argentinean striker, very pleased after receiving his third Golden Boot and for the evolution of his recovery: “I’m improving gradually, and now almost without pain”. "It's a very nice group award, because I could not have won it on my own", he stated. His dedication was similar to ones for the other major individual trophies: "It’s for my family, the people who love me, and the squad". Among those attending was President Rosell who saw Messi "in good shape".

The FC Barcelona keeper sustained a proximal myotendinous rupture in the calf muscle of his right leg during last night's friendly between Spain and South Africa. Valdés will be out of action for approximately six weeks. picked up the injury last night during the international friendly between Spain and South Africa in Johannesburg. The keeper came on for Iker Casillas in the second half, but he was forced to abandon the pitch on the 80^th minute due to his injury. Reina came on in Valdés’ stead.

Leo Messi, FC Barcelona’s Argentinean star, has a muscle tear in his left hamstring. The Catalan club’s medical services confirmed after tests this Monday morning that Messi has a torn hamstring muscle in his left thigh and is expected to miss the next 6 to 8 weeks.  The first phase of Messi’s recovery will be covered in Barcelona and he will then travel to Buenos Aires. The Argentinean was substituted on 19 minutes of the Betis- Barça game on Sunday for a muscle pain. This is Messi’s third injury this season. In late August he was out for 1 week and in late September he got injured again and was out for 3 weeks.

Neymar, Pedro and Cesc (2) score to put Barça three points ahead of Atletico Madrid at the top of the Spanish League table with a 1-4 win at Betis’ Benito Villamarín on Sunday evening. This wasn’t as straightforward a win for Barça as the score might suggest though, with a brave Betis side never giving up and the worrying sight of Leo Messi limping off in the first half. It was Betis who created the chances early on, with the excellent Victor Valdés saving the day with two great stops from Jorge Molina and Juan Carlos, as FC Barcelona struggled to deal with the loss of Messi  - replaced by Iniesta on 20 minutes.

The Spanish League leaders are going to Seville without Piqué or Busquets for the final match before the international break. The former is out as a precautionary measure and the latter is being rested, and their absences will make what is already a difficult fixture even harder still. Bur despite Martino’s rotation system, Barça are still unbeaten this season, and will hoping things stay that way. However, Barça have only won two of their last eleven games at the Villamarín Stadium against Betis, a ground at which they have struggled to get results since 2000.

Two goals from Messi and another from Busquets send Barça through to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League. with the opening and final goals against Milan at the Camp Nou on Wednesday evening. The first was a penalty and the second from a lovely move with Cesc. With Busquets grabbing one more in between the Argentinean’s brace,  Milan could only reply with a Piqué own goal just before the break.

This Wednesday’s match will bring together two of the continent’s most storied football teams for what is considered to be a classic in European football, a Barça vs Milan showdown. A victory for FC Barcelona would see the Catalans qualify for the next round of the competition. Adriano Correia has been declared fit for this evening's match against the Italians. Tata Martino has named a total of 20 players to the team for this evening’s game. Rotations are expected, but perhaps not as many as usual. AC Milan, with Balotelli ready for action, have been unable to win in their last four matches.

After scoring against Real Madrid and Celta, the Chilean was once again on target in the derby. The game was decided by a Neymar assist for an Alexis Sánchez who is enjoying his finest season yet for FC Barcelona. Thanks to him, a more passive and practical Barça than we are used to seeing were able to claim another full set of three points. In total, that’s now an astonishing 34 out of 36. The goal obliged Espanyol to push forward in search of a leveller, and the last twenty minutes saw plenty of action at both ends of the pitch, but there was no further score.

Barça and Espanyol will face off this Friday in the Barcelona derby of the Spanish League, a match played on an atypical, festive day in Catalonia. The Blaugrana come into the match with high morale after defeating Real Madrid and Celta in the previous matches. FC Barcelona are league leaders with 10 victories and 1 draw after 11 matches. Espanyol come into the derby with one victory from their last six matches. Furthermore, it will be the first time that Barça and Espanyol Managers, Tata Martino and Javier Aguirre respectively, face each other.

Barça have defeated a daring Celta de Vigo side to continue their unbeaten run in the Spanish League, leading the championship. The in-form Alexis, goalkeeper Yoel (og) and Cesc got the goals for the Catalans. Following the exertions of last Saturday’s clásico against Real Madrid, Tata Martino decided to make changes to his eleven, the most significant being Alex Song getting to start instead of Busquets. Even without players of the calibre of Piqué, Xavi, Iniesta and Neymar, Barça were fantastic right from the start.

72 hours after the Clásico between Barça and Real Madrid and before the Catalan derby against Espanyol (to be played on Friday), the Spanish League leaders visit Celta de Vigo’s Balaídos Stadium with high spirits after claiming victory over their arch-rivals (2-1)  but without Gerard Piqué. Tata Martino has decided to continue with his rotation policy for this Tuesday evening’s match and Gerard Piqué has not travelled to Vigo in order to rest. This means that players like Montoya, Puyol, Sergi Roberto or Tello could feature in the starting line-up.

Barça- Real Madrid games always provide plenty of images that stick in the mind – this time it was not just the wonderful tribute to Tito Vilanova in the pre-match mosaic, but also Neymar’s first Clasico goal and Alexis Sanchez’s magical chip for the second. The Chilean’s 72nd minute beauty ended up being the difference between the two well matched sides, after Barça had the better of the first half with some clever play, but were seriously threatened after the break, when Valdes again pulled off some superb saves.