barça

Barça face BATE Borisov this Wednesday at Camp Nou at 8.45pm CET in the knowledge that a win against the side from Belarus could put them through to the knock out stages for the 12th season in a row should AS Roma fail to beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the other Group E fixture. The Belarusians are currently in third place in the group on 3 points, one behind second placed Bayer and so still have hope of making it to the last 16 themselves. Luis Enrique is focused on just one objective for side at Camp Nou: "The goal is to qualify, and do it as first in the group. The groups are competitive, and anything can happen. But as the defending champions we must send a message that we are ready.” Javier Mascherano will be available even though he is currently one match into a two game domestic ban in La Liga, and Andrés Iniesta, recently recovered from injury, should be in the squad as well. 

FC Barcelona have some work to do in the second leg of their Copa del Rey round of 32 tie with Villanovense after the plucky third tier side managed to hold them to a surprise 0-0 draw on Wednesday night. Luis Enrique opted for a very different starting line-up to the Barça team we are used to, with Douglas at right back and Masip in goal getting their first starts of the season. The promising young Cameroonian Wilfrid Kaptoum made his first team debut in midfield in partnership with Gumbau and Samper, while Adriano was fielded in an unfamiliar attacking role alongside Sandro Ramírez and Munir. The Catalans never quite managed to settle, and rather than sit back and defend, the home side had clearly come out to play ball too. As the half progressed, Villanovense grew in confidence and the crowd in the Romero Cuerda were loving every moment of it. There was a lot more urgency to Barça’s style after the break, but despite dominating a massive 75% of the possession, there was nothing in the way of clear-cut chances until Sandro fired a screaming shot from the edge of the area that only just failed to find the target.

The Catalans rode the brute strength of their Uruguayan striker to another come-from-behind victory in La Liga, this time by a score of 3–1 at Camp Nou. Eibar opened the scoring in the 10th minute on Sunday, when Borja González struck home a long rebound following a diving stop by Barça goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. The Uruguayan first drew Barça even at 1–1 on the stroke of 22 minutes when he headed home a beautiful one-touch volley from Sandro Ramírez. Three minutes after the break Suárez put Barça into the lead with his second goal. Suárez's sealed his hat-trick, his second since debuting for Barça exactly one-year ago to the day, and the win, in the 84th minute. The victory was Barça’s third straight across all competitions, following last week’s win over Rayo and Tuesday’s Champions League triumph at Bate Borisov, and allows them to keep pace at the top of the La Liga table.

Breaking down BATE Borisov proved to be as tricky as Luis Enrique had suggested before the game. The first fifteen minutes were a monologue in the BATE half, the visitors playing with confidence and generating chance after chance. All that changed in practically the first move after the break. Rakitic, who stepped in to take Sergi Roberto's place, sent a trademark long-range strike unstoppably into the top left corner of the BATE net. It wouldn’t be long before he was celebrating his second. In the 64th minute he received an exquisite assist from Neymar and cheekily tipped it over BATE keeper Chernik to extend his team’s lead. Three points that leave them in a strong position at the top of Group E with seven points, three clear of second placed Bayer Leverkusen.

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 FC Barcelona vice president, Jordi Mestres assured that the Club "is not happy at all" with the UEFA sanction for the presence of Catalan Independence flags at Camp Nou during the Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen. "We will never tell our members and fans to not express their opinion" Mestre commented to the media. "We will appeal against the decision, and if necessary, we will take legal advice" stated Mestres, at his arrival in Minsk this Tuesday, where FC Barcelona has a duel against BATE Borisov. This is not the first time that UEFA fines FC Barcelona for showing pro-independence flags during a match; at the Champions League final on the 6 June the club was sanctioned for the same reason.

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.

Barça suffered its first defeat (4-1) this season versus Celta at Balaidos. Also they lost their one hundred per cent record in the 2015/16 Liga season and their place at the top of the table. Former Barça man Nolito opened the scoring at the 26^th minute of the match. Four minutes later, Iago Aspas pounced on a Barça error in the middle of the park and raced away on the counter attack, finishing with a goal and make it 2-0. At the second half, Aspas again charged free and Celta were three in front. With eleven minutes left, Barça finally found the net thanks to Neymar, who slipped the ball home with style. But any chance of a late comeback was ended when John Guidetti found himself alone in the area at the other end, smashing home the final nail in the coffin. 

FC Barcelona are looking to make it five wins from five when they take on Celta Vigo on Wednesday at Balaídos (kick off 8.00pm CET) against a side which has picked up ten out of a possible 12 points so far this campaign. Luis Enrique expects a tough challenge against his former team on a ground which traditionally poses problems for the Catalans. Barça have been boosted by the return of defender Gerard Pique but In a last-minute development, Jordi Alba has been ruled out with neck soreness and has been replaced in the squad by Douglas. Barcelona are the only team in the top division with a perfect record of four wins from the first four games. Another win in Vigo would see the title holders remain top of the league.

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.

FC Barcelona began the Champions League with a 1-1 draw against AS Roma. Barça players deserved more after dominating most of the game, but it was a convincing display that might have ended very differently with a little more luck in the goal area. The Catalans began the game having control of the ball. A goal came after 21 minutes of play when Rakitic crossed from the right and Suárez headed home practically from the goal-line. But the lead only lasted for ten minutes. Just after the half hour point, Florenzi got the Italians back on level terms with an extraordinary goal from over 50 metres out. Barça stayed in control of the match despite the Roma goal, but there was no further scoring. The lowest point in the match was Rafinha’s injury after he was taken out from behind and carried off the pitch in a stretcher.

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.