No centre-back for Barca

Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Daniel Agger, Mats Hummels, Nevan Subotic.. The list goes on. These are all players, more specifically centre-backs that FC Barcelona has, or has been rumoured to have tried to get to Camp Nou. So far none of the deals have worked out. And now it seems that it won't work out in the future either. Barca will be left without a new centre-back once again.

In a recent press conference new boss Gerardo Martino told that Barca will not be buying a defender during this transfer window. In fact he said that Barca doesn't need a centre-back, because they already have so many. 

Well, let's take a look shall we:

Carles Puyol: a great player, yes. But there's no way to deny that he is getting older and that means that his speed is not the same, his stamina is not the same plus he's so prone to injuries that Barca really needs a solid back up for him.

Gerard Pique: not much to say about him. Has all the talent to be one of the very best defenders in the world and sometimes he is, but sometimes he seems so distracted while playing that I have several times wondered if he even realizes he's on the field. I don't mean to be harsh, I really love Pique, in fact he's one of my very favourite players, but it's just frustrating to watch that he doesn't always live up to his full potential.

From Tito to Tata - A new manager for Barca

It is now official that Gerardo "Tata" Martino will replace Tito Vilanova as the manager for FC Barcelona. The Argentinean signed a two-year contract with the Catalans two days after Vilanova resigned due to health issues.

Martino is a rather unknown coach in Europe and it's no wonder since the man has never managed an European team before. "Tata" has made his name as the manager for the Paraguay national team and winning the 2013 Final Tournament with Lionel Messi's childhood club Newell's Old Boys.

Pep Talk - What's caused these nasty revelations?

When former Barca manager Josep Guardiola chose to leave the club fans all around the world were

sad but supportive over his decision. Even when the manager chose to take on a new project at Bayern Munich most fans wished him luck and respected his decision. Everything seemed to be going well. Fans still adored the coach who had brought them so much joy during his four-year spell at Camp Nou. But then something happened.

Recently Guardiola has started to say things about FC Barcelona, nasty things. And of course nasty things get a nasty response, this time in the form of his former assistant coach and good friend Tito Vilanova telling that Guardiola wasn't there for him during his cancer treatment, despite being in the same city. Of course it didn't exactly make things more friendly when Pep lured Barca talent Thiago Alcantara into his new team. So, who's telling the truth here? And what has caused these nasty revelations and bad blood between FC Barcelona and their former hero? Is this just the beginning of those nasty mind games that seem to be an inevitable part of the game these days or is this something bigger, something more personal? 

Confederations Cup 2013 FINAL - Brazil vs Spain

It was not what I had expected. It was not what me, the press, the team or even the opponents had expected.  It was a disaster. Brazil kicked Spain's ass. And I mean really kicked Spain's ass.

It seemed like just a mistake, a repairable mistake. Brazil's first goal I mean. It came out of nowhere, before the game had really even begun. Fred scored the first goal after only two minutes played. But it didn't seem like a big deal. They can - and will - come back from this I thought. But they didn't. And the saddest thing is that they didn't really even try.

Confederations Cup 2013 - Italy vs Uruguay

Italy finally got their bronze medals after a long fight against Uruguay. The game was settled in a
penalty shoot out where captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon pretty much won the game by himself thanks to his incredible saves.

It was only the third place match. The unnecessary game for the losers, the unlucky ones that really wanted to play in the latter game. In the game where the real battles were fought where blood and sweat was spilled to win the prize that everybody wants. Because nobody wants play in that game. The game that only reminds them about the game they couldn't get in. Nobody wants to be the world's third best team. Nobody wants to be the fourth best either, but the difference between those two is insignificant. Like author Dale Earnhardt said "Second place is just the first loser" and these unlucky teams didn't even get to fight for the second place. With my long intro I guess what I'm trying to say is that nobody cares about the third place match. It's the one game where there's never anything left to play for and so it is no surprise that these to teams Italy and Uruguay didn't seem to give a rat's ass either.

Confederations Cup 2013 FINAL - Spain vs Brazil Preview

So this is it. The night that ends this spectacular two-week tournament. The night that will end with a winner - and a loser. So who will be the winner? Reigning World Cup and Euro Cup winner Spain? The team that hasn't lost a game in three years?

Or will it be Brazil? The host with the support of the screaming home audience? There has been plenty of controversy about this tournament in Brazil, but there is no question whether the locals want their team to win. And if one wants to be calculating could he say that winning tonight could make the locals forget the problems and therefore have a better attitude towards next year's actual World Cup...

Spain has a team full of winners. Experienced professionals that know what it takes to win an important game and have done so on several occasions now. But..after winning the World Cup and Euro Cup twice will they have enough hunger, enough motivation to give their all tonight? They also had one less they to rest and played an extremely long and exhausting battle against Italy. A battle that lasted two hours + the penalties.. Has the team rested enough to play on their best level tonight?

Then there's Brazil. A younger team perhaps.. Full of players that haven't really won anything yet. Hungry to show the home audience what their capable of. Hungry to show the European top clubs that they should play millions and millions for their services. Hungry to prove the coach that they should be chosen for the squad for next year. But is the team too young, too excited, too hungry? Is the pressure too high? Will they be able to put aside their dreams of personal accomplishments to give out their all for the team..

Only thing sure is that one of these too magnificent teams will go home with gold tonight. My, possibly biased, opinion is that the winner will be Spain. Because I hope so, but also because I think that they have proven so many times already their capability to bring their a-game when they need it the most. But whoever the winner is I don't think it will be easy..

Now, however, it's time to pop the corns and open the tele, cause it is GAME TIME!

Confederations Cup 2013 - Spain vs Italy

A long, long, long game finally ended on penalties with Spain securing their place in the final against Brazil. Italy will play for the third place against Uruguay on Sunday.

In the opening half Italy controlled the game completely. Spain's left side was very leaky and Italy was able to come through over and over again. Thanks to San Iker, who played an incredible game once again, Italy didn't manage to score a goal.

Confederations Cup 2013 - Brazil vs Uruguay

Brazil claimed a spot in the final of the Confederations Cup 2013 with a victory from Uruguay. The team will face either Spain or Italy in Sunday's final.

Before the game Uruguay was seen as an underdog. The team isn't as full of talent, and their performances in the tournament have not been great. Surprisingly, however, they really put up a good fight. They did use their usual tricks diving, whining and tackling, but also managed to score a goal and really tested the Brazilians.

From crazy to calm - Real Madrid announce Ancelotti as Mou's successor.

Carlo Ancelotti has officially been announced as Real Madrid's new manager. The club was able to make a deal with PSG to get the Italian coach. Ancelotti signed a contract that will keep him at Santiago Bernabeu for the next three years. His successor at PSG will be former France coach Laurent Blanc.

Real Madrid's fans and haters all seem to agree that Carlo Ancelotti is a great choice, which is a rare case. Everyone who's ever watched football seems to be fed up with predecessor Jose Mourinho, and for a reason if I may add. The clubs fans are tired because he hasn't manage to bring the success and glory to the team as hoped. Actually the Portuguese has seemed to have done quite the opposite. I mean I never though I would feel sorry for Pepe or Cristiano Ronaldo, but hey thanks to Mou that happened..

Confederations Cup 2013 - Spain vs Nigeria

Yesterday Spain took the much deserved place as the winner of group B thanks to a neat victory over Nigeria. La Roja will face Italy in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup on Thursday.

Thanks to Jordi Alba's neat finishing on the third minute Spain got a very good start to the game. After that it was a bit more quiet for a while. Nigeria had some pretty good chances, but the finishing was poor, despite Spain's defense not being great at all. In the very end of the first half Cesc Fabregas shot off the post and Spain's second close was really close. With goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama's quick reflexes and a little bit of good fortune Nigeria, however, managed to end the first half only one goal behind.

Confederations Cup 2013 - Brazil vs Italy

Despite having both teams already secured their spots on the semifinals we still saw quite a fight for the victory in yesterday's game. Brazil, especially on the first half, controlled the game. Italy, however, had their moments as well. Dante scored the first goal on the last minute of the first half.

Giaccherini's goal right on the start of the second half equalized the game. Neymar's beautiful goal from a free kick, however, gave the Brazilians their lead back. Fred's goal ten minutes later took Brazily one step closer to winning their group.
Italy's defender Giorgio Chiellini managed to score one more goal for the Azzurri, but Fred's second goal of the evening gave the hosts a much earned victory.

Confederations Cup 2013 - Nigeria vs Uruguay

Suarez' guide to football

Of all the games played so far in this year's Confederations Cup the match between Nigeria vs Uruguay was perhaps the least entertaining. I'm not exactly a fan of Uruguay's and seeing them win doesn't make me very happy. Especially since they always seem to win, because of some unfair coincidence (against Ghana in WC 2010) Most of the players are pretty horrible too..

I hate hate hate Luis Suarez, I have absolutely zero respect for him or his talent. The man can score, but
everything else he does on the field overshadows all of his playing abilities. He says that in England people hate him, because he's a foreigner, but let's face it people hate him because he's an asshole.

Edinson Cavani, at least in this tournament, has been completely useless. Looking at his scoring stats I suppose he does sometimes actually do something on the field, but whenever I'm watching him play in Napoli or Uruguay he just looks like one of those really overrated players with plenty of cash, but very little intrest in the game.

Confederations Cup 2013 - Spain vs Tahiti

1st half

Spain decided to rest their first team in the game against Tahiti. Of course that meant that while Xavi, Iniesta and co opted to watch the game from the sidelines, players like Champions League winner Javi Martinez and Spain's all time scorer David Villa were playing. Quite a second team, huh?

The first half proved to be more difficult than thought. Fernando Torres did score Spain's first goal on the 5th minute, but after that Tahiti really put up a fight and it worked... for half an hour. Then Spain's scoring reaaally began. But before that I think that especially the defense and goalkeeper Roche of Tahiti were excellent. But then they got tired or I don't know what happened and by the time the first 45 minutes were over Spain was leading 4-0.


32' David Villa crossed the ball to David Silva: 2-0
33' Torres 3-0
39' David Silva crossed to David Villa: 4-0

Confederations Cup 2013 - Italy vs Japan

1st half

Of all the games in the Confederations Cup 2013 so far Italy vs Japan was definitely the most entertaining. The whole match was full of drama. Penalties, offsides and many many goals. Big feelings, perseverance and a very disappointed loser. This game had it all.

Japan was in control most of the first half and for the first half an hour Italy barely touched the ball. Well organized, tactically good, smart.. All of those adjectives could have been used to describe Japan. You can't even compare the team to the tired, lazy, uncreative team we saw against Brazil in the opening match. Japan was in it to win it.

Confederations Cup 2013 - Brazil vs Mexico

1st half

The first half showed a Brazil that played in a very happy, energetic way. Brazil scored the first goal of the evening on the 4th minute, but it was quickly ruled an offside. 5 minutes later Neymar scored an actual goal. And oh how the home crowd cheered!

After half an hour David Luiz bumped his head into teammate Thiago Silva's head and got a nosebleed. That big injury seemed to really take it's toll on the defender and the rest of the first half Luiz spent mostly changing his shirt or the tissues in his nose. Thankfully he survived from the drastic injury with the help of 5 medics and support from fellow Premier League player Javier Chicharito.

On the first half Neymar really shone. The young talent played very well along Hulk and Marcelo. And if Neymar would have dived a little bit less I'm sure he would have had even more time to do his beautiful tricks.

Confederations Cup 2013 - Tahiti vs Nigeria

1st half

Tahiti has one professional football player, the rest of the team are teachers, couriers etc by profession. So it's fair to say that the team consists of amateurs. Nigeria may not be the very best football team in the world, but it's a team full of pros. Needless to say Tahiti really had no chance to begin with.

Uwa Elderson Echiejile scored Nigeria's first goal on the 5th minute. Teammate Nnamdi Oduamadi scored the second goal five minutes later. On the 26th minute Oduamadi scored again and the first half ended 3-0.

Confederations Cup 2013 - Spain vs Uruguay

1st half

The first half of Spain vs Uruguay showed an excellent Spain and a slightly desperate looking Uruguay. Spain, as always, was great and the team kept the ball almost 80 % of the time.

On the 20th minute after several close calls Pedro scored Spain's first goal. 15 minutes later Roberto Soldado scored a second goal for La Rojas. Uruguay was completely lost and of course it is difficult to score when you never touch the ball, but even when they did they weren't able to do anything with it. And what did they do to cover up the lack of talent in the team? Dived, whined and tackled the Spaniards. Especially Maxi Pereira and Diego Perez were incredibly violent, though apparently not violent enough since referee Yuichi Nishimura didn't bother to book either one.

Confederations Cup 2013 - Mexico vs Italy

1st half

Group A's second game at the legendary Maracana-stadium in Rio de Janeiro showed two teams both very eager to win the match. Often in Confederations Cup the player's lack of enthusiasm has been a problem, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case this year.

Both teams had chances at scoring, but Italy was definitely closer to getting a lead. Halfway through the first half Italy's hard work paid of when Andrea Pirlo (who was celebrating his
100th international cap) scored the first goal of the match from an amazing free kick.
A few minutes later Andrea Barzagli's clumsy attempt to get the ball from Mexico's Giovani dos Santos gave the referee no chance but to give the Mexicans a penalty. Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez got the ball easily behind Gianluigi Buffon.

Confederations Cup 2013 - Brazil vs Japan

1st half

Brazil didn't waste any time scoring the first goal of their home tournament - FC Barcelona's newest addition Neymar scored the first goal of Confederations Cup after only three minutes. And what a goal that was! If some of you missed it here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AdeVmYfehw

Japan didn't manage to do much on the field. Keisuke Honda's free kicks seemed to be the only way Japan got the ball anywhere near Brazil's goal.

Adios Mou!

I am very VERY happy to say that Jose Mourinho is no longer the coach of Real Madrid. During his spell at Santiago Bernabeu he has managed to do the impossible; make Real Madrid even more obnoxious, make me feel sorry for Pepe and make me realize that maybe Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't have the biggest ego in football. That was quite a challenge, but Mr Mourinho you made it, congrats!

Confederations Cup

Confederations cup starts tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. Summer and football are a match made in heaven and having 2 weeks of quality football makes me very happy. So for those of who aren't familiar with Confederations Cup; it's a kind of pre-tournament of World Cup. 8 countries, one from each continent + the host nation and world cup winners qualify for the tournament. So this year Spain, Italy, Uruguay, Tahiti, Japan, Brazil, Mexico and Nigeria are fighting to win it.

As a Spain fan I of course root for them. Winning would be really special since they have never won it
before. The opening match Brazil - Japan kicks of the tournament tomorrow. Let the games begin!

Welcome Neymar!

So it is now official. The much hyped brazilian wonderkid Neymar is a player of FC Barcelona with a bargain price of 57 million euros. Rumors of the player's transfer to Camp Nou have been going on for a long time and for most of that time I hoped it wasn't true. Why would Barca want another big ego to their team I thought? Wasn't the incident with Zlatan Ibrahimovic enough to prove that certain type of players, regardless of their talent just simply aren't capable of adapting to the team on or off the field.

Barcelona: One week, 3 games.

In a week that I spent in the wonderful Barcelona I sure saw a lot of football, and what really is a better match than Barcelona and football?

On Saturday I went to see my first game at Camp Nou when FC Barcelona faced Levante. The game was super exciting and of course being there made it feel even more amazing. The sight of the beautiful stadium filled with people supporting the home team in their Blaugrana shirts and scarves, Xavi shooting a corner kick so close I could easily see him and the entire stadium singing Cant del Barca...  That's a night I'll never forget.

...And so history was made. VISCA EL BARCA!!

We did it! Oh yes we did it! They said that it would require, maybe not a miracle, but at least a perfect team to rise from such a difficult situation. And tonight's Barcelona was exactly that. I can't name even one player who wasn't great.

So, I put on my Blaugrana gear. I probably looked like a Blaugrana christmas tree with my necklace, t-shirt, scarf and this little Barca tassle my brother made me. But most importantly I felt like a Blaugrana at heart. As my favourite team I always love them, but tonight I truly felt my team's need of support.

Inspiration...

This is just a little inspiration.. I have not made this video nor do I own any rights.
VISCA EL BARCA!!!! <3 <3

Waiting for history to be made..

This is it, blaugranes! Tonight is the night to make history or go home. I'm a firm believer of the first option. Will it be difficult? Yes, there's no question about that. But is it possible? Yes!

 FC Barcelona has ruled Europe for years, but so far they've never had such a golden opportunity to show everyone just how amazing they are. This season, especially after Tito Vilanova's cancer relapsed, the team has suffered from a certain lack of hunger. And maybe it required a situation this difficult to get that hunger back. Tonight the whole world will be watching what happens. And now it's time for Barca to make a historic comeback.

A four-match ban for Valdes

Victor Valdes is getting a four-match ban for the incident that happened after last Saturday's El Clasico. FC Barcelona is going to appeal against the decision, but it's still not sure if it'll work. Losing Victor Valdes for even one match is a big deal. Even if he's not always my favourite person on the field, he's still in a league of his own compared to Barca's second goalkeeper Jose Pinto. I'm very interested in hearing what it was that Valdes said that was so bad they had to give him and the whole team a punishment this harsh. I can understand the red card. He had already got a yellow card and still refused to shut up so it's no wonder the referee gave him a red card, but a four match ban. That's pretty bad!

Champions League Results

So now the first 4 teams have qualified to the next round of Champions League. Borussia Dortmund beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 at home after playing 2-2 in the first leg in Ukraine. Juventus sealed their progress in a 2-0 victory in Turin after already winning the Scots impressively 3-0 at Celtic Park. PSG will also qualify after winning 2-1 in Valencia in the first leg and playing 1-1 yesterday in Paris.

Despite all the exciting games this week's most talked about match of was definitely Manchester United vs Real Madrid. There was already a lot to talk about before the game. Two of the biggest clubs in the world facing each other, Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Old Trafford and Manchester United's veteran manager Sir Alex Ferguson vs Jose Mourinho, who's been rumored to take Ferguson's place when he finally retires. Even before the game everyone was talking about it and while the game may have ended the debate still continues.

Champions League Preview

Next Tuesday the second leg games of Champions League's round of 16 start. One of the most exciting games of next week is definitely Manchester United vs Real Madrid. The previous game at Santiago Bernabeu ended 1-1. Anything can happen, but of course I hope that it'll be ManU that progresses. The same day the game between Borussia Dortmund and Shakhtar Donetsk will also be played. The first leg ended 2-2. On Wednesday PSG and Valencia and Juventus and Celtic play their second leg games. Celtic needs a little miracle to progress since Juventus won the last game 3-0, but between PSG and Valencia everything is still open. The previous game at Mestalla was a 2-1 victory for PSG so they do have an advantage, but who knows if the Spaniards will rise in Paris...

El Clasico 2 - 1

The second El Clasico of the week really didn't go any better. On the 6th minute the game was already 1-0 for the home team. Karim Benzema scored the goal from Alvaro Morata's pass and the Blaugrana defense was once again lost. 12 minutes later Lionel Messi tied the game. The winning goal was a header by Sergio Ramos.

Real started the game without players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Özil as expected, since this game really didn't have much of a value to them. However on the second half after Kaka was substituted with Ronaldo and Benzema with Sami Khedira, Real seemed much more eager to win. FC Barcelona was once again a little lost, at times even passive and lazy.The game was much calmer than usually, it was obvious that this game wasn't super important to either one of the teams. However the few last minutes of the game were definitely a bit more aggressive and sometimes the game even looked like an El Clasico. Despite the seemingly calm playing a total of ten yellow cards were given, 4 to Real Madrid and 6 six to FC Barcelona. Victor Valdes also got a red card after the game for a reason I'm not completely aware of.

What's wrong with Barca?

2-3 with Real Sociedad, 1-1 with Real Madrid and Valencia, 0-2 with AC Milan and 1-3 with Real Madrid. It's February and within a month FC Barcelona has started to lose everything they have worked so hard for this season.

Last season it started to show that the spark Barca used to have wasn't there anymore. It wasn't dramatic, and maybe not even visible to everyone, but if you looked closely you could see that something was missing. They lost La liga to their biggest enemy Real Madrid by 9 points. They were also eliminated from the Champions League in a nasty game with Chelsea. Despite all this, the biggest loss of the season was the announcement of Josep Guardiola's departure. Guardiola said that he left, because he didn't feel like he had anything to give to the team anymore, that he was tired and incapable of dealing with the pressure of being the manager of Barca. And I'm sure that at least partly it was true. But now that we've seen Barca starting to crumble more and more, I can't help but wonder if Pep noticed something a year ago that is only now starting to become visible for the rest of us.

Granada - FC Barcelona 1 - 2

Lionel Messi was once again a savior for FC Barcelona in yesterday's game against Granada. The first goal of the night was scored by Odion Jude Ighalo of Granada on the 26th minute. The equalizer had to be waited until the second half, when Lionel Messi scored FC Barcelona's first goal. That goal was also his 300th goal for Barca. Messi was responsible for the second goal on the 73rd minute as well. The second goal not only was his 301st goal for FC Barcelona, but 35th in the La Liga this season. He now leads main rival Cristiano Ronaldo by 11 goals on the top scorer-list.

Neymar Fever

For a long time the super talented Neymar has been linked with pretty much every big team in Europe. One of those teams has been FC Barcelona. I can't understand why. I mean, yes he is very good, even great at best, but in my opinion totally unsuitable for Barca. A young, very hyped player, who already thinks he is the best player in the world. I think that he sounds a looot more like Real Madrid or Chelsea's player than Barca's.

Barca's Next Goalkeeper?

After Victor Valdes announced that he wouldn't renew his contract with FC Barcelona there has been constant speculation about who would replace him. Goalkeepers like Pepe Reina, David de Gea and Thibaut Courtois have all been linked with a transfer to Camp Nou. This week, however, a new and very interesting young talent Marc-Andre ter Stegen has become the center of goalkeeper speculation.

It's Champions League Time!

After a long long wait Champions League finally returns today! With the best 16 teams left we can expect some pretty exciting games. Champions League returns with 2 games tonight. Celtic FC faces Juventus at Celtic Park and Valencia clashes with PSG at Mestalla.

Tomorrow the much expected Real Madrid - Manchester United will be played at Santiago Bernabeu. There's a lot at stake in that game, even Jose Mourinho's job according to the wildest rumors. Also the sensational Robin van Persie will face ManU's former star player Cristiano Ronaldo. That should be a very interesting game... The game between Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Dortmund will also be played tomorrow.

FC Barcelona - Getafe 6 - 1

FC Barcelona crushed Getafe at Camp Nou on last Sunday. There seemed to be no end for the scoring and final numbers were 6-1. Alexis Sanchez scored the first goal on the 6th minute. A few minutes later it was 2-0, thanks to Lionel Messi's goal. Those were the numbers until David Villa scored the 3rd goal on the 58th minute. Ten minutes later it was Cristian Tello's turn to score. A couple of minutes later Getafe narrowed the game to 4-1, but at that point it was already too late. Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique scored yet another 2 goals in the final minutes. Thanks to Atletico's loss to Rayo Vallecano Barca now leads La Liga by 12 points.

Valencia - FC Barcelona 1 - 1

The game against Valencia at Mestalla proved to be quite a challenge for FC Barcelona. Valencia's Ever Banega scored the opening goal on the 33th minute. Nine minutes later Barca tied with Lionel Messi's beautiful penalty goal. However, without the penalty I'm afraid Barca just might've returned from Valencia with zero points. The first half was not good. I think that Barca's game was quite a mess. There were never players when you would've needed them. Valencia on the other hand played very well. They were aggressive and didn't allow Barca to do their usual passing, at least not as much as usually.

And Barca Takes the Blame

Yesterday Real Madrid lost to Granada. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the evening...behind Real's new goalkeeper Diego Lopez. Jose Mourinho, as always, was disappointed and unwilling to take the blame. So according to him who's fault was it? FC Barcelona's. How? This time the explanation was that the Blancos were so tired from their game against the Catalans on Wednesday that they didn't have the energy to play as well as they should've. Apparently Barca was favored, because they got one more day to rest. And apparently this was some kind of proof of the existence of the "conspiracy" against Real Madrid. In my opinion this was another proof of the lunacy of Mr. Mourinho.

Transfers, transfers...

With the transfer window closed it's time to look at a few of the biggest transfers.

Mario Balotelli from Manchester City to AC Milan. This was definitely a dramatic move. Silvio Berlusconi, the president of the club for example called Mario a rotten apple, but in the end wanted to buy him. And naturally many of the Internazionale's fans weren't so happy with their former player's smooth move to their biggest rival.

El Clasico 1 - 1

So the thursday's El Clasico didn't go as well as hoped... A 1-1 tie was not the dream result, but a good starting point for the second leg match at Camp Nou on the 27th of February. The goalscorers were Cesc Fabregas for Barca and Raphael Varane for Madrid. Hopefully the result will be better at Camp Nou!

FC Barcelona - Osasuna 5 - 1

The man of the match

Yesterday's clash between FC Barcelona and Osasuna ended 5-1 for the Catalans. The biggest star of the evening was Lionel Messi, who scored 4 goals and was pretty much responsible for the victory. Pedro also managed to score once for the home team and Raoul Loe scored the only goal for the visitors. For a few minutes in the beginning after Osasuna's equalizer the game was a tie, but after that Barca and especially Messi were unstoppable and Osasuna could only stop and stare. After Atletico Madrid's 0-3 defeat to Athletic Bilbao Barca was able to restore the gap back to 11 points.

The Captain of the Bench

With the arrival of Diego Lopez to Real Madrid I can't help but wonder what is going to happen to Casillas. And it's probably not just me who's wondering. The whole world and probably even Casillas himself are thinking about that. What happened between Mourinho and Casillas that was so terrible that he put the best goalkeeper in the world to the bench? Any team would be happy to have him. With his talent, calmness and polite behavior it's hard to believe that the man is a Blancos player in the first place. And now he's not even allowed to play anymore.

I think it's interesting to see what Casillas will do. Now he's injured and can't play for 12 weeks, but after that, if Lopez is still the no 1 goalkeeper will Casillas just settle for his unfair treatment at the club or will he go somewhere else?

The Next Member of the Barca Clan?

Could David de Gea be FC Barcelona's new goalkeeper? At least according to de Gea's girlfriend Edurne, de Gea would be very interested in playing for the Catalans. De Gea is still very much a Manchester United player, but who knows what could happen when Victor Valdes leaves... I think that David de Gea could be a good solution to Barca's goalkeeper problem. He is young, Spanish and eager to play there. Liverpool's Pepe Reina and Atletico Madrid's Thibaut Courtois have also been linked with a move to Camp Nou.

Malaga - FC Barcelona 2 - 4

Yesterday's Copa del Rey clash between FC Barcelona and Malaga ended happily for the Catalans. After a 2-2 tie in the first leg at Camp Nou I was starting to worry that the Copa del Rey would be starting to slip away, but with a clear 4-2 victory in the second leg FC Barcelona is still very much in the game. The next cup game will be an El Clasico against Real Madrid on January 30th. The goalscorers of the night were Joaquin and Santa Cruz for the home team and Pedro, Pique, Iniesta and Messi for the Catalans.

The Special One Not So Special Anymore?

One of the many smug faces of mr Mourinho.

Lately there have been lots of rumors about Jose Mourinho's relationship with the players of Real Madrid. And despite everyone denying issues in the locker room I think it's hard to believe that all those rumors came out of nowhere. And of course the fact that the Blancos have played so incredible poorly tells that something is very much wrong inside the team.

I think that this is kind of funny, because before Mourinho was always known to have really good relationships with his players. For example Zlatan Ibrahimovic praised Mourinho several times in his autobiography and many others of his former players are still in contact with him.

Papa Pique

Milan Pique Mebarak the first son of Gerard Pique and his girlfriend Shakira was born on Tuesday night. The official statement on Shakira's website read "We are happy to announce the birth of Milan Pique Mebarak, son of Shakira Mebarak and Gerard Pique, born January 22nd at 9:36pm, in Barcelona, Spain.

"The name Milan (pronounced MEE-lahn), means dear, loving and gracious in Slavic; in Ancient Roman, eager and laborious; and in Sanskrit, unification.

"Just like his father, baby Milan became a member of FC Barcelona at birth.

According to the hospital the labour went excellently and the whole family is healthy and happy. Baby Milan weighed approximately 6 lbs and 6 ounces. Congratulations to Pique and Shakira!

Real Sociedad - FC Barcelona 3 - 2

"Real Sociedad can be the first team to beat Barcelona". That was Sociedad's young striker Antoine Griezmann's comment before yesterday's game. Little did I know he would be right. Real Sociedad could and did win FC Barcelona for the first time in La Liga this season. It's three points lost, nothing more nothing less, but it still stings a little. Despite the defeat FC Barcelona still sits rather comfortably on the top of La Liga with a 9 point lead ahead of Atletico Madrid. And even though Atletico Madrid will surely try to narrow that gap to 6 points tonight against Levante, Barca still has a nice lead.

What worries me the most is what Barca's playing looked like yesterday. And I don't mean that Real Sociedad won, because Barca played poorly. Sociedad was great and definitely deserved to win, but Barca wasn't what they could've and should've been. The defense was quite poor. Gerard Pique was basically asleep and got two idiotic warnings that turned into a red card. Wether the stupid red card was an overreaction from the judge or not, no one can deny that Pique shouldn't have put himself to that situation in the first place. The rest of the defense was quite bad as well and Victor Valdes... Once again Victor Valdes. I love him, but sometimes it's like he doesn't exist, like Barca doesn't have a goalkeeper at all and as a fan that's quite frustrating to watch.

 After the announcement last week that Valdes wasn't going to renew his contract made me wonder. What if it wasn't Valdes' decision but FC Barcelona's and they just made it look like it was his so that it would be nicer for him in the media. Maybe it's a bit of a conspiracy theory, but in my head it totally makes sense. He hasn't lived up to the expectations in years, if ever and I've always wondered how long he'll be allowed to keep playing like that. And it's not that he isn't good enough, but I think that often on the field he's somewhat arrogant and lazy and doesn't work hard enough. Anyway, I hope that Valdes' departure will be a good thing both for him and the club.

Villa and Valdes, Disappearing Acts?

During this transfer season FC Barcelona's striker David Villa hasn't hidden his desire to play for another team. Yesterday it was also reported that Barca's goalkeeper Victor Valdes won't be renewing his contract with the Catalans.

 I understand David Villa's situation since he is a very good player that still always gets outshined by Lionel Messi. With all the other Blaugrana strikers fighting for a place in the line-up it's no wonder that Villa wants to play somewhere he gets regular playing time and a secure place in the starting line-up.