FC Barcelona Schedule

Betis holds Barça to a draw in last league match of season

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:27:33 +0000

An 8th minute goal from Busquets and a 91st minute goal from Keita gave Barcelona a 2-2 draw agisnt Betis on Saturday, after the hosts scored two goals in quick succession in the 70th and 73rd minute to put them briefly ahead.

The match was Pep Guardiola’s last league match as Barça coach, with his final match on May 25th when Barcelona faces Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey.

Technorati Tags: Betis, Busquets, Guardiola, Keita

Saying goodbye to the Camp Nou: FC Barcelona 4 – 0 RCD Espanyol [The Offside]

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:20:14 +0000

Saturday night was the Barcelona Derby against RCD Espanyol and also marked the final match at the Nou Camp for Pep Guardiola. He has achieved phenomenol success while the team coach and whatever his successor does, he is sure to be missed for his contribution. Messi scored all four goals of the match, putting him comfortably ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo as the leading goal scorer of the Spanish league, but one of the highlights was the celebration afer the match. According to The Offside:

Messi and the rest of the team’s celebration with Pep was probably the stand out moment of the match, for me. How many times would that happen for any other manager on his way out off a club? It was very fitting. Pep has helped Messi develop a lot during these past four years and Messi has worked extremely hard in return. It was a fitting celebration.

Read “Saying goodbye to the Camp Nou: FC Barcelona 4 – 0 RCD Espanyol” at The Offside

Technorati Tags: Barcelona Derby, Espanyol, Guardiola, La Liga, Messi

Madrid takes league title as Barcelona beats Malaga 4-1

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:11:26 +0000

Lionel Messi is two goals ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo after last night’s matches in which Barcelona beat Malaga 4-1, with a goal from Carles Puyol and three from Messi, while Real Madrid clinched the league title with a 3-1 win against Athletic Club Bilbao.

Technorati Tags: Malaga, Messi, Puyol

Fàbregas proud of Barcelona fans [UEFA.com]

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:35:53 +0000

Despite Barcelona’s defeat at the hands of Chelsea Cesc Fabregas was content with how Barça played. According to an article on the UEFA website:

Fàbregas said: “Everyone saw the game and they can draw their own conclusions. First of all I congratulate them. Chelsea are in another final and I wish them all the best. We have to talk about how we played. But we knew that if we were to lose then it should be in this manner because we wanted to be sure that we stuck to our style.

Read “Fàbregas proud of Barcelona fans” at UEFA.com

Technorati Tags: Cesc, Champions League, Chelsea

Barcelona’s league dream dashed by Madrid

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:15:12 +0000

Barcelona’s dream was to beat Real Madrid at the Nou Camp on Saturday and turn their four point deficit in the lead into a single point and thereafter leapfrog Madrid waiting for them to stumble. However, it looks as if the league is now over after a 2-1 win to Madrid opened up that gap to seven points again, and while mathematically possible, it just isn’t going to happen.

Barcelona didn’t look to be on their top form on Saturday, perhaps tired from their Champions League clash against Chelsea. And while the dominated possession as usual, Madrid’s defence would not allow them through. Madrid went a goal up just after the quarter hour mark, but Barcelona didn’t come back until 20 minutes to the final whistle.

While that looked as though they might be back in the game, Christino Ronaldo cut that dream off soon after scoring Madrid’s second goal.

Technorati Tags: Cristiano Ronaldo, La Liga, Real Madrid

Barcelona runs rings around Chelsea but fails to score – Chelsea 1 Barcelona 0

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:53:16 +0000

Barcelona visited Stamford Bridge last night in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal, a night after seeing arch-rival Real Madrid being beaten by Bayern Munich.

Barcelona dominated possession throughout the match that was played under the rain and despite several good attacks on the Chelsea goal mouth the ball failed to go in. Particularly unlucky was Alexis, whose shot struck the bottom of the cross bar and bounced out.

And in stoppage time at the end of the first half Chlesea got lucky and broke through the Barça defence allowing Didier Drogba to score.

Despite giving it their all, Barcelona just didn’t manage to get the ball into the back of the net, despite running rings around the London club. All being well next week they will be able to overcome the one goal deficit to qualify for the final.

Technorati Tags: Champions League semifinal, Chelsea

Barcelona remains 4 points behind Madrid ahead of Clasico

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:14:57 +0000

Messi added two more goals to his tally on Saturday night to ensure a 2-1 victory for the Catalans.

Barcelona conceded the first goal early on, but relentless attack on the Levante goal ensured that eventually the ball went home. Madrid played Sporting Gijon earlier in the evening and so Barcelona knew that they could only maintain the four point gap with Madrid.

This week they play Chelsea and next weekend is the clasico, which could make a big difference to the league table.

Technorati Tags: La Liga, Levante, Messi

4-1 win for Barça against Zaragoza

admin — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:54:21 +0000

Barcelona’s 4-1 win against Zaragoza on Saturday put them briefly three points behind Real Madrid, but after a goalless draw against Valencia, Madrid is ahead of Barcelona by just four points.

Zaragoza scored first but Puyol soon scored one for Barça. Messi put the Catalans ahead in the first half, with two more goals at the end of the match from Messi and Pedro ensuring three points from the match.

Technorati Tags: Messi, Pedro, Puyol, Zaragoza

Record-breaking Messi leads Barca into semis [IOL.co.za]

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:00:10 +0000

Barcelona eliminated AC Milan from the quarterfinals of Champions League, putting them in s strong position to go through and defend the title in the final. According to IOL.co.za:

Messi’s brace of first-half penalties took him to 51 Champions League goals – at 24 the youngest to achieve this landmark – and a total this season of 14 breaking the previous record held by himself and Ruud van Nistelrooy of 12.

Andres Iniesta’s well-taken goal early in the second-half wrapped up the match and they will face wither Chelsea or Benfica in the semi-finals as they bid to become the first team to retain the trophy since it became the Champions League in the 1992/93 season.

Read “Record-breaking Messi leads Barca into semis” at IOL.co.za

Technorati Tags: AC Milan, Champions League, Iniesta, Messi

La Liga: FC Barcelona 2-0 Athletic Bilbao: Match Review [Barca Blaugranes]

admin — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:15:35 +0000

Both Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao made several changes to their starting lineups when they met on Saturday night due to the previous week’s European committments. Of the two sides the visitors looked most tired just two days after their Europa League match. According to Barça Blaugranas:

Both sides made multiple changes from after their exertions midweek in UEFA competition, as Xavi, Seydou Keita and Carles Puyol dropped to the bench, with Thiago Alcantara, Cristian Tello and Adriano all starting in what was a strong Barcelona line-up despite the upcoming Champions League match with AC Milan.

Read “La Liga: FC Barcelona 2-0 Athletic Bilbao: Match Review” at Barca Blaugranes

Technorati Tags: Athletic Bilbao, Iniesta, La Liga, Messi