After game: Mallorca- Barcelona and more news

First of all, news about Pedro: After further tests this morning, club doctors announced that Pedro Rodríguez will be out for up to three weeks with the injury he picked up against Mallorca. The tests showed a torn calf muscle and first impressions are that Pedro could be out for up to three weeks, during which time Barça will play Valencia, Copenhagen and Zaragoza, with Pedro already ruled out of the two Spain games over the next two weeks.

Let's start with quick summary of what happened yesterday, I think players and coach will explain it better:



Manuel Agudo ‘Nolito’: “I’m happy to have made my debut, though it was bitter sweet because we were held to a draw. Mallorca didn’t do much at all and it was a pity that we only drew” .


Javier Mascherano: "We have to close games down earlier and not have to suffer so much”
“I personally am feeling better with every game, more comfortable. I’m prepared to take more risks with my passing and I’m feeling more natural with the team defending too”.

Andrés Iniesta: “I don’t think we have a problem, it’s just that when you make so many chances and can’t put them away, there’s obviously something up”.
“We tried everything we could, but we didn’t find the best way through. We don’t need to get obsessed or go crazy”. “The state of the pitch is not an excuse, but if it was better it would help us”.

Gerard Piqué: “Right now we just have to concentrate on winning the three points against Valencia”. “We had plenty of chances and we need to be sharper to avoid suffering so much” “This is just a slip up”.

Víctor Valdés:
“If we could have taken any of the many chances we created, the game would have been different”. “The pitch is soft and it breaks easily, but that can’t be an excuse for today’s result”.

Andres on his facebook: "We created many opportunities for so little reward. We have to keep working and be confident."

Stats:
► Messi’s 21st minute goal was the first goal the team have scored in the second quarter hour of a La Liga game so far this season.

► As well as Nolito’s debut, Jeffren made his first appearance of the season.

► This was the first game of the season that Barça have finished without picking up a single card.

► Alves and Bojan are the only two players who have featured in all 10 games the teams have played so far this season.

► The Mallorca game was the second of the season in which Maxwell has not figured, having also missed out in the match against Panathinaikos, which was also the last game in which Abidal had started.

► The game was also Thiago’s first at the Nou Camp this season, having played in both the games at the Vicente Calderon and San Mames.

► This was the first time this season that the team recorded two results on the run which were the same, following the 1-1 draw in Kazan on Wednesday.


The Nou Camp paid homage to the team that won Five Cups before the game against Mallorca tonight with special honours paid to Eduardo Manchón, who died this week.


Monday:

The squad were back in training this morning after Sunday evening’s disappointment against Mallorca, without the injured Xavi and Pedro and Jeffren and Bojan who are with the Spanish Under-21 squad. The players involved in last night’s game had a gentle work out, whilst the rest of the squad welcomed five Barça B players - Masip, Ilie, Carles Planas, Edu Oriol and Martí Riverola to the session.






With a large part of the squad away on international duty, Guardiola has decided to hold just two more training sessions this week – on Tuesday at 11.00 and also on Friday . The remains of the squad will thus enjoy a deserved break on Wednesday and Thursday, as well as at the weekend and next Monday, with a training session scheduled for Tuesday October 12th.

After training Eric Abidal met with media:
Éric Abidal admitted that the squad is “angry” with the draw against Mallorca and the Frenchman reckoned “we had plenty of chances to kill the game off. We are a bit out of luck”, compared to other seasons.(more here)

Three players from FCB received today their MARCA awards for the 2009/10 season. Víctor Valdés won the Zamora trophy, the Pichichi was awarded to Leo Messi and the Zarra trophy went to David Villa. The players didn’t participate in the gala that took place in Madrid, so they received the awards at the Ciutat Esportiva in Barcelona.


As you probably noticed Camp Nou pitch is in poor condition..



On totalbarca.com you an read intresting piece about it(click to read)

But wait, there is hope! Look what happened today...


They're replacing grass, it should be ready at weekend.

And one bonus news, it's right from Andres Iniesta! He will give 3 shirts tomorrow!
"Some time ago I gave away a shirt to thank the support you always give me. There are so many of you that I can not do it all. So to have the same opportunities, tomorrow at 22h I will publish a question. Among the first ten who answer I will choose 3 and give away shirts. Good luck and see you tomorrow!"

and one more news (well it's rather about me than Barca): I became member of totalbarca.com team, and I don't have to explain how happy I'm, as it's one of my favourite website about FCB.

Victory in pouring rain

What a game! So much to share and so little time, but I will try to post everything tonight.

Saturday was sunny in Barcelona, and rainy in Bilbao. Our team managed to win game in hard weather conditions. But let's start from beginning.









Some not-useful-but-still-intersting facts:
Andoni Zubizarreta, sporting director of FC Barcelona, always travel with the first team. This time, however, taking advantage of the fact that game was played in his homeland, he traveled on Friday (a day before the official expedition). When the team arrived at the hotel of concentration, Zubi was waiting there.



On the picture above you can see Palacio de Ibaigane - it's headquater of Athletic Club, on match day representatives of both clubs met there and have a traditional lunch. Curious fact: Athletic club bought this palace in 1986 for money from transfer of Zubizzareta to FCB.

Despite the rain and the state of the lawn at San Mames, it was a true luxury game. We have possibility to watch 10 World champions on the pitch, 8 from Barcelona and in Athletic team were Javi Martinez and Llorente.

Fernando Llorente and Gerard Pique have a good relationship. Llorente has a very good opinion about Pique and he expressed it in a recent interview in Marca.
Q:Whose one-on-one marking is more aggressive, that of Piqué/Puyol, or of your girlfriend?
A: Piqué and Puyol. They’re two of the best central defenders in the world and their marking is aggressive even in the training sessions. That of my girlfriend is a child’s game. (English translation by conlaroja)

Did you watched game? For me it was great pleasure to watch it, of course there were not-so-good moments too (like red card for Villa) but generally speeking it was great game, in hard weather condition, with hostile stadium, and still our players played in "style we believe" with many passes, great actions, lot of occasions to score.

And yes, we won! All 3 goals were scored by our midfielders.

Some photos:













Game wasn't easy, so the victory has special meaning for team.

Some highlights:


Tackle on Iniesta


Just to remind you, our team doesn't have good memories with Amorebieta


But it wasn't only red card that evening, David also recieved one:

well maybe he was frustrated after so many missed occasions, but in my oppinion the main reason for his behaviour was what happened few seconds before: defender from Atletic Bilbao (I don't remeber his name) was pushing Villa, so he almost fell but referee didn't react, I don't looking for excuses for David, he reacted in stupid way, and such way of dealing with problems on and off the pitch is unacceptable. Pep after game said "I want to be sure that never happens again.” which is right answer, whatever happened on the pitch our players should be respectful for opponents and show that there is no place for ANY violence on the pitch. If we want to keep mes-que-un-club-style we have to pay great attention to ethical behaviour and fair play.

Other facts: Adriano was substituted by Maxwell at half time. It turns out that the full back has torn fibres in his right thigh.

Xavi and Villa were the players that took the doping control, and passed it.

Players comments:

"We knew before the start that this was our chance (Madrid had drawn). We need to wait for these chances and today was one”
“Athletic v Barça games have always been intense. They’re special games and I remember that the games we have played with them have always been nice”


Keita said “it is very important for the team that the midfield players can also score”. “It is important to win here because it’s never easy. These are tough grounds and the players have to be strong … and we were missing Leo!”
Keita was also asked about the fans’ reaction to the red card shown issued to Amorebieta for a foul on Iniesta. “Andrés is a great person and a great player. But it’s only normal for the crowd to boo him if they don’t think it was a foul”

Funny part: reporter asked if Seydou remeber his last goal, and he answered he has no idea:P

Alves: “It was a difficult game with a lot of pressure from the crowd. But we have the personality and courage”.

Guardiola after game:
He has said he’d rather the team finished games off earlier rather than things staying uncertain until the end.
The FCB boss was unhappy that his players squandered so many chances tonight. “We have to show more desire, more ambition in front of goal and we need to score. Whenever we get chances in the area, we have to take them”. Nevertheless, he was generally pleased with the performance at such a difficult ground as San Mamés.

And as for the whistling aimed at Iniesta by the Athletic faithful, “It doesn’t matter. The fans have the right to do that kind of thing, to cheer and boo, they have paid their entrance. There’s nothing to be said. Spanish football knows all about the way Andrés behaves”. (my personal oppinion- I was surprised too, because everywhere he was cheered because of his winning goal in WC, but in Bilbao it was different, he scored for Spanish national team, Bilbao is in Basque Country, we have to remeber about it too. But from my point of view main reason for this reaction was that situation with red card)

Ok, so maybe it's enough about Saturday! ;) I HAVE to find some photos of Pep from game, someone wrote he was "waterproof" but I didn't find any good photos yes, so stay tuned;)

After the win on Saturday, the players were given a rest on Sunday and won’t train again until Monday at 9:30 as they prepare for the Champions League fixture against Rubin Kazan.

Adriano has been ruled out of FC Barcelona’s Champions League game against Rubin Kazan in midweek after suffering an injury against Athletic Club.

Leo Messi has continued to work on his recuperation on Sunday morning in the Ciutat Esportiva while Éric Abidal and Jeffren also trained.

and my fave part: photos from training:)






Other news


Regal Barça have once again shown why they are the best team in Europe. Barça won the Spanish Super Cup and Juan Carlos Navarro was made MVP of the competition.

The PB Ramon Llorens has celebrated its 50th Birthday with a party attended by the president Sandro Rosell and vice president Jordi Cardoner.


FC Barcelona B 1-0 Numancia. Nolito scored, photos below





p.s. do you recognize supporters on last photo:P?

Trainings and some other news

Sorry for not so many newst in last days, but I was very busy with some issues in my everyday life not connected with FCB, but I hope to post everything soon.

So let's start with very quick summay of 23rd and 24th of September in Barcelona's world.

The first team returned to training after defeating Sporting Gijón. The players gathered on pitch 1 at the Ciutat Esportiva at 11.00 am. Xavi and Puyol preferred to work on specific tasks in the gym, while the injured Messi was also absent. Abidal was also given special permission by the club to miss today’s session. The players that featured at the Camp Nou last night did their own specific work with a fitness specialist.

The other players trained as normal, with a big game away to Bilbo to come at 10.00 pm on Saturday. Guardiola also called upon six reserve players. Two of these, Nolito and Thiago, have been training with the first team for several days, and were joined today by colleagues Miño, Tello, Fontàs and Víctor Vázquez.

Photos:











After training session Gabi Milito met with media (click here to read more)
Fave quotes:
“We are a squad, a group, with very good players, if at any point in the season somebody is missing, we have someone else to take his place.”
“We’ll have to be prepared for a very serious match, because we’re up against a very good team. It’s one of the toughest grounds in Spanish football. We’ll have to play the same way we have done in other games recently, playing seriously and intensely, because we won’t be playing an easy team.”


Friday:
Lionel Messi's road to recovery took a step forward on Friday as he strolled onto the training pitch for the first time to work on his individual programme! That's what I call "news of the day". Take care Leo!
Let's celebrate with photos- all from morning session:)





BTW I love this last photo, our cute boys from Argentina, Leo, Gabi and Javier together:)

After trainig it was Pep's turn to hold press conference. Most of all he was talking about game against Athleico Bilbao, but also about Messi and team (click to read more)


Thiago Alcántara has been called up to the FC Barcelona squad for the game against Athletic Club de Bilbao on Saturday evening as Lionel Messi and Éric Abidal miss out. Congrats Thiago!

So our full squad for tomorrow is: Valdés, Pinto, Adriano, Maxwell, Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Milito, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Iniesta, Mascherano, Jeffren, Bojan, Pedro, Villa, Keita, Thiago.

Abidal is back in BCN, as totalbarca.com reports "For forty five minutes on Friday afternoon (16:45 to 17.30) the French defender exercised alone, with the help of one of the team’s trainers to help him recover his match fitness. The player missed six days of training owing to the illness of his grandfather, who has since passed away. Abidal returned to Barcelona this afternoon."

Other news:
After the league match against Mallorca (October 8th), a number of Barcelona’s players will once again disperse for international duty: Alves and Adriano (Brazil), Milito&Mascherano&Messi (Argentina)

And just look at this front page of MD;

Funny part: Pique asked about all gosips about his personal life, including relationship with Shakira, answered ““My private life? I take all this very lightly. If I were to ignore the rumors, Zlatan would be very sad.” (you probably remeber HUGE rumours about Pique and Ibra after this photo was taken-click to see it), he also confessed that “It is much harder to be a model to play football.”

Pique showed off the design of watch and bracelet that will bare his name in a collection especially made for the Time Force brand.


Few days ago in Spanish media tere were newst about group on facebook "Si esto consigue 250.000 fans me retiro a los 40" which means "If it (group) gets 250,000 fans I will retire at 40" people who set it up claimed to be Puyi's friends and that Carles asked them to create such group, but Carles denied it and on his twitter informed that he has no idea what's it all about.

Club's corner:
Today we have an emotional ceremony, club awarded the golden insignia to members that have been loyal to the Club for 50 years. Congrats!
Sandro Rosell has presented gold club crest for the first time in his role as FC Barcelona president as he spent Friday with 189 members who were celebrating being associated with the Blaugrana for 50 years.




The festivities on the day of Mercé began at 10am when a service was held to commemorate 53 years since Camp Nou was inaugurated. President Sandro Rosell and vice president Jordi Cardoner represented the board in the event that was carried out in the Roma area along with around 200 members.