Hi, I'm alive:P

ok there were no posts for more than a week, it's a long time, and there were so many interesting things, including 3 games, but let me explain that silence on blog. First of all, I was in Barcelona:P Well not all that time, but last 6 days. So I have no time for posting things here. I think there is no sense to post everything, just a little summary. And than I will post everyday like before my trip.

26th Oct
-Six Barça players up for world’s best player award (click to get to know more)

-training: Pep Guardiola left various high profile names out of his squad for the trip south to play in the Copa del Rey first leg encounter and so Víctor Valdés, Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi and David Villa all trained as normal.



-FC Barcelona’s squad landed in Ceuta after their unique trip by helicopter and they were met by around 200 people while another large group then welcomed them as they arrived at their hotel ahead of the Copa del Rey encounter. (read more here)



-Jeffren Suárez has been ruled out for four weeks after tests revealed the extent of the shoulder injury that he sustained in the Copa del Rey tie against Ceuta on Tuesday.

-Maxwell will always have fond memories of the Copa del Rey encounter with Ceuta after he scored his first official goal for FC Barcelona in the 0-2 triumph on Tuesday evening. Maxwell not only scored a goal against Ceuta he also set up the other as he provided the assist for Pedro.

-Bojan Krkic wore the captain’s armband in an official match for the first time against Ceuta, but this was just one of the interesting bits of trivia associated to last night’s Copa del Rey opener.

- Pep after game: “We lacked a third goal” (more comments)

-Players reactions after game (click)


27th Oct

- The seven first team players that did not travel to Ceuta had training in the morning at the Ciutat Esportiva. Guardiola also called upon 14 reserve team players.



28th Oct
-After a few days working apart from the rest of the squad, aiming to get over their respective injuries, Xavi and Milito rejoined the group for training at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper.

-Speaking after training session, Víctor Valdés admitted:“the team have had a few blips, but it’s nothing more than that”, whilst assuring the media:“I can see no reason to doubt the team.We are even doing some things better this season".

29th Oct
-The focus was on the visit of Sevilla as 18 FC Barcelona players were joined by Thiago Alcántara for Friday's training session at the club's Ciutat Esportiva training complex.

-Pep met with media after training (read more)

- José Manuel Pinto has been suspended for two Champions League matches by UEFA for an incident in the match against FC Copenhagen and Barça are now planning to appeal to the Control and Disciplinary Committee.

-Gerard Piqué revealed his feelings on a range of subjects from life at FC Barcelona and his time at Manchester United in an interview with Estació Camp Nou for Barça TV. (read more)

30th Oct- Matchday
- The players reported to the Stadium at 11.30 and were out on the pitch training at midday in preparation for the clash with Manzano’s Seville which kicked off at 22.00.



-WHAT A GAME! 5-0! Two goals by Messi and Villa, one for Alves, I was there at Camp Nou and can enjoy that wonderful game. PURE JOY.

- Villa after game: “the goals were for all the Nou Camp fans and for all the people from my home town who’d come to see me. They travelled a long way and I’m very grateful to them. I hope that they take advantage of the holiday weekend to visit the city – I’m sure they’ll love it”.

- game facts Seville only had three shots during the game, with just one on target, whilst Barça had eighteen, with eight on target. Barça made twenty five crosses to Seville’s seven and a total of 723 passes to the visitor’s 283: another stat that shows Barça’s total domination.

31st Oct
-Messi: “It’s been a good week” (read more)

-The players who featured in last night’s win over Seville had a gentle training session in the morning, as the focus switched from La Liga to Champions League action and the trip to Copenhagen on Monday for Tuesday’s game.

-Xavi: “I felt nearly 100%”(more here)

1st Nov
-FC Barcelona, accompanied by President Sandro Rosell, landed at 13.50 at Copenhagen airport ahead of Champions League clash.

-Pep Guardiola has called up 19 players for the game, 17 from the first team squad plus Thiago and Miño from Barça B. A further 40 fans travelled with the players to watch the game.

-Speaking before Tuesday’s game in Copenhagen, Dani Alves believes the team are “gradually improving with every game and there’ll be no going back - we are heading for the highest level”.(more here)

-Guardiola: “we’ll have to put in a very good performance” (more)

Barça trained at the Parken Stadium in the evening ahead of game in the midst of great media excitement.+click for more information and photos


2nd Nov matchday
-Barça were not alone on a cold night in Copenhagen. Some 2,000 FC Barcelona fans and members were in the Parken Stadium to see them draw on Danish soil. Barça fans from Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and Belgium, and not forgetting Catalans and Spaniards, were in the Danish capital to cheer on Guardiola and his men. In total, there were some 2,000 Barça supporters in the stands. The largest community was almost certainly from Poland, whose Penya Polska alone sent some 100 fans.

-Game result 1-1

-There’s just no stopping Leo Messi. In Copenhagen, the Argentinian scored yet again and now has 100 in the Josep Guardiola era. Messi has also overtaken Rivaldo as the club’s highest scorer in international competitions.

-Plazers reactions after game (click to read more)

-
Guardiola after game (click for more)


-Barça enjoyed 67 per cent of the possession, in both the first half and the second too.

-Copenhagen had more crosses into the area, 35-12, but were nowhere near their guests in passes made, 252-611.

-Lionel Messi has scored 11 of his 15 goals this season in the first half of games.

Sunday&Monday summary

After their win in Zaragoza, the squad were back in training on Sunday morning. One of the most important elements of this morning’s session was the presence of thirteen B team players, with Dos Santos, Nolito, Fontàs, Riverola, Benja, Thiago, Saúl, Rochina, O. Romeu, Miño, V. Vázquez, Edu Oriol and Bartra joining in with the first team squad.

Guardiola decided to give eight of his players –Puyol, Pique, Iniesta, Alves, Messi, Villa, Valdés and Busquets, a rest, but the last three decided to come in anyway and do some gentle recovery work, whilst Xavi and Milito also continued with their own treatment apart from the rest of the group.






Seydou Keita spoke after training on Sunday morning and stressed the good performances and results the team are putting in, whilst explaining how keen he is to start this season’s assault on the Spanish Cup. (read more -click)

Ten first team players and six from Barça B will make the trip to Ceuta on Tuesday as Barça open their Spanish Cup campaign. The Cup rules state that the squad must be 16 strong and a maximum of six non-first team players can be named. The trip to Ceuta will be unusual for the team, who will fly to Malaga, before taking a helicopter flight over into the African continent. The squad are due to touch down in Ceuta at 12.30.

The full list given by Guardiola this morning is: Pinto, Puyol, Abidal, Maxwell, Adriano, Mascherano, Keita, Bojan, Jeffren, Pedro, Miño, Bartra, Fontàs, Thiago, Dos Santos and Nolito. Seven first team squad players -Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Busquets, Iniesta, Messi and Villa -are still enjoying the short break Guardiola gave them after the Zaragoza game.

The squad for the Ceuta game, with the exception of Pinto who had the club’s permission to miss the session for family reasons, trained at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper this morning. In addition, Valdes came along and worked out with a coach, before joining the rest of the group, whilst Xavi and Milito continued with their own recovery programmes.












Barça begin their campaign to regain the Spanish Cup when they travel to the North African enclave of Ceuta on Tuesday and Guardiola commented: “It’s not a chore at all - I’m looking forward to the game, When you play a team you don’t know, you always pick up something new”. If you want to know what else Pep said at meeting with press click (here), pay attention to Pep's clothes and shoes (sorry for poor quality but couldn't find better pictures)


On official website there is interesting piece sbout new system 3-4-3 (click for more)

Busy week..

...not only for Barca;) sorry for no posts during last few days, I've got very busy week and didn't have time to update blog, so tonight will be quick summary and I will try to post all important (and not so important stuff)

Monday:

Bojan was present at the presentation of the Barça Veterans 2010/11 prize for fair play which he picked up. The young striker refuses to let the lack of goals get to him and insisted: “it’s only normal that people say things, because I’ve still not scored, but when the first one goes in, I’m sure there will plenty more to come”

Masch spoke with press: "I’ve been improving with each game and I’ll continue to do so”. (read more)

Barça were back in training this evening after their day off on Sunday and Puyol and Xavi both trained apart. The captain picked up knock on his left leg on Saturday and Xavi did some recovery work on his ankle.






Gaby Milito was forced out of this evening’s training session with a muscle strain in his left thigh that will rule him out for up to two weeks.


Tuesday
Messi met with media, and he was adorable:P


If you want to know what he was talking about click here!

Also Pep spoke to press. “Because of the quality of the opposition, their good preparation and the fact that so little has been said about them” Guardiola feels Wednesday’s game with Copenhagen at the Camp Nou could be a dangerous one. And our Mister was also adorable!


Xavi and Puyol, who missed training on Monday, were back on Tuesday for the session at the Camp Nou, but the injured Milito was absent.













Wednesday- game day!

Víctor Valdés was out of Champions League game against Copenhagen after suffering vomiting and fever overnight. B team keeper Rubén Miño has been called into the squad as cover. José Manuel Pinto made his Champions League debut. Pinto played in this season’s Joan Gamper Trophy, saving three penalties in Barça’s win.

But the best part of the day was game! 2-0 for us:D I'm sure most of us watched the game so there is no need to write about it:P
Photos in no particular order:P





















After game player share their oppinions (click to read) and Pep spoke about match too (click for more info)

Some intresting facts and statistics about game (click)
Thursday

With most of the players involved in Wednesday night’s game working out in the gym, just seven of the first team squad, together with five players from the B team, took part in morning’s training session at the Ciutat Esportiva. Pinto and Abidal were the only players from last night’s starting line up to join the session, with the rest of the players, including Xavi Hernández, settling for some recovery work in the gym.





The Catalan World Moto 2 champion, Toni Elías was a visitor at morning’s training session after watching the game at the Nou Camp last night as a guest of the club






Xavi Hernàndez will be rested this weekend for the game against Zaragoza and will therefore be able to assist at the ceremony of presentation of the Premis Príncep d'Astúries in Oviedo.

Friday:
Sergio met with press (detalis here)

Josep Guardiola will take eighteen players to Zaragoza this Saturday: the seventeen available players from the first team squad, plus Thiago from Barça B.

Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Adriano, Abidal, Maxwell, Puyol, Piqué, Sergio, Mascherano, Keita, Iniesta, Thiago, Jeffren, Pedro, Messi, Bojan and Villa.

As always at days before game Pep met with media. Guardiola is not taking anything for granted ahead of the game against Zaragoza and has insisted that their position at the foot of the table doesn’t mean anything. The boss also spoke about the physical problems affecting Valdés and Xavi. (details)

Photos from training session:










Offside:
Event with Audi and some nice cars:P




Funny moment:

Well it's very difficult to remeber which team our company supports yeah? ;)









At the beginning of each season, Audi gives a car to all of the first team players, as well as to the head coach. Pep Guardiola turned his down, arguing that if there weren’t a car for all of the technical staff, then there should not be one for him, either.