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Archive for the ‘La Liga’ Category

Leo Messi has missed 17 games since Guardiola took over as manager and the good news for the team is that only four of those matches ended in defeat, with three draws and ten wins. What’s more, three of the four defeats came in games where nothing wa

Messi will definitely miss the next two games, but in the past the team has been able to more than make do without their Argentinean star, only losing when he’s been out away to Wisla(1-0), Shaktar (2-3) and Mallorca (2-1) and at home to Osasuna (0-1) in the 2008/09 season. Only in the first of those games was anything actually at stake.

Wins against Sporting and Bilbao
Curiously enough, this won’t be the first time that Leo has missed games against Sporting or Bilbao. Last year’s opening fixture at the Nou Camp saw Barça beat Sporting without Messi and Bilbao lost 0-1 at San Mames in the 2008/09 season, as well as in the first leg of last season’s Spanish Super Cup in the Basque country(1-2) when he was also absent. Read the rest of this entry »

Champions Barcelona suffered a humiliating 2-0 home defeat by Hercules on Saturday when Nelson Valdez struck twice to give the tiny promoted club a shock La Liga victory at the Nou Camp.

Barca had not lost at home in the league since May 2009 when they went down 1-0 to Osasuna having already secured the title but Paraguay striker Valdez scored either side of halftime to help Alicante-based Hercules pull off one of the biggest giantkilling acts of recent seasons.
David Trezeguet, who joined from Juventus in the close season, should have made it three for the visitors in the 89th minute when he had the goal at his mercy but keeper Victor Valdes scrambled across to deny the France striker. Read the rest of this entry »

Carvalho only recently signed for Real Madrid, but already feels part of the squad. He sat down with AS for an interview and seemed very confident and happy with coach Mourinho.

“I have known Jose Mourinho for many years now, which has become very helpful to me because I know the way he works perfectly well. He is the best coach in the world, a coach who knows exactly what has to be done. I feel very integrated at Real Madrid; the Club is exactly how I expected it to be.”

“We had many opportunities to score against Mallorca, but we didn’t. Our defence played with great confidence, but it was a shame we didn’t capitalise on any of our chances to score. That was the only thing we failed to do during the match. Normally, we would have scored one or two goals and we would have won the game. We played well in defence and in attack we had many opportunities to win. We are going to give our best performance to win against Osasuna on Saturday in order to earn our first victory in the season.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tottenham have secured the signing of Real Madrid midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart for £8m.

Spurs moved to sign the 27-year-old Netherlands international two hours before the transfer window closed at 1800 BST on Tuesday.

But the club’s urgency to file the necessary paperwork before the deadline was hampered by a technical problem.

However, the Premier League sanctioned the signing after investigating Tottenham’s claims on Wednesday.

Spurs faced an anxious wait as the Premier League assessed their claims with the 1700 BST cut-off point on Wednesday fast approaching for clubs to submit their 25-man senior squads for the first half of the season.

Van der Vaart becomes Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp’s second deadline-day signing following the capture of Croatia goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa on a season-long loan from Russian club Spartak Moscow. Read the rest of this entry »

The Reds website said: “The Spanish club have now been given permission to speak to the Argentina midfielder.”

Liverpool were keen to recoup the £18m they paid three-and-a-half years ago, after Mascherano joined from West Ham.

And the Catalan giants confirmed: “The clubs have reached an agreement in principle for the transfer of Mascherano for the next four seasons.”

The statement on Barcelona’s website continued: “The deal was closed after intensive efforts made by the club in the final hours and through the player himself in the negotiations.
“Barcelona will report the details of the operation once the player passes the medical and the transfer is concluded.

“It is hoped Javier Mascherano will arrive in Barcelona this weekend.”

Liverpool had rejected an initial bid of £16m from Barcelona seven days ago but reports suggest the new offer is closer to the club’s £25m valuation of Mascherano. Read the rest of this entry »

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has closed in on a move to Milan after comments about his difficult position at Barcelona. The Swedish striker declared he has problems with Barca coach Josep Guardiola. He also mentioned he would like to play with Ronaldinho at Milan.

The former Internazionale star, who arrived at the Camp Nou last summer, revealed he hasn’t heard from Guardiola for six months.

“Guardiola has not spoken to me for six months,” he told Sky Italia television.

“He only did so twice. I would like to understand why, but he won’t tell me. I need to be happy. I’m fine in Barcelona, but I have problems with the coach.

“The directors tell me they don’t want me to go, but at the same time how can I continue here when the manager doesn’t speak to me?

“Milan? I don’t know at what stage the negotiations are, but I would like to play with Ronaldinho.”

The 29-year-old played for Barca in a friendly against Milan in Spain on Wednesday night, after which he told reporters that he had no relationship with his club coach, although he claimed he knew nothing about Milan’s reported interest. Read the rest of this entry »

“Before I begin I would like to thank everyone in attendance, and thank you to the president for his kind words. I love football more than anything, and to play for Real Madrid is the best dream I can think of. I feel like a footballer, and I want to continue doing so as long as time and my body permit.”

“Throughout the years I have always tried to stay true to the values of Real Madrid. Today more than ever before I want everyone to know that I tried to give my very best in every play, every dribble, every shot and every gesture on the pitch. That is what Real Madrid is to me, and that is why the word surrender never existed in my head.”

“Today is a very emotional day. Today is a day of powerful feelings. Today is a day that cannot do without my gratitude and thanks. It is impossible to name each and every person who over this time have stood by me and helped me. Read the rest of this entry »

ARSENAL have told Barcelona: You can have Cesc Fabregas for £50million.

And Arsene Wenger has already held talks with Joe Cole over filling the gap left in the Gunners midfield.

Arsenal insisted skipper Fabregas, 23, was not for sale when they dismissed Barca’s opening bid last week.

But the Nou Camp’s top brass now claim Arsenal say they will sell… if Barca double their offer.

The Catalan giants are not prepared to do that but the fact Arsenal have named a price suggests there is now room for negotiation.

A Nou Camp source said: “This is the news the men in charge at Barca wanted.

“They now see the possibility of Arsenal cracking and are determined to get their man.

“They hope they can get an agreement at around the £35m mark.”

Chelsea star Cole met Gunners boss Wenger before jetting out to South Africa with England last week.

The former West Ham ace, 28, is out of contract and set to quit Stamford Bridge after seven years.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has not given up hope of keeping Cole.

Assistant boss Ray Wilkins admitted: “Carlo and myself would love Joe to stay. But it’s down now to the club to see what we can do.”

Jose Mourinho is set to coach Real Madrid  in a deal between European soccer powers, leaving Inter Milan  less than a week after guiding the Italian club to the Champions League title.

The agreement was announced after a meeting in Milan between Madrid president Florentino Perez and Inter counterpart Massimo Moratti. Madrid will pay $19 million in two installments, the Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport said.

Real Madrid said Mourinho will be introduced Monday at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. He replaces Manuel Pelligrini, who was fired Wednesday.

Mourinho confirmed he wanted to join Madrid after Inter beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the Spanish capital last Saturday to win the Champions League.

In two years with Inter, Mourinho led the club to two league titles, one Italian cup and its first European Cup since 1965. Before that, he led Chelsea to two Premier League titles. He also won the Champions League with FC Porto of Portugal in 2004.

Mourinho is a defensive-minded coach and questions have been raised over how he will blend the attacking talents of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema.

”We have to know what we have and apply it in the best possible way to create damage,” Mourinho told the Spanish daily AS. ”Madrid has Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka who are very good on one-on-ones. We have to find a style of play that allows them to do that. The principles of play depend on the players you have.”

Madrid has won nine European Cups but its last Champions League triumph came in 2002. Last summer, Madrid spent large sums on Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema but failed to progress past the first knockout round of the Champions League.

”I think Madrid have signed me because they know that they can demand aims in the short term, but that I am also capable of leaving a base for the future,” Mourinho said. Read the rest of this entry »