TheDailySoccerNews.com

Barça play host to Arsenal in the Champions League last 16 (20:45, TVE1) aiming to overturn the 2-1 result at the Emirates. Barça are without Pique and Puyol, whilst for Arsenal Cesc and Van Persie are doubtful.
Barça are on a mission: Overturn the 2-1 defeat by Arsenal in the first leg 3 weeks ago. If they succeed they’ll reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League. It is, therefore, the moment of truth, where failure is not allowed. They won’t be alone, as they will get the support of a packed Camp Nou crowd, faithful to the team that has helped them dream over the past three seasons.

English doubts

The days prior to the return leg has been shadowed by uncertainties in the two clubs team selections. Xavi, Valdes and Jeffren have all recovered for Barça, but Puyol is still out and Pique suspended. Arsenal, meanwhile, will travel without Song and Walcott, but Van Persie, who days earlier had been discounted by Arsenal, will travel with the team. Wenger also has doubts about Cesc and Wilshere, although everything points to the fact that they’ll finally play.

Encouraging precedent
Barça manager Pep Guardiola , who was discharged from hospital on Monday morning following 5 days treatment on his herniated disc, will also be there. His team comes into the game in good shape after winning the four league games following the defeat in London. The major Barça doubts surround the heart of the defense, due to the absence of Pique and Puyol. It’s the same scenario as in the quarterfinals of last year, when everything turned out perfectly: 4-1 with Messi as the superstar and into the ’semis’. (continue reading…)

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola expects more attacking football when Arsenal travel to Camp Nou looking to defend their 2-1 lead.

The Gunners launched a stirring second-half comeback in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 clash at Emirates Stadium having been on the back foot for much of the first half.

David Villa fired the visitors into a deserved lead but the hosts improved after the interval with late goals from Robin van Persie and substitute Andrey Arshavin securing a famous success in an enthralling encounter.

Barcelona know they must find the net on home soil when the two sides meet again on 8th March, live on Sky Sports HD2 and Sky Sports 2, with Guardiola content with the way his side performed in North London despite the defeat. (continue reading…)

The day before the draw for the Champions League Knockout Round back in December, Arsène Wenger left his usual press conference with a knowing smirk on his face.

The Arsenal manager said he knew, just knew, the team his side would face – but would not reveal their identity. The prevailing presumption was Barcelona and, less than 24 hours later, the Spanish champions were duly delivered.

That self-same smirk returned at the end of his media work on the eve of the first leg at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday. Wenger was wished good luck as he rose from his chair.

“Thanks,” he smiled. “We’ll need it.”

The Frenchman is not given to playing a subservient role in the build-up to a major match. But this time he has lavished fulsome, unfettered praise on his opponents. The best in Europe, the best in the world and possibly the best ever – all have been offered by Wenger.

Pep Guardiola has ventured down the same road when he has spoken to the media. The Barca manager admits he did not want Arsenal in the draw. They can ‘leave you chasing shadows’. They ‘worry’ him. (continue reading…)

Barcelona guaranteed they will go into Spain’s mid-winter break as leaders of La Liga after a thumping 5-1 win over Catalan rivals Espanyol on Saturday night.

Pedro Rodriquez and David Villa scored doubles with midfielder Xavi also on target in the 10th successive win for the all-conquering champions which left them five points clear of Real Madrid at the top.

Real are at home to Sevilla on Sunday as they bid for a win to keep pace with their arch-rivals.

Barcelona went into the match at the Cornella-El Prat stadium expecting a tough battle as Espanyol had compiled a flawless seven wins in a row at home in the league.

But once Pedro had shot them in front after 19 minutes, set up by Lionel Messi, they never looked back.

Midfielder dynamo Xavi gave Pep Guardiola’s side a 2-0 lead before the break and the pattern of dominance continued in the second half. (continue reading…)

Arsenal will not meet Barcelona in the Champions League for another two months but minutes after Friday’s draw there were exchanges of a rather less physical nature between the two teams.

The Catalans appear to be as keen on Twitter as their contemporaries in the Barclays Premier League because Carles Puyol responded to the news by immediately firing a message to Cesc Fabregas. ‘Arsenal oooooooohhhh!’ he tweeted to Arsenal’s captain.

Fabregas did respond in Catalan and appeared to mention something about mucus, and it would be wrong to suggest Puyol was celebrating the fact that his side would be meeting
a team they beat 6-3 on aggregate in last season’s quarter-finals.

But Puyol’s message served as an eerie reminder of last season’s tie. Those words that appeared on the giant screens at the Nou Camp after 20, 37 and 41 minutes and one more time after the interval. (continue reading…)

Pep Guardiola was proud of his players’ performance at the Nou Camp on Monday night and claimed: “we had a good time tonight and that makes all our hard work worthwhile”.

Speaking to a packed press room after his team’s demolition of Real Madrid, Pep Guardiola expressed his satisfaction as he chalked up his fifth win against Madrid and explained that for him the key to the win was his insistence on maintaining the team’s trademark attacking identity.

Time to enjoy the win
Pep Guardiola was happiest with “how we did it - that makes us proud. Now just let us sit back and enjoy that win - we’ll reflect and look at the whole game, but now it would be wrong not to revel in the win. Games like that happen very rarely indeed”.

True to club’s traditions

Guardiola stressed that the win was very much in the Barça tradition:“Cruyff and Rexach were the first to get that way of playing started. That’s the track to take and those of us who have come after them must be loyal to that. It’s an idea that we shouldn’t betray – it has been implanted in this club for a long time now”. (continue reading…)

Javier Mascherano has experienced games between big rivals in the three countries he has played and even an Argentina v Brazil. So he is well groomed for Barça v Madrid.

Mascherano’s first taste of such a game was none other than River Plate v Boca Juniors. Having come up through the ranks of the Millonarios, from 2003 to 2005 he got first hand experience of the Buenos Aires derby. “River v Boca were the most special clásicos I have played so far. It’s where I was born and bred as a footballer” he said.

Brazil and England
He then moved to Brazil, to join Corinthians, where in 2005/06 he faced their big city rivals, Palmeiras, three times. Then in England, he played six games for Liverpool against their northwest enemies, Manchester United. “They perhaps got more media attention than the others, but there’s a lot of rivalry because the cities are so close together and because they are the two biggest clubs in the Premier”.

Lucky man

Now Javier Mascherano is preparing for the biggest match in Spain. “Everyone is talking about it, because of the quality of the players, because the teams are playing so well, but we then players tend to forget how lucky we are to have everybody watching us … I just want to enjoy it as much as I can”.

Arsenal’s chances of signing Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz could founder on Barcelona’s search for back-up to Victor Valdes.

The Gunners’ Spanish scouts have been impressed with Iraizoz’s consistent displays as Arsene Wenger mulls his troublesome goalkeeping situation.

Fulham No 1 Mark Schwarzer looks most likely to sign on at the Emirates Stadium in January, but the Craven Cottage hierarchy resisted all bids in the summer and may dig their heels in again when the transfer window reopens.

Iraizoz, 29, is in the final year of his contract and could be available for a knockdown fee, which has also attracted Barca.

There is concern at the Nou Camp that the only quality cover for Valdes is 34-year-old Jose Manuel Pinto, whose days at the club are numbered.

The champions of Spain are interested in brilliant Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David de Gea, but a deal for the 19-year-old would be expensive and competition comes in the shape of Manchester United.

Rather than buying a direct rival for 28-year-old Valdes, reports in Spain say Barca will instead turn to either Iraizoz or Real Sociedad’s Chile international Claudio Bravo as back-up for their first choice.

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. (continue reading…)